THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD JESUS – Charles Spurgeon
THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD JESUS
“Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel.” 2 Timothy 2:8.
Introduction: The Simple, Powerful Truth of the Resurrection
From long sickness, my mind is scarcely equal to the work before me. Certainly, if I had ever sought after brilliance of thought or language, I should have failed today, for I am almost at the lowest stage of incapacity. I have only been comforted in the thought of preaching to you this morning by the reflection that it is the doctrine itself which God blesses, and not the way in which it may be spoken. If God had made the power to depend upon the speaker and his style, He would have chosen that the resurrection, grandest of all truths, would have been proclaimed by angels rather than by men. Yet, He set aside the seraph for the humbler creature. After angels had spoken a word or two to the women, their testimony ceased. The most prominent testimony to the resurrection of the Lord was at first that of holy women, and afterwards that of each one of the guileless men and women who made up the 500 or more whose privilege it was to have actually seen the risen Savior, and who, therefore, could bear witness to what they had seen, though they may have been quite unable to describe with eloquence what they had beheld.
Upon our Lord’s rising, I have nothing to say, and God’s ministers have nothing to say, beyond bearing witness to the fact that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead. Put it in poetry; tell it out in sublime Miltonic verse—it will come to no more. Tell it out in monosyllables, and write it so that little children may read it in their first spelling books, and it will come to nothing less. “The Lord is risen indeed” is the sum and substance of our witness when we speak of our risen Redeemer. If we do but know the truth of this resurrection, and feel the power of it, our mode of utterance is of secondary consequence. For the Holy Spirit will bear witness to the truth, and cause it to produce fruit in the minds of our hearers.
The Importance of the Resurrection
Our present text is found in Paul’s second letter to Timothy. The venerable minister is anxious about the young man who has preached with remarkable success, and whom he regards in some respects as his successor. The old man is about to put off his tabernacle, and he is concerned that his son in the gospel should preach the same truth as his father has preached, and should by no means adulterate the gospel. A tendency showed itself in Timothy’s day, and the same tendency exists at this very hour, to try to get away from the simple matters of fact, upon which our religion is built, to something more philosophical and hard to be understood.
The word which the common people heard gladly is not fine enough for cultured sages, and so they must surround it with a mist of human thought and speculation. Three or four plain facts constitute the gospel, even as Paul puts it in the 15th chapter of his first Epistle to the Corinthians: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” Upon the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, our salvation hinges. He who believes these truths aright has believed the gospel, and believing the gospel, he shall without doubt find eternal salvation therein.
But men want novelties. They cannot endure that the trumpet should give forth the same certain sound, they crave some fresh fantasia every day. “The gospel with variations” is the music for them. Intellect is progressive, they say; they must, therefore, march ahead of their forefathers. Incarnate Deity, a holy life, an atoning death, and a literal resurrection—having heard these things now for nearly 19 centuries, they are just a little stale, and the cultivated mind hungers for a change from the old-fashioned manna.
The Error of Spiritualizing the Resurrection
Even in Paul’s day, this tendency was manifest, and so they sought to regard facts as mysteries or parables, and they labored to find a spiritual meaning in them until they went so far as to deny them as actual facts. Seeking a profound meaning, they overlooked the fact itself, losing the substance in a foolish preference for the shadow. While God set before them glorious events which fill heaven with amazement, they showed their foolish wisdom by accepting the plain historical facts as myths to be interpreted or riddles to be solved. He who believed as a little child was pushed aside as a fool, that the disputer and the scribe might come in to mystify simplicity, and hide the light of truth.
Hence, there had arisen a certain Hymenaeus and Philetus, “Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is already past; and overthrow the faith of some.” Turn to verse 17 and read for yourselves. They spirited away the resurrection, they made it to mean something very deep and mystical, and in the process, they took away the actual resurrection altogether.
The Resurrection as the Foundation of Faith
Among men, there is still a craving after new meanings, refinements upon old doctrines, and spiritualization of literal facts. They tear out the heart of the truth and give us the carcass stuffed with hypotheses, speculations, and larger hopes. The golden shields of Solomon are taken away, and shields of brass are hung up in their place—will they not answer every purpose, and is not the metal more in favor with the age? It may be so, but we never admired Rehoboam, and we are old-fashioned enough to prefer the original shields of gold.
The apostle Paul was very anxious that Timothy should stand firm to the old witness and should understand in their plain meaning his testimonies to the fact that Jesus Christ of the seed of David rose again from the dead. Within the compass of this verse, several facts are recorded. First, there is here the great truth that Jesus, the Son of the Highest, was anointed of God. The apostle calls Him “Jesus Christ,” that is, the anointed one, the Messiah, the sent of God. He calls Him, also “Jesus,” which signifies a Savior, and it is a grand truth that He who was born of Mary, He who was laid in the manger at Bethlehem, He who loved and lived and died for us, is the ordained and anointed Savior of men.
We have not a moment’s doubt about the mission, office, and design of our Lord Jesus. In fact, we hang our soul’s salvation upon His being anointed of the Lord to be the Savior of men. This Jesus Christ was really and truly man, for Paul says He was “of the seed of David.” True, He was divine, and His birth was not after the ordinary manner of men, but still, He was in all respects partaker of our human nature, and came of the stock of David. This also we do believe.
We are not among those who spiritualize the incarnation and suppose that God was here as a phantom, or that the whole story is but an instructive legend. No, in very flesh and blood did the Son of God abide among men, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh in the days of His sojourn here below. We know and believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. We love the incarnate God, and in Him we fix our trust.
It is implied, too, in the text, that Jesus died, for He could not be raised from the dead if He had not first gone down among the dead and been one of them. Yes, Jesus died; the crucifixion was no delusion, and the piercing of His side with a spear was most clear and evident proof that He was dead. His heart was pierced, and the blood and water flowed from them. As a dead man, He was taken down from the cross and carried by gentle hands and laid in Joseph’s virgin tomb.
I think I see that pale corpse, white as a lily. Mark how it is stained with the blood of His five wounds, which make Him red as the rose. See how the holy women tenderly wrap Him in fine linen with sweet spices, and leave Him to spend His Sabbath all alone in the rock-hewn sepulcher. No man in this world was ever more surely dead than He. “He made His grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death.” As dead they laid Him in the place of the dead, with napkin and grave clothes, and trappings fit for a grave. Then they rolled the great stone at the grave’s mouth and left Him, knowing that He was dead.
The Power of Christ’s Resurrection
Then comes the grand truth that as soon as ever the third sun commenced his shining circuit, Jesus rose again. His body had not decayed, for it was not possible for that Holy Thing to see corruption. But still, it had been dead, and by the power of God—by His own power, by the Father’s power, by the power of the Spirit—for it is attributed to each of these in turn—before the sun had risen, His dead body was quickened. The silent heart began to beat again, and through the stagnant canals of the veins, the life flood began to circulate. The soul of the Redeemer again took possession of the body, and it lived once more. There He was within the sepulcher, as truly living as to all parts of Him as He had ever been.
The Resurrection: A Historical Fact
He literally and truly, in a material body, came forth from the tomb to live among men till the hour of His ascension into heaven. This is the truth which is still to be taught, refine it who may, spiritualize it who dare. This is the historical fact which the apostles witnessed; this is the truth for which the confessors bled and died. This is the doctrine which is the keystone of the arch of Christianity, and they that hold it not have cast aside the essential truth of God. How can they hope for salvation for their souls if they do not believe that “the Lord is risen indeed”?
The Resurrection and Its Bearing on Our Faith
This morning I wish to do three things. First, let us consider the bearings of the resurrection of Christ upon other great truths. Secondly, let us consider the bearings of this fact upon the gospel, for it has such bearings, according to the text—“Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel.” Thirdly, let us consider its bearings on ourselves, which are all indicated in the word “Remember.”
I. The Resurrection and Its Implications
First, let us consider the bearings of the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. It is clear at the outset that the resurrection of our Lord was a tangible proof that there is another life. Have you not quoted a great many times certain lines about “That undiscovered country from whose journey no traveler returns”? It is not so. There was once a traveler who saId, “I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go away I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” He said, “A little time and you shall see Me, and again a little time and you shall not see Me because I go to the Father.”
Do you not remember these words of His? Our divine Lord went to the undiscovered country and He returned. He said that on the third day He would be back again, and He was true to His word. There is no doubt that there is another state for human life, for Jesus has been in it, and has come back from it. We have no doubt as to a future existence, for Jesus existed after death. We have no doubt as to a paradise of future bliss, for Jesus went to it and returned. Though He has left us again, yet that coming back to tarry with us for 40 days has given us a sure pledge that He will return a second time when the hour is due, and then will be with us for a thousand years and reign gloriously on earth amongst His ancients.
II. The Resurrection and the Gospel
Secondly, Christ’s rising from the dead was the seal to all His claims. It was true, then, that He was sent of God, for God raised Him from the dead in confirmation of His mission. He had said Himself, “Destroy this body, and in three days I will raise it up.” Look, there He is—the temple of His body is rebuilt! He had even given this as a sign that as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so should the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, and should then come forth to life again. Behold His own appointed sign fulfilled! Before men’s eyes, the seal is manifest! Suppose He had never risen. You and I might have believed in the truth of a certain mission which God had given Him, but we could never have believed in the truth of such a commission as He claimed to have received—a commission to be our Redeemer from death and hell.
III. The Resurrection and Our Lives
Lastly, let us consider the bearing of this resurrection upon ourselves. Paul expressly bids us “Remember” it. “Why?” asks one, “we don’t forget it.” Are you sure you don’t? I find myself far too forgetful of divine truths. We ought not to forget, for this first day of the week is consecrated for Sabbatical purposes to compel us to think of the resurrection. On the seventh day, men celebrated a finished creation, on the first day we celebrate a finished redemption. Bear it, then, in mind. Now, if you will remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David rose from the dead, what will follow?
First, you will find that most of your trials will vanish. Are you tried by your sin? Jesus Christ rose again from the dead for your justification. Does Satan accuse? Jesus rose to be your advocate and intercessor. Do infirmities hinder? The living Christ will show Himself strong on your behalf. You have a living Christ, and in Him, you have all things.
Do you dread death? Jesus, in rising again, has vanquished the last enemy. He will come and meet you when it is your turn to pass through the chilly stream, and you shall ford it in sweet company. What is your trouble? I care not what it is, for if you will only think of Jesus as living, full of power, full of love, and full of sympathy, having experienced all your trials, even unto death, you will have such a confidence in His tender care and in His boundless ability that you will follow in His footsteps without a question.
Conclusion: The Resurrection and Victory Over Death
Remember Jesus, and that He rose again from the dead, and your confidence will rise as on eagles’ wings. Next, remember Jesus, for then you will see how your present sufferings are as nothing compared with His sufferings, and you will learn to expect victory over your sufferings even as He obtained victory. Kindly look at the chapter, and you will find the apostle saying in the third verse, “You therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
Now, then, when you are called to suffer, think—“Jesus suffered, yet Jesus rose again from the dead. He came up out of His baptism of griefs the better and more glorious for it, and so shall I!” Therefore, go into the furnace at the Lord’s bidding, and do not fear that the smell of fire shall pass upon you. Go down into the grave and do not think that the worm shall make an end of you any more than it did of Him.
Christ’s Resurrection as a Guarantee of Our Hope
Wherefore fear not, for He conquered! Stand not trembling, but march boldly on, for Jesus Christ of the seed of David rose from the dead, and you who are of the seed of the promise shall rise again from all your trials and afflictions, and live a glorious life. We see here, dear brethren, in being told to remember Jesus, that there is hope even in our hopelessness.
When are things most hopeless in a man? Why, when he is dead. Do you know what it is to come down to that, so far as your inward weakness is concerned? I do. At times it seems to me that all my joy is buried like a dead thing, and all my present usefulness and all my hope of being useful in the future are in a coffin and lay underground like a corpse.
In the anguish of my spirit, and the desolation of my heart, I could count it better to die than to live. You say it should not be so. I grant you it should not be so, but so it is. Many things happen within the minds of poor mortals which should not happen. If we had more courage and more faith they would not happen. Yes, but when we go down, down, down, is it not a blessed thing that Jesus Christ of the seed of David died, and was raised from the dead? If I sink right down among the dead men, yet will I hold to this blessed hope, that as Jesus rose again from the dead, so also shall my joy, my usefulness, my hope, my spirit rise.
Final Words of Encouragement
“You, which have showed us great and sore troubles shall quicken us again, and bring us up from the lowest depths of the earth.” This casting down and slaying is good for us. We take a deal of killing, and it is by being killed that we live. Many a man will never live till his proud self is slain. O proud Pharisee, if you are to live among those whom God accepts, you will have to come to the slaughterhouse and be cut in pieces as well as killed.
Remember what Solomon said might be done with the fool, and yet it would not answer—he was to be ground in a mortar among wheat with a pestle—pretty hard dealing that, and yet his folly would not depart from him. Not by that process alone, but through some such method, the Holy Spirit brings men away from their folly. Under His killing operations, this may be their comfort that, if Jesus Christ rose literally from the dead (not from sickness, but from death), and lives again, even so will His people.
Did you ever get, where Bunyan pictures Christian as getting, right under the old dragon’s foot? He is very heavy, and presses the very breath out of a fellow when he makes him his footstool. Poor Christian lay there with the dragon’s foot on his chest, but he was just able to stretch out his hand and lay hold on his sword, which, by a good providence, lay within his reach. Then he gave Apollyon a deadly thrust, which made him spread his dragon wings and fly away. The poor crushed and broken pilgrim, as he gave the stab to his foe, cried, “Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; though I fall, yet shall I rise again!”
Brothers and sisters, do the same. You that are near despair, let this be the strength that nerves your arm and steels your heart. “Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to Paul’s gospel.” Lastly, this proves the futility of all opposition to Christ. The learned are going to destroy the Christian religion. Already, according to their boastings, it has pretty nearly come to an end. The pulpit is powerless, it cannot command public attention. We stand up and preach to empty benches! As you see—or do not see, nothing remains for us but to die decently, so they insinuate. And what then?
When our Lord was dead, when the clay-cold corpse lay watched by the Roman soldiers, and with a seal upon the enclosing stone, was not the cause in mortal jeopardy? But how fared it? Did it die out? Every disciple that Jesus had made forsook Him and fled, was not Christianity then destroyed? No, that very day our Lord won a victory which shook the gates of hell, and caused the universe to stand astonished.
The Final Victory of Christ
Matters are not worse with Him at this hour! His affairs are not in a sadder condition today than then. No, see Him today and judge. On His head are many crowns, and at His feet the hosts of angels bow! Jesus is the master of legions today, while the Caesars have passed away! Here are His people—needy, obscure, despised, I grant you, still, but assuredly somewhat more numerous than they were when they laid Him in the tomb. His cause is not to be crushed; it is forever rising.
Year after year, century after century, bands of true and honest hearts are marching up to the assault of the citadel of Satan. The prince of this world has a stronghold here on earth, and we are to capture it. But as yet we see small progress, for rank after rank, the warriors of the Lord have marched to the breach and disappeared beneath the terrible fire of death. All who have gone before seem to have been utterly cut off and destroyed, and still, the enemy holds his ramparts against us. Do you think nothing has been done? Has death taken away those martyrs, and confessors, and preachers, and laborious saints, and has nothing been achieved?
Truly, if Christ were dead, I would admit our defeat, for they that are fallen asleep in Him would have perished. But as the Christ lives, so the cause lives, and they that have fallen are not dead, they have vanished from our sight for a little while, but if the curtain could be withdrawn, every one of them would be seen to stand in his lot unharmed, crowned and victorious! “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and whence came they?” These are they that were defeated! Why, then, their crowns? These are they that were dishonored! Why, then, their white robes? These are they who clung to a cause which is overthrown. Why, then, their long line of victories, for there is not a vanquished man among them all?
Let the truth be spoken. Defeat is not the word for the cause of Jesus, the Prince of the house of David. We have always been victorious, brethren, we are victorious now. Follow your Master on your white horses and be not afraid! I see Him in the front with His blood-stained vesture around Him, fresh from the winepress where He has trod down His foes. You have not to present atoning blood, but only to conquer after your Lord. Put on your white raiment and follow Him on your white horses, conquering and to conquer. He is nearer than we think, and the end of all things may be before the next jibe shall have come forth from the mouth of the last new skeptic. Have confidence in the risen One, and live in the power of His resurrection.