About a year ago, a friend of mine asked me the below question.  I regret not having been prepared with an answer, and thus I hope that what follows will be more than adequate as a starter to (what could be) an incredible journey...
So What if Jesus Rose from the Dead?

Let's do this in three parts, shall we?  A, B and C...

A.  What the Resurrection proves about the existence and Self-revelation of God

Christ's resurrection was an historical event(!) which vindicates Jesus' pre-easter claims of divinity and provides retrospective confirmation of God's existence and involvement in history.  It shows that atheism is bankrupt as a worldview and that there is a God - not just any deity (or a whole bunch of 'em) but the God whom the Judeo-Christian faith speaks of and who has revealed Himself in the Bible.  To quote Gary Habermas:

"It is reasonable to conclude, in light of Jesus' unique claims about himself and the historical likelihood of the resurrection, that he was in the best position to interpret the meaning of this event.  His testimony is that, as the chief miracle, his theistic perspective was verified by an act of the God of the universe."

"The only time in history that a resurrection can be ascertained, it happened to the only person who ever made specific claims such as these: that he, personally, was deity, that he was God's chosen messenger and only agent of eternal life, and who taught that his miracles (incl. his resurrection) were accrediting signs of verification.."

"On the Christian thesis, Jesus was raised from the dead and was thereby shown to be correct concerning his theistic perspective (i.e. the Biblical one).  The God of the universe raised Jesus, approving both Jesus' personal claims to deity and the central thrust of His mission - to offer the opportunity for eternal life."
 

What all this means is that IF the Resurrection occured (an event which comes out VERY HIGH on the historical likelihood chart) there should be no more debate about the identity of the true God, let alone whether or not He exists.
History must count.   Without it, our beliefs run the risk of being built on solid air.  Jesus' resurrection is the Christian faith's ultimate validation, laid out for all to evaluate -  I can only beg us to not be indifferent to the great Easter Event, nor cold to the truth-claims of the One to which it occured, this Jew from Nazareth...
 

B.  What the Resurrection signifies in the Christian worldview

1.  Christ's death and resurrection was a victorious act of war upon the Devil, the decisive blow by which Satan was outsmarted, defeated and driven out.

2.  Christ's resurrection is the preliminary stage (the Bible terms this the 'first-fruits') of the general resurrection in the future i.e. it is the model of the future resurrection of believers C.  What the Resurrection means to us who only need to acknowledge His lordship...

We are saved from the power of the Devil and from the condemnation that follows.  Christ is our fore-runner; His resurrection precedes and guarantees ours!

Our salvation is the natural result of Christ's Lordship of the Universe which is itself a function of His victory over the Devil.  Everything which is said concerning Jesus' victory at the cosmic level is also applied at the anthropological level.  So, Boyd: On our part, we ought to now manifest the truth of God's kingdom triumphing over Satan's.  The Church is God's way of mocking His enemies by using their former captives to finish off the war in a pre-assigned 'tour of duty' (Eph 2:10).  With good works done with a good heart (2Cor 8:5-7), brave proclaimations of Good News about what the Chief has accomplished (Matt 28:19-20), faithful intercession (Eph 6:18) and non-stop loving (Rom 12:9-21) - this is divine victory in and through human praxis.
 

Of course there's a lot to more to say on this...but for now I hope that I've given a sufficient impetus to plunge deeper into the wonder of life-after-death in the Person (and promises) of Jesus of Nazareth...
 

Your Fellow Beggar
Inviting You to the Bread of Life,
AL, Dec 2000


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