Resurrection Reactions
Once a broken man, covered with hideous and painful sores from the sole of his feet to the top of his head and adorned with sack cloth and ashes, sat mourning amid the ruins of his own household. He finds scarce comfort in his grieving from his faithless fair-weather friends and his carping and critical companion. They have gathered as vultures to the corpse of his crisis; to confront rather than comfort.
Just a few days before he had been known as the richest and most prosperous man in all his known world. He had been blessed with ten lovely, loving and loyal sons and daughters and their offspring. Happiness had filled his household. The vibrant and joyful laughter of his descendents constantly echoed up and down the corridors of his life.
Then it happened. In a flash his family and all his worldly possessions were snatched away by one swift, cruel blow from the evil one. One moment God was in his heaven and all was right with his world, then tragedy struck and all was lost. His world was turned upside down and his life lay in shattered shreds at his feet.
A bruised, battered and broken being, bent down and reflected upon the vacuum that death had left in his heart and the emptiness that now filled his life. He is crushed as he sits and contemplates his cruel fate. A terrible and tortuous cry of torment and anguish is torn from the depths of his very soul. In a great sob of sorrow he shouts out to his great creator God, "If a man dies, shall he live again?"
Job’s rhetorial question brings us face to face with the shocking common denominator of all men, death. He speaks to those who have seen all earthly hope collapse and lie in shattered fragments at their feet. He touches those who in one moment of time have had their world turned upside down to come crashing down around them. He cries out those who have realized that eyes that once smiled have closed, lips that once spoke have fallen into cold silence and the warm loving grasp of a vibrant hand has forever relaxed.
He addresses all men who, no matter how lightly they may treat the matter or how desperately they may try to circumvent or delay the issue, must someday stand on common ground as their hearts ponder the same age-old question of the mystery of immortality.
The stark reality of man’s mortality is made evident in the life of even the most sceptical. He cannot avert his eyes from the spectre of death that overshadows his every step. He cannot silence the voice that shatters his self-imposed naivete. The timeless question of Job of old breaks loudly into the false sanctity of his consciousness with all the force of a wailing siren, "If a man dies, shall he live again?"
The resurrection story urges man to break out of the shell of self-deception and face the issue squarely. God implores man to come to grips with the implications of man’s mortal existence, no matter how painful the encounter with reality might be. He insists man admit the hopelessness of his dilemma, unless an answer comes from a higher source and authority.
Job’s is not a question flung as a scornful cry into the face of an unyielding fate. But rather, it is framed as an intelligent appeal, from the heart of a man of spiritual wisdom. A man who recognizes that the answer to life’s central question can only come from the one from whom life issued.
Are we, as Job would later attest, justified in holding that in spite of death, we have a valid hope of immortality? Some scoff at such a proposition as a ridiculous paradox. Some shudder at it as a dreadful possibility. Some, not as wise as Job, turn to history outside God’s Word and are led only to the grave and left there. Because secular history is merely mute about the matter. It neither confirms nor denies the prospect of an afterlife.
Some turn to science, but find no laboratory, apparatus or technique for analyzing life or death or discovering the fate of a soul. Some rely upon philosophy and find themselves free to speculate, postulate, formulate and posit theories, but in the end find their hypotheses unreliable, for philosophy has no reliable means of testing its conclusions.
Some of us turn to the only true and reliable source, the Word of God, to find there the only authoritative and satisfying answer to man’s perpetual quest for immortality. We cherish this hope as the established answer. Our hearts vibrate within us as we contemplate Paul’s climatic cry in his resurrection chapter, "O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"
Yes, Job’s cry has echoed down through the ages. Time and time again men and women, broken by inevitable disaster and death, have voiced the same perplexing and paradoxical question. Because as surely as a man lives, he dies. He’s called to go to his long home. Solomon poetically portrays the poignancy of man’s inevitable encounter with the spectre of the grim reaper with his immortal words:
Because man goeth to his long home,
And mourners go about the streets:
Or ever the silver cord be loosed,
Or the golden bowl be broken,
Or the pitcher be broken at the fountain,
Or the wheel broken at the cistern.
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
Death, just as surely and swiftly, stalks our streets of sorrow today. From the friendly, and familiar corridors of our communities, to the far-flung, foreign fields of conflict; death constantly and continually rears its ugly head. From the slow and searing agony seen in the halls and wards of our hospitals and hospices, to the swift, sudden snuffing out of a young life on the streets and highways of our nation, death stalks our every step.
Our world today has what is sometimes seen as a morbid interest in the moribund. Each year an increasing number of bestselling books on dying, near-death, death and life after death, flood the popular book market. Last year alone hundreds of popular new books were published on these subjects. Some seek scientific evidence of life after death. Others are satisfied with experiential and testimonial evidence. Public and private schools around the world are offering classes in dying and death.
Time Magazine in an essay on death a few years ago stated, "Man has a great fear of dying, and yet, he is unable to face the reality of death." But like it or not, welcome it or dread it, sooner or later, all men must face it. As Hebrews writer once said, “And as it is appointed unto men, once to die and after this the judgment " (Hebrews 9:27)
Man’s interest in the subject has never ended at the grave. Mans eternal quest for immortality permeates all history and transcends all cultures. The pharaoh’s were buried in preparation for the possibility of an afterlife. So were the nobility and religious elite of many other cultures. The search for immortality prompted the Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon, to explore what is now the state of Florida, searching for a reputed fountain of youth. Of course, he did not find it, but came to the end of his mortal life at the point of an Indian’s arrow.
Charlatans throughout the centuries have taken advantage of man’s ceaseless search for an answer to the riddle of immortality. The ancient alchemists, with their fraudulent formulas and elixirs of life, give testimony to the absurdity of some aspects of that endless quest.
Even today we see continuing manifestations of such sad seeking. The New Age movement, which is nothing more than a revival of certain aspects of Hinduism and ancient Eastern mystic religions, plays upon man’s innate spiritual hunger and thirst for spiritual immortality. Reincarnation, spiritism, channeling and the like, are all based upon a certain presumption of the possibility of individual renewal or resurrection of life.
Job’s question also goes further than the mere certainty and reality of death. Job probes the real issue of life after death. He rhetorically raises the possibility that mere mortal men may attain immortality. He later, by inspiration, responds to his own dilemma by confidently asserting, "For I know my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon this earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." (Job 19:25-27)
He strongly infers that this immortality will entail a resurrected life of immense magnitude. That for the child of God death is not the end, but the beginning. It is not a blank, black hole of nothingness, but a beginning of a bright, beautiful eternal blessedness.
Then in the fullness of time the promised Redeemer, Jesus Christ of Nazereth, the immortal Son of God, arrived as scheduled on the mortal scene. And just before the darkness of that dreadful day when Deity died on a cruel cross, the Eternal One comforted His disciples with these words, "Because I live, ye shall live." He had earlier said in a powerful preview of promised immortality, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.." (John 11:25-26)
But in spite of all the obvious interest in the question of death and immortality in every age and every culture and the Christian’s firm belief in the historical and theological certainty of life after death, reactions to the resurrection of Jesus Christ on that resurrection morning some 2,000 years ago were varied. Throughout subsequent history man’s reaction to the resurrection of Jesus Christ has always been just as varied.
Some in New Testament times laughed, mocked and scoffed at the very idea of the resurrection. The Sadducean sect of the Jews bitterly opposed it. The subject was the source of much strife and contention with the Pharisees, who were resurrectionists. It is perhaps significant that Paul, the great early Christian apologist, was of the Pharisees. After his remarkable conversion (Acts 9), we later find him in the great cosmopolitan city of Athens debating the intelligentsia on Mars Hill.
He begins with the commonality of the unknown God. ( Don Richardson in his book, "Eternity In Their Hearts," contends that the presence on Mars Hill of a statue dedicated to the unknown God was no mere coincidence.) Paul then speaks of the Creator and coming Judge and concludes with the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as proof of his propositions.
The sceptics laughed and jeered at the very word resurrection. Although many of the Greeks accepted the concept of the immortality of the soul, they strongly rejected the idea of a bodily resurrection. Some of these wise learned philosophers did not dismiss it out of hand, but vowed to hear him again on the subject. Others who heard his powerful resurrection message believed. (Acts 17:22-34)
We have echoes of that philosophical debate in the present day discovery of the so-called new “Gnostic gospel” of Judas. Which is neither new nor the gospel. We have some so-called Christian scholars who hold similar positions today. They drape themselves in the frocks and trappings of the Christian clergy and make mockery of the simple gospel by speaking of a spiritual resurrection and asserting that the words of Jesus were not literal.
Some such sceptics pose as higher critics and head up major theological seminaries and other centres of major heresy. In the book, "The Passover Plot," popularized by such purveyors of heresy, it is suggested that Jesus did not die, but merely swooned or was drugged, to be revived later by his deceitful disciples. Others have contended that the body of Jesus was secretly stolen away by his disciples.
Is it not strange that many of these same sceptics would insist that Jesus was a great religious teacher deserving our admiration and respect?
Surely they cannot have it both ways. Either the resurrected Christ lives as God incarnate in the flesh, or could only be viewed, and I speak reverently, as either a lunatic, the world’s most deceitful charlatan or a conniving con-artist. Of course, He is the Living Lord of this universe.
There are many evidences to validate a positive reaction to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. First, the resurrection was not an afterthought of God the Father or Jesus the Son. It is not only true that such great patriarchs and prophets as Job and David firmly believed in and clearly enunciated the truth of a bodily resurrection, but Peter in his great sermon on Pentecost, solemnly affirms that the Godhead in pre-determinate counsel intricately planned the whole scenario. (Acts 2:23-27) Jesus on a number of occasions clearly and graphically foretold His own resurrection. (Matt. 16:21)
When the extent of the precautions taken by both the friends and enemies of Jesus to insure His body could not be stolen are considered, the resurrection is the most logical explanation for the empty tomb. To advocate that such a deceitful plot could have been successfully planned and executed is unrealistic. The manipulation, timing and intricate detail involved would have entailed a logistical nightmare. The direction and control of the dozens of people necessarily involved in such a continuing cover-up, defies what is commonly known about human nature.
The appearances of Jesus Christ in a resurrected body is an irrefutable evidence of the validity of His bodily resurrection. In the days that followed His resurrection, His appearances to His disciples followed the following approximate chronological order:
Certain women returning from the sepulchre, Mary Magdalene at the tomb, Peter before the evening of the resurrection day, Cleopas and his companion on Sunday afternoon, ten disciples at their evening meal, all eleven disciples a week later, a number of disciples while fishing on Galilee, the apostles and over five hundred others on a mountain, James and last of all the apostles before His ascension.
If the resurrection did not occur, is it
reasonable the Four Gospels, the book of Acts and the First Corinthian letter, all giving these appearances as historical and indisputable fact, would be written and published in the lifetime of many of the witnesses mentioned, without a record of a dissenting voice being raised?
Philip Schaff said: “The beginning and very existence of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ could only be reasonably explained by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Church rests on the resurrection of its Founder. Without this fact the church could never have been born, or if born, would soon have died a natural death. The miracle of the resurrection and the existence of Christianity are so closely connected that they must stand or fall together. If Christ was raised from the dead then all His miracles are sure, and our faith is not in vain. It is only His resurrection that made His death available for our atonement, justification and salvation; without the resurrection His death would be the grave of our sins. A gospel of a dead Saviour would be a contradiction and a wretched delusion. This is the reasoning of Paul and its force is irresistible." (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church)
The dramatic life-change of the disciples is convincing evidence of the authenticity of the resurrection story. They had seen Jesus cruelly crucified and had fled and gone into hiding in fear for their lives. Then Peter, who had cursed and denied Christ three times, after the resurrection stood up and fearlessly preached Christ crucified and risen from the dead to many of the same mob that had made him cringe in terror. The same disciples that had gone into hiding in an upper room "for fear of the Jews", went out in the power of the Holy Spirit to "turn the world upside down" after meeting and talking with the resurrected Christ.
Many courageously and joyously died the most horrendous martyr’s death imaginable. These transformations took place even though the disciples were evidently not expecting Jesus to rise from the dead.
How could self-deluded or deceitful men maintain such dedication to a false cause in the face of such fierce persecution? Add to this the radical transformation of the life of the apostle Paul, fledgling Christianity’s most rabid persecutor, and who could possibly deny the marvel of it all? Who can possibly suggest a rational reason for their fabrication of such a story, and their subsequent absolute dedication to a false or deceitful cause?
The good news of the empty grave brought a marvelous result in the lives of many of those that first resurrection morning. It brought blessings to those who were bereaved. They came sadly to see the sepulchre and left gladly to share the gospel. Three grief-stricken women came early with a great burden of bereavement, and left with the angel’s blessed words; "Fear not! He is risen! Come and see! Go and tell," lingering in their ears. They came bereft of the presence of their beloved and left with the blessed assurance of His eternal fellowship.
The empty tomb changed the fretful and fearful to fearless and faithful disciples. Although the Saviour had spoken to prepare them for the ordeal of the crucifixion, their spiritual ears had not been attuned to his words of blessed assurance. (John 11:25, 14:1-3, 16:33) But walking with a living Savior changed all of that. Instead of shrinking into a silent shell of disappointment, they went out with great boldness to preach the good news to the four corners of the world.
We too often bind ourselves with cords of doubt and imprison ourselves in shells of fear. We petrify and paralyze ourselves with uncertainties, cutting ourselves off from the blessings of the presence and power of a risen and living Christ. The one who can banish our self-imposed anxieties and break the shackles of our fear. Someone has counted 365 "fear nots" in the Bible. That is one for every day of the year, if we will only appropriate them.
What will be our reaction to the resurrection? My prayer is that the lost will be saved and the saved will go forth in His service with a new portion of resurrection power today.
