• The Lord is risen indeed
It was not what the disciples expected. Some or them, no doubt, cherished a hope even to the last that his life would not be taken; that in some way he would exert his mighty power, even on the cross, to the frustration of his enemies. There are commentators who suggest, though without evidence, that Judas himself may have had an idea like that when he betrayed Jesus. His betraying, then, was a forcing of the issue. And when Judas saw that the Master was not to be rescued by miraculous powers but was actually sentenced and led out to death, he was so overwhelmed by disappointment and by despair that he hung himself. The sacred record does not substantiate that comment. But it does indicate t hat some of the disciples expected that the plans of the Lord’s enemies would be thwarted. “We hoped that it was he who should redeem Israel.” It is now the third day since these things came to pass” (Luke 21:21).
• The Lord is risen indeed
Our Lord had repeatedly spoken of the manner of his death, and had declared that he would rise again. But so far as the understanding or his disciples was concerned it was as if he had never mentioned it. Significantly enough, his enemies remembered his prediction and planned accordingly (d. Matthew 27:63). But the disciples save it no space in their thinking. Surely, those loving women, who went at the appointed time to embalm his lifeless body, were not thinking of a resurrection. Even when the ardent Mary saw the stone rolled away, she supposed that the body hold been borne elsewhere. How convinced, then must have been the proof of his resurrection that overcame their unbelief, and how indescribable the joy that possessed them when it was established that Jesus was alive again.
• The Lord is risen indeed
There were no human spectators when he swept away the bonds of death. Herod, Caiaphas, Pilate were asleep. All Jerusalem was quiet in the dark and slumber of that early morn. The keepers of the tomb saw the angel “and became as dead men” (Matthew 28:4). But no one saw the Christ move silently and secretly out into the world, alive forever more. The writer of fiction would hardly have written it that way. Were it only a myth, we should probably read of trumpets sounding, We should read of Jesus appearing in the temple to the speechless amazement of his enemies. We should read of Jesus making himself known to a horrified Pilate, Why didn’t he? you ask. Why did he not show himself to the Jews, to Annas, to Caiaphas, to Pilate, to the rabbis? So sneered the pagan Celsus centuries ago, and the taunt is repeated by the infidelity of our day. If the objection were reasonable, it would be militant against the entire plan of our Lord in evangelizing the world. Instead of ascending into heaven, after mandating his disciples with the missionary commission, he ought to have remained on earth. He ought, it seems, to have appeared in person to all the nations covered by the commission. And if his appearance was not enough, and men should be skeptical as to whether he had ever died and risen, he ought- for this is what the objection seems to require—to have died again and risen again and again for the satisfaction of each new group of unbelievers. No, this is not God’s way. He does not multiply proofs for the benefit of skeptics. God acts, he declares what he has done, he entrusts his word to his Church, and as his Word goes forth under the Spirit it is to some a savor of death to death, and to others life to life.
• The Lord is risen indeed
Now I know that his obedience unto the death of the cross was completely, satisfying to God and that the sacrifice for sin was accepted. How else could I know? How is it to be ascertained that he satisfied the law to the uttermost, and was justified in behalf of all those in whose place he stood and for whom he died? Where is the evidence? By what hath God declared it? Surely, the only conclusive evidence of justification from the imputation of sin is the release of him to whose account it was charged. If the one who transacts with God in my stead were still under the bonds of death, what else can I conclude than that the law which he came to satisfy is still holding him, and that the price of my redemption has not been paid. But the Lord is risen indeed. Death hath no more dominion over him. The surety has emerged from the grave.
• The Lord is risen indeed
Well the I, too, shall rise. For believers are members of his body. Because he lives, we shall live also, and that includes my body. What God joined together in the fall, he joins together in the restoration. We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling or an eye, at the last trump. This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal, immortality. Then shall the true Israel, from her wide dispersions and separations, return to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon her head. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore, comfort ye one another with these words.