“What if Jesus never rose from the grave?”
Most Christians discuss the resurrection, but what if it never happened?
- Without Christ rising from the tomb, there is no gospel. (1 Corinthians 15.1-8) If Christ was born as a man, lived as a man and died as a criminal only to remain in an earthly grave, there is no good news. The testimony of our Lord is false and most would call Him a liar, a false prophet and a leader of crazies. Without the good news of His resurrection, there is no good news. Without the good resurrection news our lives are tremendously lost in the turmoil of this world and our hope is in vain. The faith of the everlasting scriptures is reduced to a pile of rumble amid the chaos of lies.
- Without Christ rising from the tomb, the Bible is not true. The prophecies of the Messiah dying to rise again would not hold water, because the Messiah would have been a man. His life would have been no different than ours and the Old Testament law would still be intact today. As the letter to the Hebrews discusses the passing of the old law to the new, but without the power of the resurrection, the One who brought the new will never hold it viable to our lives today, for His testimony is false.
- Without Christ rising from the dead, we are dead. The same words Paul speaks to the Ephesian church echo in our lives today, “…made us alive together with Christ…” (Ephesians 2.5; ESV). Without the resurrection of Christ we have no hope of ever being made alive again, we are dead in our trespasses and sins. If Christ never rose, His blood stopped. His blood stopped at the cross, because He was not the Son of God!
What would you add to this list?
And now the Good News…
- The good news is that the tomb was found empty! Christ did arise from the dead and our everlasting hope is found on His life. His tomb is empty and His feet walked this earth after His death. The women saw him, the apostles (except Judas) saw Him and many other saw Him! There is a gospel, a resurrection and good news!
Since we know the tomb was found empty, are we living like it?
Just some thoughts for the week,