Purpose in our Suffering – Part 5
The cross of Christ and the tomb of Christ work together. Both were occupied for just a short time. Both have become powerful images of the Christian life. Both are essential for our salvation. Both seemed to spell the doom of Jesus and the Christian movement. And both have now become images of victory and hope!
The resurrection of Jesus is the promise that God can put the broken pieces of our lives back together. We sometimes find ourselves shattered by the events that seem to come against us one after another. It seems on some levels that all we know is crucifixion! And then God intervenes and does something dramatic, something miraculous… something never done before.
Resurrection. There is no gospel without it. If Jesus went to the cross and to His death, even because He loves us, the best He would be is a martyr. He is just one more among thousands of Jews who were crucified by Rome.
But the resurrection comes to bring something amazing and powerful. In the resurrection of Jesus there is proof that God is not going to let things fall apart. By definition, death is the “falling apart” of something living. We are constantly “falling apart” as we inch our way toward death. Returning to the dust is the ultimate “falling apart” of the human life.
Jesus did not “fall apart” in the grave however. In Christ, the Law of Entropy was reversed. Things in His life are not moving toward chaos and decay but towards order. The One “by whom all things hold together” (Colossians 1) did not fall victim to death’s deterioration.
And because He lived, we can live as well. Because He did not “fall apart” in the grave, our lives do not have to “fall apart” either. Our deteriorating marriage can be redeemed. Our deteriorating body can be restored. Our deteriorating situation can be rebuilt.
The resurrection of Jesus was not the greatest miracle ever performed by God according to pastor Mel Lawrenz. Lawrenz meant it is not the greatest miracle in the sense that it was the most difficult or necessarily the most amazing. It is the greatest miracle because it represents the greatest TRUTH… that God has deliberately, purposefully and powerfully stepped into our “falling apart” lives to proclaim that our lives need not fall to pieces… even in the face of our greatest enemy… death.
The cross and the tomb must stand together…
… lest we fall apart.
“(Christ) is before all things, and in Him all things hold together….” Colossians 1:17
FOR REFLECTION: How has God moved in your life to turn around your “falling apart” situation?
