Easter Message: If Christ Had Not Risen

AN EASTER MESSAGE
If Christ Had Not Risen

The empty tomb is the guarantee of the Christian’s hope!

Easter is a unique feature of Christianity. This is not because more Christians go to church on Easter Sunday, but because Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Christianity teaches that its founder is living today. No other religion in the world makes such a startling claim. Other religions may claim that the “spirit” of their founder lives on today in his religious teachings, but Christianity claims that its founder, Jesus Christ, lives today – bodily! Biblical Christianity teaches that Jesus really died but then arose physically (not just spiritually) from the grave, and presented Himself alive to many different people on many different occasions over a period of 40 days (Acts 1:3; 1 Cor. 15:3-8). Christianity further teaches that after these undeniable physical appearances, Jesus bodily left this earth and promised to return physically some day (Jn. 14:1-3; Acts 1:9-11). Although we Christians know and experience the “spiritual” presence of our living Lord Jesus now, we look forward to His “physical” return. True Christian faith holds that Jesus was resurrected from the dead – bodily, ascended into heaven – bodily, lives today in glory – bodily, and will someday return to this earth – bodily.

The Keystone Of Our Faith
The physical resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the keystone of the faith. Christianity stands or falls on this point. In other words, Christianity is ultimately based not only on ethical and religious teachings (as are other world religions), but on an historical event. The foundation of our faith is not just what Jesus taught, but what He did in history to back up His claims. You see, any self-styled religious leader can proclaim certain ethical and noble teachings, and may even dare to say, “I am the good shepherd.” Some may even say, “I lay down my life for my sheep,” and then actually die for some “good cause.” But who can continue these statements as Jesus did and claim a physical resurrection? “I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (Jn. 10:14-18 nasb). What a claim! The ethical teachings of Jesus are inseparable from His claims about Himself and His power over death. If Jesus did not rise bodily from the dead, then He was a deceiver, and Christianity is a fraud and a farce. And Christians are just playing religious games!

First Corinthians 15:12-19
Such radical statements are exactly what Scripture teaches to be the logical conclusions if, indeed, the resurrection of Christ did not take place. In 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 we are given several conclusions to which we must come if Christ has not risen from the dead. Without the bodily resurrection of Christ, Christianity is stripped of its basis and its power!

When the apostle Paul wrote this passage, the situation in the church at Corinth was as follows. The Corinthian believers were “hung up” with the concept of the future physical resurrection of Christians who had already died. They weren’t doubting the resurrection of Christ – they believed in this whole-heartedly (1 Cor. 15:11). But the concept of a bodily resurrection for believers was hard to grasp. Apparently they didn’t have any problem with the idea of the spirit living on in some other world, because the immortality of the soul was certainly part of the prevalent Greek philosophy. But the resurrection of the body was a revelation – a real mind-blower!

In order to deal with this problem, the apostle directed their attention to the resurrection of Christ. If they believed in the physical resurrection of Christ, why should the concept of the physical resurrection of the Christian (15:12) be so hard to handle? If God raised the Man, Jesus, from the dead, it was logical that He could raise any person from the dead. But the opposite was logically true, too. If there was no such thing as the physical resurrection of persons from the dead, then even Christ could not have been raised from the dead (15:13,16). After all, Jesus, although He was God, was a real flesh-and-blood person who really died. What’s the logical conclusion, then? If Christ was not raised, we must conclude that everything about the Christian faith is without a solid foundation and “up for grabs.” This logical conclusion is as valid today as it was then, and the following conclusions from 1 Corinthians 15:14-19 are equally true.

Is Our Preaching Empty?
“If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty” (15:14 nkjv). There is no reality behind the nice-sounding words. What authority do we have for even preaching “love your neighbor as yourself,” let alone the resurrection, if Christ is still dead? We become humanistic teachers with no higher authority than what the majority of people in our culture “feel” is right – and this is totally subjective and relative! If Jesus is not living today, the Bible message has no authority and our preaching is empty!

Is Our Faith Empty?
“If Christ is not risen, then our ... faith is also empty” (15:14). There is no foundation for our Christian faith if the resurrection is a hoax. Pinning our destiny on the claims of a man who is dead is nothing more than wishful thinking. What guarantee do we have that there is any hope beyond the cemetery if the one who claimed that He could conquer death is in reality dead Himself? Christian faith based on the teachings of a dead Christ is like a beautiful castle built in thin air!

Are We False Witnesses?
“If Christ is not risen ... we are found false witnesses of God (15:14-15). We are not just deluded religious fanatics who are “playing church.” We are liars! Of course, if God doesn’t really exist then it doesn’t matter if we’re liars, since there would be no absolute standards. However, if God does exist and He did not raise Christ from the dead, then we are distorting the truth and are false witnesses against God Himself if we go on preaching the resurrection and celebrating Easter! This is what we must conclude if there is no physical resurrection from the dead (15:16).

Is Our Faith Futile?
“If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (15:17). Not only is our faith without foundation (15:14), it is useless! Does it give us salvation? No way! Not if the one who claimed He could take away our sins is still in a Jerusalem tomb. If payment for wrongdoing is not made, there can be no forgiving of sins in a moral universe. If the one in whom we placed our faith as Savior never really triumphed over death, what proof do we have that the debt for our sins has been paid? Without the resurrection, the death penalty for our sins remains (Rom. 6:23). We are still in our sins – guilty! If there is no resurrection, there is no redemption and no reconciliation with God.

Are Dead Christians Lost?
“If Christ is not risen ... then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished” (15:14,18). If Easter is a sham, Christians who have died are forever lost. There will be no awakening from the grave. The familiar Christian epitaph, “Asleep in Jesus,” is just a nice way of saying “Gone forever.” The word “perished” (15:18), does not mean annihilation or extinction, but rather loss or ruin. It is not loss of being, but loss of well-being. Any so-called “light at the end of the tunnel” – which certain “clinically dead” persons allege to have seen – may not be the “light of heaven,” as many people would like to assume (Heb. 9:27).

Is Our Hope For Nothing?
“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable” (15:19). Why? Because we have sacrificed, surrendered, suffered, labored and hoped for nothing but an illusion! We are superstitious fools living in a dream world if Jesus is not alive today. This fantasy may give us “peace of mind” and “hope” in this life, but so what? Why all the sweat and tears if it’s all just a delusion? As far as Paul was concerned, if there is no resurrection the more logical lifestyle would be to live it up and do your own thing. This is exactly what he wrote: “If the dead do not rise, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!’” (15:32). Without Easter, dead Christians have perished (15:18) and living Christians are to be pitied (15:19).

No Way! Christ Is Risen!
“But now Christ is risen from the dead” (15:20). What a glorious relief! All the previous questions are swept away with this one great truth. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the proof and power of Christianity. The empty tomb is the guarantee of the Christian’s hope. As the early fruit is the promise of the harvest soon to come, so the resurrection of our Lord is the guarantee that death has been conquered for every Christian. Hallelujah!

by David R. Reid