Weekly Pastoral Message prepared by Rev. Murray Adamthwaite
for Sunday 30th March 1997

From the Pastor: The Resurrection I: Belief in the Resurrection

You will no doubt be familiar with the American song from the Civil war, "John Brown's body lies a'mouldring in the grave, but his soul goes marchin' on..." Many today, who will claim the name "Christian", will interpret Christ's resurrection in the same way, i.e. to spiritualize it. However, it must be said with emphasis that this neither is what was then understood as resurrection, nor is it now. A resurrection presupposes a death, and entails a coming to life from that state. When John Brown's soul goes marchin' on, we mean that part of him never really died. Contrary to all these very modern reinterpretations, or shall we say subterfuges, Paul reminds us that to be saved, to lay just claim to the name "Christian", we must "believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead" (Romans 10:9), not that His soul goes marchin' on. For that the New Testament provides abundant and irrefutable evidence, and in turn gives us a living hope which transforms our whole view of life, death, and eternity (1 Peter 1:3). Come to Him, on this Easter Day, as the Author of life, and guarantor of a glorious resurrection.