Easter Hope How the Resurrection of Jesus Renews All Creation

Christ’s resurrection is the first-fruits of a cosmic harvest: the pattern and pledge of our own resurrection and the renewal of the cosmos.

Death Seems So Final

Death seems so final. It is the spectre that hovers over all human hopes, aspirations and dreams. In our time-bound existence, it threatens our deepest joys and greatest achievements. We hope that our lives will transcend time and mortality but have no guarantee of that.

These words, then, are altogether magnificent! How they should thrill us and inspire us! What memories they may recall! How impossible it is not to feel their majesty.

No human brain originated them, but the Holy Spirit alone. They bear the mint-mark of heaven.

The First Sheaf of the Barley Harvest

On the day that Jesus rose from the dead, the first sheaf of the barley harvest was being waved by the High Priest in the Temple, as the representative of the myriads that stood stacked amidst the stubble of the fields. It was the specimen sheaf – representative, pattern and pledge of all the rest.

The resurrection of Jesus does more than verify his divinity. It opens the door to life beyond this life for all who grant him their allegiance.

The risen Christ is the pattern and pledge of what his people will be when their bodies are fashioned anew in the likeness of his resurrection.

Christ Is the Pattern

Christ is the pattern.

His body bore the same general outlines as before; so will theirs.
It was recognisable by those who had known and loved him, even to the tones of his voice; so will it be with theirs.
It was the ethereal and pliant instrument of his spirit; so will theirs be.
It could no more turn to corruption; no more will theirs.
It was invulnerable to disease and pain; such an experience awaits them too.

Christ Is the Pledge

Christ is also the pledge. He does not stand alone. He is united to us by a myriad of indissoluble ties. Faith in Christ equals eternal life and that assures our resurrection.

Because Christ lives, we must live. Death may come to us, but it will be the shadow only, which will pass and leave us in the full sunlight of eternal life.

The One who raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken our bodies. What the power of God did for him, it will do for us.

Awaiting the Resurrection Signal

The Bible assures us (I Thessalonians 4: ) that those that “sleep” in Jesus, God will bring with him and we that are alive and remain shall be caught up.

Not one purchased body of a Christian, however obscure or unworthy, shall be an excepted from the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God.

Meanwhile, in the kindly embrace of Mother Earth, like the seed-germs of a vast harvest, the resurrection principle in the bodies of the saints awaits the resurrection signal.

The Foretaste of a New Creation

Even more than that, the resurrection Of Christ is the foretaste and promise of the ultimate defeat of death and the glorious transformation of the whole of creation.

The mission of God in the Bible story runs from creation to new creation, and the resurrection of Jesus stands at the centre of it. The resurrection of Christ marks the beginning of a process that will bring not only humanity but the whole of creation into a new state of being and relationship with God.

In the resurrection of Jesus, a new age has dawned.

Creation Affirmed

In his book Café Theology (2005, pp.227-228), Michael Lloyd encapsulates this truth. He asserts that the resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of creation’s renewal. Christ, he says:

entered into His creation, became part of creation, took creation up into Himself… in the resurrection we see creation affirmed. When he rose up from the dead, He did not leave creation behind. He did not leave his physicality behind. He remained committed to it. It remained part of Him. In Him, a little bit of creation has been brought through death and out the other side, forever beyond the reach of death and decay. In Him, a little bit of creation has been healed and glorified and transfigured.

The First-Fruits of a Cosmic Harvest

And that little bit of creation is the first-fruits of a cosmic harvest. Those few cells are the bridgehead of every other particle.

We know that creation will be redeemed because the process has already begun in the resurrection body of Jesus. Disharmony, and division, and disease, and disability, and death and decay have had notice served upon them.

We look forward not to salvation from the world, but to the salvation of the world.

Easter and Our Two-Pronged Mission

As you approach Easter this year, rejoice in its implications!

Because of Christ’s resurrection, whatever you do to foster the redemption and renewal of either people or nature will not be wasted or in vain. It will count for eternity.

The results will be carried over into the new order as an integral part of God’s agenda to make “all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

The resurrection of Jesus is therefore a huge incentive for us to be faithful to our mission of bringing hope and healing not only to humans but also to the non-human creation.

As the world becomes increasingly broken, Easter is a good time to seriously consider how we may contribute to this two-pronged mission, both individually and collectively.

In Sure and Certain Hope of the Resurrection