Is The Resurrection True?

INTRODUCTION

Today, I’m going to have a go at answering the question, ‘Did God really raise Jesus?' Next week, we’ll think about what Jesus’ resurrection means for us.

But before trying to answer the question, I’d like to think about WHY this is such an important question.

When I was at school, I heard a talk in which the preacher said that facts, faith and feelings are like three parts of a train. That illustration stuck in my mind. I don’t remember exactly what the preacher said, but I’m sure that in his illustration the order was facts, faith and feelings.

I believe it was the organization Campus Crusade which first suggested this illustration. As they presented it, facts were the train’s locomotive. Facts must go first. We have to grasp the facts – or we might say, truth – and align our lives to that truth. Faith follows. It’s a response to those facts. The third car is feelings. It’s a long time ago since I heard this talk and I don’t remember what the speaker said about feelings. I suspect that Campus Crusade was a bit dismissive of feelings. It’s true that feelings can be fickle. We can feel one thing one day and something quite different the next. So, we might think we should be very mistrustful of feelings. But in fact, feelings are surprisingly important and can be a very useful guide.

However, our focus today is on one particular fact. Did God really raise Jesus? It’s a yes or no question. Either God did or he didn’t. Is it an important fact? Yes, it is. It’s THE MOST IMPORTANT FACT IN THE WORLD.

Someone called Sir Norman Anderson wrote a short booklet titled ‘The Evidence for the Resurrection.’ Anderson’s opening sentence was this: ‘Easter is not primarily a comfort, but a challenge. Its message is either THE SUPREME FACT IN HISTORY or else a gigantic hoax.’

In the movie ‘The Case for Christ’ we meet Lee Strobel. He’s an atheist and a journalist. But he’s got a problem. His wife, Leslie, has become a Christian! Strobel isn’t at all happy. He wants to prove Christianity is false. He asks a Christian colleague who works for the same newspaper where to start. His colleague tells him that Christianity stands or falls on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So that’s what Strobel starts to investigate.

The apostle Paul says the same thing. He wrote, ‘And if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith’ [1 Corinthians 15:14].

If Christ was not raised the Christian faith disappears in a puff of smoke. But if God really did raise Jesus from the dead, then it proves that Jesus really is the Son of God, the Messiah, the King of Kings. If God really did raise Jesus from the dead, it means that we too can look forward to a resurrection! It means that eternal life isn’t just a vain hope!

In short, if God really did raise Jesus from the dead, it’s the most important fact in the world. If it’s true, we need to align our lives to it. But first, we need to know if it’s true.

THE OFFER IS TOO BIG!

However, there’s an obstacle. Sometimes, we don’t believe something because it sounds too good to be true.

Last week, there was a Global Fraud Summit in Vienna. I watched part of a report about it on the news. The report talked about just how much fraud takes place in the world. It was a VERY big number. In the UK, fraud is costing about £14 billion a year. Wow! Fraud is A Very Bad Thing. So, the government warns us to be on the lookout for fraud. They tell us, ‘Be Scam Aware!’ And ‘If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!’

The Christian faith definitely comes in the category of things which sound too good to be true. Our sins can be forgiven! We can address God as ‘Abba’, ‘Father’! We can have a personal relationship with Jesus, the Son of God! We can look forward to eternal life! And all completely free!

The Christian message sounds too good to be true.

In 1796 it was announced that a vaccine had been developed for smallpox. It held out the prospect that smallpox could be eradicated. Too good to be true? Many people at the time were suspicious of the whole idea of vaccines and objected strongly. But the smallpox vaccine really did lead to the eradication of smallpox, saving millions of lives. And it laid the foundation for modern immunology.

Here are two more examples. See what you think about them. Too good to be true? Or actually true?

Imagine you’re Priya, a bright young Indian woman. Someone tells you that there’s an opportunity to study at Oxford University for two years. The organization will pay for everything: tuition, flights, and living. Would you say, ‘I’m interested’? Or would you push it away, thinking, ‘That sounds too good to be true’?