In a world that is twisted and confused there is a passage of scripture that I would encourage everyone to read and that is 1 Corinthians 15:1-23. In my opinion, this is the most victorious section of scripture that the Apostle Paul ever penned. If a person believes the Bible, God’s Holy Word, then this passage of scripture will bring them hope concerning life and confidence that God has it in control. Everything seems lost today. The world in which we live has gone absolutely mad and it has lost its ability to discern the truth about the simplest of things. Whoever thought that society would ever reach the point that people would be unable (I would say unwilling) to tell the difference between a man and a woman? Whoever thought that there would be a social war fought concerning whether it is proper for little children to be exposed to drag queens? Whoever would have thought in their wildest imaginations that small children would be convinced that they are a sex that they were not born with? The drug issue is worse even though we have supposedly been fighting it for several decades? I could go on with those things that are wrong but which are being proclaimed right but I don’t have space for the issues we would need to cover because everything is upside down and backwards.
Everywhere I go people just shake their heads concerning the moral and spiritual situation we are dealing with in these days. I just saw that one in four churches in Great Britain don’t have regular services and when they do, hardly anyone is there. Many of the churches in Europe have been sold because no one attended them. Many are being turned into warehouses and bars. Even in our country, the importance of spiritual things is at its lowest point ever. The world is flirting with the third world war. We are also losing our status as the most powerful nation in the world. Our moral situation is at its worst point ever and Christianity is at the weakest point that I have ever seen it in my life.
But, there is hope!! And that hope is founded on the most important event in the history of the world; the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It is so central to our survival that Paul told us in Romans 10:9-10: “If you believe that Jesus is God’s son and that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Ones’ belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is necessary for them to be saved.
We are now celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus. We call it Easter. It is the most special day in the calendar for Christians for everything else about Jesus rides on the action of God called the Resurrection. Christmas is important but it is only the birth of another baby boy unless the resurrection takes place because it put God’s stamp of approval on everything Jesus did. And, the resurrection makes it possible for you to defeat death. When Jesus defeated death with his resurrection that means that you cannot be held by death but that Jesus will one day call you forth from the grave never to experience death again but have eternal life.
Aren’t you glad that we have the resurrection? What hope would there be for any of us if there were no resurrection from the dead? I am eternally grateful that we Christians are a people of life and not death. I believe that truly saved people automatically hold onto the precious doctrine of the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Why would a saved person ever have the inclination to deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ? But yet there are many around us who deny it. Christians are the only people in the whole world that celebrate that wonderful miracle of God…the Resurrection.
I have no problem with the resurrection. I hold dearly to it as my source of security where eternal life is concerned. For, in defeating death, Jesus has given any and all of his people the promise that death will not be victorious over them. Everything that we are resides on the Resurrection. Without it, we have no hope and no foundation for life. You cannot take the resurrection lightly no matter what the world says about it. It is not just some spectacular appendage to the life story of Jesus. It is God’s seal of approval upon the work of His Son. Everything rides on the Resurrection.
Nothing we can say about the resurrection is more profound that the event itself. So, we are always in danger of diminishing the resurrection as we attempt to speak of it. Safety lies in the fact that we will rely on the Scripture for our information and not on the oratorical skills of any preacher, professor or commentator. The Jesus Seminar (a collection of liberal, disbelieving minds) says, “the body of Jesus probably decayed as do all corpses. The resurrection of Jesus was not something that happened on the first Easter Sunday; it was not an event that could have been captured by a video camera.” My reaction to this is this:” Whoever said God would have wanted to capture it on video even if a camera had been there. He wants it to be a matter of faith in His Word. He wants us to simply believe what He had to say about it.”
The Moderator of the United Church in Canada said this…”I don’t believe Jesus was God, but I’m no theologian. I don’t believe Jesus is the only way to God. I don’t believe He rose from the dead as scientific fact. I don’t know whether these things happened. It’s an irrelevant question.” Friends, I want to say that it is NOT an irrelevant question. Let me ask this question. Is it irrelevant to you? Absolutely not or you would not be in worship on Easter Sunday! Does an affirmative statement about the resurrection of Jesus find a place in your heart or were you offended by it. Your answer to that question will give you a good indication of where you stand with God.
What was it that turned Peter from one who denied Jesus three times into one who died preaching the faith? What was it that changed Saul into Paul on the Damascus Road? What changed him from a persecutor into a preacher? What changed James from the doubting brother of Jesus into the dynamic pastor of the Jerusalem church? What caused all the disciples to be willing to die a martyr’s death? It was that they encountered the living Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection. And that is what will change lost people today. That’s what has changed all those who confess Him as Lord and Savior and commit their lives to Him.
After Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul had no doubt about who was the Lord of his life. And, the same Lord Jesus is still dealing with lives today. He wants to give you eternal life where there is no more death. And that is possible because of His death, burial and resurrection to life. It is The
Most Important Event in History.
William F. Harrell….4-8-2023
