Happy Resurrection Day! Here is another wonderful post from facebook, by Christian Erickson, on the resurrection and what it means for all of us:
When He became man, He became all men.
When He died, we died.
When He rose, all humanity rose with Him in newness of life.
Jesus didn't just die and resurrect to show off. He died and was resurrected to rebirth humanity in His life! We had become so corrupted with sin and death that humanity was heading towards what the early church called "nonbeing." When we say that Christ saved the world, we really mean it. It was the belief of the early Christians that if Christ hadn't of come, humanity would have eventually destroyed itself and would have become nothing.
But Jesus came! And He rose!
At His resurrection, according to Athanasius:
“All people were clothed with incorruption in the promise of the resurrection. For the solidarity of humanity is such that, by virtue of the Word’s indwelling in a single human body, the corruption which goes with death has lost its power over all.”
You see, when we celebrate resurrection Sunday, we aren't just celebrating Jesus' resurrection, we are celebrating ours too! We are celebrating the birth of a whole new creation!
The old creation was ruled by sin because of the fall of Adam. But Jesus came as the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), the last of the Adamic race, mystically crucified humanity with Him on the cross, forever ending the old creation defined by Adams fall and by death (2 Cor. 5:14). Then when Jesus was resurrected, a whole new creation was birthed, a whole new race of people began (Hosea 6:2). We are in a whole new world!
Death no longer has the final say on humanity because Christ defeated and destroyed it through His resurrection life!
Today isn't just Jesus' resurrection. Let's not forget why He did it. Today is humanities birthday! All humanity was born again through His resurrection!
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." - 1 Peter 1:3
"All that is in The Messiah [all humanity] is therefore The New Creation; the old order has passed away to such." - 2 Corinthians 5:17
"We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." - Romans 6:9-11
"Just as by a man death came, in this way also by a man the dead come to life. For just as by Adam all people die, in this way also by The Messiah they all live." - 1 Corinthians 5:21-22
Happy birthday humanity! He is risen!!!"
Christian Erickson