“I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” – Acts 24:15,16.
We will soon be celebrating Easter, when Christians remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to Scripture, He was crucified on the preceding Friday (called Good Friday) and as He promised, He came out of the tomb three days later. In the New Testament writings, the fact of Christ’s resurrection is affirmed: “…He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3).
Because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, defeating death, nothing can be the same, for anyone. His resurrection changes everything. The Church has always asserted that this applies to everyone, believer and unbeliever. Christ’s resurrection points to His return as King and Judge: “God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31).
Our world is in a renewed state of turmoil: geopolitics, change of government in the USA with worldwide ramifications, climate-change factors including recent major earthquakes and violent storms, situations in Gaza, Ukraine, and Haiti, wars and threats of wars everywhere, rise of violence and moral corruption, including in our small islands. Many solutions are offered by experts with little positive effect.
The unchanging Biblical Gospel of Christ Jesus, preached for centuries by the faithful Church, is still proclaimed. It continues to promise the peace that we long for. That hope is founded on the Easter record of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour of all who put their faith in Him.
The Resurrection of Christ is an outstanding event in human history. His birth as Incarnate God and His death as a perfect atoning sacrifice for His people are completed in His authenticated, bodily rising from the tomb. If one accepts that He is alive today, our invisible Companion along the corridor of history, then one willingly receives the full Biblical revelation concerning Him. One bow before Him who is Almighty God, the only Saviour and Judge of all humanity.
When the Resurrection is denied, everything else is implicitly rejected. Paul emphasized, “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:14). The Christian faith rests on the Deity of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection. All ensuing theology proceeds from those revelations.
Miracles were always signs of Divine involvement in human history and the Resurrection of Jesus is the greatest miraculous manifestation. By it, He is “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” (Romans 1:4). Those philosophers who announce a non-existent God, and describe the universe as meaningless, materially evolutionary, will be proved wrong. They attack the fundamental authority of the Biblical writings and their clear witness: “Him God raised up the third day and showed Him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with Him, after He rose from the dead.” (Acts 10: 40, 41). For their testimony of that fellowship with the Risen Christ, the apostles were killed, as were disciples who believed their proclamations. For faith in such witness, many continue to die today. For faith in the Resurrection, many experience rejection and ridicule.
Even at that moment of unique historical revelation, Jesus Himself underlines the meaning of His Resurrection. During His meetings with the disciples after rising, “He commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is He which was ordained of God to be the Judge of the living and the dead.” (Acts 10:42). Jesus the promised Messiah reveals Himself as the Point toward which all human history is irrevocably moving. To Him has been given by the Father “all authority in heaven and on earth.” (Matthew 28:18). To see the implications of these words is to experience the realization, the epiphany, that converts us from sinners to saints. This is the foundational reality of Biblical Christian faith. No other religious teacher making stupendous claims for himself or herself has presented us with their own resurrection.
The world’s philosophies, value systems, lifestyles, materialisms, consumerisms, various idolatries, and power structures of politics and economics, go directly against the proof and meaning of the Resurrection and Divine Authority of Jesus Christ. The morality and way of life that are demanded by this historical event at the turning point of world history go contrary to the situational ethics (‘do your own thing’, ‘wha’ wrong wid dat?”) and the unstable, questionable values of world systems. The challenge of the Biblical message is still “choose this day whom you will serve.’ The exhortation continues to be a direct one to the Saint Lucia of today. A Saint Lucia which has gone further away from the essentials of Biblical Christian faith. Much religiosity exists, much manipulation by politicians and religious charlatans, and much fascination with superstitions ancient and modern. In a world besieged by rising crime, ever more deceptive self-serving partisan politics fueled by fake news and growing tendencies to autocratic tyranny.
The good news is still, “that if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” (Romans 10:9). Despite the increasingly obvious anti-Christian nature of our world, the proof of the truth of Christianity’s propositions is that “this is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:4,5).
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the “living hope” all believers have of our own resurrection. Of an eternal life in a better future promised by God who does not lie or deceive. A new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells, are promised. Many mock this as pie in the sky. But, by His Resurrection, we proclaim confidently that Jesus Christ is the only Lord of lords and King of kings. Easter reminds us that we must prepare, “for the Son of Man (Christ) is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44). Death can also usher us suddenly, into eternity and God’s judgement. “See then that you are also ready.”