Resurection Power Part 1
For the last three or four months I have had a singular obsession as I study the Word…the resurrection of Jesus Christ. My (spiritual) curiosity had been peaked because over the years I have noticed that among a great deal of the Easter sermons I have attended, I have noticed very little discussion about the meaning of the empty tomb. All too often I have heard sermons preached out of the end of one of the gospels, and we are reminded often about how the women beat the disciples to the tomb, that it was early in the morning…no-one was waiting there. All the details are often commented on, but I have often been left feeling as empty as the tomb Christ vacated when the sermon is over.
The purpose of this blog series is not to debate the technical validity of celebrating the resurrection on Easter. If eating meat sacrificed to Idols bothers you, then don’t celebrate it on Ishtar, my emphasis is rather on the fact that on the day we do commemorate the resurrection, so often the point of it is missed. Our Christian life is un-arguably to be one of resurrection power and the tendency to celebrate this concept only once a year is a very distilling tradition. I find it to be a bitter irony that many Americanized religious folk only go to church twice a year and one of those days is Ishtar.
All the while I was studying this I was completely oblivious to the fact that Easter was once again coming about on the calendar, so I thought it would be fitting to share some of the insights I feel the Lord has shown me in His word that may help to take you deeper in your walk with Christ. This is going to take numerous entries because the nature of the study does not lend itself to a blog post very well as it has been a long, prayer-filled meditation on this powerful truth from the word. Please be patient as I will build up the thesis to a crescendo over an estimated 10 – 12 blog posts. This may take me a month or more to complete.
It is my hope that my blogging silence over the last few months will be noted as I have given very little time to the usual little nuggets I proffer. My silence has been due primarily to this obsession.
For the purpose of maintaining only the things I think are important to us as believers during the following blogs, I will take the remainder of this post to state that if you have been bit by the Zeitgeist Tom-Foolery and think that somehow the resurrection of Christ is not a unique concept to Christianity, I would ask that you consider watching this documentary. While the concept of a god being resurrected may not have been entirely unique in a technical sense…I would propose that the meaning of the empty tomb, to Christians, is hands down, the singularity around which the entire galaxy of Christian sanctification doctrine gravitates. And I would propose that all the “meaning” around the technical god-resurrections of mythos-gone-by does not hold an inkling of meaning by means of comparison. For example, if you think that Osiris being reconstructed by Isis for the purpose of demi-god near necrophilia has much meaning to compare to the Krakatoa of purpose behind Yeshua Hamashiach rising
and conquering the power of death, then certainly the meaning of Christs death-resurrection-and ascension has not been articulated well enough (not as the fault of scripture, but ours to portray it.)
The tendency to view it alone as an historical event has probably invited and begged mythological criticism. I suspect that all this mythos has been a result of such a lack of the display of Christ’s resurrection in us. We ought to take note of the winds of criticism…even the murmurings of dark hearts can be an exhortation for us to seek deeper meaning, and to discover our own failures. If you do not know what Zeitgeist is all about…don’t waste your time. I am only saying this for the benefit of those who have had their flesh exposed to the poison Zeitgeist’s fangs excrete. Please stay tuned or read the next post; I think it will be of great value to many.
-Your brother in Christ (if you are born of the Spirit)…Jeremiah Dusenberry.
Jesse Little says:
April 3rd, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Jeremiah,
I am reading your post the night before I teach on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. While I agree with what you say above I am stymied by one thing. You spend your time and space talking about what not to talk about and where the focus is wrong, but you do not mention much, if anything, on the Power of the Resurrection (title) and its outworking in our lives. I have seen part 2 also and, again, agree. Yet still the question is left in the minds of the reader….”what does ‘Res. Power’ do for me informationally, spiritually, and practically?” I look forward to appreciating your comments. j
Jeremiah Dusenberry says:
April 3rd, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Jessie, This is going to be a very long series of posts. I realize I am taking a risk by breaking these out into a series because I run the risk of losing peoples attention. But the content and nature of my study of it has been so in depth, I cannot even begin to attempt to lay it out in one post. This only was a bit of a disclaimer on the discussion. I appreciate your input bro.
Jeremiah Dusenberry says:
April 3rd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
I apologize I was not able to get them all done before Easter though. My main emphasis in the long run is going to be primarily the Resurrections outworking in our lives, mine included. I just want to lay first the foundation of its Old Testament requirement through prophecy and allusion.
Jeremiah Dusenberry says:
April 3rd, 2010 at 11:58 pm
I will also state that some of my vestiges of emptiness at resurrection sermons could also have been due to my own blindness, and hardness of heart. I did not begin to attempt to grasp this deep truth for years and years of my walk as a Christian.
Jesse says:
April 7th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
To me it was kind of funny. I was teaching on the resurrection the next day and one of my points was on the power of the resurrection from Romans 6. I recalled your wifes fb post on the subject and went looking for a different angle/point of view, hence the frustration.
In simple form, the nuts and bolts of salvation, i said that his death brought us Mercy, but his resurrection brought us Grace. What say ye?
j
Jeremiah Dusenberry says:
April 7th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
You just keep trying to get me to say my main point…LOL! I love your enthusiasm Jesse. I will send it to you via email to keep from getting the cart before the horse as far as the blogs go. Like I said I am really trying to build up to the point. There is another post brewing at the moment…Austin just has to finish approving of it.
What specifically was the different angle/point of view you are mentioning?
I will give a hint…we use the term Salvation often extracted from the context in which we see the term used. It is a far more ambiguous term than people are typically able to recognize. It is a word that adapts to its context very strictly. Salvation in one context can mean something totally different than salvation in another. It is not a catch all statement like we make it out to mean commonly.
I would think though that there is truth to your summary, stated alone it is doctrinally correct, however Romans 6 defines what grace is and what grace does as opposed to being an end in and of itself, grace does not just cover, it does stuff…very important stuff and that is where our emphasis is often lacking. This concept will be where I wrap a lot of these ideas up. The thing I am trying to emphasize though is, a lot of our commonly used statements have been devalued of meaning because their usage has become like monopoly money in a spiritual economy. Sometimes we need to take a deeper look and dredge up the old truths and state them in fresh ways. This was actually how the prophets often worked. They often were men who re-iterated the covenants, but always used fresh language to get the point across. I think that is what I hope to accomplish with this discussion.
I hope the subject matter is intriguing enough to keep you tracking though Bro. How could it not be? It is the most important discussion anyone could ever have…
How is Timbuktu treating you man?
Jesse says:
April 10th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Timbuktu is my New York, my friend. I will write back when I am not prep-ing for the next teaching. Mark 13 – Olivet Discourse tommorrow. 4 applicable truths. Beware, Be Led By the Spirit, Be Ready and Be Watchful. Verse by verse on the midweek. j