The Bible Study Hour

Mark Daniels: We often hear reports of good news that later prove to be false. Our hopes in whatever it was are dashed, and we find ourselves disappointed and disillusioned.

Welcome to the Bible Study Hour, a radio and internet broadcast with Dr. James Boice, preparing you to think and act biblically.

Dr. James Boice: Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and some good news is indeed good news. Such is the case in the resurrection of our Lord. Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ not only good news but the best news the world has ever heard? Listen now as Dr. Boice presents us with four reasons why the empty tomb is cause for the greatest celebration the world has ever known.

It seems that every time you pick up a newspaper or listen to the radio or the TV set, someone is telling you bad news. Wouldn't you like to hear some good news for a change? I want to tell you about the best news this world has ever heard. I'm thinking, of course, about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and about the first report of that event given by angels to those women who came first to the tomb.

The women had come to the tomb expecting to anoint a dead body. Instead, they were asked by angels, "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke unto you when he was yet in Galilee?"

When World War II was ending and General Douglas MacArthur was meeting with representatives of the Japanese government on the deck of the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay to sign the papers which were to bring an official end to the war, large sectors of the world were in glad suspense. When the papers were signed, news of the event was flashed around the globe and at once men and women everywhere went wild with joy.

I was just a lad at the time. My father had been in the service for some years, and the family was then stationed at a large military base in the southern part of the United States. We were far from the action, but even now as I look back on the event, I can remember the yelling and shouting that occurred when news of the end of the war finally came. In those hours, parties began which I suppose went on for days.

The ending of World War II was great news. Yet, great as that news was, it did not compare with the truly stupendous news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This message was better then, it is even better today, and besides, it is for everybody.

In answer to the question, "Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ the best news the world has ever heard?" One, because it is true. Two, because it came after an apparent defeat. Three, because of all that it proves, and four, because it demands a life-saving response from each of us. Now, let me take these one at a time.

First, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is good news because it is true. It's always possible to have reports of events that sound like good news but later prove to be disappointments because the facts of the reports are wrong or because the events did not actually happen. To use my former illustration, this actually happened several times prior to the real end of World War II. False reports of an end of the war spread, but they were to eventually prove false and so were terribly disappointing.

This was not the case with news of the resurrection of the Lord. I wish I had time today to go into the evidences for the resurrection of Jesus Christ at length, but perhaps I can merely suggest a few of them. The first great evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the evidence of the narratives themselves. These stand up to the most stringent of critical scrutinies.

To begin with, there are apparently four independent accounts. These were obviously not made up in collusion, for if they were, they would not possess the number of apparent contradictions that they contain—the number of angels at the tomb, the number of women who went to the garden, the time of their arrival in the morning, and other things. I believe that all of these accounts can be harmonized, but the point here is that these apparent discrepancies would have been eliminated if the writers had gotten together to make up a story, which they did not do.

On the other hand, it's also apparent that they did not make up the stories separately. For if they had done this, there would never have been the large measure of overriding agreement that they do possess. Thus, the setting and characters are the same, the sequence of events makes sense, and so on. Well then, if the accounts were not made up in collusion and if they were not made up separately, the only remaining possibility is that they were not made up at all. That is, they are simply four true and independent accounts by four men who knew that about which they were writing.

There's also the evidence of the empty tomb coupled with the evidence of the moved stone and the undisturbed grave clothes. How are we to account for these things? Oh, some have imagined that either Joseph of Arimathea or the Roman or Jewish authorities moved the body, but not only was there no reason for this to have been done, and it would have involved violating the officially sealed tomb, it's also inconceivable that the true circumstances would not have been revealed later after the disciples had appeared in Jerusalem after a few weeks to proclaim their belief in Christ's resurrection. It would have been easy to produce a body had there been one. On the other hand, the disciples did not steal the body of Jesus, for they would hardly have been willing to die, as most of them later did, for such an illusion.

It's also possible to add the changed character of these men as an evidence. For whatever happened turned them from disillusioned cowards to mighty proclaimers of the Christian message. Then too we must add the appearances of Jesus, not just to one or two women in a garden under somewhat eerie circumstances but to a wide variety of people in a wide variety of circumstances. Paul lists many of these appearances in 1 Corinthians, noting that at one point Jesus even appeared to 500 brethren at one time.

One of the greatest evidences of the resurrection was the quite unexpected and unnatural change of the day of worship from Saturday, the Jewish day of worship, to Sunday in Christian services. Nothing but the resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week explains it. Well, what are we to say about the force of these evidences? I believe that it's not at all overstating the case to say, as Matthew Arnold once did, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the best attested fact in history.

Lawyers in particular have found this to be true. In fact, some of the best books on the resurrection have been written by lawyers, some of whom originally set out to disprove it. I'm thinking of men like Frank Morison, Gilbert West, J.N.D. Anderson. Sir Edward Clarke, another English jurist, once wrote, "As a lawyer, I have made a prolonged study of the evidences for the first Easter Day. To me, the evidence is conclusive and over and over again in the high court, I secured the verdict on evidence not nearly so compelling. As a lawyer, I accept it unreservedly as the testimony of men to facts that they were able to substantiate."

This is why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is good news. It is good news not merely because it's a nice story which gives us an opportunity for a holiday once a year, but because it is true. As truth, it is one of the most stupendous and important facts in history.

Now second, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is good news because it came after an apparent defeat. A victory is always good news, but news of victory after news that a battle has apparently been lost is even better. Let me illustrate this by the way in which news of the Battle of Waterloo first came to England. There were no telegraphs or radio sets in those days, but everyone knew that a great battle was pending and they were anxious to hear what would happen when Wellington, the British General, faced Napoleon.

A signalman was placed on the top of Winchester Cathedral with instructions to keep his eye on the sea. When he received a message from a ship or whatever it was, he was to pass the message on to another man on a hill. That man was to pass it to another and so it was to go until news of the battle was finally relayed to London and then across England. At last, a ship was sighted through the fog which on that day lay thick on the channel. The signalman on board sent the first word: "Wellington."

The next word was "defeated." Then fog closed in and the ship could no longer be seen. "Wellington defeated." That message was sent across England and great gloom descended over the countryside. After two or three hours, however, the fog lifted and the signal came again: "Wellington defeated the enemy." Now England rejoiced.

In the same way, when Jesus died, that fact plunged his friends into sadness. It was an apparent defeat. But then, on the third day, he rose again. When Jesus died, men might have cried, "Christ is defeated. Wrong has triumphed. Sin has won." But then after three days, the fog lifted and the full message came through to this world: "Jesus is risen. Jesus defeated the enemy."

Third, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is good news because of all that it proves. What does it prove? The answer is it proves all that needs to be proved. It proves the essential doctrines of Christianity. In the first place, it proves that there's a God and that the God of the Bible is the true God. R.A. Torrey, who often spoke and wrote well on these themes, put it this way: every effect must have an adequate cause and the only cause adequate to account for the resurrection of Christ is God, the God of the Bible.

While here on earth, as everyone who has carefully read the story of his life knows, our Lord went up and down the land proclaiming God, the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as he loved to call him, the God of the Old Testament as well as the New. He said that men would put him to death, that they would put him to death by crucifixion, and he gave many details as to what the manner of his death would be.

He further said that after his body had been in the grave three days and three nights, God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of the Bible, the God of the Old Testament as well as the God of the New Testament, this God would raise him from the dead. This was a great claim to make. It was an apparently impossible claim. For centuries, men had come and men had gone, men had lived and men had died, and as far as human knowledge founded upon definite observation and experience was concerned, that was the end of them.

But this man, Jesus, does not hesitate to claim that his experience will be directly contrary to the uniform experience of long, long centuries. Well, that was certainly an acid test of the existence of the God he preached, but his God stood the test. He did exactly the apparently impossible thing that our Lord Jesus said he would do. The fact that Jesus was thus miraculously raised makes it certain that the God who did it really exists and that the God he preached is the true God.

Second, the resurrection of Jesus Christ proves the deity of our Lord. When he lived on earth, Jesus claimed to be equal to God and that God, this same God, would raise him from the dead three days after his execution by the Jewish and Roman authorities. If he was wrong in this, his claim was either the ravings of a deranged man or blasphemy. If he was right, well, the resurrection would be God's way of substantiating the claim. Did he substantiate it? Did Jesus rise from the dead? Yes, he did. So the resurrection is God's seal on Christ's claim to divinity. This is why Paul, who knew that Jesus had been raised, writes that Jesus was declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.

Oh, this is good news. Because you see, if Jesus Christ is God, then God is like Jesus Christ. And this means that God is not distant, God is not arbitrary, he is not unreal. He's a God who loves you and who came to earth to give himself a ransom for your sin. God loves you. God loves you. We see this through the cross and the resurrection.

Then too, the resurrection proves that all who believe in Jesus Christ are justified before God. Paul teaches this in Romans also, for he states that Jesus was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. How does this happen? Well, Jesus had claimed that his death would atone for man's sin. He had said that he had come to give his life a ransom for many. He died as he said, but the question still remained, could it be true that the death of this one man would be acceptable to God for others?

Suppose he had sinned. In that case, he would have been dying for his own sin rather than the sin of others. Did he sin, or was his atonement valid? Three days pass. Christ rises, and his claim is established, for God has shown by the resurrection that Christ was sinless and that he has accepted his atonement.

Torrey wrote on this point: "When Jesus died, he died as my representative, and I died in him. When he arose, he arose as my representative and I arose in him. When he ascended up on high and took his place at the right hand of the Father in glory, he ascended as my representative and I ascended in him. And today I am seated in Christ with God in the heavenlies. I look at the cross of Christ and I know that atonement has been made for my sin. I look at the open sepulcher and the risen and ascended Lord and I know the atonement has been accepted. There no longer remains a single sin on me, no matter how many or how great my sins may have been."

Then too, the resurrection of Jesus Christ also proves that the believer in Christ can have a supernatural victory over sin in this life, because Jesus lives to provide the supernatural power to do it. This is an argument developed in the sixth chapter of Romans, for in the opening verses of that chapter, Paul writes: "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

This means that by faith all who believe in Christ are united to Christ, so that his power becomes available to them. We may be weak and utterly helpless, unable to resist temptation for a single minute, but he is strong and he lives to give help and deliverance in every moment of our days. Victory isn't a question of my strength but of his power. His power is what I need.

Torrey tells a story that illustrates this point. He tells of four men who were once climbing up the most difficult face of the Matterhorn. There was a guide, a tourist, a second guide, and a second tourist, all roped together. As they went over a particularly difficult place, the lower tourist lost his footing and went over the side. The sudden pull on the rope carried the lower guide with him and he carried the other tourist along also.

Three men were now dangling over the dizzy cliff. But the guide who was in the lead, feeling the first pull upon the rope, drove his axe into the ice, braced his feet, and held fast. The first tourist then regained his footing, the guide regained his, and the lower tourist followed. Then they went on and up in safety.

So it is in this life. As the human race ascended the icy cliffs of life, the first Adam lost his footing and tumbled headlong over the abyss. He pulled the next man after him and the next and the next until the whole race hung in deadly peril. But the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, kept his footing. He stood fast. So all who are united to him by a living faith are secure and can regain the path.

Finally, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is also unshakable evidence for our own resurrection and of a life with Jesus in glory beyond the grave. Jesus said when he was here on earth, "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." He's preparing that place now. Can we trust him? Was he telling the truth? If the resurrection vindicates his other sayings, it vindicates these as well. And the Christian, you and I who believe in him, can receive them with confidence. The end of this life is not a question mark. It is Jesus, and we know that we shall be with him.

Well, I've given three good reasons why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the best news this world ever heard. One, because it is true. Two, because it came after an apparent defeat, and three, because of all that it proves.

But there's a fourth reason also. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is good news because it demands a life-saving response in faith from each of us. Have you responded in faith to this one who died for you and rose again on that far-off first Easter morning? There is some news that is by its very nature restricted. It applies to one or two individuals or more, but not to everybody. A promotion is good news to the man who receives it, but not to the two or three others who failed to get the job.

The results of an election are good news to the winning party, but not to the losing party. Even so generally acceptable a report as a reduction in federal taxes is good news only to those who pay taxes or who live in the country where the reduction is to take place. Almost all human news is so restricted. But the good news of the resurrection is for all.

What is your relationship to the risen Lord? Have you heard the good news? Have you believed it? Have you trusted in him? This is the heart of Christianity. It's not to be found in the liturgies of the churches nor in the specific formulations of Christian theology, important as these may be. Christianity is Christ, the risen Christ. He died and rose again for you. Won't you come to him? Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest for your souls."

And now our Father, we thank you for the resurrection of Jesus Christ and for all that it signifies, for all that it means to us today. There are those listening who have never believed in Jesus Christ as their risen savior. We ask that they might have no peace until they rest in him, for he's the source of all peace. But upon your own who do know him, may a new sense of the wonder of the resurrection be theirs and may they be anxious to communicate this great gospel to a perishing world. For we pray in the name of Jesus Christ who gave himself for us and rose again. Amen.

Mark Daniels: You're listening to the Bible Study Hour, featuring the teaching of Dr. James Boice. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what separates Christianity from all other religions of the world, and the Apostle Paul knew that better than anyone. Learn more in today's free CD entitled, "The Gospel of Jesus Christ". It's also by Dr. Boice. This free offer is our way of saying thanks for listening. To receive this CD, call 1-800-488-1888. We'll be happy to send you a copy of "The Gospel of Jesus Christ". Again, the number is 1-800-488-1888.

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We are indeed grateful that you listen to the Bible Study Hour. As you reach out to us, be sure to mention the call letters or dial position of the radio station you're hearing, or if you listen online, take note of the website address. Knowing how you connect with the Bible Study Hour will help us serve you better. I'm Mark Daniels. Thanks for joining us today. The resurrection vanquished death, but it's only as we understand the significance and the horror of death that we understand the importance and the glory of the resurrection. Join Dr. James Boice as he details Paul's reasoning on how Christ's rising from the dead removed the sting of death and stole its victory. That's next time on the Bible Study Hour, preparing you to think and act biblically.