Imagine that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and remained dead till this day. Like Buddha, Mohammad, Socrates, or Confucius, He was now no more than a beautiful memory. Would it matter? We still have His example and teaching, right? Wouldn’t they be enough?

No, for had Jesus not risen but stayed dead, these four things would then be true:

[A] To quote Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:17, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”

[B] There will be no hope of our resurrection either. We must expect to stay dead too.

[C] If Jesus Christ has not risen, then He is not reigning and He will not return one day. In this case, we can delete every single item in the Creed after the phrase “suffered and was buried.”

[D] Christianity cannot be what the first Christians thought it was—fellowship with a living Lord. The Jesus of the Gospels can still be your hero, but He cannot be your Savior.

In short, if Jesus had not risen but stayed dead, there is no Christian Faith!

Note that in talking about the resurrection of Jesus, the Creed actually used the phrase “the third day.” It seeks to underline the historicity of the event. Counting inclusively from the day when Jesus was “crucified under Pontius Pilate” in about AD. 30, the Creed affirmed that on the third day, in Jerusalem, Jesus came alive, vacated a rock tomb, and conquered death for all time!

Can we be sure it happened? 

The evidence is solid. The tomb was empty, and nobody could produce the body. For more than a month afterward, the disciples kept meeting Jesus alive, always unexpectedly, usually in groups (from 2 to 500). Hallucinations don’t happen this way!

Initially, the disciples were skeptical. Later, they boldly proclaimed His resurrection, even when they faced ridicule, persecution, and death! Why would they continue to believe and propagate a lie, in the face of death?

The corporate experience of the Christian church over nineteen centuries chimes in with the belief that Jesus rose, for the risen Lord truly “walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way” and communion with Jesus Christ belongs to the basic Christian awareness of reality.

The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is so overwhelming that it is actually harder to disbelieve the resurrection than to accept it! To believe in Jesus Christ as Son of God and living Savior, and to echo the words of ex-doubter Thomas, “My Lord and my God,” is certainly more than an exercise of reason, but in the face of the evidence, it is the only reasonable thing a person can do.

Now, what is the significance of Jesus’ rising? In a word, it marked Jesus out as Son of God (Romans 1:4); it vindicated His righteousness (John 16:10); it demonstrated victory over death (Acts 2:24); it guaranteed the believer’s forgiveness and justification (1 Corinthians 15:17; Romans 4:25), and future resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:18); and it brings him into the reality of resurrection life now (Romans 6:4). Christ, the Lord, is risen today, hallelujah! 

Questions for Thought and Discussion

•     Are you convinced that Jesus has risen from the dead?

•     Have you ever tried to defend the resurrection of Jesus? Can you?

WEI En Yi

[Adapted from and based on J.I. Packer’s Growing in Christ]