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Yesterday was Apple’s WWDC, and after watching the highlights, I was again in awe of what we are capable of producing through technology. It absolutely baffles the mind sometimes.
This feeling of awe in the face of scientific advancement is actually one I am quite used to having; I double-majored in college in Neuroscience and Philosophy, and spent two summers interning at a stem cell laboratory.
As a seminary student, now perhaps more than ever am I increasingly interested by the ways in which science and religion – contrary to popular belief – are capable of complimenting one-another.
Don’t believe me? Look no further than the recent offering of Dr. Curt Thompson, “Anatomy of the Soul.”
image and book made available, free-of-charge, through the Tyndale Media Network
We are told in Luke 10:27 to, “…love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Dr. Thompson encourages us to do so, not only by applying our mind in the scientific field, but by studying the mind and knowing it as well. Showing us how the mind functions in relation to emotions, relationships, personality, Dr. Thompson reveals that spiritual practices can enrich our mental capacity.
In discussing sin, the Fall, and the Resurrection, Dr. Thompson posits that spiritual transformation and renewal occurs in the mind as well as the heart.
Dr. Thompson also encourages the reader to love, mercy, and justice, and shows the neurological capacity therein.
Science and religion do indeed go together; through the advances of science and technology we are able to more clearly understand the world God has created, and therefore come to a better understanding of His might, majesty, beauty, and glory.
This Sunday is Easter Sunday (previously discussed here).
More than a day for chocolate bunnies, packing in the “Creasters” to church, and extended family around the dinner table, Easter is celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave over two thousand years ago.
Right, I think that much we know. But here is the rub:
Many of us contemptuously look at the ways in which our culture has corrupted the true reason for Easter (Christ’s resurrection) and turned it into a mere child’s holiday to help support candy stores; we get on our high horses and valiantly proclaim, “He is risen.”
And indeed He is risen – for there is no greater truth that impacts our lives in such a monumental way.
But those words roll off our tongue…and I believe that is it. I believe most of us proclaim that He is risen, and then go on our way, allowing that transformational reality to have no bearing in the lives we lead.
What, then, truly is Easter? And how is it that we can so easily lose sight of such a magnificent truth?
If we look back to the Old Testament, we would see that Christ’s resurrection wasn’t just the conclusion of something that had happened three days before, or even thirty-three years before, but was actually the glorious completion to what had been developing for thousands of years. 
When Moses met with the Lord atop Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19) with all of Israel in tow, the Lord was there in all His fullness, might, and majesty. We see in verses 16-19 that Yahweh descended on the third day in lightning, thunder, clouds, and smoke in what had to be the most awesome and terrible display of power imaginable.
And while the Lord revealed Himself to Moses and to Israel, He did so only in part. He revealed His character in the commandments – His jealousy and His morality and His justice – but He did not reveal all of Himself. He revealed the beginning of the plot, that Israel was to be God’s people, committed by way of a treaty of suzerainty and the Immanuel Principle.
God revealed how the story would begin, but He did not reveal how it would end – not then at least.
We see steps, progressions of God revealing Himself even further to Israel.
In Exodus 40: 34-38 we have God entering the tabernacle, indicating He would no longer meet Israel atop Sinai, but would travel with them, would be their God wherever they were.
But this was not the end of the journey, only another step. One-on-one fellowship with God was not yet permissible, for only select individuals were permitted into the tabernacle to commune with God (Numbers 1: 51-53).
As David prepares to build the temple (1 Chronicles 22), the Lord tells him no, preferring instead his son build the temple. While Solomon is David’s son, and does build the temple (2 Chronicles 2-5), the incident foreshadows a greater son of David – Jesus – building a more permanent temple than even Solomon’s.
So look further, beyond earthly temples built by the hands of man, to the Living Temple that is our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. As we remember Good Friday and Easter Sunday, remember the reality that Jesus Christ is the true Temple, resurrected from the grave to bring us the ultimate reality of fellowship and communion with the Lord.
All that Mt. Sinai and the tabernacle and the temple foreshadowed are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. All that God promised in the millennia leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ was ultimately fulfilled in His death, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
Praise God and worship Him daily.
Because Christ is risen, we have the privilege of celebrating Him every second that we are awake. We do not need to wait for the “Easter holiday.”
So go, go and be transformed. Remember that our Savior and Lord is risen. Remember He promises to provide, to sanctify, and to guide. Remember He is holy and mighty and just.
Christ is risen and the promises of God are fulfilled. Go and be transformed.
He is risen.
14For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
– 2 Corinthians 5: 14-15
We walk the earth, lazily wandering here and there, spending time but never really investing it. We live aimlessly, purposelessly, and distractedly.
Why?
We foolishly and selfishly think this life is ours to waste.
We think we own the right to govern ourselves based on our own limited faculties.
But that is incorrect.
In truth, our life belongs to God and it is His name we bear, and we are revealing His name to others as we live.
Whether or not we realize this affects if we reveal His name in a glorifying or disgraceful fashion.
My Lord and my God, my deepest, most intimate desire is to live the truth of Your Son’s resurrection as an everyday reality, for You own my life and I desire to be poured out before You. Move in me and through me for Your glory.
I have many fond memories of Easter; many include being a child and receiving baskets full of candy and doing massive Easter egg hunts all across our house. I also remember when I first found out the Easter Bunny was made up, that he really didn’t visit our house every Easter eve (I was in 3rd grade…..right, so I was gullible as a little kid. So what?)
But I have another memory, one that has been formed much more recently, and carries with it much more significance than Easter egg hunts before church.
In college my wife and I attended a small country church on the outskirts of town, and before every service the pastor would say, “He is risen,” and the congregation would respond, “He is risen indeed.”
Well on Easter morning, the memory still fresh from what was always a sorrowfully heart-wrenching Good Friday service, our pastor would utter those same words, “He is risen.” Except there was a fire in his eyes and he was so excited he almost growled RISEN….it was almost as if he had seen the empty tomb himself, his words were so inspired.
And the congregation would respond, loudly and passionately, “He is RISEN INDEED,” his enthusiastic proclamation having inspired them to an intense desire and longing to know Him risen in their very heart.
And therein lays the beauty of Easter; the once-a-year celebration of the every-day-of-the-year reality.
Christ rose from the grave – the tomb is empty. And after He ascended to be with the Father, the Holy Spirit descended and indwells each and every one of us who call on His name.
The life He lived, the death He died, and the salvation He offers….all of it is made marvelously powerful in our lives through the indwelling and empowering spiration of the Holy Spirit.
So while Easter is just another holiday, secularized by the masses of culture, it is still a very present reality for every believer.
It carries weight - not of chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, and Easter eggs – but of the living reality of Jesus Christ in and through each and every one of us.
He is risen.
