Utopian Imagination or Easter Hope

Easter Gospel from Luke 24 and the Joy of the Resurrection

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, chapter 24, verses 1 -12. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

But when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead?

He is not here, but he is risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise. And they remembered his words.

And returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles.

But these words seemed to them an idle tale. And they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves and he went home marveling at what had happened.

He is risen. He is risen indeed.

The Failure of Utopian Politics and Human Sin

Dear saints, today is the day of days. Now, secretly, I want to climb up on the top of my roof, take off my shirt, and wave it in the air wildly and let everyone in town know what it is that is bringing me such joy.

The problem is if I did that, they'd probably call the police in a hook and ladder truck to come and get me off my roof, which I think might be the only way I might be able to get down from there. So I fear that my joy and exuberance regarding today may go badly if I execute this plan.

Just saying. But I want you, dear saints, to share the joy and the hope that I have this Easter morning. And in order to do that, we're going to need to step back for a minute. We're going to have to evaluate what just happened in light of where we are and where this is all heading.

Now, if that sounds a little bit cryptic and kind of vague, I understand that. That'll change shortly and everything will come into focus. So give me just a few minutes to develop the thought here. So let me start by saying this.

We all know that there's something terribly wrong with this world. And if you're honest with yourself, then you are woefully aware that you, yourself, me included, that we're all part of the problem. We're not part of the solution.

Now, for years, politicians, religious leaders, poets, people who sing songs, things like that, they have been leading the charge, the call for us to change the world. I remember growing up as a kid, hearing that wonderful commercial, I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.

I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company. How weird. We can change the world by buying somebody a Coke. I didn't know that was possible. But see, there's something that was compelling about that schmaltzy, hippie commercial.

Why? Because in that commercial, you caught a glimpse, a glimpse of something that each and every one of us longs for and yearns for. Now, this has taken on many different forms in history. And if you think back to the 20th century and the two big political ideologies that wrecked Europe, communism and fascism, I want you to think for a second about really what these movements were about.

They were nothing less than grand visions cast to the masses by quite forceful and charismatic leaders that promised to once and for all solve the problems of our world. But, like the Tower of Babel, these projects were catastrophic failures.

Not only did their dreamed for utopian societies never emerge, the countries that adopted these ideologies were thrown into poverty and ruin, and countless millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, lost their lives in these grand, visionary, social and political experiments.

Think about it. What were they promising? Once and for all, we're going to eliminate poverty. Once and for all, we're all going to be equal. There will not be the haves and the have-nots. We will all pool our resources together.

We will become one big utopian brotherhood. And how'd that all work out? It didn't. Now, you can catch glimpses of this utopian vision in the late John Lennon's haunting song, Imagine. Now, lucky for you, I will not sing this for you, because it's Easter and I want you to be blessed.

But let me read the lyrics. John Lennon. He wrote, Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today. Imagine there's no countries.

It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or to die for. Oh, and no religion, too. Imagine all the people living life in peace. Now, you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. And I hope that someday you'll join us and the world will be as one.

Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger. A brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world. Now, you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. And I hope that someday you'll join us and the world will live as one.

Boy, that song taps into something, doesn't it? Think about the societies we live in. Think about our plight as human beings. And I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about us. We are quite a wretched bunch.

The other day I was on the iTunes app store for my iPad, looking for an app. And I thought, well, I'll look at the top apps, top games. And I looked at the top games, and I was struck by a fact that we have turned war and killing into games.

What kind of species are we? Who does that? I can get a top score in the global leaderboard if I can rack up a huge body count.

That's a game? Hmm. Something.

Is terribly wrong. These ideologies that I mentioned, communism and fascism, they were doomed to failure. And there's a real simple reason why that's the case. Now, some people may say, well, at least they tried to make the world a better place.

At least they tried. Ask the tens of millions of people who are not in graves, but whose bodies were stacked like cords of wood and thrown into pits by these ideologies, whether or not they were just trying to make the world a better place.

Right? The reason why these ideologies failed is because God did not institute governments for the purpose of bringing the Garden of Eden back to this cursed planet. That's not why government exists. Read the book of Romans.

Romans makes it clear. God instituted governments for one purpose, and that purpose is to punish evildoers. To keep us in check, because we are a wicked lot. In other words, there will be no movement no matter how grand, no matter how many poets and authors and politicians and religious leaders and popular singers get behind the movement, there will be no movement that will ever bring the Garden of Eden back here.

Not one. So what is our hope? Well, we heard it in our texts this morning. And because Jesus has risen from the grave bodily, and oh yes He did, we are sure that what these promises are will take place.

We read the opening verses from 1 Corinthians 15, 19, and 20. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people to be most pitied. Look at that. As Christians, our hope is not in this life.

If it were, we're to be pitied. Why? Because how many years have you got left? I have, well, one less year than I had a year ago. Five less than I had five years ago. And I don't know where the finish line is.

Do you all know where your finish line is? I don't know where mine is. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, well, we of all people are to be most pitied. Verse 20, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, and yes He has.

And listen to what it says about Jesus. He's the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Colossians chapter 1 puts it this way, starting at verse 15. Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

For by Jesus all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things.

In Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning. He is the arche. The beginning is kind of a weird word here. You can almost say He is the pioneer, the trailblazer.

And He is the firstborn from the dead, so that in everything He might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.

There's many different ways that you can preach about Jesus' resurrection. One of the ways that you can preach about Jesus' resurrection is you can say by the fact that He rose bodily from the grave, it shows definitively that His sacrifice, His shed blood for us on the cross was accepted by the Father as the sacrifice that redeems us and by which our sins are forgiven.

This is absolutely true. This is a good way to preach Jesus' resurrection. Another way you can preach the resurrection is you can say by the fact that Jesus rose bodily from the grave it proved that He is who He claimed to be, none other than God in human flesh.

And this is most certainly true also. But our epistle text and our Old Testament text show us the eschatological hope that we have as Christians because Jesus rose bodily from the grave. He is the firstborn of the new creation.

The new creation has already begun. I want you to think of it this way. This current heavens and earth that we live in it begins in the book of Genesis when God says let there be light and there was light and then God formed the earth, the stars, the sun, the moon the vegetation, the plants, the big animals and the creepy crawly little things.

The Hebrew there is actually kind of fun it talks about the creepers. All you women love the creepers. But the new creation doesn't begin with the creation of the earth, a new sun, a new moon new stars.

The new creation already has begun with Jesus Christ's resurrection from the grave. And those of you who are Christians who have been baptized you have been buried with Christ in His death and you have been raised with Him in His resurrection.

You are already dead and you are already alive. You've already got one foot in the new creation and you still have another foot in the old. We kind of live in a paradox between two worlds if you would.

In the now and the not yet. And this is not symbolic. This is real and it is true. And so now I would like to re-read the Old Testament text and keep in mind John Lennon has nothing on this text because all he can do was imagine.

But the prophet Isaiah inspired by the Holy Spirit isn't imagining he's revealing what is coming and it's true because of Christ. Isaiah writes, for behold God speaking, I create new heavens and a new earth.

And we sit there and say oh please come quickly whatever this is. The former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. Now some of you hear this passage and you become anxious. And here's why you become anxious.

Well it says that the former things will not come to mind. Will I forget my loved ones? Will I not remember my children? No! That's not what this is saying. What it's talking about is the curse, the pain, the suffering, the death, the loss of family members, the loss of your own life, the loss of your health, the wages of your sin.

Unfortunately, the wages of sin is death. But we seem to be on installment plans. We're making payments every week, every year. It's like every time I go to the mirror, it's like I've been paying a little bit more to death.

Can't wait for the balloon payment at the end. The former things shall not be remembered. They will not come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy and her people to be a gladness.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. No more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. Well this isn't describing today's Jerusalem. Today's Jerusalem, the peace is enforced at gunpoint.

And even then, it's very tenuous. And there's a lot of distress. You think of the suicide bombers and the tensions between the Muslims and the Jews. And even the Christians have contributed to this tension.

Jerusalem today is nothing like what this is describing. But no more shall there be in Jerusalem an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days. For the young man shall die a hundred years old.

The sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. I'm glad about that part right there. I don't know if you've figured this out yet.

But when the new heavens and new earth arrived, I'm out of a job. I'm out of a job. It says here that we'll plant vineyards. Any of you farmers here want to help me learn how to take care of plants and to farm?

It might take me about a thousand years to get the hang of it. Be patient with me. They shall plant vineyards. They will eat their fruit. They shall not build in another inhabit. They shall not plant in another eat.

Boy, you think about this. We recently purchased a home. We recently purchased a home. And it's so funny. The previous owner was there for so long. He lived there from the time of the end of World War II until very recently.

And everybody still calls that home by his last name. Oh, you live in such and such this house. Yeah, I do. It's sad though, isn't it? But in the new earth, everybody will refer to your home as your home.

Not that other person's home. Because you will build it and it will never be inhabited by somebody else. Actually, Christ is the one who builds it. But that's another text, right? They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

They shall not build in another inhabit. They shall not plant in another eat. For like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be. Got some really old trees in my yard. My chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity. They shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord and their descendants with them. Before they call, I will answer. While they are yet speaking, I will hear.

Even the animal kingdom is going to be different. Listen to this. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together. Now, wolves currently don't mind grazing with lambs. Lambs get a little skittish about this arrangement.

Because generally, the wolves like to graze on the lambs, right? But things are going to change. And then we learn this, alright? The wolf and the lamb shall graze together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox.

And the dust shall be the serpent's food. I hear about vegetarian plant-eating herbivore lions and I worry about my oldest daughter. Because I fear that she's going to have five or six of these for pets.

See, this is not an imagination song. This is a promise. This is a promise. They shall not hurt or destroy in all of my holy mountains, says the Lord. Christ Himself says it this way in Revelation 21.

I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had passed away. The sea was no more. I saw the holy city of the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. And oh, I can't wait till that day. No more atheists and their silly games. Because they all know that God exists.

They just suppress the truth and unrighteousness. But the day is coming when we will no longer walk by faith, but we will walk by sight. We will see our crucified and risen Savior face to face. We will become very familiar with the scars in His hands and His feet.

We'll know exactly what color His eyes are or how He keeps His hair. And because He is our King, there will never be a time when we have to languish through an awful election season. Never again will we have to read in our newspapers reports about what lousy persons our politicians are and what a complete letdown they've been.

Never again. Never again. He will dwell with them. They will be His people. God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And here's the best part. Death will be no more.

Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore. For the former things, they have passed away. They have died. And God has raised the new heavens and new earth like He's raised our bodies from the grave.

And Jesus Himself says this. The one who is seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. And we know this is true because the grave is empty. Death could not hold Him. Death could not hold Him and He conquered death.

And because you have been baptized into His death and His resurrection, you too are victorious because you are in Christ. Now I'm not much of a songwriter, but think of it this way. Imagine a world where there is no death.

Where there is no mourning or crying. It's easy if you think about it. No pain and the former things have passed away. Where in the new Jerusalem, even the animal kingdom is different. Now some may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

Because Christ has promised. A new world is coming and He's the only one who can bring it. And He's promised to. Christ is risen. He's risen indeed. Alleluia. And it changes everything. The new world's coming.

Count on it. God never makes a promise and doesn't follow through. And you who are in Him, you will rejoice and see Him face to face. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The New Creation in Christ and the Hope of Isaiah 65

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