“He is risen!”
“He is what? What did you say? I don’t think I heard you correctly? He is…?”
“Risen! Messiah has risen from the dead! You’ve got to believe me.”
Imagine what the conversation would have been like when Jesus was reported to be risen from the dead by women in patriarchal Israel over two thousand years ago. It’s easy to see these women telling such a fantastic story so earnestly while being rebuffed by the majority of the chosen eleven.
But, then, trying so hard to explain that their supernatural experience with angels was genuine, their story was upended by the fact that they claimed a man who was brutally executed barely three days back was now alive and well.
“Who would believe our report?” Isaiah asked. Who can believe that the dead are raised to life? Perhaps for someone who was declared dead a few hours ago, we would think they would resurrect. But a person deceased for three days and buried – who would believe that unless they saw it? Some even seeing the resurrected would be too flabbergasted to agree they are not dreaming.
The reality of Jesus’ resurrection has unequivocally changed the face of history and the human experience forever. There will never be another story quite like our Lord’s who raised the dead and was raised to life from the dead. His unique biography is cause for deliberation even by the most critical skeptics, and those who repudiate the authenticity of His life have no rest in their hearts nor clarity in their minds.
The proof of Jesus’ resurrection is the transformation of countless lives over the past two thousand plus years, from the earliest disciples to the millennials of our time who believe. There is no doubt that a radical change in the character or lifestyle of an individual bears a fierce connection with some profound psychophysical event in their life.
Moreover, we, who believe, know that what caused our revolution transcends a mere physical or psychological incident. We understand that the Creator of the universe found access to our lives by the instrumentality of His love and our willingness to receive that love. However, we know that the cost of enjoying God’s goodness was a life – not just a life – His life.
The grace of God meted out to us who were bastards on a dying planet was a man who was very much like us in many things yet very unlike us in others. Jesus, the sent man, lived a glorious, incredible life at a time in history so strategic only a divine mind could have calculated it. He showed us what living on earth infused with God in a physical body was like. Then, in the plot twist of eternity, he died.
How could one who on more than two occasions publicly defied death, bringing the departed back hours, even days after they had drifted into the afterlife, die? How could one who healed wounds be undone by them? And how could one who loved so much die so young?
The truth is no man could kill Jesus. It was impossible for him to die from wounds, diseases, or trauma. Not only was he physically strong, he knew how to tap into the source that generated all life. So, don’t ever think Jesus was vulnerable or murdered. No. He gave his precious life. But yes. He allowed himself to be killed. He refused to heal his own wounds when he was slashed, pierced, and bruised. And he did for a good reason too.
However, the death of the Lord was followed by his rising from the dead. This testimony of sure witnesses has thoroughly debunked the fallacy of impossibility. Even as he said, “With God, nothing is impossible,” he proved it to be a fact. And to all humanity, His resurrection is evidence that there is a God, there is life after death, and there is no promise made in the scriptures that has no physical manifestation.
God has put death to shame through Christ, and the fear of death has been nullified in Him. Furthermore, the beauty of accepting this historical fact and committing to it with all your heart is the complete turnaround of your being and the assurance of your resurrection on that great day.
The benefit of unreservedly receiving the tremendous news that Jesus is risen and is alive is eternal life – the very essence of God’s everlasting nature. When you believe and declare unashamedly that He is risen as those bold women did, you immediately become a part of the stream of divine life energy which death or the very depths of hell can never dam.
