What If Jesus Was Not Raised From the Dead?
Devotional #1
I would argue that Easter is the most important Christian celebration. Paul says the Christian faith hinges on Jesus' resurrection from the dead (1 Cori. 15:14). That is quite a statement!
In preparation for Easter, many Christians observe Lent, a period of fasting, praying, and meditating on the events leading up to (and including) the death of Jesus Christ. Lent ends on Easter, with the joyful celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
Jolted Hearts for Fresh Joy
Lent is a helpful practice because the human heart is desperately forgetful. If you are like me, you seldom rejoice in Jesus’ resurrection as you should. My heart is so easily dulled by the busyness, sorrows, or temporary pleasures of this life that I often forsake the Joy of my salvation. One way to give our hearts a fresh jolt in preparation for Easter is to ask ourselves: what if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead?
Every week until Easter Sunday, I will write a short devotional to help us realize the cosmic and multifaceted gravity of this question. Let’s contemplate the utter hopelessness and despair if we lived in a world where Jesus, God’s long prophesied and awaited Messiah, went to the cross, bore our sins, and died but could not ultimately defeat our enemies - death, sin, and the devil. It is a reality so dreadful that our hearts should be freshly awakened to the Glory of the Hope we have in Jesus' resurrection. I pray that by Easter Sunday the light of the hope and certainty of the resurrection of Jesus might shine brighter in our hearts.
Meditate
“And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God...”
Today I will leave you with one simple point extracted from 1 Cor. 15:14-19 .
If Christ has not been raised, you should throw away the New Testament (at the very least). You could not trust it. It would either not be God’s Word or it would be useless for our eternal souls - or both.
Think about it. If Jesus was not raised from the dead:
The gospel preaching of the NT would be in vain. The Gospel would not be the power of God for salvation.
God’s word, character, and actions would be misrepresented in the NT by the apostles
Jesus would either not be the Messiah or God would have failed to fulfill his word and prophecies.
“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead ....God has put all things in subjection under his feet”
