ON THE THIRD DAY HE AROSE FROM THE DEAD

Three old mountain men die and go to Heaven, but are stopped at the Pearly Gates by St. Peter. St. Peter questions the authenticity of these three men's religious beliefs, so he decides to put them to the test.

"Tell me, what is the meaning of Easter, my children?" he asks. "If you can explain this to me, your passageway into Heaven is secured. If not, well..."

The first mountaineer confidently approaches St. Peter. "Well sir, isn't that the one with the pilgrims and the turkeys and the giving thanks for things and..." "No, no, no," St. Peter interjects. "Wrong holiday, sorry, you're not allowed in." The first is sent away."

The second approaches. "Easter... hm. Is that the holiday at the end of the year with the presents and the trees and that Santy Claus, where..." "No, not Christmas," St. Peter interjects again. "I am disappointed, my child." And the second mountaineer is sent away along with the first.

Finally the third approaches, a bit more apprehensive than the first two... but a quiet confidence exudes from him. "Oh yes, Easter. This is the story of the death of Jesus Christ, the son of god. He gets sent to Earth to save the humans, but he is betrayed by his own people and sentenced to death. He is hung up on a cross and suffers and dies, and is then buried away in a tomb."

St. Peter, for the first time, looks a bit hopeful. “… so he is in this tomb, dead, with a boulder covering the entrance. But then something happens! On the third day, the boulder is gone, and Jesus emerges from the hole alive! And then, if he sees his shadow..."

We sing the hymn, “Up from the Grave He arose,” to celebrate Easter and the resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection is the ultimate capstone of Christianity.

I Corinthians 15: 12-14 says,

“Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.”

Dr. Billy Graham once told Time magazine, “If I were an enemy of Christianity, I would aim right at the Resurrection, because that is the heart of Christianity.”

The founder of the Jesus seminar, a group of “Bible Scholars” targeting the truth of scriptures lead by Dr. Robert Funk, offers a perfect example of what Billy Graham was talking about. This is how Dr. Funk explains what happened to Jesus’ body after his crucifixion:

“The tales of entombment and resurrection were latter-day wishful thinking. Instead, Jesus’ corpse went the way of all abandoned criminals’ bodies: it was probably barely covered with dirt, vulnerable to the wild dogs that roamed the wasteland of the execution grounds.”

When Thomas Jefferson wrote his version of the life of Christ, he removed all mention of the supernatural, including the miracles of Christ, the Virgin Birth, and the Resurrection. This is how the “Jefferson Bible” ends:

“Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus, and rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher, and departed.”

That’s it. The end. He died and they buried him. No mention of the Resurrection.

Even some professing Christians say it doesn’t matter. One man put this way: “Without a doubt, Jesus was raised from the dead. It does not matter at all to me if He was ‘physically’ raised from the dead.”

Another writer put the matter this way: “I think the resurrection of Jesus really happened, but I have no idea if it involves anything happening to his corpse, and, therefore, I have no idea whether it involves an empty tomb … so I would have no problem whatsoever with archaeologists finding the corpse of Jesus for me. That would not be a discrediting of the Christian faith or the Christian tradition.”

Someone believing this is saying that Jesus was a great teacher, philosopher, and moral leader who appealed to people thru reason and emotion, not spirituality and eternity.

This raises a profound question. What would happen to your faith if tomorrow morning the Herald Mail carried this headline: “Body of Jesus Found near Jerusalem"?

Suppose the newspaper printed that headline because someone really did find the bones of Jesus in a box in the Holy Land. What would be left of our Christian faith? Would it matter at all? Or would we go on as if nothing had happened? 

A few years ago they told us they found Jesus’ brother in a box – and Jesus, too.

But it isn’t true and can’t be proven because the Apostles’ Creed offers an unambiguous affirmation: “The third day he rose again from the dead.” No ifs, ands or buts about it. Jesus died on Friday; on Sunday morning he came back from the dead.

So What Does It Mean?

When we say that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, we mean something like this: Jesus truly died on Friday afternoon, and on Sunday morning he personally, bodily, physically, actually, literally rose from the dead, never to die again.

He rose personally—it was Jesus himself, not some substitute.

He rose bodily—meaning that it was his crucified body that was raised from the dead.

He rose physically—meaning that he wasn’t a ghost or a phantom or a figment of someone’s imagination.

To say that he rose actually and literally means that it really happened. The word “resurrection” means that he was raised immortal and incorruptible, never to die again.

During his earthly ministry, our Lord raised several people from the dead, most notably Lazarus. But those miracles were resuscitations, not true resurrections. Lazarus was destined to die again. But Jesus, having once experienced death and having triumphed over it, would never die again. He was raised immortal—alive from the dead—and he still lives today.

First, this is what the Bible teaches. Second, this is what really happened. Third, this is what the church has always believed. Fourth, this is the church’s message.

The resurrection of Christ has always been a fundamental truth of Christian doctrine. It’s one part of that tiny handful of things that has always been believed by all Christians everywhere.

If you do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus, you have placed yourself outside the boundaries of orthodox Christianity. If you truly don’t believe it, you are not a Christian at all—and you shouldn’t be treated as one even if you happen to be a pastor, a seminary professor, or a biblical scholar.

The Son of God had come back from the dead! Nothing like that had ever happened before. We do not worship a dead Jesus. We worship a risen Christ.

What If Jesus’ Resurrection Didn’t Happen?

We need to see that Paul does not rebuke the Corinthians for their fears and doubts, nor does he try to “prove” the resurrection of the dead in some detailed argument.

He points these erring believers back to the empty tomb and says, “Remember that God raised his Son. Everything hinges on that.” Then for a few verses, he argues the contrary case. What if Jesus has not been raised from the dead? What if his bones really are in some box in the Middle East? What then? Four conclusions follow.

>Our faith is futile.

>We are still in our sins.

> We will never see our loved ones again after we die.

>We should be pitied. “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Corinthians 15: 19).

Lancaster Seminary was full of people who said something like this:

“Even if Christianity isn’t true, it’s still the best way to live.”

The proper theological term for that is Baloney. If it’s not true, why would anyone want to believe it or live it?

If Jesus did not rise on the third day, then the “Hallelujah Chorus” is just another piece of nice music. It’s beautiful but it’s not based on truth. If Jesus did not rise, then our prayers are empty, our preaching is in vain, our missionary work is useless, and the church itself is a danger because it stands for something that is not true. If Jesus is still in the grave, then we’re just talking nonsense on Easter Sunday morning. That’s what Paul meant—and he’s right!

It all hangs on that little word “if.” If Jesus did not rise … But what if he did?

What Difference Does It Make?

Paul now triumphantly asserts the positive truth in verse 20: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” He reverses all of his previous points. Now that Christ is risen …

> Our faith has meaning.      

>We have forgiveness.
>We will see our loved ones who died in Christ.
>We can be certain about our own future.

Thanks be to God for the empty tomb. As much as I marvel at the virgin birth of Jesus, as much as I wonder at the sinless life of Jesus, as much as I glory in the cross of Jesus, it is the resurrection of Jesus that makes Christianity unique among all of the world religions.

Go to the tombs of the founders of the great world religions and call the roll:

Mohammed "Here”       Buddha "Here”      Confucius "Here”   Moses "Here”
Jesus Christ  No answer … Because he is not there. The tomb is empty.

In the early church Christians greeted each other this way: One would say, “He is risen.” Another would answer, “He is risen indeed.”

I’ve made up my mind. Just as the poker player who thinks he has the winning hand in a “Texas Hold’em” poker tournament I’m going “all in” on the Resurrection of Jesus. “The third day he rose again from the dead.” Amen.