Christ is Risen! He is Risen, indeed! Hallelujah!
Today, the Christian Church celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The alliances between political and religious powers in the first-century could not maintain the body of the Lord imprisoned in a tomb. He trampled down death, and death’s sting was a victim of its own poison.
Christians affirm that there is no greater turning point in history than Jesus’s bodily resurrection and vindication. He is the alpha and omega of time; in him, we live, move, and have our being. Human beings can only exist in harmony with the created order with the explicit acknowledgment that the risen Lord of Glory embeds himself in history to redeem history and incorporate his historical imager-bearers into a renewed heavens and earth. This eschatological vision is true because the tomb of Jesus required no permanent guardians after the third day.
Since the resurrection, both political and religious figures have sought to undermine this truth by de-historicizing the empty tomb, psychologizing the victory of our Lord, and spiritualizing the bodily vindication of the Messiah. Due to their rejection, they have placed their faith in false resurrections meant to minimize their distortions of reality. These twisted assertions (Rom. 1) come from pagan rulers in all spheres of society, and it has come once more from the sitting president of our nation in a proclamation made on Easter morn. Whereas such blasphemous statements have been made in the past, they take on an even more gruesome status on Easter Sunday. Such symbolic action intends to take away the Christian imperative to feast before the risen Lamb of God and to provoke God’s people on its most jubilant day,
“NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility,” President Biden wrote in a Friday statement. “I call upon all Americans to join us in lifting up the lives and voices of transgender people throughout our Nation and to work toward eliminating violence and discrimination based on gender identity.”
While there is much to consider, I would like to make two observations on the travesty of this proclamation:
First, much is required of those in authority. The President of the United States has consistently articulated a vision contrary to God’s purposes for the American people. He is, by definition, an apostate who must receive all the ensuing sanctions unless he repents. God gives his authority, and the failure to promote the good will manifest itself in his own judgment on the last day.
Second, Biden’s use of language calls on Americans to “lift up the lives” of transgender people. The language of “lifting up” is a co-opting of Christian vocabulary. It is used for the crucifixion of Jesus (Jn. 8:28) and later for his ascension (Acts 1:9). The President uses distinct language to communicate a substitutionary theory. Instead of Jesus living and dying and rising for us, the transgender community functions as substitute lambs for his political cause. In Biden’s world, we need false victims to redeem us from our sins.
Christians, therefore, rightly reject any political proclamation that defames the Lordship of the Risen King and demand with greater boldness that the nations of the earth submit to his rule and laws.
We affirm that one authority overrides all earthly authorities and that only one was lifted up for our salvation and risen for our justification—the man Christ Jesus.
Christ is Risen! He is Risen, indeed! Hallelujah!
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