The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1962-04-20
Christ Reigns
Lesson for April 22, 1862

means more imam Easter pa
rades and Easter music. Per-
haps most grown people, wheth-
er they are Christians or not,
are aware that Easter goes
back to a story of long ago,
when in a springtime garden
One who had been killed rose
again in glorious life. Most
Christians believe this story is
true; but even those who do not,
wish it could have been. Per-
haps there is nothing in the
Bible which an unbeliever would
like to believe, more than the
story of Easter.
The reason for this meets the
eye at once. If the Easter story
is true, if it actually happened,
as the Bible witnesses plainly
say it did, then life and i'm
mortality have been brought to
live" as one New Testament
writer says. What assurance
have we that death is not the
last word for man? The Resur-
! rection of Christ is the best as
surance there is.
Christ the Conqueror
There is another side of the
meaning of Easter, often over
looked. yet very important in
the New Testament picture Of
things. It is expressed in the
ancient Latin expire ssion.
"Christus Victor Christ the
! Conqueror. This is brought out
in little-read chapter of the
Bible. Hebrews l. Here the
emphasis is on power. The
Resurrection (odd as this may
seem, is not mentioned; the
thought Of the writer goes from
the Cross publication for
sins~ to the Throne of the uni
verse. Christ's appearances to
the disciples are all by-passed
IN silence here. Christ is seen
as sharing the Throne of God
himself. 1t makes no difference
whether we take the expressions
/ literally or not; the meaning is
clear enough. This is what we
are challenged to believe: that
Christ now shares the power of
the Majesty on high the God
of all the universeS. The letter
to the Hebrews was first read
by people who lived in the Ro-
man Empire. perhaps in Rome
itself. They would be familiar
with the custom of an emperor
sharing his authority with a
general who had been victorious
in war.
Over Sin and Death
What has Jesus conquered?
The short but thrilling answer
is: Sin and Death. These are
the two great enemies of man
kind. They have not been con
quered even yet in the sense
that they have been abolished.
But it can be noticed that when
an individual Identifies himself
with Christ. he no longer cringes
at the threat of sin and death.
He is enabled - as Paul said
by the same power that brought
Jesus Christ from the dead = to
rise above sin, to be "Set free
from sin And although he
faces death as much as any
other man, the Christian does
not fear it. This is not saving
that no one can be a Christian
who fears death. But we recall
the familiar story of John WeS-
Icy and the storm at sea. IVES
! ley was at that time a Chris
tan, but that storm frightened
him terribly. Then he discover
ed a group of Moravians happi-
~ singing hymns. not worried
by the storm at all. They ex-
pected the ship to 60 down, Just
as Wesley did: but he was look
ing at death while they were
looking through it. Wesley S
whole life was changed BY that
incident.
Over Ourselves
So Christ has set men free
yet not free to do as we
please. Whatever lat the right
hand of the Majesty on high"
can mean. it must mean at
least this that the authority of
Christ IS on a level with the
authority Of God Christ does not
set us free for kind Of 81
archy. a Christian is not >
masterless man. He who is Lord
over SIN and death. over all the
powers of darkness. is Lord
over those who are called by
his title Christians. But is
this really so? Isn't it true. too
often. that the only difference
between Christian and non
Christian is in words only? The
non Christian saws, Jesus Chris,
IS ret Lord nor SAVIOR. The