[Sermon Archive]

This Week's Sermon The Great Vigil of Easter 07 April 2007 "Victory" LSB Series C Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

The Apostle Paul wrote of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ:

"When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:54-57, ESV)

This night is all about victory! It is all about a victory that Satan and his legions never saw coming. It is all about a victory that the world never thought would happen. It is all about a victory that even the disciples of Jesus that had been snatched away at the last moment.

The victory of our Lord Jesus Christ was not a contest between his divine omnipotence and diabolical power because that would have been no contest at all. It was not that God's power was ever in doubt, otherwise Satan would have cried foul. God's omnipotence was never in question. He was not merely toying with Satan. No, this was a battle between Christ in the full weakness of our humanity and the full force of the legions of hell. Our Lord Jesus Christ won this victory by his obedience to the Law of God and by his trusting in God the way our first parents did not.

Into our physical flesh Jesus came when he was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus became a true man, flesh and blood, just like you, except without sin. He did this so that he could defeat Satan and his legions for you.

Tonight we have commemorated our baptism. When we were baptized we were baptized into Christ's death and resurrection. It was another dress rehearsal for our final resurrection from the grave on the Last Day when our Lord shall call us all forth from our tombs. The disorder which our first parents brought on the whole human race has now been remedied. We heard again the creation account and how God brought order out of the primeval chaos. God, who moved over the face of the waters to create heaven and earth, has moved in the waters of our baptism, creating new sons for himself. When we were baptized we took the first step in our resurrection. We passed from death to life, just as Christ did when he rose from the tomb. Even those who were baptized in the last years of early life become newborn babies in Christ.

Tonight we celebrate our Lord's victory because this is the dawn of the day of the new creation. Tonight all things are new once again. Tonight we celebrate that the ancient serpent has been silenced by Christ's resurrection. Tonight the doors of the ancient prison are burst wide open. In the Service of Holy Baptism you were asked:

P Do you renounce the devil?
C Yes, I renounce him.
P Do you renounce all his works?
C Yes, I renounce them.
P Do you renounce all his ways?
C Yes, I renounce them.

Jesus has reclaimed you and all the world for the Father in heaven. He has plundered Satan's kingdom, disposed of the old evil foe, and begun to rule as our eternal King. The very foundations of hell have begun to deteriorate. The gates of the prison which kept all humanity in shackles have been sprung wide open. Hell is liberated-for good! The gates of heaven stand wide open for all people.

Our humanity has been redeemed by Christ's death and resurrection. It is the dawn of the eternal 8th day. It is victory far beyond what our first parents or anybody else could ever have imagined. "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!" [Ps. 118.24]