What if Jesus is still dead?

 “No religion stands or falls with a claim about the resurrection 
of its founder in the way Christianity does.”  Craig Blomberg

  As Vice President, George Bush, represented the United States. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience in a communist country. Mrs. Brezhnev reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest. There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband.
  Jesus Christ’s resurrection is central to the celebration of Easter, yet fewer than half of American adults make the connection. The Barna Group asked people to describe what Easter means to them personally. Only 42% tied Easter to the Resurrection. Adults between 18 and 25 were the least likely of all ages to connect the two together. David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, commented, “The Easter holiday in particular still has a distinctly religious connection for people, but the specifics of it are really fading in a lot of people’s minds.”
  The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is foundational. There is no Easter and no Christianity if Jesus Christ has not risen from the dead. If Jesus hasn’t been raised from the dead—bodily—Christianity is lost. If His body is decaying somewhere in the Middle East today, it’s a disaster for our faith. Everything rises or falls with Easter! What are some implications if Jesus is dead and not resurrected?
  We have no hope of rising from the dead. Jesus wasn’t “mostly dead,” He was completely dead. The destiny of the Christian to another life, resurrection life, depends on the deliverance of Jesus from deathly decay. One reason we celebrate Easter is that we know it foreshadows what God is going to do with everyone who belongs to Jesus at the end of time. Our souls are with Jesus as soon as we die, but our bodies are at rest, awaiting the day of resurrection when Christ returns and says, Wake up! I am making all things new. If Christ hasn’t been raised, there is no hope of a future resurrection.
  Our preaching and teaching is false and pointless. If Christ hasn’t been raised, then every time anyone preaches, it’s just babble or noise. It’s an empty pep talk. It may make us feel better but it won’t change the fact that Jesus is dead and buried, and that one day, we’ll all be dead and buried, too. Death has won. If Christ had not been raised from the dead, He wouldn’t have conquered sin or death or hell. There would be no good news. There would be no sermon or message. Bible-believing churches and preachers would be like liberal preachers who say that Jesus is a great moral teacher and that we can learn a lot from his teaching and His example. However, they miss the point that makes Jesus unique – He has been raised from the dead! He is alive! He is our Savior and Lord!
  Our faith is worthless. Christian faith is not generic. It’s not just important that you believe something, but that the Someone you believe in is actually able to save you! True faith has power because of who we believe in, not simply because we believe in it.
  When we buy a product we want to make sure that we can trust it to work the way it’s supposed to. When you buy a car you’re looking for reliability. A car you know will carry you safely for years to come. The car company tries to earn your trust by giving you a warranty. The warranty tells you how long and to what extent you can trust them and their product. Some are three years and 36,000 miles. Others are 5 years and 50,000 miles, and some are 10 years and 100,000-mile warranties. The problem with these warranties is they eventually run out. You can trust them but only for a period of time. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, we can’t trust Him with our lives and we obviously can’t trust Him with our eternity.
  We are still in our sins. Without the resurrection of Jesus, we also don’t have forgiveness. Our sins have not been removed. We are still guilty before a holy God. The power of sin has not been broken, and the sentence of death has not been challenged. Sin and death are connected. The sign that sin has been taken care of is that death dies—death is reversed and is overcome by new life. What happened on Easter morning vindicates what happened on Friday afternoon. Christ’s resurrection validates His cross. Easter is why we can say Good Friday. If Christ is not raised, the consequences to a fallen world are catastrophic. Good Friday becomes the true Black Friday. There is no payment for sins if Christ is not raised. This consequence follows from the previous one and means that every human being will face the full, unmediated justice of God for all eternity.
  Believers who have died are lost forever. Without the resurrection of Christ, every funeral ends in hopelessness. There’s no hope of heaven. Everyone you’ve grieved is gone for good. We’ve believed in a Jesus that’s powerless over death. He couldn’t raise Himself so He can’t raise us.
  On one occasion Michelangelo, the famed artist, turned on his fellow artists completely indignant. Michelangelo said: “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? Why do you concentrate on the passing episode as if it were the last work as if the curtain dropped on Him with disaster and defeat? That dreadful scene lasted…a few hours. But to the unending eternity, Christ is alive; the stone has been rolled away and He rules and reigns and triumphs!” He was right! Our Savior is alive!

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