Today is Easter Sunday, the day all Christians everywhere celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. Paul included in his letter to the Corinthians a list of all the eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection and mentioned the fact that most of them were still alive at the time that letter was written. Over 500 people (1 Cor 15:3-8). So anyone could verify his statement of the fact if they were willing to find those folks and ask them. A fact is established in the court of law by two eye witnesses, but many throughout history have dismissed the fact of the resurrection in spite of all those witnesses because it didn’t fit into their view of reality.
Jesus’ Resurrection is the Foundation of Reality for Christians
Belief in the historical resurrection of Jesus is the foundational tenet of the Christian faith.
Romans 10:9–13 (NLT): 9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. 11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” 12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. 13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
If the resurrection is untrue, then as Paul tells the Corinthians, our faith is futile and the apostles who were eyewitnesses to Christ’s resurrection are a bunch of liars (Paul’s own words, v 15).
1 Corinthians 15:14–19 (NLT): 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, there is no hope of life in God’s kingdom and no hope of everything being made right by God in the end. There is only futility.
Truth About Reality Hinges on Whether the Resurrection Really Happened
Belief about the resurrection isn’t a take-it-or-leave-it kind of thing. It’s not something you can choose to believe or not believe and still be in tune with the way things really are. Did God really love us so much he took on human flesh and died in our place so he could rescue those whom he had created in his own image, but had been lost because they all decided to go their own way? Can God really raise someone from the dead? Can he conceive human life in a virgin named Mary? Can he turn water into wine? Can he part the Red Sea?
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Scientist say the evidence points to the entire universe coming into being from a tiny speck smaller than a period on this page. A speck they refer to as a “singularity.”
Around 13.7 billion years ago, everything in the entire universe was condensed in an infinitesimally small singularity, a point of infinite denseness and heat.
Suddenly, an explosive expansion began, ballooning our universe outwards faster than the speed of light. This was a period of cosmic inflation that lasted mere fractions of a second — about 10^-32 of a second, according to physicist Alan Guth’s 1980 theory that changed the way we think about the Big Bang forever.
This all happened within just the first second after the universe began, when the temperature of everything was still insanely hot, at about 10 billion degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 billion Celsius), according to NASA. The cosmos now contained a vast array of fundamental particles such as neutrons, electrons and protons — the raw materials that would become the building blocks for everything that exists today. Space.com (link).
The entire universe burst into being, 100 billion galaxies that we have discovered so far, each galaxy with approximately 100 billion stars! All of that explodes out of a tiny singularity smaller than a dot on a page?!? I can’t imagine how the Rocky Mountains would fit in a singularity, much less the whole universe!!!
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The Bible says that God spoke the universe into existence:
Hebrews 11:3 (ESV): 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
Notice that verse says “by faith” we know that the universe exploded out of the invisible landscape (or however it happened) by God speaking it into existence.
It all comes down to what you really believe. You can believe that the 100 billion galaxies of the universe exploded out of that singularity all on their own, and that the invisible landscape doesn’t exist. Or you can believe that all the evidence points to the fact that there has to be a designer and creator of all that exist, physical and spiritual, in spite of the present culture of scientific materialism. Then if you decide that the only explanation that makes sense when you weigh all the evidence is that God is real and he is so much bigger and more complex than you ever imagined-bigger than the universe that he made. And yet he loves you so much that he has gone to tremendous lengths to bring you back into relationship with himself - then you will be on the verge of changing your way of thinking and stepping into his kingdom for a new kind of life. (link)
If he created the whole universe with his word, then he understands the chemistry required to turn water into wine. If he breathed life into the first humans he made in his image (Gen 2:7), he could breath life into Jesus’ torn and lifeless body on that first Easter morning. And if God breathed life into Jesus, he can give you new life - a new kind of life in his kingdom now and a never ending life in the future - if he has given you new spiritual life. Here is his promise to the believer:
Romans 8:11 (NLT): The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
He Invites Us, but Our Destiny Depends on Our Response
Hebrews 11:6 (NLT): And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
Jeremiah 29:11–14 (NLT): For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 14 I will be found by you,” says the Lord.
Thanks so much for the inspiring Easter message!
When I try to think about 100,000,000,000 galaxies with 100,000,000,000 stars each, I quickly realize that it is waaaay past our level of comprehension! And even just one star, the sun, is already way past our ability to comprehend. Yet God created all that and life too!