Resurrection Faith

By salvation I mean not barely according to the vulgar notion deliverance from hell or going to heaven but a present deliverance from sin a restoration of the soul to its primitive health its original purity a recovery of the divine nature the renewal of our souls after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness in justice mercy and truth. – John Wesley

John Wesley’s use of the word “vulgar” may be offensive to you if you think like a modern American, but it meant more about the level of refinement than anything else. Put another way, he might say, “the notion that salvation is simply deliverance from hell and certainty of heaven is severely underdeveloped. With that clarification in mind, let us proceed to flesh out the true purpose of the death and resurrection of our Lord. 

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Romans 4:25) Without God’s intervention through His Son, we have no justification for His acceptance. All is lost without justification. Without God the Father’s acceptance, there is only one way and it leads to hell. “O death where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’” The sting of death is the consequence of sin. The Law of God is absolute and irrefutable and it demands condemnation. Disloyalty to God is an outward sign of an inward fatal sickness. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)

Belief in Christ unites you with Him through faith (2 Corinthians 4:14). In this case, belief is not so, dare I say, vulgar as simple assent. Rather, it is a matter of refined faith; believing as if your life depends upon it, because it really does. Therefore, we are blessed by God’s grace so that when the Father looks at us, He does not see our transgressions, but the righteousness of His Son. It means that we have died with Christ and will also live with Him (Romans 6:8).

His resurrection was unique in that Jesus Christ reinabitted, restored, and perfected His human flesh in and of His own volition and power as the Son of God. Death and hell could not hold Him. (Romans 1:4) It was a crushing defeat for the Enemy; a demonstration of absolute authority and power, and transcendent declaration that Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the “I Am.” (John 10:30; Revelation 22:13)

Therefore, His victory over sin and death; over the Enemy and his servants, combined with your faith in Christ Jesus means that you are children of God, “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:26-29)

As if that were not enough! Jesus imparts the heart and mind of God, the logos, to God’s children so that they will know extraordinary peace and experience sanctification. Justification and faith are followed by new birth in the Spirit and opens the way to perfect love for God and His family.  “He breaks the power of canceled sin, he sets the prisoner free; his blood can make the foulest clean; his blood availed for me.” (O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing, verse 4, Charles Wesley (1739)) 

A refined expression of one’s understanding of Easter’s true meaning casts off simple thoughts of insurance against hell and guaranteed reservations in heaven. Oh no! It means so much more. You have the power and peace that causes abundant life in every circumstance. The heart and mind of the LORD causes your thoughts to change and your interpretation of worldly affairs to change so that what once seemed important matters very little, and the previously insignificant things bloom into beautiful flowers that act as signs of the Lord’s love and attending grace. 

Therefore, rejoice this week and embrace Him like never before. Welcome the Holy Spirit and pray for sanctifying grace. Courageously invite the LORD to change your priorities, perceptions, and tastes. Invite new disciplines and deeper devotion rather than ending Lenten fasts with excess. Remember how good it felt to follow the Master, wanting only what you needed from Him? Why give it up when it has been such a comfort and such an excellent way of deepening submission and dependence? 

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him! How I've proved him o'er and o'er! Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O for grace to trust him more! (Louisa M. R. Stead (1882))