Resurrection Day

The king of the TV and radio interviewers, Larry King, was once asked who would be his choice if he could interview anybody in history, and what would he ask him. King answered, Jesus Christ, and he would ask him whether or not he really rose from the grave. Why? the dumbfounded pundit wondered. "Because," King answered, "the answer to that question makes all the difference in the world."

King's answer intrigues me and I wonder if he has thought any more about it. Having a degree in history I've often thought of events that I would like to have witnessed. Some time ago I wrote about incidents in American history that interest me, but I also have a list of Bible events that I wish I could have seen first hand as well.

For instance, I would like to have seen the creation, the black void of space when the stars were suddenly turned on (No, I don't believe in the Big Bang.) and the world in its innocence. I would like to have watched Noah taking a hundred years to build an ark in the midst of taunts and criticisms. I would like to have seen Moses leading the Children of Israel across the Red Sea, the walls of Jericho falling down, and the favorite of every young boy I've ever taught in Sunday school, including my two sons, David and Goliath. I would like to have seen David and Jonathan weeping uncontrollably when they parted for the last time. I wish I could have seen the handwriting on the wall, or been in the throne room when Esther approached the king uninvited. I would love to have been a shepherd in the field watching the flocks when the angels appeared to announce, "Peace on earth." I would like to have seen the feeding of the five thousand and Lazarus raised from the dead. As painful as it would have been, I would want to have seen the crucifixion to see exactly what Jesus suffered for me, but even more, to have been with Peter and John when they peered into the empty tomb.

But there is one story in Scripture that I wish I could have experienced more than anything else. It's found in Luke 24:13-32, and took place on Easter Sunday, a few hours after the resurrection. Cleopas and another disciple were walking down the road to Emmaus when they were joined by Jesus. Their eyes were "hidden" so that they didn't recognize Him as they talked about the rumors of Christ being alive and wondered what it all meant. Jesus asked them about their conversation, and they, thinking He must be a stranger in town, explained to Him the crucifixion and the stories going around about a resurrection.

Then Christ rebuked them for their unbelief. "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?" Beginning with Moses, He expounded all the Old Testament Scriptures concerning Himself to them. The Bible doesn't record what He said, but I have an idea Jesus may have said something like this:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Then He created man in His own image, called him Adam, and placed him in the Garden of Eden. Then God gave Adam a wife, Eve, and began the institution of marriage. Satan came along and tempted Eve to sin. Adam joined her in disobedience and they were cast out of the Garden, their fellowship with God broken by sin.

Before He sent them away, however, God gave them a promise recorded in Genesis 3:15, of a coming Savior who would forgive their sins and redeem their souls. The world without God's presence became an increasingly wicked place until God called out Noah and his family to build an ark and saved them from the judgment He rained on the world. As the world's population grew again, man again turned against God and at the Tower of Babel, in modern day Babylon, God confused the languages, scattered the people and created the nations. Then in Genesis 12:2, He called Abraham and promised to make of him a great nation, Israel. During a famine the Israelites moved down into Egypt, God having used Joseph to prepare a way to save the nation. There, before he died, Jacob prophesied that the coming Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10).

The Jews were in captivity in Egypt for 430 years until Moses was called to lead them out. But Moses was afraid and questioned God's plan saying, "Whom shall I say has sent me?" God answered him in Exodus 3:14, "I AM THAT I AM." Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea to Mt. Sinai where God gave him the Law. But the Jews rebelled and spent 40 years wandering in the Wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula until Joshua led them into their Promised Land. The Jews were ruled by a series of Judges for about 350 years until the monarchy was established, but after Solomon's rule the kingdom was divided and for 500 years lived in constant rebellion against God until Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem.

For a thousand years following Moses God sent prophets who preached against sin, warned of judgment, and promised a coming Messiah. Daniel 9:25 gave a clue to the exact time of His birth; Micah 5:2 told of the place of His birth; Isaiah 7:14 declared it would be a virgin birth; in Isaiah 9:7 he would be heir to the throne of David; Malachi 3:1 established a forerunner (John the Baptist); Zechariah 9:9 told of the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem; Zechariah 11:12 that He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver; in Psalm 35:11 He was accused by false witnesses; in Isaiah 53:3 He would be rejected by His own people; Zechariah 12:10 explained His hands and feet would be pierced; He was sentenced with criminals in Isaiah 53:12; scorned and mocked in Psalm 22:7; given vinegar and gall to drink in Psalm 69:21; and in Psalm 22:1 He cried out the lonliest words ever heard by any human ear, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Isaiah 53:5 explains that His death was a vicarious sacrifice. God turned His back on Jesus while He died on the cross and paid the penalty for our sins. "He was wounded for our transgressions." He bore our punishment so that we might never have God turn His back on us. He suffered because He loved us. John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. Then in Psalm 16:10, His resurrection was foretold.

No doubt Christ's explanation was much more eloquent and thorough than this, but it prompts a question. Why was all this written about Jesus? Who was He? Why was He so important that 1,000 years of prophecy was written about Him and all of it was fulfilled?

In John's Gospel chapter eight, the Pharisees were once again arguing with Jesus over His credentials, and justifying themselves claimed that they were the children of Abraham. Then in verse 56 Jesus tells them that Abraham rejoiced to see His birth. The Pharisees mocked Him more; Jesus was not yet fifty years old. How could Abraham, who had lived 2,000 years before, have rejoiced at His birth? To that Jesus replied in verse 58, "Before Abraham was, I AM."

The Pharisees knew exactly what He meant. He had just told them the same thing God had told Moses from the burning bush in Exodus chapter three. He had emphatically declared that He was, and is, and forever will be God of very God.

When He finished his discourse, Jesus and the two disciples stopped to eat. They sat down and as Jesus blessed the food the disciples' eyes were opened, and they suddenly recognized Him. Jesus then vanished out of their sight. The disciples looked at each other and in Luke 24:32 said, "Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?"

This is the Gospel according to I Corinthians 15:3-4: "Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."

This is the message that needs to burn in every human heart. In the hearts of those who are lost, that is, without faith in Jesus Christ, their hearts need to burn with the conviction that they must repent of their sins and receive Jesus Christ as Savior. In the hearts of those who are saved, that is, those who have already put their faith in Christ, their hearts need to burn with the conviction that this is the message the world needs to hear, and that they need to tell it.

This is the message and the faith that our Founding Fathers believed in. This is the religion and the God that they spoke about often in their writings. This is the faith that America was built upon and needs to return to today. This is the Savior that promises to bless the nation whose God is the Lord (Psalm 33:12).

This is the true meaning of the Resurrection. Faith in Jesus Christ is the answer to life and eternity. Larry King had it right; the answer to the question of the resurrection does make all the difference in the world. Have you received Christ as your own Savior?

Happy Resurrection Day.