Dennis Tuuri

Praise thee, for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders refused is become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Let’s pray.

Almighty God, we thank you for this day that on this day we remember that great day that the Lord hath made that continues on into eternity. We thank you, Lord God, that in his work on the cross and his death for sins, he made covenant peace for us and in his resurrection he has given us new life in him. We thank you, Father, for calling us into holy worship this Lord’s day. Then for causing us to remember our sinfulness and our need for savior Jesus Christ and for his saving blood and for his imputed righteousness. And then for calling us to remember that you have made provision in this 2,000 years ago with him who has conquered over sin and death.

And this is the day of that conquering and the day then of our resurrection as well. We thank you, Lord God, for the new life in which we walk. And we pray now that this service would be acceptable worship in your sight as we sing together the praises of you and your son and the Holy Spirit who have caused all these things to come to pass for your glory. And as we receive instruction from your word that we might obey you now and forever. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

The Lord hath made known his salvation. His righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth. Make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise.

[Singing]

Please be seated. The Lord has truly risen. Alleluia. Today is Easter, the feast of feasts, the day on which the church has historically seen its year of grace brought to a climax. This is the day of the proclamation of Easter’s joyful message to redeem mankind. That message is one of resurrection and its many implications.

Jay Green has recently produced the classic Bible dictionary which I would encourage you all to get. He has reprinted articles from B.B. Warfield, George Bush, Patrick Fairbairn, Robert Girdlestone, Geerhardus Vos, R.J. Rushdoony, Juny Gordon Clark and many others. And in this Bible dictionary, he has an article by W.H. Griffith Thomas on the resurrection. Thomas summarizes many of the teachings of the scriptures in this way. He says that the resurrection is evidential. An evidential aspect to it. The resurrection is the proof of the atoning character of the death of Christ and of the deity and divinity of the exalted one. Romans 1:4.

The resurrection has an evangelistic aspect to it. The primitive gospel included testimony to the resurrection as one of its characteristic features, thereby proving to the hearers the assurance of the divine redemption. 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 4:25. It has a spiritual nature to it. The resurrection is regarded as the source and standard of the holiness of the believer. Every aspect of the Christian life from the beginning to the end is somehow associated here with as pointed out in Romans 6.

The resurrection has eschatological implications. It is the guarantee and model of the believer’s resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15. As the body of the saints arose, Matthew 27:52. So ours are to be quickened. Romans 8:11. And made like Christ’s glorified body. Philippians 3:21. Thereby becoming spiritual bodies. 1 Corinthians 15:44. That is bodies ruled by our spirits and yet bodies. These points offer only the barest outlines of the fullness of New Testament teaching concerning the doctrine of the resurrection of Christ.

All of these are of course true and essentially the message of the resurrection that we celebrate this day is the great central theme which predominates the whole of the scriptures and should also predominate all of our worship services on every Lord’s day remembering his resurrection. This morning I wish to focus specifically on two elements of the resurrection for us. Those being joy and commitment and both are found in Matthew 28.

First, Easter joy. Turn with me to Matthew 28, verses 1-10.

In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher and behold there was a great earthquake for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow and for fear of him the keepers did shake and became as dead men.

And the angel answered and said unto the women, “Fear not for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. And behold, he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him. Lo, I have told you.”

And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell the disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. And then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid. Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me.

Let’s pray. Almighty God, we thank you for this text of the first Easter morning as it were, the first morning of the resurrection. Help us, Lord God, to understand the movement here from sorrow to joy that we also should experience in our lives as we understand the implication of Christ’s resurrection and the fact of it. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

This text points out a description of joy as the proper response to the fact of Christ’s resurrection on the part of the women that visited Christ’s tomb. Now, we have in this text a poignant description of the first Easter morning. We have faithful women honoring the Sabbath command of the creator and then hurrying as quickly as possible to prepare the body of the Lord after the Sabbath whom they still love. And they’re going to come and prepare that body for burial.

The time is explicitly said in the text before us to be around daybreak. This, of course, is the time of pondering the resurrection of the Savior. A good time for that. The night is now passed. Nature awakens, as it were, to its new day of life. The petals of flowers open and unfold. Birds chirp their morning songs. Man, too rises from his bed, considering the risen Savior and renewed nature that speak to him of spiritual resurrection. Those are thoughts that we have hopefully in the morning when we get up.

But no such thoughts are in the mind of these women that first Easter morning. They are apparently instead in great sorrow and sadness and apparently totally unexpected of the great fact that would greet them as they come to the tomb and turn their great sorrow into great joy. They are met by an angel whose appearance has caused an earthquake and whose mission includes the rolling away of the stone which had closed the tomb.

Now the angel opens that empty tomb, not to remove the savior or to allow him to be released from that tomb. That has already occurred. No, the angel rather opens the empty tomb to demonstrate that it is already empty and to announce the wondrous fact of Christ’s resurrection. A new era has begun. Heaven and earth are now joined for Christ our savior is risen. And so appropriately then, a messenger from heaven comes to earth to proclaim this marvelous truth.

The wall of separation between heaven and earth has fallen and God is reconciled with men. The sacrifice of the son has been accepted by the father. Luther in quoting on this passage says the following. Just as formerly your sins hung about his neck and fastened to the cross. So you now see in this other picture namely that of the resurrection that no more sin is upon him but utter righteousness, no pain or sorrow but utter joy, no death but utter life and an eternal life with which this temporal life cannot be compared. In this picture, Luther said, we certainly have great reason to rejoice.

The emphasis then in this passage before us is not on the angel, but rather on the resurrection and its fact, the fact of the resurrection. The appearance of the angel brings fear to men, but the message of the angel that Christ has arisen brings great joy to those who believe and are faithful. The women respond not ultimately to the angel but to the message and then they respond as the scriptures tell us explicitly in the text with great joy.

The Lord is risen. The Savior lives while still fearful to a degree. Who wouldn’t be? After all, the Roman guard may be considered here as Roman soldiers. And they are so frightened by the appearance of the angel and what occurs that they fall down as dead men. They are scared stiff, I guess, might be an appropriate description. So the ladies certainly still have some degree of fear and the text records that. But the emphasis is not on that remaining fear but on their great joy that they leave that tomb with.

It was joy and not fear that caused them to run in obedience to the words of the angel and the evidence of his message. The angel points out evidences to them. Those evidences being the words of the savior brought to their ears and brought back to their remembrance. The angel says just as he said, he’s risen. And then the angel points to the empty tomb and other evidence of the resurrection of the savior and a confirmation of his word. They are to hear and see.

They leave then the tomb with great joy in their hearts. They leave with their sorrow being turned into that joy. And that joy already great is soon to be redoubled. Because as they run from the tomb and scurry in obedience and joy away from it, the risen Savior himself appears to them telling them to rejoice and to not be fearful.

All hail is the greeting that Jesus greets them with as they see him that first resurrection morning. And that is a greeting that Lensky has translated as implying be glad, be happy, rejoice. And it has a continual aspect to it. Continue to be glad, continue rejoicing, continuing being happy. It’s important that we understand here the close correlation between the message of the savior that first resurrection morning and the message of the angel.

Particularly so to those of us who are called on occasion to teach from God’s word. And our relation to the word of God must correlate to the angel’s first sermon to the words of the savior. The angel tells the women, “Do not be afraid. He is risen. Go and tell the disciples.” And Jesus meeting the women says, “All hail.” In effect, he tells them, “Rejoice for I have risen. Do not be afraid. Go and tell the disciples to meet with me in Galilee.”

We have a twice repeated command here to not be fearful. And again quoting from Luther on this aspect of the command not to be fearful. We read the following. By this Christ wants to teach us all how we are to use his resurrection aright, casting out all fear, being happy and joyful, knowing that we have no longer a dead and buried Christ, but by faith comforting ourselves with the risen Christ and his victory and rejoicing. For there is nothing in the whole world to frighten the Christian who has Christ as his Lord.

Sin cannot do it, for we know that Christ has made payment for it. Death also cannot do it, for Christ has overcome it. He has rent asunder hell, bound and captured the devil. Though the world in its way is hostile to the Christians and inflicts them with all ills. What about it? It is all only temporal suffering since we know that over against it we are to enjoy the resurrection of Christ unto eternal life.

Therefore, this sermon of the angel and afterwards of our Lord Christ is completely to abide among Christians. Be not afraid, be glad, thank and praise God for Christ is risen and no longer in the tomb.

Joy then is the proper response to the fact of the resurrection as evidenced in these women who heard that first sermon. But remembering that Mary and the other women who came to the tomb that morning were trained and prepared by the scriptures of the Old Testament for the coming resurrection, I’d like to move a little bit away from the text now and consider for a few minutes that joy is also the proper response to the fact of the resurrection as prefigured in the Old Testament symbols of the resurrection. We find then that those symbols also bring us great joy.

Now, Lensky commenting on the text from Matthew 28 that we’ve read in his exegetic gospel selections going through the Lutheran church year writes of this passage in Matthew 28, quoting now: “It is intended to present the great fact of the Savior’s resurrection. A fact of tremendous importance filled for all men and especially for God’s people with unmeasured blessedness.” End quote.

And as I pointed out, it was this fact of the resurrection that turned the sorrow of the women into great joy. And this fact was foretold in the Old Testament scriptures and in many symbols of resurrection given therein. In 1 Corinthians 15, we are told explicitly that an essential aspect of the gospel is the fact that Christ rose again on the third day according to the scriptures. Those scriptures being of course the Old Testament that we might fully realize the joy of those whose only scriptures were the Old Testament, preparing them for that first resurrection morning.

Let’s consider a few of the symbols of resurrection found in the Old Testament. First, we have Noah’s ark going through the waters of judgment and death, finally coming to rest on Mount Ararat and Noah stepping forth onto dry ground. That is new life, life after death and judgment. That ark came to rest, we are told explicitly in Genesis 8:4 on the seventh month on the seventeenth day of that month. Now, the seventh month is the month of Abib, but from the time of the Passover, we’re told in Exodus 12:2, it became the first month of the year.

The Passover lamb is slain on the fourteenth of Abib. And the third day after this, then was the day that the ark came to rest, having passed through the judgment of death. Many believe that Jesus himself was slain on the very day as the Passover lamb and was resurrected then on the same day that the ark, a type of his resurrection, came to rest on Mount Ararat.

Another Old Testament symbol of the resurrection is found in the firstfruits and the waving of the sheaf of the firstfruits as indicated in Leviticus 23:11. That was a type of resurrection because the grain had fallen into the earth, had gone into the grave as it were of death, and that had sprung forth into new life. And the people thanked God for that life and for the produce that it was this sheaf was waved according to Leviticus 23 on the morning after the Sabbath. And the Sabbath specifically referenced here was the Sabbath after Passover. And this points clearly to the fulfillment of this type in Christ’s resurrection on the day following the Sabbath following the Passover meal.

Again, Aaron’s rod blossoming in Numbers 17 is another Old Testament type. That rod that budded is a type or symbol of the resurrection, a dry stick void of life is hid from the eyes of men in the dead of night. And when it is sought out in the morning by the faithful, behold, it hath come to life, it is budded, and it demonstrates a great abundance of life, specifically saying that there are almonds themselves being found there on that rod.

This resurrection is then shown to the peoples. The symbol of the resurrection is shown to the peoples, an attestation of God’s power and authority. And then the rod is laid up in the presence of God in the Holy of Holies in the ark of testimony. And so after showing himself, our Lord Jesus likewise ascends to the father.

The water-giving rock found in Numbers 20 is another Old Testament symbol of death to life and that abundant. The use of some rod, perhaps the rod that was budded, perhaps not. It brings forth water from a rock. Moses was to hold in his hand the symbol of resurrection, the rod, and the water would flow. Organic life flowing out of inorganic dead stone and that abundantly. The ritual describing the cleansing of the leper or the atonement for his sins and the ritual that accompanied that in Leviticus 14 is another Old Testament symbol, the cleansing of the leper.

In that ritual, two birds are involved. One is killed over a basin and running water. The blood is put into that basin and the second bird is then dipped in the blood of the first and the second bird is then released to fly away into the heavens. This is surely a picture of death and resurrection. And it’s needful the leper understood this if he understood the symbolism involved not just to have death for sins but to have resurrection for life as well to carry away the guilt of sin and the stain of it.

The Jordan River and stones described in Joshua 4 is another picture of the resurrection. The river of Jordan was a portal from death to life for the people of God. Twelve stones are taken up out of the Jordan and into newness of life as it were on the other side on the side of blessing from the river Jordan on the side of the promised land that flows with milk and honey identifying us in his life.

But there are also twelve stones that are left on the dry ground that had been caused by God in the river Jordan. Twelve stones are put there as well as a cold stony memorial to our identification with the death of the covenant mediator who would usher us into his great promises of life. Jonah spends three days in the belly of the great fish and is then resurrected to service to God. Isaac whose very birth is itself a picture of life coming from dead loins as it were is then given in obedience to the father on the altar only to be resurrected as it were by God’s sovereign intervention.

Wicked Queen Athaliah, wicked seed of wicked Ahab and Jezebel slays all the royal seed that evil and death might triumph over righteousness and life. Lo, one is brought forth according to the scriptures from among the slain, lying among the dead sons, as it were, the royal seed is Joash, an infant and yet alive. Another picture of resurrection. These are all wonderful pictures, beautiful types, great promises of what God would one day do. And certainly, they all resulted in great joy.

Surely, it was great joy to Noah and his family to step into the new world of God’s blessings. Surely, the offer was joyful and harvest of grain that God had provided in God’s acceptance of that offering. Surely the faithful rejoiced greatly over God’s miraculous attestation of his chosen priest and secondary source of authority and blessing in the land. Surely the multitude rejoiced over God’s provision of the thirst quenching water coming out of a dry rock. Surely the leper rejoiced much in mind when he saw the bird fly free symbolic of his return to life and blessing through substitutionary atonement and of the removal of sin and resultant disease.

Surely the whole community of faith rejoiced over the miraculous crossing from the wilderness into the land of blessing flowing with milk and honey. Surely Jonah rejoiced over his release from the bondage of the great fish and from his sin that took him there. And surely we must recognize the great joy that was Abraham’s when he received back Isaac from the altar of death and in the God provided substitute of the ram. And the whole believing nation surely gave great shouts of joy when the righteous heir to the throne, Joash, the faithful lad whose heart was right with God, came back from the slain, as it were, to replace the evil queen.

And in fact, specifically in 2 Kings 11, we read that they clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king. God save the king.” And indeed, when Athaliah hears this commotion, she comes in and there’s a specific reference that the king stands by the pillar in the temple. He has been anointed now to his office. He is enthroned as it were and the great trumpeters come before him and all the people of the land rejoice and blow trumpets and great rejoicing accompanies the righteous king Joash ascending to the throne.

Yes, all of these Old Testament symbols and many more were sources of great joy to God’s elect people, but they were comparatively beggarly shadows that pointed forward as symbols to the great work that God was to accomplish in the fact of his son’s resurrection and ascension to the throne. The great fact that we rejoice in greatly this morning, as did the women as they came back from that empty tomb.

Our senses become dulled. Our ears become stopped. Our eyes grow dim through the cares of the world. But this morning, we consider the great fact of the resurrection. And when we realize just in part what God has accomplished, we sing forth joyfully to the Savior. For we have been brought into a new world, back from the dead, as it were, in Christ. And we walk now, not according to the course of the world that fades and passes away, the old world of judgment that was judged by the flood, but according to the spirit-filled walk made possible by our savior.

He has told us that every piece of land that our foot touches now is to be claimed as belonging to him, the risen king. We are part of that great harvest begun by the acceptable firstfruits of our savior. The grain of wheat is brought forth life and that abundantly, not as a picture or symbol toward a great day of rejoicing yet to come, but rather pointing to the fact of Jesus’s resurrection. That is no symbol. That is fact and reality. And the field white to harvest then now brings forth life upon life, men and women, boys and girls, coming to the first resurrection through the preaching of the fact of Christ’s resurrection.

In Christ, the true erect rod which hath blossomed, we have been given authority over all powers of spiritual darkness, over the scorpion sting and the snake’s bite. We trample Satan underfoot him who was victorious over death two thousand years ago. We exercise the rod of Christ’s authority joyfully, and we joyfully submit when it is used by him in our lives to drive out sin and disobedience which would cause us to stumble and fall.

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort us. We gratefully acknowledge and rejoice that our Savior has caused rivers of living water to gush forth from out of our bellies, from out of the inward being that he has given to us. We rejoice because we’ve been transformed from walking dead men as dead stones, as it were, into living sources of blessing to the spheres in which we walk. We drink from the spiritual drink which is our savior, the rock, and we become vehicles then for his life-giving water.

As we preach forth his word, which washes and cleanses men, streams of living water now flow out from those who have been brought in and known the power of the true rod that hath blossomed Jesus Christ and his authority calls forth men from the grave and they hear and they come to life in him to serve the King of Kings. We joy in Christ the cure of our disease unto death and in the atonement for our sins which produced our cleanness. We rejoice that our righteousness is to be found in the bird whose wing is spotted with blood and ascends to heaven.

In the lamb that stands as it were slain for our sins. As the bird flew heavenward with blood on its wings, so Christ has ascended into the heavenly temple, and by his own blood entered in once into the Holy of Holies, having obtained redemption for us. And we joyfully walk in our Savior into Canaan, being identified with Christ in his death, our stone remaining as it were in the cold, icy Jordan, as a memorial of that great fact. And we also rejoice, for as we are identified with him in his death, we are also identified with him in the resurrection of life in the promised land.

We are stones that now form his new temple, the church. Rainbows, plants springing forth out of the dry earth as it were, trees budding forth in the springtime, waterfalls coming out of a rocky terrain, birds flying through the heavens, rivers that must be forded and crossed over. All these things we see in our daily occurrences and they are signs and symbols to us of the great fact which has now happened once for all. And additionally, as we sit in this room and look at men and women, boys and girls who been brought back to life, we see a cause for rejoicing as well, demonstrating the fact of Christ’s resurrection, its implications for our lives and men.

We rejoice because we have been released from our bondage to sin and death. We are also raised up on the third day for our savior, the greater Jonah, who took upon himself our sins in judgment and so was swallowed up in death being three days as he said in the belly of the earth has burst forth in newness of life and he sends out his word now that brings repentance and life into the world. We have been brought into the first resurrection in which we joy and we rejoice that our deaths we shall be in his presence and shall receive our glorified bodies as he did.

Augustine in this regard said that quoting him now: “We too shall rise in the third day. The first day is our day of preparation when we labor suffer and die with Christ. The second is the Sabbath when we rest in the grave. Then comes the third, the joyful day of our resurrection unto eternal life.” End quote.

Because the greater Isaac has gone to the altar and been raised forth from his death. We also are children of the promise now, not of the flesh. And we rejoice in this. And we rejoice that Christ’s resurrection means his enthronement. As is pointed out so plainly when Peter quotes Psalm 110 in Acts 2. Paul also says clearly in 1 Corinthians 15, that the rightful heir to the throne reigns now. And in Ephesians 1 that God hath put all things under his feet. Our text this morning in Matthew 28 agrees, for Christ declares at the end of this chapter that all power has been given unto him.

He reigns and we rejoice as did the people at the reign of Joash. But no, our rejoicing surely must be greater than theirs. For they saw only the shadow, but we are brought into bright sunlight and see the reality in David’s greater son Jesus Christ the savior king ascended to the throne. Listen to Ephesians 1:2-10 as it tells us the rich depths of the resurrection of Christ and its implications. Paul prays that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come.

And he hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him that filled all in all. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us resurrected us raised us together with Christ by grace ye are saved and he has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

We are people of his kingdom. And we rejoice exceedingly in that this day and always today. Then we rejoice in what God has accomplished. Great day of days, the anointed one is brought back from death and crowned king. This is the realization of all those typical elements of which we’ve spoken and many more. This is no mere symbol any longer pointing to something else. It is fact. Fact, it is reality. And upon that fact and the reality of the resurrection, our joy ascends. This day is a day filled with the message of forgiveness and newness. We are new men in our savior. And so we begin each week with a fresh beginning based upon his work and his resurrection.

The essential message of Easter is repeated in Matthew 28 by angel in Christ. Do not fear, but believe in the fact of the resurrection and rejoice in the Lord. This day is a day of rejoicing in Christ, in his work, in his resurrection, in his salvation and newness of life that he brings to man. Let us rejoice then in song and in offering.

I will declare thy name unto my brethren. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he hid his face from him. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek him. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord. All the kingdoms of the nations shall serve him. For the kingdom is the Lord’s and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship. All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him and none can keep alive his own soul. A seed shall serve him. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born that he hath done this.

[Singing]

Please be seated. We turn now to Easter commitment. Going back to Matthew 28, reading the last ten verses. Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him and secure you. So they took the money and did as they were taught. And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee unto a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

In this half of Matthew 28, we see two groups of men, two communities, essentially two cultures described which live side by side. There are those who reject Christ, fearful, conniving, involving themselves in starting conspiracy theories of the resurrection which exist and continue down to our very day. The other society pictured here is one of faith and obedience while much smaller the second society held the reigns of the future.

Christianity went through the conduit of these eleven apostles some of whom were still doubting even in this record of their meeting with the resurrected savior. But these eleven men had resurrection life. And so the culture and community that they were the first fruits of has shaped history far more than those who were conspirators against them and against their Lord. The joy that we talked about in the first half of the chapter was accompanied by a charge. And again here in this second half of the chapter, we find another charge. Matthew 28 then has two charges listed in it.

The first found in the first half of the chapter is to strengthen the believing community with the message of the resurrected Christ. Go and tell the apostles. Go and tell the disciples. This charge is no less pertinent today than it was that first Easter morning. Rushdoony in his commentary on Daniel 12 says that since the day of Calvary, the church has all too often been concerned with embalming Christ while his enemies a bit more realistically have sought vainly to guard themselves from his power.

Daniel 12, the resurrection is given as the keynote of the gospel age. Verse one of Daniel 12 describes the great time of trouble that was to accompany the days of Messiah. And verse two goes on to read, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” And verse three says, “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.”

Our first charge is to instruct the professing community of the fact of Christ’s resurrection and atonement and to remind them that Christ has risen that he has been enthroned and sits as king and by his law he rules. But as we said there is a second charge given here in the second half of the chapter. This charge is to disciple the nations. And we have a crying need today for obedience to the two charges to strengthen those disciples that doubt and to disciple the nations to obedience. Because of the church’s refusal to act in obedience to these two charges, we now suffer days of judgment as a nation.

The two charges are essentially the same charge in actuality to proclaim the kingdom of Christ to the community that is called by his name and to the remotest ends of the earth and that Davidic king which was prophesied of him rules according to Deuteronomy 17 according to the law of God. Without that proclamation of the king who rules on the basis of his law other law words are asserted in history man must live by government and rule and if it is not Christ rule it is man’s tyrannical rule.

We either have God’s law on our foreheads and hands or man’s law. And today, the judgment of man’s law governing our thoughts and actions is the judgment that the church lives with in America.