Victory

Job 19: 25-27

1 Corinthians 15: 1-11

John 20: 1-18

Victory

The fog lifted.  It was June 18, 1815, the Battle of Waterloo. The French under the command of Napoleon were fighting the Allies (British, Dutch, and Germans) under the command of Wellington. The people of England depended on a system of signals to find out how the battle was going. One of these signal stations was on the tower of Winchester Cathedral.

Late in the day it flashed the signal: "W-E-L-L-I-N-G-T-O-N- - - D-E-F-E-A-T-E-D- -." Just at that moment one of those sudden English fog-clouds made it impossible to read the message. The news of defeat quickly spread throughout the city. The whole countryside was sad and gloomy when they heard the news that their country had lost the war. Suddenly the fog lifted, and the remainder of the message could be read. The message had four words, not two. The complete message was: "W-E-L-L-I-N-G-T-O-N- - -D-E-F-E-A-T-E-D- - T-H-E- - -E-N-E-M-Y!" It took only a few minutes for the good news to spread. Sorrow was turned into joy, defeat was turned into victory!

So it was when Jesus was laid in the tomb on the first Good Friday afternoon. Hope had died even in the hearts of Jesus' most loyal friends. After the frightful crucifixion the fog of disappointment and misunderstanding had steeled in on the friends of Jesus. They had "read" only part of the Divine message. "Christ defeated"

In a churchyard in England, stands one of the largest trees in the country. It stands as a great four-trunked tree growing out of grave. Its presence there has given rise to much speculation. The grave from which this mammoth tree grows from is that of Lady Anne Grimston.

Lady Anne Grimston did not believe in life after . It is reported that when she lay dying in her luxurious home, she remarked to a friend, “I shall live again as surely as a tree will grow from my body.” At her , Lady Anne was buried in a marble tomb. The grave was then marked by a large marble slab and surrounded by an iron railing.

Years later, the marble slab was found to be moved a little. Then after time, it was cracked and through the crack a small tree began to grow. The tree continued its growth, tilting the marble stone and breaking the marble until today it has surrounded the tomb with its roots and has torn the railing out of the ground with its massive trunks.

To the unbeliever, this may be only viewed as a coincidence. However, to the believer, it is viewed as providence. God took her up on her challenge.

In the church of Corinth a controversy began, a discussion where those in the church, some of them, started to say, "You know this deal with resurrection is too much to believe. We like Christ. We like what he taught. We like what he stood for. We like gathering as a community. We like worship. We like even the morality, the idea that life can be different, but don't make us believe or try to believe in this idea of resurrection."

Paul wanted to make sure they understood the significance of the resurrection. He wanted them to know that if you take Christianity seriously, it will ultimately always lead you to Easter. You will have to wrestle with whether to believe or not. For me, for just one piece of evidence, twelve men are not going to give up their lives to simply perpetuate that which they know to be a hoax. Twelve powerless men, peasants really, were facing not just embarrassment or political disgrace, but beatings, stonings, execution. Every single one of the disciples insisted, to their dying breaths, that they had physically seen Jesus bodily raised from the dead.

Don’t you think that one of those apostles would have cracked before being beheaded or stoned? That one of them would have made a deal with the authorities? None did. You see, men will give their lives for something they believe to be true they will never give their lives for something they know to be false. We know historically, all of the disciples met terrible deaths for their certain knowledge that God’s promise had been fulfilled through the resurrection. They believed in God’s promise as shown to them by the risen Jesus.

Christ is risen!  Flowers adorn our sanctuary; people are dressed in their finest attire; everyone has a smile on their face. It is a holiday!! For some that is all it is—a holiday. But for those of us who believe, we are here to celebrate the resurrection in grand style.

Christ is risen! And because Christ is risen, we too have the promise of eternal life. Because the tomb was empty on Easter, we know that no obstacle is too big for God. No matter how final death may be in our human reality, it is not the end of it all. For those who believe, God offers eternal life.