Easter 2024

If there was no Easter and Jesus had not risen from the grave, there would be no core to the “Good News” gospel message in the Bible. If the death of Christ were all we had, there would be nothing to celebrate. The celebration is because Jesus came out of the grave victorious over death. That is why Easter today is so important. People argue, “Well, I don't get all of this because the resurrection is just a part of the Jesus story, and if I don't believe in His resurrection, it doesn't mean all the rest of it goes away. I mean, Jesus did many good things. He said many good things and did many miracles, so why can't I enjoy that part of Him and not have to deal with the resurrection? What about the sermon on the mount that was so wonderful? I'm into everything else about Jesus; I'm just not into his resurrection.”

Unfortunately, that is not an option. If you take all the other things written about Christ and gather them together: His words, teachings, and miracles, and you put them all together then you cannot take Christ and put Him back in the tomb! If Christ is still in the tomb, what He did and said on this earth is of no value, any more than any other teacher of that time. But when Christ came out of the tomb, He proved He has the power over death. Almighty God answered Jesus from heaven, allowing Him to return to life from death.

If Christ has not risen, then all preaching is empty; if Christ did not rise, then the Son of the living God, the Creator of the universe, could be killed forever by a hammer and some nails; if that was true, then Christ could be imprisoned forever in a grave bound by an embalmer’s cloth until the time is no more. That means that a stone and a seal could shut Him up forever. That is not the gospel of the word of God! That is a liberal message fostered by those who are determined not to believe in Christ fully.

The word of God is the message of hope and salvation in the risen Christ. If Christ is not risen, then all faith is empty, and if Christ is not risen, all faith is futile, and we are still in our sins. The crucifixion of Christ reminds us that we must believe in what He did on the cross. If we choose not to believe in Him, the weight of our sins rests only on us. Jesus came out of that grave over 2000 years ago, knowing all of us will stand before Him, a holy and righteous God, to give an account of all the things that we have done that violated His holy standard, whether in word or deed, whether by omission or commission, we will stand with our sins opened before a sacred God!

When the apostle Peter gave his first sermon on the day of Pentecost, about 3000 people believed in him, were baptized, and were saved. If you study the historical documents that go with that time, you learn that there probably were about 100,000 church members in the early church in Jerusalem. The church exploded in numbers in just a few weeks for two reasons. First, it was because of the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down and filled the disciples with Himself, but it also exploded because of Peter’s preaching. The apostles were also preachers, and they went everywhere preaching the gospel. If you study what they preached, you'll be amazed to learn that there are 19 sermons or addresses in the book of Acts, and everyone was about the same thing: the resurrection of Jesus Christ!                  

If you don't understand why this was such a dynamic sermon, picture the apostle Peter preaching that sermon on the day of Pentecost. The Bible says he preached: “This Jesus, God has raised from the dead, of whom we are all witnesses.” Repeatedly, you see that phrase. When Peter healed the lame man at the gate of the temple, and a whole crowd of people showed up because of his miracle, he spoke these words, listen again: “But you denied the Holy One, and you asked for a murderer to be granted to you and you killed the Prince of life whom God raised from the dead of which we are all witnesses.” The apostles had all known Jesus before His death. They had seen the brutality that had been reeked on his body, and then they were with Him after His death, walking around as the resurrected son of God, and everywhere they went, they said, “He is risen, He is risen indeed.”

According to the Scriptures, Christ died for all our sins, was buried, and raised on the third day. He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters, then to James, all the apostles, and last of all, to me, as to one abnormally born. (Paul the Apostle – Paraphrase)

The apostles wrote many of the New Testament letters. The claims these men wrote about the resurrection were extremely costly to them, meaning it cost them their comfort, their families, and, ultimately, their lives. Why would they die for their writings without writing the truth about the resurrection? You cannot set the resurrection somewhere ‘over there’ and say it is an optional belief for a believer. If you do not believe in the resurrection, everything falls apart because everyone who was a part of that story witnessed that it was true, and those are the people who have written the instructions for us on how to live as Christians. Again, those were the apostles who were the witnesses of the resurrection.

Paul says if Christ is not risen, they are all false witnesses and deceitful people. Paul wants us to know that if there is no resurrection, our promise for the future is fraudulent. I love it when he says that if ‘He’ is not risen, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. Paul is not talking about the kind of sleep that some of us do in church; he is talking about a different type of sleep, so this is a metaphor for death. In the New Testament, sleep is often used as a metaphor for death. Paul tells us that without the resurrection, those who have died for Him have perished in vain. If Jesus did not come out of the grave, no one else could ever come out either. If the resurrection did not happen, if He did not conquer death by His resurrection from the grave, there is no hope that anyone will ever live again after they die.

I will see my mother and father in heaven someday because they trusted Christ. I will also see others I have known who have been close to God over the years and have gone on to be with the Lord. My hope for heaven is based upon what Jesus did when he exited the grave. He put his foot on the neck of death and broke it! Death is broken so that we would all have hope after His resurrection. One day, because we believe in Jesus and confess our sins, we will be raised again to eternal life.

Let's review: If there is no resurrection, preaching is foolishness; if there is no resurrection, personal faith is futile; if there is no resurrection, our professions of faith are false; if there is no resurrection, our promise for the future is fraudulent. Now, the last one: if there is no resurrection, our prospect for eternal life is a fantasy. The resurrection is about the past, future, and here and now. Paul states if, in this life, we live for Christ right now, we have hope. Without hope, we are, of all people, most pitiable; in other words, if we don't have Christ as our resurrected Lord, what we do in this current life begins to unravel. If all we live for in the here and now is the here and now, that's not enough because it continues to recycle itself and doesn't come out in the right place. We all need something more powerful to connect our lives to than what will happen tomorrow. We need to know that life is significant and has a purpose beyond this life. When you become a Christian, you ‘cast your anchor into heaven.’ That anchor continues pulling you toward heaven, and you realize you are connected to eternity daily. But, if you do not have a connection to what comes after this life, then the life you live now will only have its good moments and its bad moments, but it won't have any meaningful moments that will keep you going and give you hope. If there is no future with God, it affects us here and now each day. Here is the way I like to say it: “When you get heaven, you get heaven now, but if you don't get heaven, you will not reach heaven in eternity.”

The reason my life is now meaningful at almost 80 years is because even though I know there are issues and troubles and difficulties now, I'm living my life for something beyond my death. My life has meaning because of eternity and because Christ is there. One day, I will be with Him in heaven, and on that day, I will spend eternity with Him. Therefore, everything I do on this earth is connected to that day. As I grow in Christ, I'm still learning how it all works for good, but I know that heaven, the future, and life after death bring meaning and hope to me every day.

God created all of us with a God-shaped vacuum in our hearts, and until God fills that place with the Holy Spirit, we will feel incomplete and empty. Jesus Christ is not in a tomb somewhere in Palestine. He has risen from the dead. He is alive forever; we shall also live forever because He lives. That is the hope of Easter now! Jesus Christ went to the cross and was resurrected from the tomb so that we could have new life in Him. That new life begins when we trust Him and believe in His sacrifice on the cross. We can all be victorious over death. That is the message of Easter today! 

The only way to a life of joy, peace, and fulfillment now and for eternity is through a personal relationship with the risen Savior, Jesus Christ.

I hope that you will make him the Lord of your lives and that you will walk with Him in a dynamic relationship from now through eternity.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen

Jack Bell