From the opening pages of the Bible to its close, we see the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) making a dearly loved people for himself. They will live, love, and reign with him in perfect peace forever. To do this He must equally destroy all evil. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is both proof and promise that all evil will be destroyed. This begs a question. Are you one of the evil ones that will be destroyed, or one of the dearly loved that will receive life? It all depends on how you respond the resurrected Christ.
Since God is by nature good, just, and righteous his laws must be obeyed fully, and if they are not, they must be judged. Only an evil God would permit evil without consequences. At the resurrection of Jesus, God the father has elevated God the Son as judge of all sinners. The Apostle Paul plead for the Athenians to repent because Jesus was now judge and was going to return and put an end to all evil.
Acts 17:30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
It is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead that is proof and promise that Jesus will end the reign of wickedness on earth. Are you the wicked, or the dearly beloved? Those who refuse to repent will be judged. Those who repent are loved, forgiven and reconciled.
“Death is not the end of the story for the Christian...”
For God to make a beloved people for himself, he must ensure that the demands of justice are met. Yet, God can only make a people from a law breaking humanity—that is all there is. This is the often great refrain of Resurrection Sunday. That is for good reason.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.
Jesus was made alive (resurrected), and this provides proof that the death Jesus died was sufficient to pay for all sin and provide righteousness. Are you the wicked or the dearly loved? The dearly loved have put their faith solely in the work and person of Jesus Christ. They don’t trust their goodness or good works. They don’t trust self or other gods. They don’t ignore Jesus. They repent and trust him.
It is the resurrection of Jesus that is proof and promise that Jesus will end the evil of death. The Apostle Paul wrote about Jesus’ resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. At the end he writes, “‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.“
Death is not the end of the story for the Christian, because Jesus’ resurrection guarantees all his beloved will be raised from the dead in immortal sinless bodies. Are you among the wicked who will receive eternal death in hell, or the beloved with eternal life in heaven? The dearly loved are trusting in Jesus, the judge, the victor, and the Lord.
It is the resurrection of Jesus that is proof and promise that all evil, Satanic and hostile forces in the world will be destroyed. An eternal, holy and dearly loved people are being formed into the church. These dearly loved of God have hope because the power that works in them now is the same power that God “worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church.” (Ephesians 1:19-22)
“The resurrection is the proof and promise of the end of all evil—the evil within and the evil without.”
The dearly loved, dearly love and submit to Jesus and commit themselves to the church. This means they will commit to a local church. The wicked neither submit nor join themselves to a local church.
It is the resurrection of Jesus that is proof and promise that the evil in us now is being destroyed. When a person repents and trusts Jesus, God’s Spirit unites us permanently with Christ. This union with Christ means we share both the realities of both Christ’s death and his resurrection (Romans 6:3-11). Paul then encourages Christians this way.
Romans 6:13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
God’s dearly loved do this by daily by turning to God to ask for forgiveness, to repent, to trust Jesus’ sacrifice for us, and to seek renewed obedience. They seek to slay the sin inside, by trusting the Holy Spirit to give us the same power that raised Christ from the dead. If you are the wicked, you don’t fight at all, or when you do it is to pat yourself on the back.
The resurrection is the proof and promise of the end of all evil—the evil within and the evil without. Praise be to God our Father who gives us the victory in Jesus Christ.
Dr. Dan Jarms is teaching pastor and team leader at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at The Master's Seminary in Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, woodworking, and art.
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