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Click here to listen to the sermon.  11mins.

Isaiah 65v17-25      New Heavens and a New Earth

Acts 10v34-43

John 20v1-18         The Empty Tomb

Don’t push Jesus back into the grave!

We must not simply look at the Easter morning event as an event standing alone in history, for if we do, although we get the wonder of the event itself, (the miracle of the resurrection); we miss out on so much more.

We must see this Easter event in the context of the fuller biblical history, then we capture the greater excitement of what God is doing, what he has promised for 2000 years, and the change from a Law based relationship to a Grace based relationship between God and Man.

Through the resurrection we truly do experience the freedom of God’s grace towards us. The new life that springs forth as a result of understanding and believing this wonderful truth. The incredible passion of our Creator, who has arranged so much so that we might enter into a fuller relationship with him.

The revelation that, this relationship based on love with God is actually the proper basis of all our relationships as human beings.

The realisation that, we feel more fully human, alive and fulfilled when our lives are based on love for God and love each other.

God met Abraham by faith, then gave the Law to Moses as a temporary guide for the people, to teach them about his holiness. He then fulfilled his own law by bringing his Messiah, and basing our relationship with God not on Law, but on love and forgiveness.

Easter is this pinnacle point in history where mankind’s relationship with God substantially changes and we are free to enter into God’s presence by grace.

The following 2000 years have been about the whole world learning to live in that new covenant relationship. (We still have a long way to go!)

But even for us Christians, we tend to default back to the law as the basis of our relationship with God, by looking to judgement instead of grace.

Paul realised this danger and fought strongly to stop the young church doing just this. He firmly based the theology of the church on GRACE, not Law.  Eph 2v5ff.  Gal 5v4.

The Great Reformation sought to recover this basic principle of the Gospel.

But still in Christ, so many tend to turn back towards Law, applying OT principles based on law and judgement, and thereby try to put Jesus back in the grave.  Can you imagine the disciples pushing Jesus back in the grave and saying “You can’t come out here, you’re meant to be dead” That’s what we are doing when we continue to live by law and not Grace.

Jesus will not stay in the grave, he has risen! The old covenant of Law has gone for good and been replaced / fulfilled by the new covenant of Grace.

So don’t allow yourself to go back into the grave to live under guilt or shame or legalism.

God has moved on and you will not find him there.

Jesus is alive and he calls us all to be alive also in the covenant of grace, forgiveness and love.