If It Isn't True

During my years as a college professor, I began one class session each semester by telling the students I was going to give them a True-False quiz, and they should call out the answer if they knew it. The quiz went something like this:

"Millard Fillmore served as President of the United States." (True)

"In 1945 the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." (True)

"Sir Isaac Newton discovered the theory of relativity." (False)

"The Declaration of Independence was signed by American patriots in 1776." (True)

"A man in his early 30s was badly beaten and cut and pronounced legally dead. Seventy-two hours later he was alive again."

The students would pause because at first they weren't sure how to answer that final question. I would repeat it, and then I explained that the answer was unequivocally "True," because I was referring to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If I had said, "Jesus Christ arose from the dead," my students would have been quick to say "True," because we are accustomed to hearing the resurrection presented as a religious dogma. Actually it's a fact of history, just as real as World War II or the signing of the Declaration of Independence—supported by solid evidence and eyewitness testimony.

There's a lot at stake when we affirm the resurrection. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then he was a great teacher but nothing more. A dead Savior can't save anybody. If the resurrection didn't happen, we could even conclude that Jesus wasn't such a great teacher at all, because he spoke often about the resurrection and pointed to it as the ultimate proof of his identity as the Messiah. If he didn't rise from the dead, then the Master Teacher was mistaken about his main message.

If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, the New Testament cannot be trusted. The four Gospels would never have been written, for there would be no good news if the story of Jesus ended at the cross. There would be no Acts of the Apostles if there were no acts of God at the cross and at the tomb. Peter's great sermon on Pentecost and Paul's powerful words to the philosophers in Athens climaxed with an unwavering insistence that God had raised Jesus from the dead. The rest of the New Testament, from Romans to Revelation, was written to encourage believers to serve the risen Christ even in the face of persecution.

If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, the great ordinances of the Christian faith would be stripped of their meaning. Baptism would be nothing but an empty religious ceremony. The Lord's Supper would be a memorial to someone who is dead and gone, but not communion with someone who is very much alive.

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, we are fools for believing and perpetuating a lie. We are wasting our time when we sing his praises and invoke his name in prayer. "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins" (1 Corinthians 15:17).

But what does the evidence show?

Jesus' death on the cross is a fact of history, certified by an experienced Roman centurion. Jesus' body was sealed inside a tomb in a public location under the watchful eyes of guards posted by the governor, but three days later the tomb was empty. (The soldiers' duty was to guard a dead body, and they let him get away!)

In spite of their initial fears and doubts, Jesus' disciples couldn't deny his resurrection. He walked with them, he talked with them, and he ate broiled fish with them. Hundreds of eyewitnesses saw the Lord alive over a period of weeks—and these were not fleeting glimpses, but prolonged interviews. Skeptics like Saul of Tarsus and Jesus' brother James turned to faith because of the resurrection. The phenomenal growth of the early church bears witness to the truth of the early Christians' message: "He is alive!" And in a Jewish culture where the Sabbath Day was so highly regarded, only something as significant as the resurrection could cause the followers of Christ to begin gathering on the first day of the week to commune with their Lord.

So if the resurrection really happened, what then?

The resurrection of Christ towers above all other events in human history. It validates Jesus' claims about himself. He was indeed "declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:4)—unique among all the religious leaders of the world. Because he conquered death for himself, he can conquer death for us. He is the author of hope, peace, and everlasting life.

I believe it is true. I am staking my eternity on it. What about you?