This is the day which the Lord has made. So spoke a psalmist in the Old Testament. This is the day which is sometimes called a feast day for the church. It is the day that speaks of victory. Without it all our believing would be in vain, says Paul. It is the begin­ning of the joy of a new life, even of the joy of heaven. This is the beginning of the entire new creation.

Now there is hope of being delivered from this vicious circle of death. Now we need not sorrow as those who have no hope when the grim reaper takes away believing dear ones from our side. Christ died and arose again, that is the message on the resurrec­tion day. Because of this and the subsequent ascen­sion and outpouring of the Spirit a "new order" is established in this old world. And Christians can sing a new song with a new "lease" on life, with new attitudes and new approaches and goals. If we live as Christians. And nothing, no nothing shall ever be able to put this hope to shame, or extinguish this new light of life. It is the risen Christ who has given us this hope.

Isn't it interesting that also angels enter "the pic­ture" here again? How interested they are in the work of God! And we may conclude that they still have such keen interest in the church and individual Christians today. We see them in the fields of Ephratah, we read of them several times during the life of Christ on earth, also in Gethsemane and here again by the empty tomb. But isn't it remarkable that we see none of them at Pentecost?! There they apparently retreat into the background with all the attention being given to the mighty Spirit poured into the Church.

But angels are only servants. Christians are sons and daughters of God. And aren't children much more important than servants? In the book of Revelation we are told that the children of the Father will sit while angels will be standing, as ser­vants. No wonder that we are encouraged to sing such beautiful songs on the day of the resurrection.

From death to life eternal, from earth unto the sky,
Our Christ hath brought us over with hymns of victory.

Now let the heavens be joyful, let earth her song begin,
Let all the world keep triumph, and all that is therein.

And also:

Life's pathway Thou wilt show,
To Thy right hand wilt guide,
Where streams of pleasures ever flow,
and boundless Joys abide.

How much do we really sing these songs? Is the spirit of these songs with us in our daily lives? Of course, we know that all these things are true in some objective sense, also that God loves His people and promises all good to them because of the risen Savior. But doesn't life often seam vain, in spite of all these glorious truths? And aren't we often burdened with anxious care, groping in dark despair? The Lord Jesus surely knew what kind of lives we would be living when He encouraged us not to let our hearts be troubled. He knew they would be troubled. Where often is the joy of Easter? And how long will it stay with us after Easter day?

I'm so glad that the Bible is realistic as well as idealistic. It gives us also the accounts of the weak faith of the saints of that day. Not that this may ever be an excuse for weak faith. Christians, when speak­ing of weaknesses of faith, should never say, well, after all we're still human. That's no valid excuse before our faithful Father. But the accounts of weak faith do give us encouragement, and with them we are shown the way of faith.

On this Easter morning we see the Old Testament coming to the New Testament. The darkness of the Old Testament with all its centuries is past, and the dawn of the eternal day is coming. Is that perhaps why Jesus arose early in the morning, as it appears? Also at the empty tomb we see hopeless man, bewildered, confused and in great sorrow before the glorious risen Lord. Here is death standing before the great wonder of the resurrection. Look at those women, with spices to anoint the dead body of the Lord in their hands, standing before the mighty in­credible wonder of the risen Lord. Never has there been a greater contrast! Never has there been a darker page in all of the Old Testament history!

There is also Mary Magdalene whose thoughts are no higher than that of a stolen body of her Savior. What kind of Savior is that? And she is "cry­ing her heart out" because it is gone. She, too, is seeking the Living One, the very Lord of life, and the Prince of Life in the realm of the dead, of worms and corruption, and decay.

Another glimpse the Bible gives us when we look at the Emmaus travelers. Believers they are of course. But how upset they are. They have such a big problem. All their high hopes had been dashed to pieces, exactly because of the cross and the resur­rection. How these rumors about the appearances of Christ disturb them. They just don't understand it all. It's all like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that just don't fit together. Neither do they come to the knowledge and joy of the resurrection.

And the disciples? Judas Iscariot of course is gone, dead. Peter likely is walking the streets somewhere, alone and in great sorrow. If only he could relive that unforgettable night. But no, He is gone. It can never be "done over again". Thomas has given up all hope of any expectation of this "Jesus of Nazareth," and therefore has left the others. Why should they stay together? It's all over with. The others, Mark tells us, are mourning and weeping when the women bring them the first resurrection gospel. How discouraged they are! Is this the church of the New Testament that has entered into the fulfillment of the hopes and faith of Abraham, Moses, David and the thousands of others?

How must we explain all this? Interesting it also is that the world (the Jews) have remembered what Christ has said, that He would be rising from the grave. But the church, the very followers of Christ apparently have forgotten all about those words. Why? Surely words cannot describe their over­whelming grief and sorrow. The shock was simply too much for their faith. It appears that great sor­row, grief, disappointment and frustration "wipe out" their memories. This is true also today with people in similar circumstances.

But this doesn't answer all the questions, nor is this the final answer. The final answer to all these problems, of the saints of that day and also for those in similar circumstances in our day is the same: unbelief in one form or another. Never should we forget that faith, or the opposite (unbelief) can have great influence upon us psychologically and emo­tionally. And unbelief never attains to the resurrec­tion. The resurrection is naturally a work of grace, a wonder of grace. It is a spiritual work, a miracle, which can be seen and enjoyed only by faith, never by mere reason or rationalization. Unbelief is always limited to the vicious circle of this life where everything finally is characterized by death.

Only faith in the Word brings us to the knowledge of the resurrection with all its joys and peace. And it is this that the followers of Christ of that day and we today often fail to exercise. Doesn't Christ rebuke the Emmaus travelers because they are slow of heart to believe the Scriptures? Later Jesus opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. John also tells us that they knew not the Scriptures that He would rise again from the dead. Mark uses even stronger language telling us that Jesus upbraided the disciples because of their unbelief and hardness of heart because they be­lieved not the account of the women.

All this tells us that faith in the Scriptures was the answer for them, and is the answer always. Even when we don't understand and "things" just don't make any sense to our finite minds. Faith ac­cepts and believes in the truth and power of the Word. It believes simply because it is God's Word. Faith believes all of the Bible, and not only that which we want to believe, or what happens to strike our attention. This faith must always feed itself on the riches of the Word, the work of an almighty God in His marvelous grace and faithfulness. That Word never fails. It speaks of God's work in the past and of what He will do in the future, pointing us to great truths beyond the grave and in the day of His return. The beginning of all this we see here at the empty tomb. How rich that Word is and His promises.

O God, forgive me for all my lack of faith. Increase my faith every day, in meditating on the Word.