He is risen. He is risen indeed.
This is the greeting Christians used in the early church. It was the focal point of a movement which swept the world. Indeed, as the Apostle Paul said, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” (I Cor. 15:17) This is the hinge on which the Christian faith rests.
Yet, there remains skeptics who do not believe and still more who claim to believe yet live as if it makes no difference.
Sheldon Vanauken, passionately in love with his new bride, Davy pursued graduate studies in Oxford. They might have believed in the existence of God but could not accept Christ as Divine, nor the reality of the resurrection. By God’s design they came to know and to be mentored by C. S. Lewis, the great English literary figure and Christian apologist.
As their friendship grew and questions about faith increased they came face to face with the reality that it could quite possibly be true that Christ really was who he claimed to be. In his book, A Severe Mercy, Vanauken states, “And by now we knew it was important. If true and we admitted to each other the possibility that it was — it was, very simply, the only really important truth in the world. And if untrue, it was false. No halfway house. First or nothing. It is not possible to be incidentally a Christian. The fact of Christianity must be overwhelmingly first or nothing.”
This Easter season, churches will be filled with people and every pastor should be grateful at least they are there. But the reality of the resurrection must be more than a time to attend church, wear new clothes or hunt Easter eggs.
For many, in our increasingly secularized world, the idea Jesus Christ actually came out of the grave in bodily form is a myth, or at best, a nice story to challenge us to live better lives. Space does not permit me to deal with all the evidences of the resurrection. They are many.
The “swoon theory,” Jesus did not really die on the cross, the “disciples stole the body” and made up the story, the appearances of Jesus were “merely hallucinations;” all these have been discredited by honest scholars. Careful analysis of these theories can be found in Lee Strobel’s work, A Case for Faster.
Yet to me the greatest evidence of the resurrection is in the actions of the apostles. When Jesus was arrested, all the apostles ran for their lives. Later, Peter denied even knowing Him. They were huddled in a room fearing for their lives when the news came from Mary He was alive.
Then for 40 days they ate with him, were taught by him and felt his physical body. When He ascended, having been given their marching orders to go into all the world after they received the power of the Holy Spirit, they went forth risking their lives to proclaim the truth “this Jesus...whom you crucified...God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death.” (Acts. 2:23,24).
Their lives were changed from being fearful cowards to men willing to be martyred for their faith. What changed them? A lie that they made up? Fanatics might die for a cause that they believe is true, but men do not risk their lives for something they know is not true.
They knew the truth because they had seen the truth. Prayer “Father, may we proclaim the truth and live out the truth. Free us from a life that gives lip service to the truth yet denies it by a lifestyle of disobedience.” Amen.
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