Something happened 2000 years ago. Not just something, but someone: Jesus of Nazareth.
Since the dawn of human civilization, plenty of people have made plenty of religious claims about life and eternity. Many have claimed to know the secrets to the pathway to God. In and of themselves, these claims are just that: claims. They can’t be proven.
Jesus made unique claims about himself. For example, he professed plainly, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). These claims of divine identity are found in the earliest gospel narratives that nearly all critical scholars acknowledge can be credited to the historical Jesus.
Jesus also claimed divine authority (for example, Mark 2:1-12). We know from multiple passages of Scripture that these claims led eventually to his death. If these claims were false, then Jesus was either deceived or a deceiver. From the historical record, neither seems likely.
Jesus faced head-on the consequences of his claims. In fact, it’s difficult to describe how much injustice and viciousness against him were packed into the last week of Christ’s earthly life. After he was shamefully betrayed, and subsequent to his arrest, our Lord Jesus was pummeled like the ball in a pinball machine – trapped in the cruel space between the corrupt civil and religious authorities. Everyone wanted him dead, but no one wanted his blood on their hands.
They were cowards, one and all. The venomous accusers of Jesus indiscriminately leveled all manner of false accusations against him – from blasphemy to insurrection to terrorism. And, despite any compelling or substantial evidence, credible witnesses, or elements of a real crime, the Son of God was pronounced guilty and sentenced to death.
As Jesus awaited his fate, he was bullied, slapped, spat upon, interrogated, harassed, and beaten to a pulp. The authorities humiliated him at every turn, and stripped him naked. They mocked the claims of his deity, ripping his flesh with a savagery unimaginable, and stabbing a crown of thorns into his head. They wrapped God the Son in a purple robe as they laughed with their vile hatred.
There on Calvary’s lonely cross, none other than God incarnate was brutally executed. The very Light of the world was tortured until his life was eclipsed by the blackest darkness of human sin. On that day, the cosmic forces of evil eked out an apparent victory, as the breath of Love Divine came to a full stop: “It is finished.”
But the story isn’t over …
On Sunday morning, a critical report began to spread. What had started as a respectful visit to Jesus’s tomb resulted in a shocking announcement that would shake the planet: “… the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay’” (Matthew 28:5-6).
Wonder of wonders. Miracle of miracles. The heart of “God with us” was beating again.
One by one, Jesus’s disciples came to the settled conviction that he had risen from the dead, and they kept circulating this incredible news – even at the expense of their own lives. If Jesus wasn’t in fact raised bodily from death to life, they also were either deceived or deceivers. Again, history doesn’t support either option.
So, here we are – you and I – wondering what to do with such claims. Can we really believe this amazing story? Did Jesus really rise from the dead? What in the world can explain the unstoppable movement of Christianity – and the immense blessings that have flowed from it – from Jerusalem to the farthest reaches of human civilization?
The most reasonable possibility is that the story is simply true. Jesus is God. He is the Messiah. He is the Christ. And he did rise from the dead. The whole time, Jesus was telling the truth. And so were those who believed in him.
Friend, you don’t need 100% certainty in order to believe. God can handle your honest questions and doubt. You just need enough faith to come to Jesus as you are right now. Come!
Because, if this story is true, it not only answers our ultimate questions, but it leads to our ultimate joy. God loves us so much that he was willing to die to forgive us and make us his own. What had been “finished” was not Jesus himself, but God’s marvelous plan to rescue and redeem us for eternity.
Not only that, but the good news of Jesus Christ is more than enough to sustain us in our deepest valleys and darkest seasons. Death has lost, and love has won. Not only is Christ’s love inextinguishable, but it transforms us with the ever-increasing hope that we need for the tumultuous times in which we live. The undeserved grace of our risen, living, reigning Christ breathes God’s certainty into our uncertainty.
He’s still breathing. So what will you do with an empty tomb?
Pastor Charles
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