Some important truths for Easter

by Dr Stuart Lange | 17 Apr , 2025 | About Christianity, Articles, Christianity in New Zealand, The Church

JESUS

• Jesus is true. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth are very well documented by multiple writers in the New Testament, some of whom knew Jesus well. Others were among those who later died for their faith in him. (Jesus was also referred to, though far less fully in various non-Christian sources).
• In his life on earth, Jesus was in so many ways an utterly unique and deeply impressive person, including his closeness to God as his Father, his character, his complete integrity, his goodness, his compassion, his extraordinary spiritual perception into the human heart, his ethical teaching, and his phenomenal miraculous works – and for over two thousand years, Jesus has continued to inspire and transform people of every place and culture.
• The New Testament gives witness to Jesus as the Messiah, God-with-us, the only Son of the one true God, the image of the invisible God, the Word made flesh, Risen Lord, Saviour of the world.

The CROSS of Jesus…

• The death of Jesus is arguably the most famous and inspiring death in all history.
• Jesus was totally innocent, and his brutal physical suffering and spiritual agony were completely undeserved.
• After intense wrestling in prayer, Jesus submitted himself to the Cross.
• Jesus’ death makes possible our reconciliation with God. Jesus died as a spotless atoning sacrifice, for all the sin and evil of a lost and wayward humanity. The righteous died for the unrighteous (1 Peter 3:18). Jesus took the penalty of our sin, and in exchange we gained His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). We receive God’s atonement, forgiveness, and grace through faith in Jesus (Romans 3:25).
• Jesus’ death was not the end, but a prelude to what was about to happen.

The RESURRECTION of Jesus…

• Jesus’ resurrection changes so much!
• Jesus’ lifeless body had been wrapped in burial clothes and laid in a sealed tomb, with armed guards outside.
• On the third day, at dawn, Jesus was gloriously raised from the dead by the infinite power of God, who made this whole universe.
• The empty tomb! A group of women found the tombstone rolled back, and no guards present. Peter and John came and found the tomb empty, but when they saw how the grave clothes were lying, they “saw and believed” (John 20:8). The empty tomb was an enduring silent witness to the reality of the Resurrection.
• Multiple encounters with the Risen Lord! Mary was the first person to meet the Risen Lord. Over the next six weeks, there were appearances of the Risen Jesus to many, many people: to individuals, to groups of disciples, and to at least one large crowd. People walked, talked and ate with the Risen Lord, touched his wounds, and received his teaching. See, for example, John 20-21, Luke 24, Acts 1:3, Acts 15:1-20.
• The Resurrection of Jesus was God’s powerful declaration that Jesus is indeed the one and only divine Son of God (Romans 1:4), and Saviour of the world (Acts 4:10-12). In the Resurrection, Jesus was completely vindicated.
• After six weeks, the disciples saw Jesus ascend to his glory at the right hand of God the Father, from where he shall one day return in power and glory, to judge the living and the dead, abolish evil, suffering, and death, and make all things new.
• The Resurrection of Jesus is the only reason why Christianity and the church ever began, and the only reason how – despite enormous odds and opposition – faith in Jesus has spread to the very ends of the earth, through the power of the Holy Spirit which was first poured out on the day of Pentecost.
• The Resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee that those united with him by faith shall themselves enter eternity with God and the life of the Resurrection (John 3:16, 11:25, 20:31).

Revival in New Zealand, and the Māori Conversion

by Malcolm Falloon | 7 Mar , 2025 | About Christianity, Articles, Christianity in New Zealand, The Church

Is it just me, or is there a growing sense of prayer and expectation among the New Zealand churches to see the revival of God’s people? A number of us have recently participated in Gather25, a global call for prayer, repentance, and mission. Others have attended Open Heaven and The Send. As we look to forward to what God might do among us we can also take encouragement by looking back to what he has already done in the past.

This is particularly relevant at this time of year, for Ash Wednesday marks the 195th anniversary of the beginning of the Māori Conversion – New Zealand’s original and largest revival. Beginning on Ash Wednesday 1830, and then for a period of twenty years, over 90% of Māori (some 70,000 people) came to profess Christianity.

On that Wednesday evening, 24 February 1830, the CMS missionary, Richard Davis, led the scheduled weekly service for the one hundred or so Māori living at the Paihia mission station in the Bay of Islands. After taking the prayers, Davis concluded the service as usual with a sermon. What was not usual was the degree of attention given him by his congregation. So much so that when he had finished speaking he invited as many as were “particulalry desirous for the salvation of their souls” to gather at his home for further conversation. Thirty men and boys took up his invitation, and a similar number of women and girls gathering with Davis’s eldest daughter, Mary Ann.

It was a night that transformed a mission and established a church. Davis wrote in his journal, “I had the pleasure of spending such an evening as scarely falls to the lot of mortals.” The spiritual awakening that started that night continued over the coming days, and very soon the interest of a few became more general.

Before long before the revival had spread to the other two mission stations, despite the chaos of war breaking out in the wider community. Soon the Gospel was spreading far beyond the reach of the small band of missionaries. Looking back on events in 1867, the missionary William Williams wrote that a “tender sapling” had taken root in New Zealand soil that summer’s evening, yet it was one that had matured to become one of the “trees of the forest.”

There are three lessons for today’s church looking for revival: 

Firstly, we need to remain persistent in word and prayer. These are what the early missionaries termed the ordinary means of grace. They had laboured for fifteen years with little encouragement before revival became. Yet throughout that time, they remained expectant that the Gospel would bear much fruit in God’s providential timing. We too need to remain expectant and not loose heart, but devote ourselves to God’s word and prayer.

Secondly, lasting revival will centre on repentance and the forgiveness of sin in Christ’s name. It was their experience of answered prayer for a new heart within that led early Māori converts to publicly profession their faith in baptism. True repentance is a very different experience to the hype and spectacle often expected by our modern world. It is different because true repentance turns our focus away from ourselves and towards the holiness of God and his presence among his people by his Holy Spirit.

Thirdly, revival and mission go hand-in-hand. The early converts had a great compassion for the lost, for they knew that, without Christ, all people stood under God’s eternal judgement. Their motivation was obedience to the command of Christ, but even more so to the compassion of Christ towards sinners. We too need to pray for that same compassion to send us out in mission and obedience to the Great Commission of Christ.