Tag: Easter

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He is Risen….Why Does it Matter?

Mark 16

1The next evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene and Salome and Mary the mother of James went out and purchased burial spices to put on Jesus’ body. 2Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they came to the tomb. 3On the way they were discussing who would roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb. 4But when they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone—a very large one—had already been rolled aside. 5So they entered the tomb, and there on the right sat a young man clothed in a white robe. The women were startled, 6but the angel said, “Do not be so surprised. You are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He has been raised from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. 7Now go and give this message to his disciples, including Peter: Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died!” 8The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, saying nothing to anyone because they were too frightened to talk. (Mark 16:1-6, NLT)

The Daily DAVEotional

Today Christians around the world celebrate Easter Sunday, the day Jesus rose from the dead. But what if Jesus never rose from the dead? Would it really matter?

Many years ago, when I was a new staff member with Cru, we decided to organize an outreach event that we called “Christianity on Trial.” It was a mock trial designed to present the evidence for the resurrection. The hope was to demonstrate that the resurrection isn’t some mythical, fairy tale, but that it was a real, historical event which is supported by a tremendous amount of evidence. Hence, it is rational to believe.

As we thought about how to advertise and promote this event, we had the idea to publicize it within the religious studies department. After all, it seemed logical that students in this major would be interested in an event that highlighted the climactic moment from the world’s largest religion.

We set up an appointment to meet with one of the religious studies professors, hoping that he might give a shout-out to our event and mention it to his students. If we were really lucky, he’d make our event an assignment for his students or maybe even offer extra credit for attending the event.

But when we met with the professor, who was also an ordained minister, his response to our event was not what I expected. I remember him commenting that he was not sure why we were bothering with our event. He said, “if archaeologists unearthed a body that had a toe tag that said ‘Jesus of Nazareth’, it would not change my faith one bit. My faith is not dependent on the resurrection at all.”

I was a bit surprised, as I had always thought that the Christian faith was centered around the resurrection. It seemed to me that if the resurrection never happened, then Christianity could not be true. But here was a professor, and an ordained minister to boot, telling me that it didn’t matter.

Was he right? Does it really matter? If Jesus never raised from the dead, would it really change Christianity? According to this professor, it wouldn’t change his faith, which was more rooted in the teachings and life example of Jesus. According to him, there was nothing special about a resurrection and therefore, it doesn’t really matter if it happened.

Actually, nothing could be further from the truth.

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:16-19 said:

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins. 18In that case, all who have died believing in Christ have perished! 19And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world.

According to Paul, a resurrection-less faith is a useless faith because it means that our sins have not been forgiven and we are still under condemnation.

I’ve had hundreds of conversations with people regarding the death and resurrection of Jesus and I have often shared this illustration to emphasize the importance of the resurrection to the Christian faith.

Imagine that you owe someone a million dollars. You don’t have the money to pay them and so they tell you that you have 24 hours to pay the debt or else they are going to send some goons after you – and you’re not going to like what they may do to you.

You’re feeling kind of down when your friend comes along, notices your dejectedness and asks you what the problem is. After explaining your situation, your friend tells you that he wants to help. He pulls out his checkbook and writes you a check for $1 million dollars. He insists that you consider it a free gift and that you will not owe him anything. You gratefully accept his generous offer. You then you go and sign the check over to the guy to whom you owe the money. Here’s the question: Is your debt to that person now paid?

It depends. The debt will only be paid if the check is good. If there is enough money in the bank account, then the check will “clear” demonstrating that the check was valid. If there is not enough money in the account, then the check will “bounce”, showing that the check wasn’t good. Even though your friend had good intentions, the check is not good unless the money is there to cover the check.

Whenever you owe a debt you can’t pay, the only person who can help you is someone who has no debt and actually has the resources to cover your debt.

Now consider God. Everyone owes a debt to God. The debt is sin. The debt is so huge that you are unable to pay it yourself (because God is so righteous). The only person who can pay your debt of sin is someone who is sinless. The only person who can pay for everyone’s debt of sin is someone who is both sinless and infinitely righteous. By definition, only God is both sinless and infinitely righteous.

The Bible says that Jesus’ death accomplished several things, including securing forgiveness through His shed blood on the cross. I’ve written about this in my post “What Makes Good Friday ‘Good’?”

When Jesus rose from the dead, it demonstrated that He is God. Therefore, it also demonstrates that Jesus’ death actually pays for sin. It was a valid payment. Jesus’ resurrection was like the check “clearing” the bank, showing that a valid payment was made.

So on Good Friday, Jesus wrote the check that paid for sin and secured our forgiveness. Good Friday is indeed “good” because Jesus made a payment for sin.

But on Easter Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead, proving that He was indeed the Son of God by overcoming death. This proves that He was sinless and therefore His death was a valid payment for sin.

If Jesus did not raise from the dead then it means He was subject to the penalty of death Himself because of sin. This means that He was not sinless and therefore could not offer Himself up as a perfect substitute for the sins of the world. That means that His death was no different than any of the endless Old Testament sacrifices that were offered up daily as a means of atoning for sin.

Hence, if Jesus was not raised from the dead, our sin has NOT BEEN PAID FOR. We are NOT forgiven and we are still under condemnation. According to Paul,  a Jesus who has not resurrected is a Jesus who is not able to save us.

This is why Pauls says in 1 Corinthians 15:19 that “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.”

If you need evidence to support the fact of the resurrection, check out my post “He is Risen Indeed!”

Did you enjoy this post? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to like, leave a comment below, and share it with your friends or on social media if you found it helpful or interesting. Your support keeps the conversation going!

Reflection

In your opinion, what is the significance of the resurrection? Do you agree with the professor that it does not matter whether or not Jesus was actually raised from the dead? Why or why not?

If Jesus was not resurrected, how does that change the Christian faith?

What do you think are some reasons why people don’t believe in the resurrection? Why would someone deny it?

What do you think is the strongest evidence to support the resurrection?

 

Photo by Cody Hiscox on Unsplash

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It’s Good Friday….what’s so good about it?

Christians around the world are celebrating Good Friday. But what’s so good about Good Friday?

I’ve written about this before, and you can read about it in my post “What Makes Good Friday “Good”?”

The truth is that while Easter Sunday is one of the most celebrated holidays in the Christian faith, what happened on Good Friday cannot be overstated. Understanding the significance of what Christ accomplished via His death on the cross might be the most important theological concept for Christians to understand.

Essentially, Jesus’s death pays for our sins (see my post mentioned above), the veil in the temple is torn (see my post “The Significance of the Torn Veil”) and access to God is finally granted (see my post “Access Granted!”)

Good Friday is a solemn day to reflect on the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. It’s important to recognize the brutal suffering Jesus endured as He was beaten, tortured and ultimately crucified, all on our behalf. What Jesus endured was on our behalf. It should be me on that cross, not Jesus.

Scripture is clear that the effects of Jesus’ death were immediate. Hence, we don’t have to wait until Sunday to celebrate what Jesus secured for all believers on Friday – namely, that sin has been fully atoned, we are completely forgiven and we have free, unobstructed and direct access to God Himself!

Reflection

Why do you think Good Friday is referred to as “Good Friday”?

What do you think Jesus accomplished via His death on the cross?

How do you typically observe Good Friday? What traditions do you practice that you’ve found to be helpful for reflecting on the importance of this day?

If you read the 3 different articles linked in this post, what did you find most helpful or challenging to your understanding?

 

Photo by Wim van ‘t Einde on Unsplash

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He is Risen Indeed!

Christianity stands or falls on the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even the apostle Paul, in his 1st letter to the Corinthians, said

“and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” [i]

According to the Biblical record, three days after being crucified, Jesus overcame death and was resurrected. He then appeared to many of his followers in several different settings and on several different occasions. During this period, Jesus issued the command for His followers to go and tell the world about Himself, His love for mankind and His resurrection from the dead. It was from this foundation that Christianity began to spread throughout the Roman world.

Many who oppose the Christian faith discount the resurrection. Yet the fact remains that on the third day, the tomb where Jesus lay was empty. If Jesus was not resurrected, what happened to the body?

Over the centuries, there have been numerous theories presented to try to explain the empty tomb in a way that would make a bodily resurrection unnecessary.

Maybe the Disciples Stole the Body!

Some believe that the disciples stole the body and fabricated the resurrection story in order to gain followers in their new “Christian” religion. The theory alleges that Jesus Himself had predicted His own death and resurrection. The disciples then stole the body so that they could claim that Jesus had indeed risen.

This theory really makes no sense when you consider all of the facts. Jesus’ disciples all deserted Him when He was arrested. Why? It’s because they were afraid (see Matthew 26:56). Also, the Jewish and Roman authorities took precautions to prevent the body from being stolen.

62 Now on the next day, which is the one after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, 63 and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver [referring to Jesus] said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’ 64 “Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, lest the disciples come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone. [ii]

In order to prevent the body from being stolen, a Roman guard was placed at the tomb with the Roman seal. A Roman guard consisted of anywhere from 4 to 16 men. For the disciples to have stolen the body, they would’ve had to overcome at least four highly trained military men, roll away a 4000 pound stone, and carry away a dead cadaver covered with over 100 pounds of grave wrappings.

But maybe the Roman guards fell asleep!

It’s highly unlikely that the Roman soldiers would’ve fallen asleep on duty. The Roman soldiers of the day were an elite group of fighting men who were highly trained and extremely well disciplined. The punishment for falling asleep on duty was death. Considering the consequences, it’s improbable that even one soldier would fall asleep. For all of them to fall asleep on duty at the same time is next to impossible. Besides, even if the whole guard had fallen asleep, it’s not likely that they would’ve remained asleep while the disciples struggled to move a two-ton stone away from the tomb entrance.

What makes this theory even more unbelievable is that after stealing the body, the disciples then supposedly fabricated a resurrection story for the purpose of gaining followers. What would be the motive for recruiting people to something which you knew was a lie? It’s interesting to note that none of the disciples ever denied this “resurrection story” even though for most of them, it led to their own execution. Not many people will die for something they know to be untrue. A whole crowd of people dying for something that they know to be a lie is even more unbelievable.

Maybe the Jewish leaders or the Roman authorities stole the body!

Why would the Jewish and Roman authorities steal the body? What would be their motive for doing such a thing? Neither the Jewish leaders nor the Roman authorities had anything to gain by stealing the body. Remember that the Jews were afraid of what a missing body might mean to the public. The reason they wanted to get rid of Jesus in the first place was so that they could neutralize His teachings and the following that He had. They recognized that a resurrected Jesus would not neutralize Jesus’ following, but instead would energize His cause. That’s why they had a Roman guard placed at the entrance of the tomb to protect the body from being stolen.

What if the Jews and Romans moved the body to protect it from being stolen?

If the Jews or Romans had moved the body as a precautionary measure, they could’ve easily produced the body at the first moment that someone claimed that Jesus had resurrected. Yet they never did. Christianity could’ve been diffused before it ever got off the ground simply by producing the body.

One more problem with the stolen body theory is that it doesn’t explain the many eyewitness accounts of the resurrected Jesus. Weekend at Bernie’s may have been a funny movie, but I doubt that the disciples could’ve passed a dead Jesus off as a resurrected Savior to an unsuspecting crowd.

Maybe the eyewitnesses never really did see Jesus. Maybe they were just hallucinating.

Remember that Jesus appeared to many different people on many different occasions. He even “appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time” [iii]. It’s highly unlikely that 500 people would all hallucinate the same thing at the same time. Even so, the authorities still did not produce a body to refute the peoples’ claims that they had seen Jesus.

Maybe Jesus never died in the first place.

 One of the more popular theories to explain the empty tomb and resurrection sightings is what’s known as the Swoon theory. This theory hypothesizes that Jesus never actually died on the cross, but only fainted (or swooned). Later, the cool air of the tomb revived Him. After regaining consciousness, Jesus appeared from the tomb and declared Himself resurrected to His followers.

The Swoon theory is an attempt to explain the empty tomb apart from supernatural intervention but ignores many of the facts surrounding the case.

The historical record clearly indicates that Jesus was dead, not just fainted. John gives this account of the crucifixion:

32 The soldiers therefore came, and broke the legs of the first man, and of the other man who was crucified with Him; 33 but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs; [iv]

 Crucifixion is one of the cruelest forms of execution ever devised. It was a prolonged death by asphyxiation. In order to breathe, one would have to push himself up with his feet in order to give the lungs an opportunity to expand. It was not too uncommon for some crucifixions to last for hours, as the victim would continually struggle to push himself up and breathe. Occasionally, the soldiers would grow tired of waiting for the person to die and so, in order to hasten death, they would break the victim’s legs, making it impossible to push up and breathe. Once the legs were broken, death was almost immediate.

The account of Jesus shows that the two criminals who were crucified with Him both had their legs broken but Jesus’ legs weren’t broken. This is because they realized that His legs didn’t need to be broken. He was already dead.

Maybe the soldiers made a mistake!

 Is it possible that the soldiers thought Jesus was dead but were mistaken? It’s not likely. Even though the soldiers didn’t break Jesus’ legs, one of them did thrust a spear into His side:

34 but one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water. [v]

 The description of “blood and water” is incredibly important from a medical standpoint because it demonstrates that Jesus was indeed dead. In discussing this topic, Josh McDowell quotes C. Truman Davis, a medical doctor:

“…there was an escape of watery fluid from the sac surrounding the heart. We, therefore, have rather conclusive post-mortem evidence that [Christ] died, not the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium.” [vi]

McDowell goes on to say, “Pilate required certification of Christ’s death before the body could be turned over to Joseph of Arimathea. He consented to Christ’s being removed from the cross only after four executioners had certified His death.” [vii]

What makes the Swoon theory particularly unbelievable is how it deals with facts of the story after Jesus was buried in the tomb.

If the Swoon theory were accurate , we would need to believe that Jesus was beaten, scourged, and whipped to the point that He was hardly recognizable. He then endured a lengthy ordeal on the cross and was even pierced in the side with a soldier’s spear. Yet Jesus did not die, he merely fainted. Though not dead, Jesus was wrapped with about 100 pounds of spices and linen. Jesus was then laid in a tomb with a two-ton stone placed at the entrance while a guard was placed in front of the tomb to protect it from robbers.

Even though Jesus was critically injured and had no medical attention or food for three days, He was able to breathe through his wrappings and regain consciousness and the strength needed to shed His grave clothes and hobble over to the tomb’s entrance. He then mustered up the strength to move a two-ton stone by Himself. Upon exiting the tomb, Jesus either slipped past the guards undetected, or He was able to overcome them in a physical struggle after which He reentered Jerusalem and rejoined His followers, who mistakenly believed that He had been resurrected.

Believing the Swoon Theory takes more faith than believing in the actual resurrection!

Isn’t it irrational to believe that Jesus was resurrected?

 It’s not irrational to believe that Jesus was resurrected because the evidence overwhelmingly supports that conclusion.

Simon Greanleaf, a man who is credited with helping the Harvard Law school achieve it’s stature, “concluded that the resurrection of Christ was one of the best supported events in history, according to the laws of legal evidence administered in courts of justice.” [viii]

While it’s not irrational to believe something that is supported by the facts, it is irrational to believe a theory that cannot be completely reconciled with the facts.

One professor came up with just such a theory, explaining that “Jesus must’ve had a twin brother that no one (not even Mary) knew about. After Jesus’ death, the twin appeared and claimed to be the resurrected Jesus.” *  Not only does this theory violate many of the facts in the case (i.e. if there was a twin, then Jesus’ body would still be in the ground. Still, no one ever produced the body, etc.), but it is harder to believe than an actual resurrection. It’s amazing the lengths to which some people will go to explain away the resurrection.

Reflection

Have you already made up your mind that Jesus Christ could not have been resurrected?

If so, how do you explain the empty tomb?

Is your explanation more believable than a resurrection itself? 

End Notes

[i] 1 Corinthians 15:17, The New American Standard Bible, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1977.

[ii] Matthew 27:62-66, The New American Standard Bible, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1977.

[iii] 1 Corinthians 15:6, The New American Standard Bible, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1977.

[iv] John 19:32, 33, The New American Standard Bible, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1977.

[v] John 19:34, The New American Standard Bible, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1977.

[vi] McDowell, Josh. A Ready Defense. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1993, p. 224

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] McDowell, Josh. More Than a Carpenter, Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 1977, p. 97.

* This story was related by Dr. Paul Cox, a professor at Biola University, for a class on Christian World View, which was conducted for Campus Crusade for Christ. The class was held at Colorado State University during the summer of 1997.

 

Empty Tomb Photo by Pisit Heng on Unsplash

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What Makes Good Friday “Good”?

Given that it’s Good Friday, I dug up this post from the past, essentially asking the question, “what’s so good about Good Friday?”

Dave Lowe's avatarThe Lowedown

When you think of the full Easter story, it seems the good part is on Sunday, when Jesus is resurrected.
Photo by Bruno van der Kraan on Unsplash

Have you ever wondered why Christians refer to the Friday before Easter as Good Friday? I never quite understood that myself growing up as a kid even though I went to church and heard the Easter story every year.

Think about the Easter story as a movie. The good part is at the end, when Jesus comes out of the tomb, resurrected! It seems to me that Friday is bad, at least if you’re looking at Jesus as a hero figure. On Friday, he’s dead. How is that good?

To answer that, I want to first ask a different question. Why did Jesus have to die? To put it another way, what was the purpose of Jesus’s death?

It’s an honest question…

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What Makes Good Friday “Good”?

When you think of the full Easter story, it seems the good part is on Sunday, when Jesus is resurrected.

Have you ever wondered why Christians refer to the Friday before Easter as Good Friday? I never quite understood that myself growing up as a kid even though I went to church and heard the Easter story every year.

Think about the Easter story as a movie. The good part is at the end, when Jesus comes out of the tomb, resurrected! It seems to me that Friday is bad, at least if you’re looking at Jesus as a hero figure. On Friday, He’s dead. How is that good?

To answer that, I want to first ask a different question. Why did Jesus have to die? To put it another way, what was the purpose of Jesus’s death?

It’s an honest question, really. If Jesus is God, as he claimed, why couldn’t He just declare sins to be forgiven?

I’ve posed this question to many people over the years as I’ve engaged in conversations about Jesus and some people respond that Jesus’s death is an example to us.

I suppose that could be true, but how exactly is it an example?

Perhaps Jesus’s death was simply a demonstration of his love
Photo by Neal E. Johnson on Unsplash

Well, you might respond by pointing to the verse where Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13, NIV)

Yes, it’s true that Jesus’s death does demonstrate the depth of His love for us. But what does that do for us?

Some people have responded to that question (Why did Jesus have to die?) by saying that Jesus’s death was a sacrifice.

Agreed. But what does it mean that His death was a sacrifice? In what way was it a sacrifice?

The simple answer to “Why did Jesus have to die?” is that God’s justice required it.

Romans 6:23 says that “the wages of sin is death.” Since the penalty of sin is death, the only way Jesus could pay for our sin was to die. He couldn’t just declare sin to be paid for because death is required.

I often share this illustration with people when talking about the importance of Jesus’s death on the cross….

In New Testament times people who owed a debt were often thrown into debtors prison until they could pay their debt or until their sentence was complete
Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

In New Testament times, when a person committed a crime, the authorities would throw the offender in the dungeon until he made restitution or until his sentence was completed.

On the door of his cell they would list the crimes that he had committed. When he had completed his sentence or paid for his crime, they took the list and wrote ‘tetelestai’ across it, which in greek means “it is finished”, or “paid in full”.

The person would then use this document as a receipt that those specific crimes had been paid for. He could not be accused of those crimes again.

We are separated from God because of the debt that we owe as a result of our sin. The debt we owe for our sin must be paid for.

Now think about the Easter story again. Jesus is arrested, tried and crucified. The last words Jesus uttered before dying were, “it is finished” (tetelestai).

Here’s what Paul said to the Colossians about the importance of Jesus’s death:

He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations,  that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)

Why did Jesus have to die?
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

The picture here is that Jesus had a written list of all of your sins and all of my sins and He nailed that list of all of our iniquities to the cross. Just before He died, He uttered “it is finished”, meaning that sin had been “paid in full”.

It’s as if Jesus, in his last dying breath was taking a big rubber stamp to that list and stamping it “PAID” so that we would know that sin was paid for and therefore forgiveness could be granted.

So when you think of the full Easter story, it doesn’t appear that Friday is good. It seems rather bad, if you are looking from the perspective of Jesus as the hero.

But if you realize what Jesus meant to accomplish – the redemption of mankind, the forgiveness of sins – through that lens, it’s clear that Good Friday is indeed good. Actually, it’s rather GREAT for us! Sin is paid for. We are forgiven!

Good Friday is indeed GOOD! And, that’s not even the end of the story….