The bodily resurrection of Jesus from the grave is the most essential truth a suffering person could ever hear and hold on to. If it’s true, all the pain we endure through this pain-filled existence is nothing more than a refiner’s fire preparing us for future glory. But what if the resurrection isn’t true, or what if it’s not literal, just a spiritualized story told to help us walk through the valley of the shadow of death?
Twenty years ago, I read a statistic that stated 67% of pastors who led mainline denominational churches did not believe Jesus physically rose from the grave. They thought it was a spiritual reality meant to show that good ultimately overcomes evil and we should not understand the gospel accounts literally. That makes me very angry, not that some discount the bodily resurrection, but that there are pastors who rob suffering people (whom they claim to love and care for) of their only hope — the physical resurrection of Jesus.
IF Jesus did not rise from the dead, the apostles lied. Nothing you read in the New Testament can or should be trusted (1 Corinthians 15:15).
IF Jesus did not rise from the dead, our faith is worthless (1 Corinthians 15:17).
IF Jesus did not rise from the dead, our friends and family who died before us are gone forever (1 Corinthians 15:18).
IF Christ did not rise from the dead then we are the most pitiable and pathetic of all peoples (1 Corinthians 15:19). Why? Because Christians believe our suffering has a purpose (Romans 8:28-29), which hinges on Christ’s physical resurrection.
But, if Jesus did not rise, your cancer is meaningless, your loved ones will stay dead, and the pain you endured through this, that, and a million other trials is pointless suffering. There is no plan, and the universe doesn’t care. There is no purpose — just life, pain, and death, followed by nothingness.
Fortunately, the historical reality of Christ’s resurrection is not affected by the unbelief of theologically liberal pastors or other skeptics. After his resurrection, Jesus physically appeared to his disciples and more than five hundred people at the same time (1 Corinthians 15:1-8). Jesus, who died on the cross, rose bodily from the grave and ascended bodily into heaven. And someday, he will return bodily to receive his bride.
During that reunion of the groom with his bride, all the pain we experienced will be undone in the blink of an eye. We will discover that the glory of heaven is not a consolation for the trials we endured but the result of our trials; in the same way, the resurrection is the result of the cross. Join us on Easter Sunday as we cling to the hope of Christ’s literal resurrection.
