One of the most dramatic images of the Risen Jesus in the
New Testament is to be found in the heavenly assembly in the Book of Revelation
– also known as the Apocalypse of John. In it, John describes the risen Jesus
as follows: “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at
the centre of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the
elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of
God sent out into all the earth.” (Rev. 5,6). It is a striking, even terrifying
image. The woolly lamb is, in our imagination, the weakest and most helplessly
gentle of creatures. Yet here it becomes a divine creature with the fullness of
power – seven horns – and the all-seeing vision of God – seven eyes.
Almost all of us would pass over the word “standing” as
merely describing the Lamb’s physical position. Yet it is, perhaps, the most
important word in the verse. In Greek, the word is hestekos, which comes from another Greek word, anhistemi, which means to “rise up.” In
other words, the Lamb “standing” means the resurrected
Lamb, and standing “as if it had been slain” is the crucified and resurrected
Jesus, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” The Afrikaans
word “opstanding” translates it perfectly.
It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the
Resurrection of Jesus, because it is simply, without qualification or rival,
the most important event in history. Resurrection is a Jewish idea, the basis
for which we first encounter in the Bible as early as Genesis 2,7: “Then the
Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being”. For a Hebrew,
we are formed from those two most fragile of things; dust and breath. And yet,
in this image, it is the breath, the Spirit, of God that gives us life. When God takes back his Spirit, life leaves
us and we return “to the dust from which we came.” It is easy to see from where
this imagery comes.
In other words, for the Hebrews, man is not a spirit trapped
is a body; he is a living body. We
are dependent upon God for our very existence. And for this reason, eternal
life is impossible without a body. Therefore, without a resurrection, there can
be no eternal life. And for a Christian, the Resurrection of Jesus makes
possible our own resurrection; if he has not risen from the dead, then we
cannot rise from the dead, and there is nothing beyond death for us. Paul puts
this all exquisitely in 1 Corinthians 15.
And so, during this season of the Church, there is an
explosion of joy in the Resurrection. “He is risen! He is risen! He is risen!”
For in the Resurrection of Jesus is all our hope, and it is our only hope. It
is strange, is it not, that all our hope should be placed in an empty tomb? Yet
this is exactly the basis of all our hopes, our longings, our desires. May God
grant us a blessed and happy Easter, and may we all experience the life-giving
power of his Resurrection in our lives.
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