If Christ Has Not Been Raised

Suppose you were walking down a road, and suddenly came to a fork, and you didn’t know which way to go. And at this fork in the road, there were two men, one dead and one alive—which one would you ask for directions? A man once asked his friends this question, as a response to when they asked him why he had become a Christian. He chose to put his faith in Jesus, because Jesus is alive. He is risen.

For 6 weeks, we have been studying prophecies that looked ahead to the death of Jesus Christ, as a substitutionary sacrifice to pay for the sins of humankind. We call the day that Jesus was crucified “Good Friday.” And it isn’t called good because it was a happy day. Rather, it refers to the more traditional understanding of the word good, “that which is morally right or righteous”. It is called Good Friday, because through the sacrifice of Jesus ON Good Friday, we can now be righteous and good, in God’s sight.

This is what we have been looking forward to for the past 6 weeks. Today however, is the day that we as the church celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. This is the day in which we celebrate the fact that Jesus rose from the grave. We often use these formal churchy phrases when we talk about these things, so I want to emphasize this in clear language: Today is the day, in which we as a church celebrate the fact that Jesus LITERALLY and PHYSICALLY came back to life, after being LITERALLY physically dead for days. And we celebrate this because we believe that it is true. We believe that this is a real, historical event that REALLY happened.

The resurrection has been a stumbling block to people ever since the day it happened. Because death is final. People don’t just wake up after being dead for days! Dead is dead. And in the case of Jesus, dead was REALLY meant to be dead. Crucified, then after dying, stabbed in the side with a spear, just to make extra sure that he was very much dead. As soon as Jesus was discovered to NOT be in his tomb, dead, a rumour was started that his body had been stolen by his disciples. From the very beginning, people have been trying to lie about the resurrection of Jesus. Because they recognized the power of it.

Unfortunately for them, it is hard to convince people that Jesus HADN’T risen from the

dead, when Jesus was walking around and talking to people. In total, we know that there were at LEAST 516 people who saw Jesus alive. But still, many people didn’t believe. Some suggested that Jesus hadn’t come back to life. Some suggested that Jesus experienced a spiritual resurrection, and he only APPEARED to be alive again. Or if they finally were convinced of the resurrection of Jesus, many in the early churches did not believe that THEY would experience a resurrection some day. people have struggled with the resurrection piece for thousands of years, and people still struggle with it today. Because it doesn’t make sense! It isn’t scientifically feasible! When you die, your body immediately begins to break down. After days, there is no coming back! But Jesus did.

The theology of the resurrection is central to everything we believe. That is why Easter is the most important holiday in the Christian calendar. With the resurrection, we have new life, and the promise of a resurrection of our own. But without the resurrection, all that we have is false hope. Everything we believe rests on this one thing. Every Christian must believe in the resurrection, because without it our faith is in nothing.

We are going to be studying 1 Corinthians today, chapter 15, verses 12-20. So let’s start by reading this passage in its entirety, starting in verse 12: “But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”