EASTER.

FIRST SERMON.

TEXT: And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre ? (And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away :) for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he said unto them, Be not affrighted: ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed; neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid. Mark 16, 1-8.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you," thus glories the apostle Peter in the beginning of his first epistle. Fitly may we with the apostle lift up our hearts and voices in praise and thanksgiving unto God on this day in which we remember the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Of all that our Lord and Saviour did, of all that transpired from the day of His birth to the day of His ascension to heaven, of all His works, His resurrection from the dead is the most important and the most comforting for us poor sinners. Christ's resurrection proves His victory over death and all the powers of darkness to an evidence, and it brings to our view that inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled and which fadeth not away.

Easter was the first festival introduced in the Christian

church, and it is the chief festival in the whole church year. That the primitive church regarded the resurrection of Christ the most important of all His works, is evident from the fact that it chose and appointed the day of His resurrection to be the weekly day for public worship and called it the Lord's day. Of the great importance, or rather the absolute necessity of Christ's resurrection for the perfection of our redemption and salvation, St. Paul treats in the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, where he distinctly declares: "If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." On the resurrection of Christ from the dead depends all our faith, hope and salvation. If He had not risen again no one could have any certain assurance of eternal life. When He said on the cross: "It is finished," the work of atonement was finished; He had done what the law required, He had suffered what divine justice demanded; but without His resurrection we would have no declaration on the part of the Father that His work is accepted in heaven. Then we could only conclude that His work was rejected in heaven, because He was left in the power of death. Then we could, in fact, hope in Him only in this life, and in death there would not be a ray of hope for us. Then no one could cheerfully close his eyes in death commending his soul into the hands of Jesus and saying: My Redeemer lives and I shall live with Him. Then no one could hope for life in Christ, because a dead tree cannot bring forth the fruit of life.

But Christ is risen from the dead and therefore faith in Him is the victory which overcometh the world, the light which guides through the yalley of the shadow of death. "Begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," we can boast with Paul against the last enemy, saying: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

Rightly to understand the meaning of Christ's resurrection is of vital necessity; yea, it is the key to the right understanding of His whole work upon earth. Permit me to-day to choose

only the central words of this Gospel and to speak on the message of the angel:

I would set forth:

I.

II.

HE IS RISEN.

What His resurrection proves; and

How we should appropriate it unto ourselves.

I.

The history of those women going to the sepulchre early in the morning of the day after the Sabbath and the appearance of the angel unto them is well known to you, and I hope for your indulgence in not tarrying to repeat it. If we understand the main point the history will explain itself. As I said formerly concerning Christ's suffering, that it is not enough to know the history, we must also know the end and object of His suffering, the same must be said with regard to His resurrection; it is not enough to know how it occurred, the main point is that we know what it means, what it signifies, what it proves, otherwise we can derive no benefit from it.

If we would thoroughly understand the meaning of Christ's resurrection we must, above all things, keep in mind that He was raised from the dead as the "Son of man," the representative and substitute of all men; that He rose again not for His sake, but for our sake. Had He arisen for His sake He might have done so without making it public, without communicating it to men. This is the point from which we must set out, the foundation on which we must build our faith concerning the resurrection of Christ; for if we do not believe that He arose from the dead for our sake and for our benefit we could have "neither part nor lot" in His resurrection. To this end was He born and for this cause came He into the world, to be the representative and substitute of the whole human family, and what He did in the days of His flesh He did for us, in our stead, and therefore He also arose from the dead for our sake, as, our substitute and representative. Paul establishes this with plain words when writing: "He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto

Him which died for them, and rose again." 2 Cor. 5, 15. As Christ in His suffering and death was the representative and substitute of all men; for He suffered and died in the sins of the world; so also in His resurrection. Let me attempt to illustrate what this means, reminding however that comparisons do not compare in all respects.

When peace was concluded between France and Germany after the late Franco-Prussian war, it was stipulated that France must pay so many millions war indemnity, and to secure the payment of this money Germany left an army stationed in France. After some time Germany recalled that army. What did the homeward march of those troops prove? It certainly proved that France had paid the stipulated sum of money and had paid it in full, otherwise Germany would have left its troops on French soil and would not have called them home. Similar with the resurrection of Christ. All the world was indebted to God and so long under the curse of God until its debt would be paid; and as the world was bankrupt and had not wherewithal to pay even the first farthing, it must have remained under the curse of God forever. But in the eternal council of the Holy Trinity the Son became security for the debt of the world, promising its payment, and this gracious counsel of God was graciously revealed to man on the selfsame day in which he had fallen into debt towards God, when a coming Deliverer was promised to Adam. And the Son, having once become surety for the world, came into the world as its substitute to pay the debt. He came to pay what He had not robbed, but He assumed the debt of the world, and bare it as His own, as He declares in the 40th Psalm, saying: "Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head: therefore my heart faileth me." He calls the debt, which He had assumed, His own; for it is the sin of the world of which He says: "Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me;" and this His complaint at the same time shows, how the Father exacted payment from Him, namely so that His heart failed Him, although He was the almighty God. The strictness of divine

justice demanded of Him the last farthing. He was stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, and finally cast into the bonds of death; but, although it cost Him His lifeblood, He did pay farthing for farthing, and could at last, bowing His head, say: "It is finished."

But now if the Father had left our bondsman in the prison of the grave whither our debt had brought Him, how could we then know, what proof would we then have that our debt is really and fully paid? In that case we would have no proof, we could show no receipt for the payment of our debt. We would be left in doubt; yea, we would be obliged to think the debt not paid, or at least not paid in full, our substitute still being held in durance. If Christ were yet in the grave we could nevermore believe that we are accounted free from all debt before God. But He is no more in the grave. When those three women came to the sepulchre they found it empty, and a heavenly messenger proclaimed to them: "He is risen." That heavenly messenger could not have been there, neither could He have spoken to the women, if he had not been sent by the Father. His words were the message of God the Father to the world. Even this alone would be sufficient and conclusive proof that God the Father had accepted the ransom of the Son as payment in full for the world's debt. But besides this the Scriptures in many places declare that God raised up Christ from the dead; yea, this is ascribed particularly to the Father, the first person of the Godhead. Thus Peter says, speaking of Christ: "Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death," Acts 2, 24; and again he says: "Ye killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses." Acts 3, 15. Still more distinctly does Paul write: "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.' Rom. 6, 4. Not only of the Godhead in general, but of God the Father in particular, is it said that He raised up Jesus from the dead. Now what does God declare by this act of recalling our security man from the bonds of death into which our debt had brought Him? Why, He de