Many of you watch annually It’s A Wonderful Life. George Bailey, the movie’s main character, has spent his entire life giving of himself to the people of Bedford Falls. Bailey loses $8,000 through no fault of his own and fears he will be sent to jail and his company will collapse. Thinking of his wife, their young children, and others he loves will be better off with him dead, he contemplates suicide. But the prayers of his loved ones result in a gentle angel named Clarence coming to earth to help George Bailey. The angel shows George Bailey what things would have been like if he had never been born. You see the town of Bedford Falls without the positive life of George Bailey. In a nightmarish vision, Bedford Falls sinks into a deep pit of sex and sin, those George loves are either dead, ruined, or miserable. Bailey realizes that he has touched many people in a positive way and that his life has truly been a wonderful one.
Imagine a magic eraser that can erase any event in history. With just a stroke of this eraser, a moment of history would be gone forever. The question is – if that was true, what impact moving forward would that have in our lives? What if history was rewritten? There’s a whole field of study called Alternative History. The question becomes what would be different in the present if certain things did not happen in the past? The idea is to look back at a past event, and to identify a point divergence – and start there by hypothetically erasing it. You then extrapolate forward what the consequences would be by erasing that moment in history. “What if Robert E. Lee had won the Battle of Gettysburg?” “What if John Wilkes Booth had missed when he shot President Abraham Lincoln?” Even recent TV shows have picked up on this kind of thinking, a Hulu TV series entitled, 11.22.63, is based on the book by Stephen King. An English teacher from Maine travels back in time in order to prevent the assassination of JFK on November 22, 1963. Still others you are watching the TV series, The Man in the High Castle, which seeks to answer the intriguing question: “What if Nazi Germany had won WWII?”
Speaking of alternate history, have you heard about the President and his wife visiting her hometown? The two drove past a service station when they saw one of the First Lady’s former boyfriends working behind the counter. The President put his arm around his wife and said, “Well, honey if you had stayed with him, you would be the wife of a customer service manager today.” She smiled and said, “No, if I had stayed with him, he would be President.”
Let’s think about your personal life for moment. What would your life look like had you chosen to marry? Or, what would your life look like had you chosen to remain single? What if you had you pursued your dreams rather than following your parents’ choice for you?
But what would happen if we applied alternative history to Easter? What if Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead? What would happened if Easter was Erased?
We’re finishing a series entitled The Greatest Week in History. In fact, the entire Bible pivots on one weekend in Jerusalem about 2,000 years ago. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15 and good morning to my friends at Cross Church. Look at the Communication Card you’ve been given with me and in a few moments I am going to invite you to respond.
Background to 1 Corinthians 15
The believers in Corinth began to question whether the dead were to be raised. These new believers understood that if they placed their faith in this crucified Messiah, they too would one day rise from the grave. Now, the people at Corinth began to question this. They had believed for only a short while, yet Christian loved ones had died and there was no resurrection.
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
“Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).
Here is the most important passage in all the Bible on what the resurrection of Jesus accomplishes. There is a good amount of deductive logic and deductive reasoning going on in the passage. You’ll note there three different times that Paul says, “If Christ is not raised,” or “if the dead are not raised” in verses 12-19. Christ’s resurrection and the believers’ resurrection are so inexplicably tied together in the pages of Scripture that to deny one is to deny both. For the next few moments I want to explore this question: Suppose there had been no Easter? Suppose that Jesus still lay in a grave? Then What? Here are five tragedies if Easter is Erased and you see them all in 1 Corinthians 15.
If Easter is erased then… 1. The Disciples Deceived Us
1.1 The Bible is a Lie
“We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised” (1 Corinthians 15:15). Paul is not saying that if Jesus were still in the grave, then the disciples are simply mistaken. No, he says they are then false witnesses. This means Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the twelve disciples, and the Apostle Paul were all liars. They perjured themselves. But circle back for moment for not only would the disciples have deceived us but …
1.2 Jesus Christ is a Charlatan
If Jesus Christ has not been raised from the dead, then Jesus is the greatest liar in all of history. If Easter is Erased, then Jesus is the biggest religious charlatan in the world. Because He predicted His Resurrection: “Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.’ And they were greatly distressed” (Matthew 17:22-23). If Jesus did not rise from the grave, then Jesus Himself is a charlatan and a lier.
If Easter is erased then…2. Your Faith is Futile
“And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14). If Easter is erased, then Your faith is in vain. Many of you have placed your faith in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. You have trusted Christ for the forgiveness of sins. But what if Christ has not been raised? For many of us, the voices of guilt and shame are impossible to silence. They seem to drag us down. Nothing short of miracle is needed to break the vice grip of guilt and shame that haunt us. What we need is a miracle full of love and grace to silence the grip of guilt and shame.
If Easter is erased then… 3. Death is Still Dominant
“Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished” (1 Corinthians 15:18). Philip Yancey tells a story in his book, Where Is God When It Hurts, of attending a funeral that was really strange. When everyone walked in, they were handed a peppermint. There were no words – no music – and no eulogy. Friends and family members were told to put the mint in their mouth, and when the mint was finished, everyone walked out. That was it! Life just dissolves was the message.
You see if Christ is dead, then you have no future. When you buried your mother or your father, it didn’t matter whether they had faith in Jesus or not. You may as well have been burying a dead dog in a dry hole. It does not matter if you know Christ or not. All of this if Christ is still in the tomb.
If Easter is erased then…4. Sin is Still Sovereign
“And if Christ has not been raised, … you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). Here’s an even worse problem. Forgiveness is impossible if Easter is erased. Forgiveness itself is impossible if Easter is erased. If Jesus is still physically dead, then we are still spiritually dead.
“…Jesus our Lord … was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24b-25). The resurrection of God acts a receipt that God accepts Jesus’ work on your behalf. If you walk out of Best Buy or Sam’s with an expensive electronics item, there’s someone there who wants to see a receipt. Jesus’ resurrection is your receipt when the security guards of the world stop you. One day, you will think, “What makes you think God loves you?” as your heart sinks in despair. The resurrection of Jesus is your receipt and you pull it out to say, “Don’t trouble me. I am already paid for. I am free and clear.”
Lastly, if Easter is erased… 5. Tomorrow is a Tragedy
Why are we in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:30-32a). Few of us realize just how much our lives are shaped by what we believe our ultimate future will be. If Jesus wasn’t raised and I am not going to be raised in him, there is no reason for me to live an unselfish life.
Life is appetite. Life is the strong eat the weak. When you are uncertain what your future will be and what life after death looks like, then you will seek to drain all you can from this life. But for those who believe the resurrection, life is different If you believe you will rise to live a second life, you are free to live this life unselfishly. The early Christians stayed in the urban cities when the epidemics hit. When everyone else fled for fear of their lives, the early believers entered the cities to care for sick. Many of them died. Why were these early Christians so compassionate? Because they were confident in their future. They believed in life after death because they were certain Jesus rose from the dead.
Rebecca Thompson never experienced such a miracle. She was only eighteen and her sister was only twelve when they were abducted by cruel and sadistic men in 1973. Near a store in Casper, Wyoming, the men drove these two girls about forty miles southwest to a little narrow steel structure of a bridge. The Freemont Canyon Bridge stood about 100 feet above the North Platte River. It was there that these men brutally beat and raped Rebecca and then threw both of the girls off the bridge. Remarkably, Rebecca lived through the horror of the fall as she drug her broken body some 300 feet up the canyon wall. The LA Times account takes the story from here: “With a hip broken in five places, she struggled to the shore. To protect herself from the cold, she wedged herself between two rocks and waited until the dawn.” But the dawn never came for Rebecca. Oh, the sun camp up and the physicians treated her wounds and the courts imprisoned her attackers. Life continued but the dawn never came. The blackness of her night of horrors continued. She was never able to climb out of her canyon of memories.” Nineteen years long years later, she returned to the bridge. With her two year old daughter and her boyfriend at her side, she sat on the edge of the bridge and she wept. Through her tears she retold the story. Her boyfriend, not wanting the child to see her mother crying, turned and carried the toddler back to the car. That’s when he heard her body hit the water. The sun never dawned on Rebecca’s dark night for the voices of guilt and shame haunted her. What prevented hope’s light from entering Rebecca’s world? No doubt a big part of it was Guilt. Her close friends spoke of her deepest hurt, that she had survived and her little sister did not.
It often takes a miracle to break the grip of guilt and shame that plague our lives. You see, without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is no hope for the Rebecca’s of this world. The world is very different for those who believe Easter was Erased.
Summary
Faith is Futile
Death is Still Dominant
Sin is Still Sovereign
Tomorrow is a Tragedy
What if you had never married him? What were your life look like had you never married her?
Closing Statement
But Easter is here and Jesus is alive! Death placed Jesus in a tomb, there was a stone in the mouth of that tomb, the seal of the Roman government was placed upon that tomb. But on the third day, Jesus Christ rose from the sleep of death!!!!!!! And He left His grave clothes that were wrapped around Him as a butterfly would leave its cocoon. Jesus Christ passed through the walls of that rock tomb for Jesus Christ is alive! He is not behind us in a tomb. Instead, He is before us on a throne.
