This Easter season, I’ve made a series of posts addressing skeptics’ criticism surrounding the Resurrection. As we close in on Easter, I wanted to do a day-by-day detail discussing the events happening during the Passion Week.
Today is the day! He is risen - He is risen indeed!!
Resurrection Sunday
Luke 24:1-6, Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen:
When the women found the tomb empty, Luke tells us they were “perplexed.” Their first thought wasn’t that He rose from the dead but that maybe someone had moved the body. It wasn’t until the angel reminded them of Jesus’ words that they remembered His promise that He would rise from the dead.
When they went to tell the disciples, verses 10-11 tell us that neither did the disciples believe. It says, “their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.” Even after going to the tomb, finding it empty, and seeing the grave clothes cast aside, verse 12 says that Peter left, still wondering what had happened.
Later that same day, the disciples were gathered together - still in hiding and still unsure of what had happened - when Jesus appeared to them (John 20:19)! John 20:20 says, “And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.”
Thomas was not with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to them. When they told Thomas that they had seen the Lord, Thomas refused to believe. He insisted, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). He sounded pretty firm in his unbelief.
Are you starting to see a pattern here? Everyone knew that Jesus was dead because they watched Him die. None of them would believe unless they saw Him alive again. It’s as though they could believe only the things they witnessed themselves. So the words that He had spoken to them and the promises that He made meant nothing compared to what they could judge with their own eyes! How sad.
This same attitude exists even today. Skeptics sometimes ask, “If God is real, why doesn’t He just show Himself?” When answering this question, we must first remember that God is under no obligation to appear to us. He has already given us His revelation in the form of the Bible. There is nothing else we need in order to know how to be saved. The Bible itself attests that the Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation (2 Timothy 3:15). If someone wishes to ignore the written word of God and insist that God appear to him personally, then that is his loss.
However, even though God has no obligation to appear to us, He already has! John 1:14 says, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. While on earth, Jesus gave us many signs and miracles as evidence of who He was, He told us He was the only way to the Father, He promised eternal life to everyone who believed in Him, and we have the written record of His words, miracles, and His Resurrection. There is nothing more we need!
It is not possible to overstate the importance of the Resurrection. It is the lynchpin of Christianity. Without the Resurrection, there is no Christian faith. The Apostle Paul said, And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. (1 Corinthians 15:14). The Resurrection secures our hope for eternal life. Christ promised that those who believe in Him will never perish (John 3:16). Yet what good is His promise if Jesus Himself is dead in the ground? If Jesus died and did not rise, then His promise for our eternal life died with Him. But the real significance of the Resurrection goes far beyond our hope in the afterlife. Everything that Jesus said and did is validated by His Resurrection: Every promise He made, every commandment He gave, and every doctrine that He taught us were all proven true on that first Easter Sunday.
Read again of Thomas’s encounter with the Risen Savior:
John 20:26-29, And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
I’m sometimes jealous of the disciples who saw Jesus face to face. It’s hard to imagine the wonder and amazement that Thomas felt, seeing Jesus alive again. In his joy, he declared Jesus to be his Lord and God! Yet I rejoice even more in Jesus’ response: Thomas believed because he saw Jesus alive again; yet we are even more blessed than Thomas because we believe without having seen!
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