April 27 – LD
17, Day 5: Jesus Arose to Make Us Spiritually Alive
by Rev J. Kortering
Romans 6:4, “Therefore we are buried
with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
When the catechism asked what the profit of Christ’s resurrection is for
us, they mention three things which are profitable. Now we focus on the second
one, “we are also by His power raised up to a new life.”
There is an assumption here which is not flattering for us. That is,
without Jesus we are spiritually dead. If we are going to become spiritually
alive, Jesus had to rise from the dead and make us alive.
We have followed the reasoning of the catechism, which is opening up to
us the reasoning of the Bible. If we are to be happy as Christians, we have to
know the reality of our sinfulness. This has been explained to us as God’s
judgment upon us because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve. He said, “The day
thou eatest thereof (the fruit of the tree), thou shalt surely die.” From this sentence of death no human
being can escape. There is only one way out of the prison of death. Jesus came
to join us in this prison and made payment for our sins. God accepted His death
as our substitute. But, we need more than that to make us happy. We need to be
delivered from the experience of sin, we need to stop sinning and in holiness
enjoy fellowship with God.
Jesus accomplished this by His resurrection from the dead.
He must needs die, but death must not consume
Him. He must overcome death. The resurrection placed Him on the other side of
death, and from the vantage point of victor, He comes by His Word and Spirit to
make us spiritually alive. Quoted above, “…Like as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life.”
What a blessing this is for us. Sin makes life miserable, holiness makes
us free. In the new life of Christ we live and die happily.
This life is not perfect nor sinless, no; rather it is the beginning of
perfection.
As such it is also the beginning of heaven.
May God help us to understand the importance of Christ’s resurrection
for us.