Pioneer Christian Monthly - April, 1993

The Magnitude of Christ's Resurrection
Thomas Schultz

This scientifically advanced, fading twentieth century is an exciting time to be alive. It is exciting to see all that is happening and all that promises to happen. However, two characteristics seem to be most prevalent today fear and sophistication. People are frightened. No one knows what the future holds, either the world's future or their own future. People are losing their ohs at a rate none have ever seen before. Even though the Iron Curtain has been eradicated, we wonder where the next war will break out. People are afraid, but they are also sophisticated. Can anything surprise us? We've seen so many changes in recent years that nothing shocks or startles us. Even the most shattering news and the headlines that follow don't upset or concern us all that much.

How can a person maintain equilibrium today? How does a man or woman maintain their composure and keep their cool when everything threatens to fly apart? As Christians there is something we can do - we can reflect and meditate on the foundational events of the Christian Faith. We remind ourselves how real those events were and how relevant they are to our lives today. There are at least five great bedrock events of Christianity - the Creation, the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection and the Second Coming. At various times during the year, each of these events must be considered deeply. During this Easter season the Resurrection becomes important to Christians.

As you read and study the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection, a certain calmness settles over you. There are several observations we can make about the Resurrection as it is recorded in Matthew 28.

First, we see the majesty of the Resurrection. Matthew tells us that the Lord's Resurrection was accompanied by two unusual events - a great shaking of the earth and the appearance of an angel. That seems fitting, dramatic, without being melodramatic. The moment the Lord died the earth shuddered (Matt.27:51). It seems only right that it should shudder again when He arose from the dead. Someone has said, "The earth trembled with sorrow at the Lord's death, and leaped and quivered with joy at His resurrection." The appearance of the angel also fits. He came down from heaven, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. We speak of horsepower and nuclear power today. God employs angel power. Matthew tells us that the angel was striking in appearance, somehow resembling lightning, and his clothes were snow white. The guards were terrified and they shook violently and then fainted dead away.

The angel the spoke to the two godly women who had come to the tomb. He spoke words of deep meaning to them, words designed to cheer their hearts. "Don't be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified." The believer, the Jesus seeker, doesn't have to be afraid, whatever he has to face in the world. Those words the angel spoke: "He is not here. He is risen, just as He said," have always been a consolation. The Lord told His disciples often that He had to die, but that He would come back. Notice the next four verbs used by the angel - "Come, See, Go, Tell." Investigate the facts of Christianity. God doesn't demand a blind faith. Then, when the facts have gripped your heart and mind, go and tell others. This One who died for our sins He is alive.

Second, we see the manner of the Resurrection in Matthews account. He presents it as a real, bodily resurection. The angel said that the same Jesus who was crucified had risen, just as He said He would. The two Marys recognized Him when He appeared before them face to face. He spoke one word to them, "Greetings", and they immediately knew it was the Lord. Instinctively, they did what any Id do when they meet the they fell at His feet and Him. Then He repeated I had said to them as a t; "Do not be afraid. Go and tell." The evidence for the bodily resurrection of the Lord is clearly set forth in Scripture. Later, the somewhat skeptical Thomas was invited to touch the wounds of the Lord and he was convinced. The same Jesus who had been with the disciples for several years, teaching them, healing, preaching, and who had died on the cross, was now alive. He came back from the dead.

What are the alternatives? How else can the empty tomb be explained? The most common explanation is that the disciples stole the body to secure a hearing for their propaganda. Matthew records the origin of that lie in verses 12-16. The religious leaders bribed the guards to say it. Of course, that explanation is impossible. If the guards were asleep, how did they know that it was the disciples who stole the body? In fact, they were placed the to re prevent this very thing from happening. Roman soldiers were well trained to remain alert, to sleep in shifts if necessary. They would never have slept while on duty. Furthermore, the condition of the disciples militates against this explanation. When Jesus was arrested, what did His disciples do? Except for John and the women, they scattered, completely disillusioned. They had hoped that Jesus was the Christ, but His crucifixion dashed that hope to pieces. Would people in such a condition as this initiate a plot to oppose the Roman government? Hardly. And suppose they had stolen the body? Would that explain their total dedication to the message of Christ's resurrection in the Book of Acts, a message for which they were severely persecuted when they proclaimed it? It would be impossible to generate enthusiasm and suffer persecution for a resurrection message if they had been involved in such a conspiracy. The disciples did not steal the body. And how are the appearances of the Lord after the resurrection to be explained? Some have said that He didn't die, that He only fainted of fell into a coma. Recently, the newspapers reported the story of a woman pronounced dead by three physicians, but she had not died as the surprised mortician discovered. Could that have happened to Jesus He fainted and then revived in the cool tomb? Scripture is very careful to record that He did die. The guards at the cross knew He was dead and so they didnt need to break His legs. Pilate made every check to insure Christ's death. Joseph carefully prepared His body for burial. Jesus Christ died. Any other explanation requires more credulity than a bodily resurrection. The Christian's intelligence is not insulted when he or she is asked to believe in a risen Saviour. It is the only logical explanation.

Third, what is the meaning of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ? Suppose the Resurrection had not happened? Suppose that Jesus Christ had not come back from the dead? What then? Suppose that when the disciples visited the tomb that Sunday morning, they did not find the stone rolled away What then? Suppose they would have rolled it away and looked inside and saw there the dead body of Jesus? What then? Suppose He had died like everyone else who-has died since and remained dead? What then?

The New Testament tells us that if Jesus Christ were still dead, then Christianity would be meaningless. Christians have been taken in by a scam. Our faith is vain and empty. We have all been deceived. And worst of all, we are yet in our sins, for the death of Christ is of no saving value if it had not been authenticated by the Resurrection. All those Christians who have died before us perished in their sins. And we have nothing to look forward to but death and decay. How tragic and how hopeless it would be if Jesus Christ had not come back from the dead. How meaningless life would be if Christ's body had been found in that tomb on that Sunday morning so long ago. The Resurrection is God's stamp of approval on all that Christ was and said and did. It is the guarantee of our salvation and our own personal resurrection. Because He has risen, we shall also rise. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is God's pledge to every believer that we too shall be raised from the dead.

After a great battle, some soldiers were gathering the dead for burial and the wounded for the hospital. They came upon the dead body of a very young soldier, who, being fatally wounded had drawn himself up under the shade of a tree and was lying with his head upon his arms as if asleep. As they picked him up, they heard something rip. They looked more closely and they saw an open Bible upon which he had placed a bloody finger. The congealed blood had carried with it a portion of the page. Scanning the page closely, one of them read aloud the words of Jesus Christ, "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." With this text upon his finger, t he solders buried the young man. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ was the guarantee of his resurrection.

To take a walk through a cemetery and to read the epitaphs on the tombstones can be a rather sobering experience. As you took at marker after marker, perhaps even at one marking the grave of one whom you loved dearly, there is one heading to each of them, either stated or implied. It is "HERE LIES" and then follows a name with the date of birth and the date of death, and perhaps a brie , f statement about the deceased. But how different is the epitaph on the tomb of Jesus Christ. Not cut in stone or written in gold, but spoken from the mouth of an angel, it is the reverse of what is put on all other cemetery markers. It is not "HERE LIES" but "HE IS NOT HERE." No wonder Easter is such a time of gladness and stability to the Christian. It is a time to reflect and mediate on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a time to say, "You know, life is not that bad after all." Despite all the problems we have in this world the sicknesses, the accidents, etc. there is hope. There is certainty. We are assured that neither a damp, dark tomb or an air-tight coffin will be our eternal abode.

It is a puzzling time to be alive during these closing years of the twentieth century. But "thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 15:57).