I'm sure that we have all seen pictures or videos of avalanches. Avalanches begin as there's just a little bit of snow that slips loose down a mountain slope and then that small amount of snow slides on top of the snow that's below it and the added weight causes that snow to slide and next thing you know it grows until the whole snowpack lets loose on a side of mountain and comes crashing down. We know that avalanches have great power. If they rapidly build, they can suddenly flatten everything in its path. Skiers can be swept away. Cars can be wiped off the mountain. Villages can be covered. Avalanches have great power once they begin moving down the mountain. Well, today, of course, is Easter. We're talking about the empty tomb. We're talking about the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This evening as we talk about that, I want us to have the image of an avalanche in our mind. I want us to think about that to help us understand God's intended purpose that underlay Jesus' resurrection. Now in order to develop the image this evening, we're going to turn, as you can see on the screen, there to the 15th chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. We went through 1 Corinthians several years back, and I think I spent four weeks in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. I won't pack all of those sermons into one sermon this evening. We're just going to look at one section here. In the first 19 verses of the chapter, the Apostle Paul is addressing a problem in the church in Corinth. This letter, the second half of the letter, if you recall, addresses a lot of problems that the church had asked about. Well, Paul has been addressing a problem within the church. Some of the believers in the church in Corinth, they're confused about death. More specifically, they're confused about what comes after death. Some of the Corinthians were already dead, and they were willing to accept that Jesus was raised from the dead, yet at the same time there were people in the church that were promoting the idea that there was no future bodily resurrection for common everyday believers. Yes, Jesus rose from the dead, that's why we have Resurrection Sunday, but everyday believers wouldn't be raised. As I said, that presented a problem when they had some people already dying. So Paul began in the first 19 verses of chapter 15 discussing the topic by focusing in on Christ to begin with. Christ is the central focus for everything in a believer's life. It's the focus for this topic as well. Christ's resurrection is central to a focus on death. Believers are focused on a living Savior, not a dead Savior. There is no gospel. There is no good news. There is nothing that we have to bind us together as Christians. There is no reason to be a Christian without the resurrection of Christ. The gospel is all summed up in the fact that Christ died and rose again. He left that tomb empty on the third day. Well, this evening, I want us to spend some time looking at the second section. After Paul's dealt with that, the gospel hinges around Christ's resurrection. I want to spend time looking at the second section of the chapter. And in verses 20 through 28, we learn that the empty tomb set off an avalanche of glory. An avalanche of glory. I want that picture of avalanche to lock into our minds tonight. The empty tomb set off this avalanche of glory. Redemption history, the history of God redeeming sinful man by providing salvation, that history pivots on the cross. We have before the cross and we have after the cross. Human history begins before redemption was even necessary, though. We looked at Genesis several years ago, and remember those first 11 chapters of Genesis when we went through? Well, there's two chapters. The very first two chapters come in the book of Genesis before sin ever enters creation. Human history begins prior to the need for redemption. Human history includes the creation and the sinless perfection of the Garden of Eden before the fall. What we'll find out in our verses this evening is that the totality of human history, from start to finish, those two chapters, all the way through the end of human history, pivots on the resurrection of Jesus. The total story is designed to bring glory to God. The story is, from start to finish, one of God's victorious reigning over his creation. Until the resurrection of Christ, until we hit this pivot event in the history of mankind, it appeared as if sin had defeated God's design. God created so that his glory would be on display. Sin came along and corrupted that. From the resurrection of Christ onward, we can see at last that sin will not win. God's victorious reign unfolds in an avalanche of glory. Because we're discussing facts in this passage, this is not a here's what you must do passage, it's not a bunch of commands, it's facts. It may feel as if there's not as much that is directly applicable to our everyday lives. But remember, this is a church that's struggling how to understand death, and Paul says you cannot deal with death, which is a very practical issue for all of us, you cannot deal with death until we understand what God is doing through the resurrection of Christ. Our actions are based on what we believe. That means beliefs ultimately are very practical. Think about it, a little girl puts that very first tooth that she pulls under her pillow because she believes that the tooth fairy will come that night. She's never met the tooth fairy. Well, actually she has maybe, but she's never seen the tooth fairy. She puts the tooth under there believing that something will happen. We vote for a particular candidate because we believe that a particular candidate will govern better than their opponents. We don't know its future. We don't know exactly how they will govern, but we believe. We act based on what we believe. Well, the same is true regarding what we believe about the resurrection. In fact, because we're dealing with matters here of eternal significance when it comes to the resurrection, what we believe becomes eternally important. We should be very concerned about what we believe. Getting our beliefs right in this area is so important that Paul spends an extensive time showing us that the empty tomb set off this avalanche of glory. Remember the power of an avalanche. Once it starts, it cannot end. It will run its course. The empty tomb set off an avalanche of glory. Let's read our verses this evening. Picking up in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 20. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam, all die. So also in Christ all will be made alive, but each in his own order. Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at his coming, then comes the end when he hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power. for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death, for he has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he says all things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is exempted who put all things in subjection to him. When all things are subjected to him, then the son himself also will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all. the empty tomb set off an avalanche of glory. We can break our passage down into two parts tonight, two sections, two specific assurances, if you will, that result from the resurrection of Christ. Two reasons that add to this avalanche of glory that's underway from Christ's resurrection. In the first section, verses 20 through 23, we see that Christ's resurrection assures our resurrection. We have assurance of our resurrection because of Christ's resurrection. Verse 20 leads off with a powerful, but now. But now. Paul has been entertaining the idea, hypothetically, what would be the case if Christ had not been raised from the dead? If the tomb was not empty? If we came to this day of the year and there was nothing to celebrate because the body was still where it had been placed Friday evening? And he concludes that we would deserve pity. We deserve pity for believing something that had not happened. With this, but now, Paul emphatically states, such is not the case. We would deserve pity if that were the case, if Christ had not been raised, but now he has been raised. We need no pity because Christ has indeed come from the tomb. This is how things really are. There's no hypothetical what if. Christ left the tomb, it's empty. This is how things are and this reality really is of utmost importance to us. As I said, there are some members of the church here in Corinth who are claiming from what we can see in verse 12 that there was no resurrection for believers. Yet, as I indicate already, if you go all the way back to chapter 11, the chapter we turn to when we celebrate the Lord's Table together, that chapter indicates that at least some people in the church had already died. Remember the warning there in that passage? Be careful how you partake of the Lord's Table because if you partake of it in an unworthy manner, you drink judgment to yourself. Some have done that and have even fallen asleep. Paul's euphemism for death. So some of the believers have died, and it really seems like the church may have had more than even those that were under punishment from chapter 11. By this point in history, this church has existed for several years. It is quite possible that believers could have died by that point. And all that combines to question marks in their mind. What happens to these believers? We're waiting for the return of Christ and we know that's coming, but what happens to those who have died? You take that question combined with reality that some have died and add now the component that there's some teaching in the church with at least presumed authority that there is no resurrection aside from Christ. Well, that creates a lot of troubling thoughts within the church, a lot of issues. So Paul's dealing with that. As much as we might wish it were the case, death really is a part of our existence. We don't have to struggle too hard to think about the distress that would come if we started to believe that there was no resurrection, that when a person passed from this life, there was nothing else. We can see the despair that would bring if we believe that death really was the end. We don't have to struggle hard Because most of us have probably been around a group of unbelievers when they've experienced death. And we see the despair. We've witnessed it. It can easily grip even us as we go there and we see the emotional agony of group people that have no hope. As far as they know, there is no hope. that death is the end, that all we have is this life and then it's gone. There's nothing else. That leads to despair. Well, it's into that type of a setting that Paul is writing this section. He's writing in a setting where people have begun to question whether there is any hope of a resurrection. And Paul writes, into that context, but now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits for those who are asleep. The first fruits. That idea of firstfruits, it comes out of the Old Testament. It's one that we should be familiar with. The firstfruits is the first portion of the crop that was to be offered to God in Thanksgiving. Details are given back in Leviticus chapter 2. And we went through our series on Leviticus a few years back. We saw that. And the idea that the first product from the crop, the first harvested amount, that should be offered to God as Thanksgiving offering. That became a metaphor that the first part of something represented the larger whole. We offer it as Thanksgiving to God, the first produce from the crop, because we know there's more coming. Well, it became this metaphor. It was sort of like a down payment guarantee. And Paul uses this metaphor, this idea of first fruit, now to connect the resurrection of Christ to the coming resurrection of believers. He says two things, these two things are not separate. There's Christ's resurrection and there's believers resurrection. They're connected. The first one is part of the total resurrection, and just as the first one's occurred, the second one will as well. Christ's resurrection, the believers, they're simply earlier and later parts of the very same event. Christ's resurrection serves as this promise or this guarantee of the later resurrection of all believers. Using this avalanche illustration then, Christ's resurrection is like that first bit of snow that starts sliding. At the beginning it doesn't seem like much, it's just one trickle. Somewhat like how that first snow though pushes against the lower snow causing it to slide, Christ's resurrection pushes against the death of all believers, eventually causing all believers to experience resurrection as well. His point is it's unstoppable now because it's already begun. The avalanche is underway. Nothing can stand in its path. Now I want to take a moment and make sure we understand that Paul in this text is only dealing with the resurrection of believers. That the issue in the church was what happens to believers who die before Christ returns. In verse 22, he refers to those who are in Christ. In verse 23, those who are Christ. Those phrases clearly limit what Paul says here to believers. He's talking about Christians. And that's a critical distinction because the assurance that Paul is offering here is only applicable to believers. Those who have placed personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Those who have trusted in His death upon the cross, who believe that He died in their place, that the cross provided the payment for their sins. Trusting that God will forgive them because Christ suffered on their behalf. Paul's dealing with that group. He's not dealing with all mankind. Paul's not dealing in this chapter with what happens after death to those who do not trust Christ. He's dealing with those who have trusted Christ. We'll see in a few minutes that there are serious implications that come as a result of Christ's resurrection for unbelievers, but that's not specifically Paul's focus at this point, and I want to make sure we understand that. For believers, the point is that Christ's resurrection assures our resurrection. Death comes because we're all born in Adam. That's the words he uses there in verse 22. We're all in Adam. We're all under Adam. Adam's sin, as we looked at when we went through Genesis chapter 3, that the fall affects all mankind who flows out from Adam. So death comes, natural death. It affects the entire human race. It's a natural condition. Adam's sin is universal. But in a similar matter, though, Paul says Christ has a universal effect on all who come after him. Now, not all humanity is coming after Christ. Not all are in Christ. But that's the only difference. The difference, well I shouldn't say that's the only difference, the other difference that he's highlighting is the effect that comes into play. Adam's effect is applied by birth. We die because Adam's in Christ effect is through salvation. We are in Christ if we have belief in him. Being in Christ then means, though, that we are connected to him, and by that connection we are tied to his resurrection. We're downslope from Christ. We are in him, and that means as he's flowing down the hills, so will we. To be in Christ means we have the guarantee that we will be, as Paul said, made alive. That is, resurrected. In the future, after death, we will be made alive. Verse 23 explains the current reality. It answers the question as to why we're still waiting for the resurrection of believers. After all, Christ has already been raised, right? That's what we're celebrating today. That's what we celebrated a year ago and a year before that. We celebrate every Easter that Christ has been raised. It's already happened. So why don't we see believers resurrecting? Wouldn't it be great if a believer died and Boop, popped right back up and we're immediately resurrected or we put them in the grave and once a year they all pop back out or, you know, there'd be all kinds of different ways. Why don't we see it real time as believers die that resurrection occurs? Well, verse 23 tells us why. Even though our resurrection as believers is tied to Him, it's separated in time. There's an order, there's a ranking between these two. Christ was raised from the dead, or three days after his death, we know, and then he ascended to heaven a short time later with a promise of returning again. That launched the church age, and the church age now separates the two aspects of the resurrection. Our resurrection, the resurrection of believers, will occur as he's coming at the parousia. It's possible that you've even heard that term, the parousia. Paul uses that here in verse 23. We have it translated, at his coming. That was a Greek word that was used in both religious and secular context. It was the word that referred to the appearance of an extremely important individual. In religious contexts, it was used for the appearance of a deity. In secular settings, it could be the official visit of an emperor to a city. His perusea, when the emperor came to a city, it was celebrated, this appearance. Well, in Christian tradition, the word came to be used to refer to the most important official high-ranking visit ever placed on the calendar of human history. the return of Jesus Christ. That visit, that appearance, that return has been scheduled. The second part of the resurrection is scheduled to coincide with the appearance, the parousia of Jesus. It will occur, it's on the calendar, it's just still future from today. The resurrection of Jesus has already occurred and that assures us of the future resurrection for all who are in Christ. Christ's resurrection assures our resurrection. That's the first assurance that we see in this passage, the first part of the avalanche getting going. The empty tomb set off an avalanche of glory. The avalanche is underway. Christ's assurance assures our assurance. But there's a second assurance that we find in our verses as well. A second assurance that comes. Christ's resurrection assures his supremacy. His supremacy. Paul's point as he goes on here is our resurrection, as great as that is, and maybe as major as it seems to us, our resurrection really is too small to entail the avalanche of glory that was set off by Christ's resurrection. Us raising from the dead is insufficient to comprehend the glory that Christ is unfolding as downstream from him. That's why the rest of the passage continues expanding on what will come after our resurrection. There's a sequence between verses 23 and 24. Notice verse 23 has some stuff mentioned and verse 24 begins, then, there's a sequence here, then Christ was raised, then those who are in Christ, then the end. Now, the timing of the end, that's what Paul calls it here, the timing of this end is ambiguous. We don't know when exactly it's coming. He's not laying out a precise time chart here. You can't flip it down and see where we're at on the time chart of this chapter. He's not given a specific time chart for the second half of human history, but he has given us a sequence of events. Christ, then comes those who are in Christ, then the end. Paul's real concern is this explanation of what God's goal is for human history. The end of human history will come when Christ hands his kingdom over to God the Father. Remember I said that when sin entered the world that it appeared as if God's original design for creation had been thwarted. that God's purposes were not going to come about. It was not until the intervening of the cross that we see human history will correct. God's original goal, if we go all the way back to Genesis, God's original goal for humanity was that humanity would rule over his creation, and by ruling over his creation in his image, give glory to him. All of creation would give glory to God. Instead of pursuing that purpose of creation, sin led to endless rebellion throughout creation. That's why all creation today groans, as Paul says in Romans chapter 8, right? Christ entered creation to put an end to that rebellion. The end of human history is the culmination that comes when Christ has completely put down all the rebellion of mankind and created a kingdom that he then turns and hands to his father back in perfect conformity reflecting glory to the father as designed. Now we should note in verse 24 that Paul refers to all rule and all authority and power. These terms refer to all the competing, the corrupted, the perverted, dominions, the authorities, the powers. They're all spiritual nature and form. They're all that which Satan and his demons are influencing as well as the humans that are being influenced them in rebellion. Everything in creation that's in rebellion against God is comprehended by that. Paul says in verse 24 that all of them will be abolished. When Adam perverted the reign that God had given him over creation, he unleashed this rebellion. We all become part of that rebellion simply by birth. Christ now is in the process of putting all aspects of that rebellion down. He's waging war against it. The cross was the pivot battle in the war. It was not the only battle, but it was the pivotal battle. Satan thought that he had won that battle when Christ went into the tomb. Satan realized he lost when Christ came out of the tomb. Now Christ wages his ongoing war most directly through the gospel message. As the gospel message is taken to those who are in rebellion and converts rebellious sinners into submissive saints, worshiping God their creator, Satan continues to lose small skirmish after skirmish. The gospel has the power to destroy the rebellion of human hearts by transforming through the message of Jesus Christ. Since the resurrection of Christ, Christ has been establishing his reign. He reigns in our hearts as believers through the transforming nature of the gospel message applied by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. He's recreating us, he's renewing us for the original purpose of bringing glory to God, of being true worshipers. Yet there will come a day When Christ will go the next step beyond that, when Christ returns and he will put down all physical rebellion against him through military might, he will squash it. The image that Paul gives us is that he will put his enemies under his feet. That's the picture of a conquering king standing and placing his foot upon the neck of his defeated enemy while his enemy's face is crushed in the dust. Paul pulls here from a couple of Psalms as he makes that allusion. He pulls from Psalm 110 verse 1 and Psalm 8 verse 6, you may have cross references, and develops this image. Because those Psalms picture the Messiah, the Christ being enthroned across all creation with ultimate authority over creation, ruling with might and power and glory. Apparently, when Winston Churchill heard that Japan had bombed the United States at Pearl Harbor, he made a statement to the effect that the war with Germany is now over. Seemed like a strange statement to make at the time. He had been lobbying, though we need to understand that Churchill had been lobbying Roosevelt for the United States to enter the war and aid in the defeat of Germany. Roosevelt had been resisting and refusing to commit military support to the war. Churchill knew that Pearl Harbor meant that the United States would go to war. There was no way that the United States would not. And he anticipated, was confident even, that the production might of the United States coupled with the military might that the United States would deploy would become the deciding factor and grant victory for the Allies over Germany and Italy. So the moment he heard Pearl Harbor was bombed, he said, we've just won the war. With an even greater degree of accuracy in prediction, Paul wants us to see that the resurrection of Jesus means Christ has won. It means that Christ's ultimate supremacy is assured. Christ will defeat his enemies, all his enemies, every single one in rebellion. Christ will reign until there is no enemy left to challenge him. He will even destroy the final enemy, death itself. Christ will win. We may not think of death really as an enemy, but remember, death was not part of God's original creation. Death was the result of sin. Death is an enemy because it is a result of mankind's rebellion. And as a result of mankind's rebellion, death is an enemy of Christ. When mankind's rebellion comes to an end, death must end as well. The culmination of Christ's mission that we talked about this morning must abolish death. And this is where the resurrection again comes into the picture. The resurrection of those who are in Christ will completely undo death itself. Even death will have no hold, no ultimate victory over those who are in Christ. That glorious phrase, in Christ. Death has no hold. At this point, Paul tells us that Christ's mission will not be complete, or rather, Christ's mission will be complete. Because Christ has put down all rebellion, Christ will subject all things. Then, as his mission is complete, he'll subject all things by turning his kingdom over to God the Father. The plan has always been that God the Father would receive all the glory. It's an avalanche of glory that we've been discussing after all, and the end of that avalanche is for the Father to receive all the glory. Christ came to do the Father's will. The Father's plan all along was that Christ would bring all things under His rule so that Christ in turn could then take His kingdom and give it to the Father to pass the glory on to the Father's glory. Christ finishes his mission by doing exactly that. He turns all things over to the Father so that, as Paul says here in the very last phrase of verse 28, God may be all in all. That's always been the plan. From the moment God created till creation finishes, the plan is that God will be all in all. That's the glory that was being unleashed. Now, we should not read these verses as if Christ, though, in any way diminishes. Remember, I start out saying the avalanche is guaranteeing Christ's supremacy overall. Christ's supremacy ties directly to the glory of God. Christ will not diminish his authority in the process of handing his kingdom over to the Father. Christ will remain supreme for all eternity as the one who saved us. The point that Paul is making is that God the Father set in motion a chain of events that must culminate in the final destruction of death and must also culminate with the Father once again, as in eternity past, being all in all. All glory ultimately goes to the Father. This is the inevitable result of the avalanche of glory flowing down history from the empty tomb. One commentator that I read used this image to explain the idea. I think this helps us understand how can Christ be supreme as he turns his kingdom over to the Father. He says, imagine there's this great king who rules over a vast empire. There's a vassal kingdom, a sub-kingdom, against the great king. A small sub-kingdom that attempts to throw off the great king's rule. So the king sends his most powerful general out with his army to subdue the rebels and restore order. The general does so. He puts down all the rebellion and sets up a new local rule in that sub-kingdom. Now this may take some time. During that time, the general for all intents and purposes rules over that sub-kingdom. He's there on site ruling it. He's the one who orders the execution of the rebels. He's the one who appoints governors and mayors. He rules the region. And yet, When the General returns victorious to the Great King, it becomes immediately clear that he has established his own rule in the sub-kingdom on behalf of the Great King, because he now turns the peaceful sub-kingdom over to the Great King once again. The General is held victorious. He is given praise and honor, but he has been and always will be willingly in submission to the Great King. I think that helps us understand how Christ is supreme over all while all glory goes to the Father. Christ is the victorious general. He's doing all that he's doing for the sake of the great King, God the Father. That includes putting down all rebellion against God. and that will ultimately lead to the final defeat of death itself. The avalanche of events that will come to this end has been put in motion the moment God raised Christ from the dead. Christ's resurrection assures his supremacy overall. Let me ask you this evening, how does knowing this, how does knowing Christ is ultimately supreme overall, how does that affect our actions? I'll give us three suggestions tonight. How it affects us. One, anyone who is personally in rebellion against God should be terrified. Someone in rebellion against God should be terrified. It is a rebellion that is destined for complete and absolute failure. Christ will abolish all rebellion. He will put down all rebels. He will crush them. God, through his grace, offers an opportunity to end such rebellion now by accepting Jesus as Savior. We know that. And that's why we need to be sharing the glorious truth of the gospel with every rebel that we know because those rebels will be crushed if they continue in their rebellion. We need to share that people can submit to the supremacy of Christ. They do not have to wait until he's standing with his foot on their neck and their face is in the dirt. We do this, of course, by sharing the gospel message. I think we all know that. So we can tell people that they can be in Christ. They do not have to be in rebellion. We can offer hope. We can even do so boldly because we know Christ is supreme. We seek to add the weight of the avalanche of glory that's heading to the Father. We want to add more to it by adding more people on board, offering the hope of the gospel before they're swept away. So that's one implication that comes from this. Two, that the supremacy of Christ should keep us from despair. We certainly live in a world that is in rebellion against God. We see evidence for that everywhere we look. This world is in rebellion. We see it in our government officials. We see it in our prime time television shows. We see it in our social media feeds. We see it in our libraries. We see it everywhere we look. Wherever we encounter our cultural influence, we see rebellion. We also experience overt rebellion in our culture as we see our culture exert ever increasing limitations upon Christians. freedoms that we once openly enjoyed, we now see many supporting limitation and open hostility toward those who are giving glory to God. From a practical standpoint, it starts to appear as if rebellion is having the upper hand. We can start to think at times that rebels are winning. And that may be the case at the moment. That does not change the fact, though, that the tomb is empty. That does not change whatever is going on in our culture, does not change the fact that the avalanche is already underway. Whatever is going on in our culture right now does not change that Christ will be supreme. So whatever we see cannot discourage us. Whatever we experience cannot discourage us. Whatever is happening in our country cannot stop the avalanche of God's glory. Christ is on a mission to conquer all rebels, to place all enemies under his feet. He will not stop until that has happened. And that will happen only when the end arrives. We know how human history will end, and we know we're on the winning side. So rather than despairing, we have solid reasons to boldly and steadfastly face whatever may come in our immediate future because we know the ultimate future. There's no reason for despair. A third implication of the way this affects us, the supremacy of Christ should make us joy-filled worshipers. joy-filled worshipers. The supremacy of Christ that's guaranteed should cause us to ascribe glory to God now. Christ came, Christ died, Christ rose again. He did that so that God the Father will be all in all. As part of that avalanche, each of us We're already flowing down the slope with Christ. We're heading toward the ultimate end. But God allows us, as we are part of the snowpack flowing down the mountainside, God allows us to be ascribing glory to him now. We don't have to wait to the end to do that. We can do it now. We're allowed to worship God now because we're in Christ. Such a privileged position should become a personal priority for all of us who are in Christ. I read a statistic this week that estimates that coming out of this pandemic that only 10% of American churches will continue holding Sunday evening services. The number was already declining rapidly before the pandemic, and now with the pandemic, many of the remaining churches that had evening services have stopped them, and most of those will not restart. You know, even if that estimate is off by a large number, what does that say about the place of worship in the lives of most American Christians? Where does worship sit in our lives if we cannot find the time to worship God twice on a Sunday? We were created for worship. We are created to ascribe glory to our creator. We rebelled. We, as part of mankind, rebelled. All of us began as rebels. But Christ came. Christ died. Christ rose again. Christ is waging war against rebellion. In our lives, he has already conquered our rebellion through the gospel if we are in Christ. If we're in Christ, he has already given us the ability to worship. It's been restored in us. We are already back to that original creative place where we can worship our God. What could be more significant than to live out our eternal purpose at every opportunity? To live as joy-filled worshipers. The supremacy of Christ in our lives should make us joy-filled worshipers. Christ's resurrection assures his supremacy. That is the second assurance that we find in the passage this evening. And that's where the empty tomb comes in. The empty tomb set off an avalanche of glory. an avalanche of glory, this powerful phenomenon that cannot be stopped once it's underway. When the snow starts flowing down the slope, everything in the path will be swept away. Will the empty tomb set that off with an avalanche of glory that will not stop till the end has come and God is all in all? Christ has been raised from the dead. The tomb is empty. Christ's resurrection assures our resurrection. and Christ's resurrection assures his supremacy. God will receive his glory through Christ and all of those that Christ brings along with him to ascribe glory to the Father. The empty tomb set off an avalanche of glory. Let's pray. Father, what a joy it is to be able to worship you in Christ. To know that our native rebellion has been conquered. Conquered through the work of Jesus Christ, brought home through the gospel message, made alive via faith. Father, thank you for doing that work in each of us. And Father, I pray that you will help us now to share that work with other rebels that we know. to encourage them to turn from their rebellion before they are forced to bow before the conquering king. Father, may we rejoice in a new way this Easter Sunday because we have a God who is unleashing his plan that brings glory to his name by raising his son to the position of all supreme. Father, it's in the name of Jesus we pray, amen.