Bottom of the 11th, Down by a run, 2 out, 2 strikes

That was the situation the Detroit Tigers found themselves in last Sunday afternoon.  If you are not a baseball fan, that does not mean much; but if you are, you know it is all about over.  Well if you are a Tiger fan, you know that Alex Avila hit a walk off homer.  Total elation!

Now yesterday was a different situation.  The Tigers’ ace pitcher, Verlander took a 1 hitter into the 9^th inner and ending up losing 2-4.  Total downer!

Well, having experienced these two extremes, I got to thinking about Sunday morning, that first Easter morning!  The women at the empty tomb went from totally depressed to total confusion to total elation.  The range of emotion that they and the disciples experienced that day must have been unbelievable. 

BUT,

This could not compare with what was going on in hell.  When Satan and his demons saw Jesus, God’s Son, the very Son that Satan had tempted in the desert, die they must have been elated.  He was gone, done, not just game over; but the life and death struggle was over.  They had finally won.  If hell was ever going to have a party, this would have been the time.

BUT,

Sunday morning came.  God raised His Son to life.  Satan and his cohorts were totally defeated!   Can you imagine the anger, the fear, the frustration in hell that Sunday morning.   Can you imagine the joy, the excitement, the exhilaration in heaven when they saw Jesus arise.  Jesus said: “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” 

In Revelations 18.  Heaven is instructed to rejoice over the final fall of Babylon, “the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit”.

”Rejoice over her (Babylon), thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. ²¹And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.”

There is nothing in scripture that would lead us to believe that the angels in heaven know the future, so I think that when Satan and 1/3 of the angels rebelled, the other angels were saddened.  I don’t know if they knew that Jesus was going to arise from the grave that Sunday morning; but, I think not.  Can you imagine what they must have been feeling.

NOW,

Getting back to us, you and me, are we more excited about a walk off home run on an Easter Sunday afternoon or Victory over death, hell and the grave.  One is a game.  The other is life or death, eternal life or eternal death.  The walk off home run is long forgotten especially after a 9^th inning loss, 3 days later.  I have to plead guilty.  I enjoyed the Easter Sunday service but I got more excited when I saw the walk off home run.  Lord, please forgive me!