So the question of the day is: can a person write a blog dedicated to the truths and implications of the gospel and somehow forget to write a post about Easter? Yup...pretty much. With that said, I apologize for not doing something to honor the resurrection of Jesus Christ. With that said, who cares when the calender tells me to think about Christ's resurrection; I'm going to do it today!
Imagine someone ran up to you and said, "They just found Jesus' bones! The disciples moved His body and pretended He had risen from the dead. Your 'Lord' is nothing but a dead lie!" That's the kind of news that tends to put a damper on any day. No amount of pizza would fix that, and that's strong language coming from me. Why? Because our whole faith is wrapped up in the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, He was perfect enough to atone for all of our sins, and He was powerful enough to over come death. If He stayed dead, none of the above would be true. Paul said it pretty well in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19.
17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
At the end of the day, if Christ was never raised from the dead, we are in for a world o' hurt. Paul gets us with a back-to-back-to-back triple whammy right here. First off, if Christ isn't raised from the dead, He wasn't powerful enough to overcome the penalty for your sins and all those thoughts, words, and actions that you thought you would never have to answer for again are all outstanding! You're still guilty! He follows that up with the nice sunny statement that everyone who died believing in Christ are suffering eternal punishment in Hell because they trusted in an insufficient sacrifice for their sin. To top it off, not only can we not have eternal joy like we thought, but we can't even enjoy life now because we constantly have eternal judgement hanging over our heads. I mean, how exactly would you end that memo? "Enjoy your week" sounds a little lame at the tail end of that bombshell.
If you think the above paragraph a little on the ridiculous and "waste of time" side, I want you to take a moment and think about what exactly was going on here. Take a moment, and read a couple passages for me. For starters, take a look at Matthew 20:18-19, Mark 9:31, John 2:20, and John 10:17-18. Common denominator here? All of them are prophecies by Jesus Himself regarding His resurrection from the dead. If Jesus never rose from the dead, He is a liar, a false prophet, and guilty of leading millions astray. That doesn't sound like a person perfect enough for God to lay on Him the sins of us all. If Jesus is not raised, our sins are still outstanding. Not only that, but Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. If Christ remained dead, He would not have overcome the full penalty of our sin. Basically, if Christ is not raised from the dead, our sins our still outstanding and there will be no hope for us before the Judgement Seat.
Lest I be labeled as a downer, I want to show you what Paul says right after 1 Corinthians 15:17-19. Verse 20a reads,
20 BUT NOW IS CHRIST RISEN FROM THE DEAD!!!
Sorry, I just thought that needed some bigger font, capital letters, and exclamation points. I mean, talk about a shift. Christ is risen from the dead. He stormed the gates of Hell and stayed just long enough to trash the place. They carried Him in the tomb, but He came out of there with enough style to knock out elite Roman guards. Your sins are payed for, those who have died in Christ are covered under the blood, and we can have hope for what happens after death. Notice the verb tense in that verse...now is. Right this second, we have an untiring, unceasing, very much alive advocate constantly defending us against every accusation Satan brings against us. And who says we should only celebrate that once a year...
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