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Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church

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with a moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life

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and faith. And today, as Easter Resurrection Sunday is upon us, we challenge you to think

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through the resurrection of the author and finisher of our faith, that is the Lord Jesus

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Christ. And we ask you to do this with this proposition. The empty tomb is the garden

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of covenant blessing. Yes, the empty tomb is the garden of covenant blessing. If indeed,

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as we saw last week, the cross is the altar of covenant curse, then the empty tomb is the

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garden of covenant blessing. But before we begin to unpack this, I want to invite you to our Seder

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dinner on Good Friday, April 14th at 6 p.m., a Seder dinner. Seder means order.

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And the Seder dinner is the order of the Passover meal. That last meal that Jesus ate was a Passover

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meal before his crucifixion. And it displays so eloquently the life and death and burial and

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resurrection of Jesus Christ. It does so beautifully and eloquently, foreshadowing Christ and his

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sacrifice, even as the Passover lamb was sacrificed every year in the Jewish temple and on the altar.

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And we see indeed that Christ was the sacrifice. He endured the covenant curse on the altar for us.

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And we want to portray this in the Seder meal, bringing out Christ in that meal. And it will be a full

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meal too, not just a token meal. We've got some 25, 30 pounds of lamb that we're going to roast

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with all the side dishes and trimmings. So you will go away, not only with a full belly, but also

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with a full heart, understanding more and more the death, burial, and resurrection of your Savior,

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the Lord Jesus Christ. Once again, we will be sponsoring the Seder dinner. Don't worry about,

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we'll be taking up a voluntary collection, but don't worry about buying tickets or bringing food

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yourself. We just want to invite our listeners to come and join us for this Seder dinner, 6 p.m.,

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Good Friday. That's April 14 this year. Well, last week we looked at the crucifixion where we saw Christ

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plunged into the sufferings of hell on behalf of his people. What misery, what agony that was.

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Here at the cross, God himself punished his own son with utter affliction. The affliction do every one

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of us as covenant breakers because of the original sin of our first father, Adam. Strengthened and

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sealed, that fate was in the sin that proceeds then from our own nature. So make no mistake about

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this, dear listener, unless you claim Jesus' suffering as a substitute for you, you will suffer

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in every excruciating detail in hell. Make no mistake about this, child of Adam, unless you claim Jesus'

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righteousness as a substitute for the filthy rags of your own righteousness. You will stand in those

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rags on judgment day, while those who have believed will stand in the perfect glistening righteousness

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of Jesus Christ himself. These are just a few of the details we examined last week. Now, we encountered

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them as we studied our first proposition, the cross is the altar of covenant curse. So then, the question

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for Easter must be, if the cross is the altar of covenant curse, what is the empty tomb? My proposition

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for you today to consider is the empty tomb is the garden of covenant blessing. The empty tomb is the

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garden of covenant blessing. Let's take these terms one at a time, shall we? First of all, the empty tomb.

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Oh, dear listener, the occupied tomb is a victory for the serpent, isn't it? The occupied tomb is the

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ancient enemy of God and man, that is the devil. The tomb, the grave is the antechamber,

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the waiting room, if you will, for hell. Oh, as Isaiah puts it, the grave is all astir to meet you

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when you come. He's talking about the kings of the earth. It rouses the shades to greet you, all who were

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leaders of the earth, from Isaiah 14. And there is a day when, as John puts it in Revelation, death and Hades

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will be thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Far from being natural, too, dear

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Christian, far from being natural. Death is the most unnatural state of things in all of God's

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created universe. Life is the operating principle of creation. Genesis 2, 7 puts it this way. Then the

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Lord God formed the man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life

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and the man became a living creature. Death is the tragic arresting of life, which should,

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life should go on forever. We've gotten accustomed to tragedy. Just because it happens every day

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with mundane regularity does not make death right and good and natural. There are only two possibilities

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why the tomb is empty as well. Consider this with me as we consider the term the empty tomb.

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Oh, the tomb is empty for one of two reasons. Either another living creature has taken the body

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which once occupied it, or else new life in the dead man has made the tomb obsolete. Which was it

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in Christ's case, dear listener, huh? His enemies paid the guards at the tomb to say, tell the people

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his disciples came by night and stole them away while we were sleeping. Now we can either take the

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testimony of corrupt and wicked men like this, men Jesus called vipers and hypocrites, or we can take the

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testimony of the angel who sat astride the empty tomb, who said, why do you seek the living among

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the dead? He is not here. He has risen. The angel's response is reasonable given who Jesus was, right?

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He has risen indeed. Peter told the rulers of Israel, you killed the author of life whom God raised from

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the dead. Oh, here's the paradox, listener. The very author of life died. He who breathed life into

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Adam? Stop breathing himself. Yet could this stand in the end? We say no. As Peter puts it, God raised him

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up because it was not possible for him to be held by death. What a beautiful expression. Christ died a true

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death, but it was not possible for him to be held by death. Oh, no more than a toddler can stop a beach

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ball from bursting to the surface of the water by holding it down. Huh? Death could not hold Christ.

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Why? This goes to the very heart of the nature of God. And as to justice and mercy, wrath and grace,

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salvation and damnation, that is God's economy of covenant. Let me posit three things with you.

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Death could not hold him because he was not worthy of death. Christ was not worthy of death. Hebrews puts

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it this way. He was like us in every respect, yet without sin. Justice demands the acquittal of the

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innocent and the punishment of the guilty. The resurrection declared Jesus Christ was innocent,

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just, and perfect. Peter puts it this way. You denied the holy and righteous one, but God raised him from

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the dead. Jesus was innocent. Jesus was righteous and holy. Jesus was in his very person, the author of

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life. Therefore, he was acquitted, acquitted indeed by being raised from the dead. Secondly, the empty tomb

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was a declaration of God's satisfaction in Christ's work. Oh, dear listener, Christ labored. He worked all of

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his life and he did work that no one else could do for you. That is, he brought you to God. He labored to bridge

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the infinite chasm, which opened up that at the fall. And this has been made evident to all. Even the prophet

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David, as Peter puts it, foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not

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abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh seek corruption. No, Christ was raised uncorrupted and incorruptible,

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brought back, triumphant from the grave. So satisfied is God the Father with the work of his son that he

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has fixed a day, Paul says, he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness

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by a man whom he has appointed. And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the

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dead. Well, thirdly, Christ's tomb is empty and because it is, yours will be too. Yes, dear

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Christian, because Christ's tomb is empty, yours will be too. Paul puts it this way. If the spirit of him

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who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give

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life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. On Easter morning, death lost its

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most valuable victim. Had death been able to keep Jesus, he would have been able to keep us all.

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But as it stands, the empty tomb is eloquent testimony to Christ's victory and death's defeat.

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Because of Christ's resurrection, we can shout with the apostle Paul, death is swallowed up in victory.

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Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, Christian, the empty tomb is the

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garden of covenant blessing. Let's consider this second term, that is the garden. Oh, into what did

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Christ step as he walked out of the tomb on that first Easter morning? John tells us it was a garden.

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In John 19, we read, now near the place where he was crucified, there was a garden. And in the garden,

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a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. When the living God dwells with men, he dwells with them

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in a garden. This is consistent throughout scripture. When he creates new life, he creates

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new life in a garden. The garden is a vivid metaphor for new life and the dwelling place of God with man

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from Genesis to Revelation. This is true. Genesis tells us, for example, the Lord God planted a garden

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in Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground,

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to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in

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the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, unquote. Dear listener,

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we were meant to be hardworking, productive gardeners. Personally, I have to confess to you,

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I have a black thumb when it comes to gardening. But I do have a neighbor who is a God-given Adam in

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this respect when it comes to growing things, making his yard a veritable Eden. His yard is lush and green

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and full of colorful, thriving plants and trees, smelling sweet and delightful. He's won local

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awards for his yard. Well, how does God describe Israel? In Balaam's oracle, for example, where

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Israel are his people, among whom he dwells, which he has created in one day as a new nation.

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Numbers puts it this way. How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel,

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like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the Lord has planted,

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like cedar trees beside the water. Oh, paradise, right? When God creates new life, he creates it in a

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garden. When he dwells with man, he dwells with man in a garden. Even the Holy of Holies in the

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temple, the very inner sanctum is where God dwelt with man, where God dwelt with Israel. How was it

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decorated? What was it meant to evoke? Oh, the entire inner sanctum was overlaid with gold and

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was hammered and carved to look like, to look like what, dear listener, huh? Well, around the entrance

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and the walls, he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers. The

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furniture was made out of olive wood and cedar, fragrant and lovely trees. The pillars and walls

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were festooned with pomegranates and gourds and lilies and flowers of pure gold. The lampstands, too,

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were designed to resemble almond branches. Even the incense, when burned, evoked the pure and

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fragrant scent of the very Garden of Eden. The entire inner sanctuary was overlaid with gold and

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hammered and carved to look like what, huh? Oh, of course, a garden. The garden played a crucial

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role in our Savior's life, too. He often repaired to the Mount of Olives, a garden of fruit and olive

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trees. The night he was betrayed, he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. When he was raised from

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the dead, he strolled the garden, which is where the women found him as they came early that Sunday

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morning to embalm his body in spices and linen. And I even ask you, for whom did they first mistake

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him, right? For whom did they first mistake him? Jesus asked her, that is, Mary, John says,

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why are you weeping? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, right? John's gospel is filled with

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such irony, since Christ is indeed the gardener of that greater garden, the restored paradise of the

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new Jerusalem. Revelation, composed by the same apostle John, describes the new Jerusalem as that

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city filled with rivers and trees and gems, even as was the Garden of Eden. Paradise restored is the

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place of new creation, a garden in which God dwells at peace with his creature, man. 2 Corinthians 5 says,

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if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come.

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What was lost in the Garden of Eden, that is innocence, righteousness, purity of creation,

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life itself, is now restored in the new garden. The empty tomb has heralded new life in the garden.

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God dwells anew and afresh with his creature, man, in the garden. The empty tomb is the garden of

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covenant blessing. Well, let's look at our third term, which is covenant. The empty tomb is the

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garden of covenant blessing. This is the only word from last week which has carried over into this

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week's proposition. And this is only right and good. Covenant goes to the very heart of how God

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relates to his creature, whether in all he accomplished in the crucifixion or all he accomplished

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in the resurrection. How does God relate to man, dear listener? In what kind of economy does he

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dispense? Justice and mercy, grace and wrath, salvation and damnation. What kind of economy?

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In dispensations? God forbid. Through the Sharia law of Islam? Oh no. The endless cycles of Buddhism?

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No. God has established a series of covenants through which he manifests his faithfulness to

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those he loves. Our brief definition of covenant, carried over once again from last week, is a covenant

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is a bond in blood, sovereignly administered. A covenant is a bond in blood, sovereignly administered.

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God unites himself to his people in an unbreakable bond, the terms of which are laid out in a systematic

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way too. Good examples of this are in creation, where God made a covenant with creation, and also

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in the Ten Commandments, where God made a covenant with Israel. Both of these covenants bear all the

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marks of a covenant. That is, they have laws. You shall not eat from the fruit of the tree of the

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knowledge of good and evil, for example. From the Ten Commandments, you shall not kill, steal, bear false

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witness. There are also blessings and curses in every covenant, where God says, in the day you eat of it,

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that is the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall surely die. Or from the Ten

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Commandments, blessings and curses, honor your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land.

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In fact, so similar is the economy in which God relates to both Adam and Israel. God complains about Israel

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by the mouth of the prophet Hosea. He says, like Adam, they, that is Israel, transgressed the covenant.

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They dealt faithlessly with me, unquote. Now, what Jesus does in the crucifixion and resurrection

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is inaugurate what he calls the new covenant. Vital language in the New Testament. Luke 22 puts it this

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way, this cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Christ inaugurates the new

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covenant at the cross. The shedding of blood is another feature of covenant too. Leviticus tells

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us the life of the creature is in the blood. Blood stands for the life sacrificed. Our lives have

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each and every one gone forfeit to God ever since the fall in our first parents. Whether you realize

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it or not, you owe your very life, your eternal soul to God for your broken covenant status.

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First shattered in the garden. In the day you eat of it, that is the fruit of the tree of the knowledge

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of good and evil, you shall surely die. And this is precisely what happened. In Adam, our first father,

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we all did die. Paul says it this way, sin came into the world through one man, that is Adam, and death

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through sin. Listener, every covenant has a mediator. You must understand this. Every covenant

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has a mediator, a federal head, that is someone who stands for and between the people and the king

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of the ancient covenant. Adam was our first mediator, our first federal head, our first covenant

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mediator. He stood for the entire race of men when he sinned. Paul says many died through one man's

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trespass. Because of one man's trespass, death reigned. And ever since Adam, each and every one

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of our individual lives have given shameful testimony to this fact that we have inherited both Adam's bad

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record, that is imputed sin, and Adam's bad heart, that is his sinful nature. The empty tomb is a

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declaration that a new covenant has been struck with a new covenant mediator, not Adam, but none other

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than Christ himself. It is God's stamp of approval of this new mediator's work. Where once sin characterized

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us under Adam, now righteousness characterizes us under Christ. Paul puts it this way, for as by the

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one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many were made

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righteous. Oh, where once death reigned supreme as the ultimate destiny of all of Adam's children,

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that's us, that's us, the occupied tomb. Now, those who have faith in Christ have life, that is the empty tomb.

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Paul says, if because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who

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receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in the life through the one man,

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Jesus. Oh, what a blessing, dear listener. Have you received the abundance of grace and the free gift of

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righteousness? Then the promise is to you that you have life in the new man, Jesus Christ, and your tomb

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will be empty. The apostle Paul is very clear about this. The crucifixion and the resurrection are two

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components of one covenant act. Paul says this in Romans chapter four, faith will be counted to us

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who believe in him who raised from the dead, Jesus, our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses

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and raised for our justification. Unquote. The empty tomb is eloquent testimony, dear listener, that you

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have re-entered and been restored to full covenant status. The empty tomb is the garden of covenant

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blessing. Well, let's take this last term then, blessing. Blessing. The empty tomb, the resurrection,

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is the first and crowning blessing of salvation in Christ. We saw last week that the cross was the altar of

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covenant curse. Now with God's stamp of approval upon his son's sacrifice of his life for yours upon the

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cross, the way is open for the fulfillment of all the blessings promised in God's economy.

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What is a curse and what is a blessing? From last week, a curse. Curse is a condition of sin and misery

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above which no man can rise because God has ordained it so. Well, a blessing then, correspondingly,

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a blessing is a condition of peace and prosperity below which no man can fall because God has ordained it so.

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Blessing. When God pronounces a blessing, it is a condition of peace and prosperity below which no man can fall

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because he has ordained it so. And what Christian does not know, this state of affairs, every Christian has been

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blessed in the midst of a cursed world full of sin and misery, turmoil, disease, death, loss, sadness,

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loneliness, alienation. No matter how tragic his circumstances, the Christian knows blessing.

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How can we maintain this? Oh, the Christian now knows the blessing of being redeemed, first of all.

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The Christian now knows the blessing of being redeemed. The empty tomb means you have been brought

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back from the slavery of sin and death. You are now free as no worldling can know freedom.

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Paul says in Galatians, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law in order that the blessing of

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Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.

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Secondly, the Christian now knows the blessing of being adopted. The empty tomb means you have been

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changed from a rejected orphan to an adopted son. Paul says in Romans 8, you did not receive the spirit

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of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the spirit of adoption as sons. By whom we cry,

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Abba, Father. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, Paul says.

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And then thirdly, just a third blessing among many, many, many, many blessings. Third blessing,

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the Christian now knows the blessing of being sanctified. The Christian now knows the blessing

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of being sanctified. This fancy theological word simply means that God looks at us in Christ now

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as holy and righteous and that we can now begin to live holy and righteous lives. What a blessing.

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The empty tomb means you have been made holy and set apart as a person with a special destiny.

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The Christian knows this in a way no worldling can know. Paul says in first Corinthians,

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do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived,

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neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,

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nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of

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God. And such were some of you, Paul says. But he goes on to say, but you were washed, you were

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sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God.

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Washed and sanctified, dear listener. This is only the beginning. All of this is only the down payment

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upon that condition of peace and prosperity below which you can never fall, dear listener.

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Blessing is that condition of peace and prosperity below which you can never fall because God has

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ordained it so. This is blessing. So much more is promised to him. As an adopted son, you are a child

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of the king from whom you will inherit all the covenant blessings in eternity that only the child can

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inherit. Paul says in Romans 8, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children

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of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, unquote. What a great

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promise. What is your inheritance? The consummation of all things in our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

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when he returns and heaven and earth are made one and made new. John puts it this way in Revelation 21.

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Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

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And the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down from heaven from God,

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prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

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behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people

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and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes

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and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning or crying or pain anymore for the former

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things have passed away, unquote. This is only a sample of the blessings of the empty tomb, dear

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listener. The Bible is full of them recounted from Genesis to Revelation, and they're now yours.

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These things will be yours. Oh, Christian, oh, child of faith, as you celebrate Resurrection Sunday,

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as you celebrate Easter, remember these things. No one will ever be able to take them away from you

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either. You were sealed in righteousness and peace and prosperity because blessing is indeed the

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condition of peace and prosperity below which no one can fall because God has ordained it so.

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Dear listener, the empty tomb at Easter time now, the empty tomb is the garden of covenant blessing.

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Oh, may your Easter be one of joy and celebration. It's not with, it's no accident or coincidence that

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Easter is the premier Christian holiday. And dear listener, what I would like to do is invite you to

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our Seder dinner that we're having on April 14th, which is Good Friday. The Seder dinner is the grand

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display of the Passover meal. And we're going to have a full Passover meal, some 25 to 30 pounds of lamb

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with all the side dishes and trimmings that you can imagine. And we will act out the Passover meal and

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we will show you Christ in the Passover meal. We'll have this once again, the Seder dinner on April 14th,

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Good Friday at 6 p.m. in our fellowship hall. Don't worry about bringing food. Don't worry about

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paying anything. Just call us ahead of time if you can and make a reservation so we know how much food

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to fix. That's our Seder dinner, the grand and gracious display of the Passover meal where we see

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Christ emblemized in that meal. April 14th, Good Friday at 6 p.m. This has been Pastor David Bass at

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New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We also invite you to join us at our Easter morning worship

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service, our Resurrection Sunday worship service. If you have no other place to go on that Easter morning

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or if you've been thinking about visiting us for a while but you haven't yet done so, come and worship

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with us on Easter morning. We have a holy and reverent service that celebrates the resurrection

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of Jesus and his empty tomb and points to our empty grave on that joyful day of resurrection too.

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New Geneva meets for holy worship at 10 a.m. Sunday morning, Easter morning as well. We meet for holy

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worship at 10 a.m. on Sunday morning at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. For more

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information and reservations to our Seder dinner, call us at 523-0196. Call us at 523-0196.