Resurrection
Weariness is all about. Groans and sighs are very real. Within the limitations of Covid, much has been diminished. Hope can feel thin especially at this moment. Tim Keller’s newest offering speaks to the heart of the resurrection, and the weighty confidence of Christian hope. Here are a few comments, a bunch of quotes I valued from the book, and an attached pdf with more best-bits.
Keller’s language around “hope meaning profound certainty” resonates deeply. Keller speaks to the genuine hope that is at the heart of Easter. He writes with trademark clarity and conviction. The weave of biblical theology, rich research and winsome logic prevail in trademark Keller style. His angle on the great reversal is one of the most helpful aspects here.
This is prescient in its approach to resurrection-hope but also in this cultural moment with Covid, injustice, racial disharmony & more as dominant themes. Keller writes all the more vividly based on his cancer diagnosis, laying out his confidence that the very end of time, makes for good news now. “When Jesus rose from the dead, he came as the first instalment of the power of God, which will renew the world at the end of history.”
‘Hope in times of fear’ unlocks in a brilliant Lewis-style-way the immense reach of the resurrection. There is much that is vivid, fresh & engaging in what Keller offers. May the profound certainty of the Christian faith be reset afresh for you this Easter.
Death has been defeated in Jesus!
Hope, means profound certainty. Christians view even the hardest circumstances as part of a history guided by God at every turn toward not merely some kind of afterlife but toward the resurrection of our bodies and souls into new, remade heavens and earth.
Christians, while believing in the resurrection and rehearsing that belief every Easter Sunday, “then effectively stick it back in a drawer for the rest of the year” because they are “at a loss to know what to do with it!”
Christianity is a historical, reasonable, and gracious faith.
When Paul met the risen Christ, it challenged him both rationally and personally.
The resurrection began the kingdom of God, and if God is going to “enlighten the eyes of our hearts” with regards to the wonder of what he has given us, we need to understand what the kingdom of God is.
The resurrection means that we do not merely follow the teachings of a dead leader. Rather, we have a vital, loving fellowship with a living Lord. Jesus the King is present with us.
This King comes in a way that reverses the values of the world. He comes in weakness and service, not strength and force, to die as a ransom for us.
Christian identity is based ultimately on a realization of the magnitude of God’s unchanging love for us.
Your heart’s deepest need is for a God who is not just the product of your heart’s wants and needs.
The death and resurrection of Jesus are the basis not only for Christian moral practice but also for the inward spiritual growth that will enable us to carry out our mission in the world.
The Great Reversal is not just the way Christians are saved – it also can be, in the worlds of Christopher Watkin, “a dynamic” that opens out into a rhythm of life, an ethic, and a way of looking at and living in the world.” When we use the resurrection as a way of “looking and living in the world” it especially changes who we view and experience difficulties in suffering in life.
Christianity offers unparalleled resources for cultural hope.
Christian resources for hope are uniquely reasonable, full, realistic, and effective.
Jesus has secured this for us by his death and resurrection. When this assurance abides in us, our immediate fate – how the current situation turns out – can no longer trouble us. Defiance comes from looking at ourselves. Hope comes from looking at him.
Here are some more of the best bits from Keller’s newest book: takeaway’s for you perhaps? All the bits I marked in my copy! Books are for reading, folding, marking & scribbling in, right?!