{"id":33845,"date":"2018-04-02T10:00:06","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T09:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/\/uk\/?p=33845"},"modified":"2018-03-23T16:51:19","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T16:51:19","slug":"the-resurrection-what-if-it-is-not-true-what-if-it-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.banneroftruth.org\/uk\/resources\/articles\/2018\/the-resurrection-what-if-it-is-not-true-what-if-it-is\/","title":{"rendered":"The Resurrection: What if it is Not True? What if it Is?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is worth asking the question: What difference does it make to\u00a0believe in the resurrection of Christ, as opposed to not believing it?\u00a0Death is clearly the great reality and the great leveller of life. Fools die\u00a0and wise men die \u2013 as do kings and paupers, celebrities and nonentities.\u00a0Princess Diana dies, and so too Kerry Packer and Bertrand Russell.\u00a0Religion makes no difference. Christians die, Muslims die, Buddhists\u00a0die, Hindus die, and rank unbelievers die. You will die and I will die\u00a0(Eccles. 2:13\u201314; 9:2). We all know that it will happen, but we do not\u00a0know when. If death is the bench mark of life, resurrection is the touchstone\u00a0of the Christian faith.<\/p>\n

What follows if Christ did not rise from the dead, and hence nobody else will be raised from the dead?<\/p>\n

First, it would mean that the whole Christian message would be\u00a0finished.<\/p>\n

If Christ is not risen from the dead, the Christian faith has nothing\u00a0to say to you (1 Cor. 15:12\u201319). The church should close down, Bibles\u00a0should be sent to the museums, and prayer should cease. To continue with\u00a0these would make Christians of all people the most to be pitied. If death\u00a0is the end, then resurrection is a delusion, and Christianity is a delusion.<\/p>\n

Secondly, this would mean that life would be ultimately meaningless\u00a0and futile. It would be the message of the book of Ecclesiastes: vanity,\u00a0vanity, everything is vanity. What would we live for? Eat, drink, for\u00a0tomorrow we die (1 Cor. 15:32b). If there is no resurrection, the logical\u00a0alternatives seem to be pleasure or suicide. Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote: \u2018If there is no immortality, I shall throw myself into the sea.\u2019 Bismarck\u00a0said something similar: \u2018Without the hope of an afterlife, this life is not even worth the effort of getting dressed in the morning.\u2019<\/p>\n

Two contrasting characteristics of modern life in the West are inordinate\u00a0pleasure-seeking and a sense of despair. People have made a god of pleasure\u2014of sexual experiences, drink, drugs, and having a good\u00a0time. Ronald Conway said that Australia is \u2018the land of the long weekend\u2019.<\/p>\n

People are addicted to their diversions; they live like this so that\u00a0they will not have to think about their spiritual wretchedness, sin, and\u00a0death. If they stopped to think, they would be in danger of giving in to\u00a0despair. Life is reduced to watching 1001 movies before we die.\u00a0Well then, what follows if Christ did rise from the dead, and every\u00a0human being will be raised from the dead? The first thing to say is that\u00a0there will be a judgment. As Jesus put it: \u2018Do not marvel at this, for\u00a0an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice\u00a0and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life,\u00a0and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment\u2019 ( John\u00a05:28\u201329).<\/p>\n

Every act, every word, every thought, and every motive will be\u00a0judged by the Son of Man. This world will not go on and on; it will all\u00a0be called to account on that day of days.<\/p>\n

From this it follows that everything in this life has meaning. At\u00a0the end of his long chapter on the resurrection, Paul speaks not of\u00a0the glories of heaven, but of everyday life here on earth: \u2018Therefore,\u00a0my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in\u00a0the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in\u00a0vain\u2019 (1 Cor. 15:58). Why prepare the Sunday school lesson, why face\u00a0that hostile Scripture class again, why help that hard-faced neighbour\u00a0who never appreciates anything, why send money off to missions, why\u00a0change nappies, why go off to work this week? But you have a reason\u00a0if there is a resurrection; there is purpose in everything. Even a slave\u00a0has a reason for living, for his work has meaning before God (Col.\u00a03:23-24).<\/p>\n

The Christian has courage to face the day. Paul said that because\u00a0he believed in the resurrection, he fought with the beasts at Ephesus\u00a0(1 Cor. 15:32a). That is almost certainly a figurative expression. Still,\u00a0why face the lions, as it were, if there is no resurrection? Why testify to\u00a0the truth or stand up against evil or even do anything even mildly dangerous\u00a0if this life is all you have? A Christian is not to be reckless with\u00a0his life, but neither is he to be paralysed with fear. Faith gives courage;unbelief makes for fear.<\/p>\n

Because the resurrection is coming, be prepared for it. Live without\u00a0spot or wrinkle (2 Pet. 3:13\u201314). Take away the resurrection, and you\u00a0take away the incentive. The Christians who have made the greatest\u00a0progress in the Christian life have been the ones who thought most\u00a0of the resurrection life. Even the rabid unbeliever Voltaire\u2014whom\u00a0Dr Johnson judged to be a wit without soul\u2014noticed the difference:\u00a0\u2018I want my lawyer, my tailor, my servants, even my wife, to believe in\u00a0God, and I fancy as a result I shall suffer from less theft and less cuckoldry.\u2019<\/p>\n

There is an obvious connection between what we believe about\u00a0the life to come and how we live in the here and now.<\/p>\n

Finally, the resurrection gives us hope in death. In holding to the\u00a0truths of Christ\u2019s resurrection and his coming again as king, we are\u00a0to be encouraged and built up (see 1 Thess. 4:13\u201318; 5:1\u201311). Death\u00a0is the destiny of each one of us. There is no hope for the person outside\u00a0of Christ. But what happens when the Christian dies? He or she is received into the presence of Christ! What effect does that have on\u00a0believers still on earth? They are sad but not desolate; they grieve but\u00a0not as those without hope (1 Thess. 4:13). The ship rocks in the storm,\u00a0but it does not sink.<\/p>\n

When King David\u2019s seven-day-old son died David\u2019s life was at its\u00a0lowest ebb. It had been shattered by his own sin\u2014his adultery, his\u00a0murder of Uriah, his deception, his exposure, and now the death of the\u00a0little boy. In the midst of all this misery where could he find any hope?\u00a0His hope was to be found not in himself but in the God who puts lives\u00a0back together, who re-creates, who brings grace, and who raises the dead to life.<\/p>\n

Even David\u2019s great sin could not prevent God from accomplishing\u00a0his purposes of grace. The believer has the assurance of Richard Sibbes:\u00a0\u2018There is more mercy in Christ than there is sin in me.\u2019 David could\u00a0not recall his little child, but one day he would join him, not simply in\u00a0death, but in glorious resurrection (2 Sam. 12:23).<\/p>\n

Does it make any difference to believe in the resurrection of Christ\u00a0and the general resurrection of the dead? Yes, all the difference in the\u00a0\u00a0world, both in this one and in the next.<\/p>\n

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This article first appeared in the March 2009 edition of the\u00a0Banner of Truth m<\/em>agazine.<\/p>\n

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Of Further Interest<\/h3>\n