Dear BPCWA worshipper, We thank God for a blessed weekend in commemorating the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ at our Good Friday, Easter Sunrise, and Easter Lord’s Day Worship Services. God’s Word to us at our Easter Sunrise Service was from Luke 24:4-12.

Fellowship with Christ. The word of Christ’s resurrection was sent through His messengers, but it was received very differently by the 2 groups. The women, hearing the news of His resurrection “remembered his words” (Luk 24:8). But when the same message was relayed to the disciples, it was received as “their words” and hence were like “idle tales” (Luk 24:11). Both groups received the same message but had different responses because they heard it either as Christ’s words or man’s words. So, the emphasis here was more than just about the message; it was about who we remember said those words. When the perplexed women recognised them as being from Christ, they “departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy” (Mat 28:8). On the other hand, the other disciples succumbed to their emotions of fear and were left sad and despondent because they did not remember it was Christ who spoke of His own resurrection. Until we receive the promises as Christ’s words, we won’t have the joy of salvation and joy at His resurrection. The women were joyful because they knew now that their fear of losing the fellowship with their beloved Christ was unfounded. For Christ is risen indeed, as He said He would. 

A presently joyful fellowship. This is a lesson that we must take home into our hearts about Christ’s resurrection! Christians yearn for Christian fellowship. How much more our hearts must yearn for fellowship with Christ. As the women realised then, they did not need to “see” Christ walking in their midst to maintain the same fellowship with Him. They were overwhelmed with joy just knowing that Christ is alive indeed. Their joy was because they realised they had not lost Christ. After His resurrection, Christ was as much present with them everywhere as He was with them when He was still on earth. The reality of that knowledge transformed the fear and sadness into joy because the fellowship with Him could be and was resumed. Today, we too can have the same joy. It is a joy that every one of His children can experience. I can have the fellowship of the living God with me every moment of every day because Christ is the resurrected and living Lord. This is a joy that we can have when we come into His presence, whether during our quiet times, our times of prayer, or even at meetings or services in church. It is joy unspeakable that takes us away from the problems, sadness, and fears that instead so often grip our feeble hearts. If you have been dreading your quiet time, closet prayers, or unceasing prayers, let us, in this Easter season, determine afresh to refocus on the resurrection message – that we can have fellowship with Him who is alive, not dead. This fellowship with our beloved Saviour and King is a foretaste of heaven.

A future perfect fellowship. But although we delight in the times spent with Christ in this world, there is a greater joy that awaits. It will be when we fellowship with Him in person with our resurrected bodies. We look forward to having our resurrected body with joy, not because we will have a perfect body, nor because we will have no more illnesses and troubles in life. The joy is because we will “be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2Pe 1:4), meaning that we can love God perfectly! In eternity, our fellowship with Christ will be perfect. We will no longer live with our current frustrations of failing God, even while we strive to obey and live for Him, because of the flesh tainting all our works for Him. Having the sinless resurrected body because of Christ’s resurrection means we will no longer struggle with not being able to love, please, and serve our Saviour as we desire to. With the sinless resurrected body, we can glorify God without having to fight against the lusts of our flesh and eyes, and the pride of life as we do on earth. We will be able to praise Him perfectly, and to do so with all who praise and speak of Him with the purest motives to glorify and praise Christ, and Christ alone. We will see and truly adore His goodness in purer light, with minds perfectly transformed to thrill only in holiness and righteousness. We will be able to abound in love toward Christ with sincere and honest hearts, undistracted by selfish motives and idols in our thoughts and hearts. Oh, what joy such thoughts bring to our hearts even now about how our resurrected form can perfectly please the beloved of our hearts. The world can only imagine and dream of a utopia. Christians will experience perfect bliss in Christ’s presence. In our resurrected body, our love for Him will be perfected. God is love, and we will be able to respond in the full measure that God intended for us to love Him in return as we ought.

Knowing this, let us change and refresh our mindset from this Easter onwards. While we look forward to the day we will be resurrected, the resurrection is really all about Christ, not us. Our bodily resurrection is pointless if it were not for the joy of being able to exalt and worship Christ perfectly. This must be the yearning of every child of God who will love God and will yearn to love Him more and more. Our times with Him on earth are but waiting in the curtains for that grand and glorious day when we shall behold Him in His glory. Dear reader, be sure that you will experience personally that day of rejoicing, for why would you choose otherwise when Christ invites you to be a partaker of that blessedness now?

“Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. 10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
(Psa 16:9-11)

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor