There is no event greater
in human history than the resurrection of Jesus Christ! If there is no
resurrection, there is no Christianity! The apostle Paul says this clearly:
(I Cor. 15:17-19) "And if
Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we
have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men."
The Christian faith rises or falls on the resurrection of Christ. There is
deep evidence of Christ's resurrection, both from history and from nature. Every
cycle of this planet is a "death-resurrection" cycle. In fact, it is a
known fact of science that life springs from death. It is therefore appropriate
that Spring is the time we celebrate Christ's resurrection.
This is the greatest joy in Christianity, no Christian can ignore the
resurrection of Christ, it is what makes us Christians!
ILLUS:On the Easter just before he died, D. William Sangster
painfully printed a short note to his daughter. A deeply spiritual Methodist, he
had been spearheading a renewal movement in the British Isles after World War
II. Then his ministry, except for prayer, was ended by a disease which
progressively paralyzed his body, even his vocal chords. But the last
Resurrection Sunday he spent on earth, still able to move his fingers, he wrote:
"How terrible to wake up on Easter and have no voice to shout, 'He is risen!'
Far worse, to have a voice and not want to shout." -- James S. Hewett, Illustrations
Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 167.