He Is Risen!

Easter – time to put on our best Sunday clothes, go to church (perhaps early in the morning for a sunrise service), eat a brunch, have an Easter egg hunt, celebrate the newness of spring with our family, eat more candy in one day than is healthy, and perhaps end the day by watching Charlton Heston part the Red Sea. A pleasant holiday, right?
All these things and more make Easter a very nice time of the year, but all these things and more dramatically miss the point. Easter (or Resurrection Sunday) is the single most triumphant, important, and history-changing day of remembrance that there is on the calendar. It is more than an invigorating Sunday picnic – it is as serious as our eternal destiny.
We mark Resurrection Sunday as that first day of the week on which our Lord Jesus rose from the dead. Without that day, all other celebrations of any kind would be meaningless. Christmas would be as much of an exercise in head-knowledge as celebrating George Washington’s birthday in February. Good Friday would not be good at all, because it would simply be a day of remembering the tragic, needless – and useless – death of another religious leader.
With no resurrection, all celebrations would be hollow, as would our lives and our faith. The apostle Paul said it best in 1 Corinthians 15. In verse 17, he says “And if Christ is not raised, your faith is vain – you are still in your sins.” Paul follows that up in verse 19 with, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we (Christians) are of all men most miserable.” Why does he say that?
Jesus made the most astounding claims that any man has or could ever make. He claimed to be the Light of the World. He claimed to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life – the only way of access to God the Father. He even claimed God was His Father and that He was equal with Him. Jesus’ intention, if His words are to be taken at all seriously, was to die for the sins of mankind and to rise again on the third day after that.
But if Jesus did not rise from the dead, He was a liar, and not even one of His words should carry any weight. If the Man who claimed to be God, very Light and Life in human form, died and stayed dead, then there is no reality to what He said. We may choose to follow His teachings or not, but our decision would make no eternal difference. The joyful, earnest proclamations of Christian preachers and missionaries – even the mighty letters of Paul himself – would fall to the earth with a sickening thud because they are not true. Because if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then the sacrificial death He claimed to die was just an ordinary death like all the others, and certainly not a real sacrifice for sin that appeased His Father.
However, Paul’s words ring across the centuries and give hope and meaning to Easter and all of the other days – “But now IS Christ risen from the dead” (1 Cor. 15:20). Only because of that can he say in verse 55, “O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?” Jesus indeed rose from the dead and proved for all time that He alone has defeated sin, hell, and the grave. Every word He spoke was truth and life itself.
Several years ago I went through a dark period in my life in which I questioned my beliefs. I wondered if Christianity was indeed true and if its claims were more than wishful thinking. I was afraid of death and wanted to know what, if anything, was on the other side of it. This led to deep unrest in my soul and depression in my heart for a time; but God gave me the victory. What calmed my fears and bolstered my faith?
It was not proof that the Bible is an authentic document. It was no piece of archaeology from Old Testament times. It was not even an argument that satisfied me that Christianity makes more sense than other philosophies. The fact of the resurrection alone was and is enough for me to stake my eternal security on, for it alone is enough to prove that Christ’s claims are true in their entirety.
In John 14:19, Jesus said, “Because I live, you too shall live.” In John 11:25-26, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Because Christ did not stay dead, neither will anyone who puts his or her trust in Him. For the believer in Jesus, there is life on both sides of death, and the grave is no longer a thing to be feared. Ever since this truth was brought to bear in my soul in a personal way, Easter has been a deeper and richer celebration for me than it ever was before. The Resurrection of Christ is the key to it all.
But if you have not yet put your trust in Christ for salvation, Jesus Himself asks you that question, “Do YOU believe this?” The resurrection that vindicated Christ’s sacrifice for your sin has no meaning or power for you if you will not receive it as your own. What better day than Easter to come to the Cross and leave your burden of sin there, only to rise and gaze at the Empty Tomb to realize that your salvation and eternal life have been secured for you forever?
For those of us who know this salvation in a personal way, Easter is just one of the days, besides the other 364, on which we may triumphantly cry, “He is risen! He is risen indeed!”