God Raised Him on the Third Day
Acts 10: 34-43
Easter Sunday
Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen. The sermon text for Easter morning is our reading from Acts 10. Have you noticed that fences and walls are almost everywhere. From the Great Wall of China to the little picket fence surrounding a vegetable garden. On August 13, 1961, the leaders of East Germany gave the order for the border between East and West Berlin to be closed. This was the beginning of the construction of the Berlin Wall, one of the most hated structures of the Cold War. Families were split, workers lost their jobs, and ultimately many people were killed trying to escape from East Berlin.
I bring up this subject about barriers and fences and the Berlin Wall because they cause separation. Separation is a terrible thing. Think about the child that gets separated from their parents at the store. It is a traumatic experience for all. Separation means loss. Separation means that things are not as they are supposed to be. One of the biggest problems in our culture today is that too many people are isolated from each other. God has created us to be together, not apart. After God created Adam, He said, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). And so God created Eve. They were made for each other. But that making, that orientation toward one another, is not simply about marriage, husbands and wives, and families. It goes beyond that. We are made, we are created to be in communion with one another and, ultimately, with God Himself.
Sin separates. It divides. It twists us and turns us inward so that we do not look out for one another but look out for ourselves. We look within ourselves instead of looking to God. That selfishness means that we have been torn away form the very life that God made us to have. Sin enslaves us and separates us. A few minutes ago I mentioned the Berlin Wall. Well, eventually that wall came down. On November 9, 1989, around 7 p.m., the order was given for the border to be opened. Within the next year, Germany was unified and a new era began.
God created us for a life in Him and with one another. Sin, death, and hell have all tried their best to separate us from the life that God wants us to have. But not anymore. Why? Because the Lord Jesus has torn down the wall of sin that separated us from God and each other. When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, He atoned for our sins. His sacrifice has redeemed us from sin, death and hell and has made us right with God. At the temple there was a curtain that sealed off the Most Holy Place. The curtain was made of think fabric. No one could pass through that curtain, except the high priest, and he could only pass through it once a year on the Day of Atonement. But on Good Friday, as Jesus breathed His last, the temple curtain wall was torn in two. Christ made the greatest sacrifice, with His own blood, and with that, everything changed. No longer does a priest offer the atoning sacrifice for our sin. The blood of Christ covers our sin, and God freely forgives you, me, and everyone who believes in Christ.
That is what Peter proclaims to us this day in our reading from Acts. Peter tells us that God shows no partiality. That means that there is no longer a division between Jews and Gentiles. It means that Jesus died on the cross for all people. He died for you. Peter goes on to tell us that God anointed Jesus to be the Savior of the world. He tells us that Jesus went about doing good and healing those who were oppressed by the devil. He recounted how Jesus was put to death on the cross and then He says these words. “But God raised Him on the third day.” Peter and the other apostles are eyewitness to our Lord’s ministry, death, and resurrection. Not only that but everything that Jesus did was a fulfilment of all the prophesies about Christ that were foretold in the Old Testament. And then Peter proclaims to all of us that whoever believes in Jesus receives forgiveness.
We know that this is true because Jesus is triumphant from the grave. He is risen from the dead. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has triumphed over sin, death, and Satan. Now that He has won the victory He has given us that victory. Jesus’ triumph is our triumph. He gives us life because Jesus’ resurrection is our resurrection. His resurrection from the dead means that we are not separated from Him. Our Lord’s resurrection gives us the assurance that we are now in communion with God. Paul says it this way in Romans 8. “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
Our Lord’s resurrection means that He lives and reigns now and He will continue to live and reign through all eternity. The Lord intercedes for us, guards us, and guides us. The resurrection of Jesus changes everything for us. We now live a life of receiving God’s gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. We live a life of faith in the Lord. Our life has changed completely as we live in the glow of our Lord’s resurrection. We now live a life of love and service. It is love that comes from Christ.
When you love as a Christian, your love does not simply come from you. Your love, your service to those around you, is shaped in you by the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. When you give and sacrifice and love and suffer, you can do so in freedom because Christ has freed you from condemnation. You are justified by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. You are now able to forgive others because Christ has forgiven you.
Jesus makes us right with God and unites us together. Indeed we come together this day to call upon the Name of the Lord and to worship God. We are all part of the body of Christ. We are united together with each other and with the whole church of God in heaven and on earth. That means you are united with the prophets and apostles, and all the Christians that have come before you. For where Jesus is, His bride the church, is there. And the church is always whole and complete because of Jesus our Lord.
As we live our life with God and each other, we also look forward to that time when the Lord Jesus will visibly return. On that day we will rise to new life at the final resurrection. All who are in Christ Jesus will be glorified in both body and soul. At that time we will be in the full presence of God and each other for all eternity. Our Lord’s death and resurrection brings about our salvation, and it shapes everything in our life. We live in peace that we are right with God, and we are united to all believers in Christ. And so we celebrate and rejoice that Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Amen.