By Rev Billy Graham, pictured above (1918–2018)
“Without the resurrection there could be no salvation.
Jesus Christ predicted his resurrection many times. He said on one occasion, ‘For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth’ (Matthew 12:40).
And as he predicted, on the third day he rose!
There are certain laws of evidence which hold in the establishment of any historic event. There is more evidence that Jesus rose from the dead than there is that Julius Caesar ever lived or that Alexander the Great died at the age of 33.
It is strange that historians will accept thousands of facts for which they can produce only shreds of evidence. But in the face of the overwhelming evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ they cast a sceptical eye and hold intellectual doubts.
The trouble with these people is that they do not want to believe. Their spiritual vision is so blinded and they are so completely prejudiced that they cannot accept the glorious fact of the resurrection of Christ on Bible testimony alone.
The resurrection meant, first, that Christ was undeniably God. He was what he claimed to be. Christ was God in the flesh.
Second, it meant that God had accepted Jesus’ atoning work on the cross, which was necessary to our salvation. ‘He was delivered over to death for ours sins and was raised to life for our justification’ (Romans 4:25).
Third, it assures mankind of a righteous judgement. ‘For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous’ (Romans 5:19).
Fourth, it guarantees that our bodies will also be raised in the end. ‘But now is Christ risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of them that slept’ (1 Corinthians 15:20).
The Scripture teaches that as Christians our bodies may go to the grave, but they are going to be raised on the great resurrection morning. Then will death be swallowed up in victory!
As a result of the resurrection of Christ the sting of death is gone and Christ himself holds the keys. He says, ‘I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades’ (Revelation 1:18). And Christ promises that ‘Because I live, you shall live also.’
And, fifth, it means that death will ultimately be abolished. The power of death has been broken and death’s fear has been removed. Now we can say with the Psalmist, ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and staff they comfort me’ (Psalm 23:4).”
