The Son Rises on Reality

“I would catch a glimpse of the cross – and suddenly my heart would stand still. In an instinctive, intuitive way I understood that something more important, more tumultuous, more passionate, was at issue than any our good causes, however noble they might be.” – Malcolm Muggeridge, Jesus Rediscovered, as cited in Tim Keller, The Reason for God ch. 12

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!...For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” – Romans 11:33, 36

“The refulgence shines upon and into the creature, and is reflected back to the luminary. The beams of glory come from God, are something to God, and are refunded back again to their original. So that the whole is of God, and in God, and to God; and he is the beginning, the middle, and the end.” – Jonathan Edwards, The End for Which God Created the World

Look at what our God has done! Come and see – how awesome are his designs! Do you see it? Do you see the grace and power of the cross and the resurrection? – that bright, piercing light that God has sent from himself so that we might know him for who he is, shining like “a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19). I have done my best to communicate with words what I see in this Great Eucatastrophe, yet words are so shallow and weak when they are used in reference to such deep and weighty truths. To describe the reality itself, to convey the force with which it hits me – the brightness of the light of eucatastrophe – I can think of little more that could be said with words. I might also say this: when I look at it – the victory of God – I understand why we are here in this world and I know who I am. I see why anything at all exists. As I turn my gaze towards the Son of God as he rises from death and shines his victorious light on all reality, I think, “so that is why there is a world filled with living beings, rather than nothing at all!” When I look at the cross, I think, “so that is the firm foundation of reality and the meaning of existence.” This meaning of existence is most transparent to me – indeed I see it beyond the shadow of a doubt – when I listen to certain pieces of music,* and for you the light may shine down in some other unique beam, giving a similarly small but bright glimpse of the same beauty and power – that of the eucatastrophic victory of good over evil. It is this light, streaming forth from the Victory of God in the resurrection, that illuminates all reality, showing how all the pieces fit together in God’s Story and the dance of creation. In the words of C. S. Lewis, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” And the Son has risen. The mystery of God is being fulfilled (Revelation 10:7). The tide has turned towards redemption. This is the morning.


*I might be accused of letting my thoughts become crowded in emotions. Is not one’s clarity of rational thought dimmed and confused by an “emotional high?” This could happen, but it is by no means a necessary quality of emotion.