El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-04-15
Thoughts For the Eastertide
By REV. ]. ]. BULLEN,
Pastor of the Houston Square Baptist Church

tenn is the sun. and about the
sun the planets move in their
orderly courses. The central fact in
the gospel Of Jesus Christ is the resur-
rection, and upon that fact the plan
of redemption rests.
1t is the handspring in the watch
that gives movement to the wheels,
and, cog meeting cog, all work to-
gether in an orderly way to tell you
the time of day. There is meaning and
value on the face OF the watch because
of the fact and force at the back of
the watch.
1t is not the birth, nor the miracles.
not the agony, nor the death, but the
resurrection that declares the divinity
Of Christ and gives meaning and force
to all the movements of His life.
He Only Rose from the Dead.
There were three crosses on Calvary
that day; but of the three. He only
rose from the dead and His resurrec-
ton gives new meaning to His cross
and exhalts it above the others. There
were other teachers who came from
Gcd and taught men the way back to
God, but Of all those teachers He alone
rose from the dead. and His resurrec-
ton gives new meaning to His teach
ings and eXalts them above all 9TH
ers. There were other babies born, as
the hymn says. ION that selfsame day
but Of all the babies Graded upon
their mothers knees He alone rose
from the dead. and His resurrection
gives new meaning to His birth and
exalts it above all others.
Gives Meaning to His Life.
Thus the resurrection gives meaning
to and explains His life from the birth
in Bethlehem to the cross on Calvary.
It gives place and pertinence and pow
er to all His cradle, His teaching,
His miracles, and His cross all appear
in ordered beauty, and are felt with
saving power, when beheld in the light
Of His resurrection.
The apostles recognized this fact
and emphasized the resurrection. When
Judas. the suicide, had gone to his
own place" and a successor was to be
appointed to the apostolate. they chose
one not because of his education. nor
because of his wealth. nor his social
standing, but because he was a wit
ness of the resurrection" No man
could understand the life who was not I
sure of the resurrection.
If the point OF the compass is not
steady at the center. the circumference
will not be all that you desire it to be.
If a man was not steady upon the !
fact of the resurrection he could not /
be sure upon the meaning of the life. !
That was the apostles view of the |
case. and the centuries have taught us |
that their view was correct. !:
No man can know the meaning Of /
that wonderful life. and enter into /
the spirit of it. who does not view it /
in the light which the resurrection |
throws upon it
Go Forth to Win the World.
With this as the central fact in their /
preaching, the disciples went out to /
win the world TO God: and as they
prea ched. related truths dawued uison
them. The first of these truths was
this: Because Christ rose. all who be-
lieve in Him shall share in like !
SO Paul wrote: LAS in
Adam all died. so in Christ. shall all
eh made alive" That is. as we were
all bankrupted by the sin of one so
all may be made wealthy by the gift
Of one. His resurrection became to /
them the assurance and the pattern of
their resurrection. There is but one
mold; and as His life ran from the !
furnace of death into the resurrection
mold, so every Christian life shall by
the power of GCd be drawn from the
furnace of death and be patterned after
the mold OF the resurrection of Jesus
Christ That was the first related
truth.
The Second Truth.
The second truth growing out of the
central fact was this: In Christs
resurrection believers were already
'aised from the dead So we read:
Since then We were raised with Christ
rom the dead" There is net only
physical resurrection. which is to come.
,ut there is a spiritual resurrection
hat now is, and the spiritual carries
With it the promise and potency Of the
physical. So soon as a man becomes
partaker of the divine nature through
aith in the Lord Jesus Christ, resur
ection forces begin to work in his
oul, and this glorious experience is
o him the proof of the first resurrec-