MPC 8th April 2007.April 8 - Luke 24 - "Raise Your Right Hand Man"
Phil Campbell MPC 8th April 2007.
I know there's a war on between the breakfast TV shows. And I know most of you are probably commuting to work at 7.24am anyway. But maybe one or two of you were watching the Today show on Thursday morning and heard the Alan Jones Easter editorial.
If you're a regular Today watcher you'll know that Alan gets three minutes to sound off every morning. On the water crisis, on the terrorism crisis, on the education crisis, on the interest rate crisis. Whatever crisis he can think of.
But on Thursday morning, Alan wanted to talk to us about Easter. And his hope that Australians would start to take Easter more seriously. In the same way we've revived the spirit of ANZAC day.
It's a nice idea. Although in the end, Alan was shooting for an Easter just a little bit short of the Easter we're going to be celebrating this morning. Because he said even though it's a Christian celebration, you can really celebrate what he called the true meaning of Easter without having any Christian convictions at all.
Good Friday. All about injustice. And oppression. Which he says is still around today.
And Easter Sunday. Where he said Christians talk about the resurrection of Jesus. Which is really, he said, just another way of talking about hope. Hope... in the triumph of good over evil. And so this Easter, he said, we should all of us, Christian or not, celebrate that hope. That good will win. Over evil.
Which is a nice sounding idea. But in the end, is pretty much the same as whistling in the dark. Let's strip away the substance, let's strip away the historical basis, let's strip away the facts... and have a weekend where we celebrate hoping for the best. When all the evidence points to the contrary.
Now I hope I haven't done Alan Jones a dis-service in summarising what I take it he was saying. But I want to put to you this morning that however way you take his words, the resurrection of Jesus that we celebrate today is more than just a celebration of hope.
I mean, it certainly is that. But it's a claim for very much more than that as well.
The resurrection is more than just evidence that life after death is a distinct possibility. And that death is maybe not the end after all. And the fact is, when you look closely at the way Jesus himself set the scene for his death and resurrection, it's rather more confronting. Than just a sentimental hope that one day there'll be a party in the sky. In the sweet bye and bye.
And particularly for anyone who knew the Old Testament scriptures, the claims of the resurrection are audacious. Which is why this morning, we're going to being exactly there. In the Old Testament. Looking at two passages that set the scene for Easter Sunday. Set the scene for the question, what would it mean... if God were to raise a man?
And the place we're going to start is in the Psalms. Psalm 80. A song written when the Israelites, the people of God have been crushed. Israel has been smashed in battle. To the point where there's almost nothing left. If you know anything of the history of the nation of Israel, it's a familiar story. And the Psalm says in verse 16, "Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish."
Now this is going to sound a little bit like Alan Jones on the today show. Because in the very next verse, the Psalm says, we might be smashed... but there is a hope.
Psalm 80 verse 17. It's a prayer:
Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
A prayer that in the midst of what looks like the destruction of everything righteous and good... God will somehow raise up... this son of man. To be his right hand man.
They're strange words. Read them through again.
Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
If injustice is going to be turned in to justice, if the wrongs of the world are going to be put to right - it's going to be by God raising up this son of man. To be his right hand man.
Now I want you to keep that image of this son of man in mind. Because we're going to see the same picture again. In one more Old Testament passage, before we move ahead to the words of Jesus.
Because exactly this image... with exactly this same phrase... reappears in Daniel chapter 7. Which I want to suggest is one page of his Old Testament bible that Jesus would have had bookmarked and dog-eared and finger-marked from constant reference.
Daniel Chapter 7. Daniel's an Israelite in exile. In Babylon. The nation of Israel is in ruins. The people of God have been crushed. And Daniel has a vision. And it's exactly the picture from Psalm 80.
Daniel 7 verse 13. "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man... coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence."
Now I don't know how your dreams measure up to this one. I've had some pretty wild ones when there's too much MSG in the Chinese takeaway the night before. But they're not usually quite so cosmic in scope. Because Daniel's dream is a vision of the throne room of God. The Ancient of Days. And as he's looking out at the clouds surrounding the throne, he uses the same phrase as Psalm 80. The Son of Man. And in fact it's the same image as Psalm 80 as well. Because he says, in his dream, here comes one like a Son of Man. Coming towards the throne of God. Closer and closer. On the clouds. And instead of being turned away at the door, this Son of Man is treated with immense honour. He's brought into the presence of God. And if you keep reading in the next verse, this Son of Man is given authority. It's like a coronation. And given glory. And sovereign power. To be God's right hand man.
And is given sovereign authority... over who? Daniel says, in his dream all peoples, nations and men of every language... worship him.
And his dominion... is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. And his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
And I guess Daniel wakes up and says to Mrs Daniel, boy you should hear what I dreamed last night. A human being. A Son of Man. Was ruling with God. Over every nation. And she laughs, and maybe looks at him like he's a little bit loopy. A Son of Man. At the right hand of God!
But there it is in the Old Testament. That's the picture. A Psalm that says God will raise up the Son of Man to his right hand. Daniel's vision. That this Son of Man comes in the clouds to the throne of God. And is given glory and authority and sovereign power. Over every nation. As he takes his place at God's right hand.
Now I wonder if you've ever read the gospel accounts of Jesus, and you've ever noticed a curious thing. Because maybe you've glossed over it. And that's the curious fact that Jesus so often calls himself the Son of Man.
And as you read it, you kind of think maybe it's a bit odd. You might think it's a bit odd for example he doesn't more often call himself the Son of God. Which he does from time to time. But he keeps wanting to push the line that he's the Son of Man. And the reason for that goes back to the Old Testament passages we've just seen.
Which makes what he's saying a very bold claim indeed. Starting with Luke 18:31. Which you'll see on the screen.
And keep what we've just seen about the Son of Man in the Old Testament in mind. Because one things for sure, that's exactly what Jesus has got in his mind.
Jesus takes the twelve disciples aside and says to them, Luke 18 verse 31:
We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.
Everything the prophets wrote about the Son of Man. Which is in short as we've seen is that God is going to raise up the Son of Man as his right hand man.
And that somehow the Son of Man is going to ascend in the clouds to go to the Father where he'll rule over every nation.
Which as the events of Good Friday unfold looks more and more unlikely. As Jesus is betrayed. And arrested. And put on trial. First before the high priest. Then before the whole Jewish council. Listen in for a minute as they ask him are you the Christ... It's in Luke 22 from verse 66.
At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. "If you are the Christ," they said, "tell us." Jesus answered, "If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God."
Now catch the audacity of that. Here's Jesus, arrested, bound, falsely accused. The high priest in all his splendour sitting in judgement on Jesus... and Jesus says to him, you're going to see the day when there's a huge role reversal. You're going to see the day when I'm going to take my rightful place. You're going to see the day Daniel could only dream about. The Son of Man coming in the clouds to the throne room of the Ancient of Days. And that Son of Man... is me.
Sure doesn't look like it, does it? And you know the story. As they put a crown of thorns on him, and say, you think you're a king, here's your crown. And a purple robe. And they spit on him, and they mock him, and they blindfold him while they beat him... and then they crucify him. And drive a spear in his side. And take him down. Dead.
You'll see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Mighty God? I hardly think so.
And yet you'll remember Psalm 80 said this:
Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the Son Of Man you have raised up for yourself.
Which means God's got some raising up to do.
Which is why we need to notice what happens next.
And so we come to Luke 24, our reading.
Where on the first day of the week, Sunday morning, at the crack of dawn, the women come to the tomb to embalm the dead body of Jesus. And find the stone rolled away from the tomb. And the body gone.
And in their confusion, two figures in gleaming clothes. Messengers of God. Who say to them, "Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He isn't here. He is risen." And then these words. Which are worth following in Luke 24 verse 7. They say, don't you remember what he told you all along? That the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again. And then they remembered his words. That's exactly what he'd said. And they counted off the days. Friday. Saturday. Sunday.
Psalm 80: "Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself."
Dying. Being raised up again. All part of the grand announcement. All part of the plan. That the one who dies innocent as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is going to be raised. As God's grand stamp of approval. To mark him out once and for all as the one who is going to rule over every nation.
And then finally, in the very last verses of Luke's gospel, chapter 24 verse 51, while he's blessing them he leaves them... and is taken up into heaven. In a trail of clouds.
Which is exactly what you'd be expecting to happen with the Son of Man. Taken up into heaven in the clouds. To rule at God's right hand. Over people of every tribe and nation and tongue. Exactly as Daniel dreamed it. All those years before.
The resurrection of Jesus is the pathway to the throne. The resurrection of Jesus is the way God is raising him up to rule at his right hand. The resurrection of Jesus is the announcement that here at last is the Son of Man the scriptures had been talking about. The ruler of all the nations.
So bow the knee to him. Whoever you are.
See, that's the point. Not just that the resurrection of Jesus is a picture of hope that good will one day win over evil. And not just the hope and the tangible evidence that one day you'll see your mum or your dad or your husband or your daughter again. I mean it certainly is that hope. But it's something much more. It's the announcement of the appointment of God's right hand man. To rule over all mankind.
My mum was in the crowd at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth. The resurrection is in effect the start of the coronation of king Jesus.
Which in a way isn't quite the message Alan Jones was putting on Thursday morning. Because, you see, it's so politically incorrect, isn't it?
We're meant to say that all religions are the same. That the well meaning Muslim and the well-meaning Buddhist and the well-meaning Christian... are all somehow right in their own way.
We're meant to say that in the end it doesn't matter what you think. Or who you serve. As long as you're sincere. And so if you're a Hindu, you'll think Jesus Christ is one of history's great spiritual leaders. And you'll happily add him to the list... along with your list of Hindu gods.
But we can't say that. Because the claim of Easter, the claim of the resurrection, is that Jesus Christ is the one at God's right hand. That Jesus Christ is the one with the right to claim the worship of every nation. And that every knee... is called to bow to Jesus. As the Son of Man raised up by God himself. To sit at his right hand.
And it's a huge claim, isn't it? That starts right with you. And the way you live your life. That starts right with you. And your attitudes. And the things you count most valuable. And the way you spend your time. And your sexual purity, and your business integrity, and the way you love the people around you.
The resurrection in simple terms means Jesus is the Son of Man in Daniel's dream given authority, given glory, given sovereign power; so that all peoples, nations and men of every language including you... worship him.
Which means today is the day when you've got to look beyond the sentimental hope of Alan Jones' wishful thinking and ask yourself the single biggest question there is. Did Jesus really rise from the dead? And if he did, am I living properly under the rule of God's right hand man?