Bowling Green Covenant Church

“And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God…for if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”

—1 Corinthians 15.14-17 [ESV]

Before we let pass the remembrance and celebration of Christ’s resurrection we would do well to reflect on the profit that accrues to us as the result of His rising from the dead.

Question and answer 45 of the Heidelberg Catechism addresses that very matter:

“What does the resurrection of Christ profit us?

“First, by his resurrection he has overcome death, that he might make us partakers of that righteousness which he had purchased for us by his death; secondly, we are also by his power raised up to a new life; and lastly, the resurrection of Christ is a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.”—The Heidelberg Catechism, Question 45

It is worth noting that belief in the resurrection is neither adherence to myth nor legend. We believe that when the creed says, “on the third day He rose again,” it is asserting historical fact not religious fiction. Some attempt to separate the Jesus of history from the Jesus of faith, but to make that severance is to make our faith futile and destroy the foundation of our salvation. If the Christ of history is not the Christ of faith, we are fools. Worse yet we are sinful fools with no hope of forgiveness ever.

The evidence for the resurrection comes from eyewitness accounts, first by the three women who went to Jesus’ tomb on the first day of the week. Under OT law women were considered to be unreliable as witnesses. Next, we have the testimony of the apostles. The apostle Paul writes that in addition to appearing to the apostles, Jesus also appeared to some 500 of the brothers at one time, (1 Cor. 15.6). To these Luke adds that Jesus was with His followers for forty days after His resurrection (Acts 1.3). Finally, there is this: no body has ever been produced. The truth is (and permit me to be cheeky) more people have seen Jesus after His resurrection than have seen Elvis!

The resurrection is what makes the gospel the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Unless Jesus is risen we cannot partake of His righteousness. If Jesus is still dead it means God rejected His death on the cross as the once for all sacrifice for our sins. Unless Jesus is risen we cannot be born again by grace through faith in Him. Unless Jesus is risen we are prisoners of a finite world, captives to a limited existence that ends when we exhale our last breath. Unless Jesus is risen death has the final word.

But Christ is risen. He is alive. Our faith is not futile. Our hope is not empty. And life has meaning—the pursuit of the One who gives meaning to everything we experience. It is on the cross that the Jesus of faith—the Son of God, and the Jesus of history—the Son of Man intersect as He dies as the once for all sacrifice for our salvation. Three days later He emerged from the tomb to declare His victory over death—and His vindication by God.

This Jesus who was crucified God made both Lord and Christ.

You think about that.

MM