The Resurrection, pefect love casting out our fears.

Last week I had the privileged of participating in a Good Friday service with two other churches in Douglas. I enjoyed most of the service until Ellie decided that 30 minutes of being quiet and listening was all she could handle. So I took her to down to the nursery for the rest of the service.

While I was down there I started to think about the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter. I tried to imagine how the disciples must have felt after seeing everything that they believed and hoped in fall apart and the one they thought had come to restore the glory of Israel executed and dumped in a borrowed tomb. Imagine the thoughts and emotions that must have flooded their minds and hearts.

Disappointment, sorrow, confusion, shame, fear.

I started to think about fear. I started to wonder what I would do if I just watched someone be killed for preaching the Gospel. Would I show up at church on Sunday? Would I get up and preach  and face death too?

I was thinking about all of this on Saturday while I was preparing for Sunday, searching for a passage that would be an appropriate call to worship for Easter morning. As I was looking through various passages I came across this statement by Jesus: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." (Revelation 1:17-18)

In this passage John is taken into heaven by an angel and is given a message to send to seven churches. As he begins to receive the messages for these churches he hears a voice which he says is like a loud trumpet. This is what happens next: "I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance." (Revelation 1:12-16)

As soon as John saw this, a man with eyes like blazing fire and a voice that roars like a river, he did the best thing I think I could think to do, he fell on his face like a dead man. He did what you do when you're a kid and hear a scary noise at night. You pull the covers over your head and don't move and hope that will save you from the horrible monster. John falls on the ground like he's dead, filled with fear. And at that moment the One speaking says something to him that has to sound a little crazy. He says "do not be afraid."

Really? I think fear is a pretty good response when meeting someone with a sword coming out of his mouth and looking at his face is like staring into the sun.

But Jesus doesn't just tell John not to be afraid; he tells John why he shouldn't be afraid. He tells John, you don't have to be afraid because I am alive. I died but now I live again and I hold the power and control over death itself in my hands.

I don't think we often think about the resurrection as the reason that we can live without fear. But Paul tells us the same thing in 1 Corinthians 15 where he says that the reason he can face hardship, persecution and even death is because of the resurrection of Jesus.

Why?

A clue is found in another of John's writings. In 1 John 4:18 John says "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear." And both John and Paul tell us that the greatest demonstration of God's love for us is the death and resurrection of Jesus.

You see, the resurrected Jesus, in his unrestrained glory, which is too awesome and terrifying for us to even comprehend, is actually the highest, most perfect representation and display of God's perfect love for us.

This Jesus, shining like the sun with flaming eyes and with power and authority over all the universe is the same Jesus who loved us so much that he died for us. And this Jesus who loves us so much that he would lay down his own life for us is the same One who holds every moment, every second, every instance of the rest of our lives, and even our deaths, in his hands.

This means that he has the power to protect, preserve and care for us when we are hurt, rejected, persecuted and even killed. This is why Jesus can tell us not to be afraid. This is actually the only reason we can live our lives without fear, because we know that the eternal One, who lives forever and ever, holds our future in his care and will lovingly preserve us with him forever. It's only this love, the love that led Jesus to the cross, that can cast out our fear.

“Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."