Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen! (Luke 24:5-6).
If you find it hard to believe that Jesus came back to life, you’re not alone. When the women who first witnessed the empty tomb reported to the others what the angel said, “These words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them” (Luke 24:11). So, they went posthaste to see for themselves. Soon, they saw and spoke with Jesus. The women were right.
The evidence of Jesus’ resurrection is logical and compelling. The tomb was empty. The authorities could have stopped any false claims by producing a body. They didn’t. To the contrary, Jesus appeared multiple times to different people including James, his brother, who had been neither believer nor follower. Yet James became a leader in the emerging church, risking the same fate as Jesus. Jesus’ followers proclaimed their belief that Jesus was alive, a counterintuitive response to the deadly persecution they faced – unless it was true. The church arose on the power of the resurrection. To those who claim his followers invented the story: without the resurrection there would have been no followers.
Jesus’ resurrection communicates something personal to you. It says that the material, natural world is not all of reality. It validates evidence from your own experience as a thinking, reasoning, and moral person. These could not derive from a non-sentient, amoral, natural universe. A transcendent reality changes the meaning of life and the finality of death. If death is the end of life, it elicits indifference (it’s nature’s way) or bitterness (it’s the greatest evil). But Jesus “has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death,” C.S. Lewis writes. “Everything is different because He has done so. This is the beginning of the New Creation: a new chapter in cosmic history has opened.”
Jesus’ resurrection proves what He said about Himself. He is the fulfillment of prophecy, the Son of Man, Savior, King, and the “I Am.” That has implications for you since He offers to forgive your sins and make you blameless before God. By faith in Him, your eternal destiny is life. Death is no longer simply the terminal outcome of nature’s way or the great unconquered evil. Jesus’ resurrection means the believer’s soul is in the hands of a loving Father, who “according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3).
Jesus said, “He who believes in Me will live even if he dies” (John 11:25). Annie Herring’s “Easter Song” lyrics capture the joy. “Hear the bells ringing, they’re singing Christ is risen from the dead! Joy to the world He has risen, hallelujah!
(Photo credit: Arnie Bragg, Pixabay)