The Glorious Resurrection

There is much teaching in the Bible which makes clear that God can (and does) overrule the wicked purposes and deeds of evil men to make them serve ends of truth and righteousness. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a vital link in the total chain of proof that Christianity is presently the one true religion of the one true God. But for the resurrection to have effect in the total apologetic for Christianity, there must be proof that Jesus really died—lest some say that it only seemed that He died. In order that there might be no doubt about His resurrection, it was necessary for even the enemies of Christ to pronounce Him dead. The Roman governor, Pilate, who delivered up Jesus to be crucified, admitted the death of Christ by refusing to grant the corpse to Joseph until he had been assured by the centurion in charge that Jesus really was dead (Mark 15:42-45). It was not until then that Pilate gave up the body to Joseph, who along with Nicodemus, tenderly prepared and laid the body in the tomb.

 Also, Jesus’ enemies among the Jews contributed to the confirmation of His death. “Now on the morrow, which is the day after the Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together unto Pilate, saying, Sir we remember that that deceiver said while He was yet alive, after three days I rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest haply His disciples come and steal Him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: and the last error be worse than the first” (Matthew 27:62-64). Pilate than gave his consent, and the seal was placed upon the tomb. Also, a guard was set over it in order to make as sure as they could that the disciples would not steal away the body (Matthew 27:65-66). Also, we must not overlook the fact when the Roman soldiers (who had been sent by Pilate at the request of the Jews) came to break the legs of those who had been crucified so that they would die sooner, they broke the legs of the two thieves because they were not yet dead, but did not break the legs of Jesus because He was already dead (John 19:31-34).

Since Jesus had been crucified by Gentiles (the Romans) in the plain view of both Gentiles and Jews, of both disciples and non-disciples, of both friends and enemies, of both relatives and non-relatives, and since people in all of these groups were convinced fully that He was really dead, we today can be certain that no mistake was made in the matter: Jesus really died (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Hebrews 2:9; Romans 5:8)!

The importance of the resurrection. The importance of the resurrection is seen in the following statement from Paul: “For if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised; and if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. The they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable” (1 Corinthians 15:16-19). Further, of Jesus Paul said that He “was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). Jesus claimed to be the Son of God; the Jewish leaders said He was not. Quite obviously, if they were correct in their denial of His claim, then God would not raise Him from the dead and thereby support the claims of an imposter. But by raising Him from the dead, God assured all men that Jesus is His Son (cf. Acts 17:30-31).

It should be noted that God calls on men to believe nothing for which He has not given adequate evidence. Christian faith is not a “leap in the dark,” as some would have us to believe. If we can know that God exists (and we can), if we can know that the Bible is the word of God (and we can), then we can know that the Bible does not contain falsehood. (God does not lie! Hebrews 6:18) And, if we can know that the Bible always teaches the truth (and thus never lie) then we can know that what we learn from the Bible is a matter of knowledge—by means of the testimony of the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21). Thus, it is clearn that the resurrected body of Christ (even though He appeared in rooms the doors of which were closed) still bore the marks of crucifixion. Will He bear these marks throughout eternity?

The reaction of the disciples to the proof offered (John 20:20b). “the disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord.” When the disciples saw the marks (of the nails and of the spear), they were glad—because they were convinced beyond all doubt. By the testimonty of the Scriptures, men living today have the same proof that Jesus arose from the dead (Romans 10:17; John 20:30-31; cf. Romans 4:20-21).