Resurrection

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we've looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. (1 John 1:1–4)

Why did terrified deniers become fearless martyrs? Only an empty tomb can explain it.

The Most Important Day in History

Easter Sunday—what many Christians call Resurrection Sunday—is the day we remember and celebrate the most important event for the church. Nearly two billion people are celebrating it at this moment. I believe it is not only the most important event for the church, but the most important event in all of human history.

We began a series in the first epistle of John a couple of weeks ago. Although it's normal to deviate into a topical message on a holiday like Easter, as I prayed about this passage I found it fits perfectly with the topic of resurrection.

Who John Was

John was one of Jesus' earliest followers, among the group we call the twelve disciples. Bible scholars believe he was probably the youngest—possibly as young as fifteen when he began following Jesus. He was the younger brother of James, and the son of Zebedee, a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. James and John worked in the family fishing business, partnered with another follower of Jesus named Simon, whom we call Peter. So we see Peter, James, and John together often.

Following Jesus for Lousy Reasons

When these men first began to follow Jesus—and most of them were teenagers or just into their twenties—they were not exactly the cream of the crop with the purest of motives. This isn't something I'm forcing on the text; it's clear when you read the Gospels.

When Jesus came two thousand years ago, the entire nation was seeking an anointed, powerful political king who would destroy the occupying Romans and restore Israel to its former glory and beyond. The Hebrew word for "anointed one" is Messiah. In Jewish thinking, three offices were anointed—king, prophet, and priest—and Israel's prophets had predicted for over a thousand years that one would come who fills all three offices and makes Israel great again.

Peter, James, John, and the others believed Jesus was that Messiah. They expected that being part of his inner circle meant great things for them—privilege, possessions, fame—when he established his kingdom. So they had huge expectations of what following him would mean for them.

Palm Sunday and Crushed Expectations

Their belief that this desire was about to be fulfilled came on what we celebrate as Palm Sunday. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey as thousands of pilgrims gathered for Passover, laying palm branches before him and singing Psalm 118: "This is the day that the Lord has made... Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" You can imagine Peter, James, and John walking along thinking, This is it. By the end of the week he'll be crowned king, and we'll be with him.

This is why these men argued continuously about who would be greatest in the kingdom. It's why James and John knelt before Jesus and asked to sit at his right and left hand when he came into his kingdom. It's why they thought it would be acceptable to call down fire on Israel's enemies. It's why they asked, "What's going to be our reward? We left everything to follow you."

Point one: the earliest disciples followed Jesus for lousy reasons. We may put them on a pedestal, but their initial motives were not the greatest. And if we're honest, the same could be said of us. Maybe we first follow Jesus because we think he'll make our lives better, or give us health and wealth, or because we don't want to go to hell. When I prayed to receive Jesus as a four- or five-year-old, it was because I didn't want to go to hell. That's not necessarily a bad place to start, but that kind of beginning faith doesn't have staying power through difficulty.

In the parable of the sower, the seed on shallow ground springs up quickly, then the sun—trials—burns it out. Some of us follow Jesus because our life is a mess. That's not a bad thing, but it may not be a faith that carries you through. The disciples' initial trust was not enough to carry them through what they were about to face.

Everything Falls Apart

All of Jesus' earliest followers began following him without fully comprehending who he was or what he came to do. And just when everything seemed about to take off like a rocket, it completely fell apart.

After the Palm Sunday celebration, Jesus went into the temple and drove out those buying and selling, infuriating the religious establishment. Over the next couple of days, recorded in Matthew 22 and 23, he picked a fight with all the ruling leadership—the Herodians, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. No fewer than seven times he called the Pharisees hypocrites, then dropped the mic and walked out of the temple. When his disciples marveled at the temple's beauty, he said, "Not one stone will be left upon another"—a prediction fulfilled forty years later when the Romans destroyed it.

About twenty-four hours later, Jesus gathered the twelve for the Passover and grew somber. He said one of them would betray him and all would stumble. They protested, "We would never do that. We will die with you"—Peter leading the charge. Jesus said, "Peter, you will deny me three times before morning."

A few hours later Judas betrayed him with a kiss. The disciples fled. Peter denied him three times. Jesus was arrested, beaten, falsely accused, condemned, and crucified on Good Friday outside Jerusalem. The only one of the twelve who was there to see it was John, who writes this letter. By sundown, Jesus' lifeless body was taken down and buried in a newly cut tomb.

Fled in Fear

What happened to the inner circle? "We will die with you." "Are you able to drink the cup that I will drink?" "We can." What did they do?

Point two: when Jesus died, his earliest followers fled in fear. None of the apostles showed up to bury their friend. He was buried by two secret disciples—men who followed Jesus but could not do so openly for fear of losing their positions. One was Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy man who owned the tomb. The other was Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night in John 3. These two went to Pilate and asked for the body. But Peter wasn't there. John wasn't there. James, Bartholomew, Thomas—where were the men who said they could drink the cup?

On the Sunday following, two disciples were leaving Jerusalem for Emmaus, saying, "We had hoped He was the Messiah, that He would rescue Israel, but He's been dead three days and our hopes are gone." The risen Jesus appeared, though they didn't recognize him.

The Only Plausible Explanation

Why didn't these fearful deniers just go home to their fishing businesses and life as usual? How is it that the same men who hid in fear later became the most bold and powerful evangelists of the gospel, nearly every one of them executed as martyrs declaring the truth about Christ to their deaths? What could have changed?

Point three: the resurrection is the only plausible explanation for the transformation of the disciples. What changed them from cowering in fear to standing before the same religious leaders a month and a half later proclaiming, "He has risen—He whom you crucified"? The only explanation is that three days after his death, they saw him alive, and it transformed everything.

Sixty years later, John is an old man writing this letter. All of his close friends have died, most in horrific ways, and all of them went to their deaths saying, "We have seen a man who was crucified and dead—alive." James, John's brother, was the first of the twelve martyred, beheaded by Herod (Acts 12:2). Andrew was crucified in modern-day Turkey. Thomas was pierced with spears after taking the gospel to India. Philip was tortured to death in northern Africa. Matthew was stabbed to death in Ethiopia. James the son of Alphaeus was stoned and clubbed to death in Syria. Simon the Zealot was killed in Persia. Peter was crucified in Rome about 64 AD by Nero—tradition holds upside down, because he felt unworthy to die as his Lord did. Paul, also a witness of the risen Jesus, was beheaded shortly after.

Just as Implausible Then as Now

Many modernists, postmodernists, and humanists say, "I believe in science, and people who die don't come back to life, so I don't believe in the resurrection. I don't believe in miracles." Yet more than a third of Americans—over 330 million people in this country—say they have personally experienced a miracle. Medical science has documented events it can only call "spontaneous resolution," because miracle doesn't sound scientific.

But the resurrection was just as implausible to the disciples two thousand years ago. Jesus predicted his death and resurrection at least three times (Matthew 16:21; 17:23; 20:19), yet they were always confused. In Mark 9:9, coming down from the mountain, Jesus tells Peter, James, and John to tell no one until the Son of Man had risen from the dead—"so they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant." In Mark 9:31–32, he says he will be killed and rise the third day, "but they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him." Why the confusion? Because a bodily resurrection was not part of Jewish belief. It was completely foreign to them.

So the resurrection is no more implausible than the transformation that took place in them three days after the crucifixion. Virtually all skeptical historians of the last century agree on this. One of the most noted, Bart Ehrman—a former Christian who has recanted his faith—says as a historian it is very clear the disciples had some experience with a resurrected Jesus after his crucifixion. Why doesn't he believe? Not because the evidence fails, but because he doesn't want to. The evidence supports the resurrection.

No Life Without Resurrection

That's why John writes, "The life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us... that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you, that your joy may be full." What greater manifestation of eternal life could there be than a man who dies and rises three days later?

Point four: there is no eternal life, fullness of joy, or fellowship with the Father without resurrection. Some say the Christian faith is good even apart from the resurrection, because it's a good philosophy that leads to a good life. But it's bigger than that.

Everything Rises and Falls on the Empty Tomb

In 1 Corinthians 15, written about fifteen years after the resurrection, Paul—who had his own encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, going from persecutor to greatest preacher of the gospel—lays it out. "I declare to you the gospel... that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." This was not original to Paul; it was an early church creed historians believe was being spoken within six months of the resurrection.

Were there witnesses? "He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until this present time"—meaning you could go investigate. "After that He was seen by James"—the half-brother of Jesus, who had been a skeptic—"then by all the apostles. Last of all He was seen by me." Christ died, was buried, and three days later the tomb was empty and more than five hundred people saw him alive.

Then Paul presses it (1 Corinthians 15:12–19): "If Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?... If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty... You are still in your sins... If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable." Paul puts everything on the resurrection. In verse 32 he concludes that if the dead do not rise, "let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." If there is no resurrection, you might as well be a hedonist, because this life is all there is.

Point five: if there is no resurrection, then there is no point to Christianity. Everything about the Christian faith rises and falls on the empty tomb. If there is no resurrection, all of this—church, faith—is a complete waste of time. But the early followers who fled in fear became, three days later, the boldest evangelists, proclaiming, "We have seen alive a man who was dead."

Because He Lives

The implication is that everything Jesus said is true. If Jesus rose from the dead—as Christians have believed for two thousand years on the eyewitness testimony of followers tortured and killed for that proclamation—then when he said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me," he was speaking the truth. When he said in John 11:25, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live," he was speaking the truth. That's why he turned to the woman and asked, "Do you believe this?"

Do you trust that Christ died for your sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose again the third day? If you do, and it's true—as I believe it is, based on the testimony of more than five hundred witnesses—then in him is life, and that more abundantly; in him is fellowship with God and with one another, and fullness of joy forever. That's why the church is so excited about the resurrection: because if he lives, then we can live also.

Closing Prayer

Lord, we believe that when we close our eyes and speak, we are not just speaking into the air—we are communicating with the one who is the Messiah, the Anointed One, who is not dead. The tomb is empty. The angels said, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, for He is risen." So Lord, we are praying to the living God seated upon a throne. Because of your death on the cross, our sins can be pardoned, we can be forgiven by your grace, and we can be given the life that was manifested—that eternal life which was with the Father is manifested to us, so that we can have relationship with you and with one another, and fullness of joy. We thank you for what your grace gives us in the cross and the resurrection. We rejoice today that the tomb is empty.

Maybe this morning this message has clicked for the first time, and you'd like to receive that gift of grace and forgiveness. The Scriptures say if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. If that's you, pray this with me:

Dear Jesus, I confess that you are alive. I pray that you would forgive me of my sin, that you would come into my life by your Spirit, that you would give me new life and fullness of joy. Help me to follow you by faith and to trust you with my life. Amen.