The Resurrection offers Hope for Tomorrow

Introduction:

An article from a Christian periodical related an interesting account about Harry Rimmer.

While traveling in Egypt, he had an opportunity to talk with that country's secretary of state, and in the course of the conversation he brought up the subject of Christianity.

Rimmer told the official that Christians believe God has given us three revelations of Himself. "We too believe that," said the official, who was a Muslim. "We believe God revealed Himself in the works of creation," said Rimmer. "We also believe that," the other responded.

Rimmer continued, "We believe God has revealed Himself in a book--the Bible." The Muslim answered, "We too believe God has revealed Himself in a book--the Koran."

Rimmer declared, " We believe God has revealed Himself in a man-- Jesus Christ." "We also believe God has revealed Himself in a man," replied the official, "the prophet Mohammed."

"We believe," added Rimmer, " that Jesus is able to substantiate His claims because He arose from the dead." The Muslim hesitated, and then his eyes fell. Finally he replied, "We have no information concerning our prophet after his death."

 I. Where There Is Christ, There is Hope.

1 Peter 1:3-4
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-- kept in heaven for you, (NIV)

"While there's life, there's hope is an ancient Roman saying still quoted today and, like most adages, it has an element of truth but just having life gives no certainty about life.

Peter is saying, "Where there's Christ, there's hope.

On one occasion Michel Angelo turned to his fellow artists and said with frustration in his voice, " Why do you keep filling gallery after gallery with endless pictures on the one theme of Christ in weakness, Christ on the cross, and most of all, Christ hanging dead?" he asked.

"Why do you concentrate on that passing episode as if it were the last word, as if the curtain dropped down there on disaster and defeat? That dreadful scene lasted only a few hours. But to the unending eternity Christ is alive; Christ rules and reigns and triumphs!"

The cross is vitally important because of the redemption Jesus accomplished for us there, but we must not emphasize His death to the exclusion of His resurrection victory.

"One of the great tests of any philosophy is what it makes of death....the New Testament reveals how quickly the early church came to grips with this inevitable reality of life."

Had Jesus not arisen from the dead, he would simply have taken his place among the great philosophers of history, or perhaps would have been forgotten altogether. His death would have meant no more to us than the death of any martyr.

This one event gives significance to all other things that have taken place. Yet we realize, that had Jesus not given his life for you and me, his resurrection would have been no more significant than the resurrection of Lazarus. Without one, the other loses its significance for us.

Our hope is grounded in Christ Himself and His resurrection, which is our guarantee of an inheritance in heaven (1 Pet. 1:3-4).

1 Peter 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, (KJV)

 II. Faith Focuses Upon the Resurrection.

A. The resurrection is the one basic point that maintains the very faith and life of the Church.

1 Peter 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. (KJV)

Scottish preacher and hymn writer Horatius Bonar told about an unbeliever who said scoffingly, "It is upon an empty tomb that Christianity is founded." That critic felt he was making a damaging remark, but he was actually stating a powerful proof for Christ's claims.

Christianity is what it is because of that empty tomb. As believers in Christ, we know that our faith has a solid foundation because He arose from the dead. The angelic announcement "He is not here but is risen" confirmed the fact that sin's penalty had been paid in full. As a result, salvation can be offered to all men everywhere.

Bonar also told about a certain man who wanted to destroy Christianity and replace it with a religious system of his own. When he failed to interest anyone in following him, he went to the French statesman Talleyrand for advice. Talleyrand replied, "Go and be crucified, and then raise yourself from the grave the third day."

We come together each Lord's Day to celebrate his death, burial, and resurrection. Without the resurrection our entire church structure would collapse.

Apostolic preaching without the resurrection would be like the bag of nuts a peasant once traded for some books he wanted. When the bookseller took the nuts home and cracked the shells, he found they were all empty. There was no kernel. If Christ has not risen, Paul says, then our preaching is "in vain," i.e. empty. He does not mean the style of preaching but rather the content.

The resurrection is the only logical explanation for a bunch of uneducated Galileans becoming bold and effective preachers. A survey of Peter's Pentecost sermon and Paul's sermons reveals that Jesus rising from the grave was both the reason they preached and the content of their message.

Death would be meaningless

Lord's Supper would be meaningless

Our baptism would be meaningless

Rom 6:3-4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (KJV)

Our faith is vain

1Co 15:13-19 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. (KJV)

B. The resurrection is God's vindication of the life and death of Christ.

The gospels give one third of their length to Jesus' predictions and teachings about his death and resurrection. In contrast, Daniel Webster's biographer gives 5 of 863 pages to his death.

All that He said and claimed is vindicated by His resurrection. All that Christ urged on his disciples is vindicated by His resurrection.

The resurrection is God's way of saying, in language the world can understand, that Christ is all he claimed to be.

An agnostic professor once said to a little girl who believed in the Lord Jesus, "There have been many who have claimed to be Christ. How can you be sure who told the truth? Which one do you believe?" Without hesitation the youngster replied, "I believe in the One who rose from the dead!"

The Son of God; Savior from sin; the world's only hope.

C. The resurrection was God's way of changing the world.

Following Christ death and prior to his resurrection, the disciples were afraid, behind locked doors, and scattered. What brought them back together, gave them the courage to fill Jerusalem with doctrine and then shook the Roman Empire from one side to the other?

The answer is the resurrection.

John 20:19-20
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

D. The resurrection changed the world's conception of immortality.

Neither Judaism nor paganism could give any hope.

The dream and desire was in every human heart, but it took the resurrection of Christ to change it from a dream to a reality.

His resurrection changed the grave from a prison into a robing room for eternity. The road of hope now runs through the garden, up to Calvary, past the tomb, upward to God's right hand, where Christ is alive forevermore.

One day an assistant of the famous chemist Michael Faraday accidentally knocked a little silver cup into a beaker of very strong acid. In almost no time the silver object disappeared. The great chemist was summoned. He quickly put a certain chemical into the jar, and in a moment every particle of silver came together at the bottom. Removing the shapeless mass, he sent it to a silversmith, who recreated a cup that shone as bright as ever.

What Michael Faraday did in his laboratory is but a small picture of what our mighty God will do on resurrection day for all His saints. He will miraculously restore the bodies of all who have died in Christ. This is the mystery the apostle Paul spoke about in 1 Corinthians 15. He said that when Christ returns, the living saints will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and the dead will be raised with incorruptible bodies.

E. The resurrection is God's pledge that truth and right will conquer.

When Christ died, it surely seemed that force was stronger than love; that falsehood had conquered truth; that evil had won the victory over righteousness; that sight had been victorious over faith.

This is a world in which Calvary can happen but the resurrection of Christ says the evil that made Calvary possible cannot win. The resurrection testifies to the fact that one day all of earth's injustices and inequalities will be made right.

The resurrection of Christ is God's guarantee that it matters not how long the struggle may be, nor how painful the wounds, truth will outlast every lie, and love will win its day.

F. The resurrection is God's announcement that men are accountable for their sin. The resurrection is the assurance of judgment day.

Acts 17:31
Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (KJV)

G. The resurrection changed the outlook of the disciples.

It changed Mary from a mourner to a missionary with the gladest tidings to ever fall on human ears.

It changed Peter from a despondent failure to one who found forgiveness and a chance to start over.

It changed Thomas from doubt and despair to faith.

H. The resurrection changed death from a dead-end street to but an interlude that flows into incorruption, glory and power.

The resurrection changes death from an isolated fact to one among many others. The resurrection makes it possible for us to see death in its true light. There is birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, immortality and heaven.

Philippians 3:20-21
For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (KJV)

Titus 2:13
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

CONCLUSION:

In a cemetery in Hanover, Germany, is a grave on which were placed huge slabs of granite and marble cemented together and fastened with heavy steel clasps. It belongs to a woman who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead.

Yet strangely, she directed in her will that her grave be made so secure that if there were a resurrection, it could not reach her. On the marker were inscribed these words: "This burial place must never be opened."

In time, a seed, covered over by the stones, began to grow. Slowly it pushed its way through the soil and out from beneath them. As the trunk enlarged the great slabs were gradually shifted so that the steel clasps were wrenched from their sockets. A tiny seed had become a tree that had pushed aside the stones.

The dynamic life force contained in that little seed is a faint reflection of the tremendous power of God's creative word that someday will call to life the bodies of all who are in their graves.