Lessons from the Heart
'Jesus has risen indeed!'
By Pastor Andrew Paris

Paris

This Sunday, March 23, is Easter, the day we set apart to celebrate the glorious resurrection of Jesus. This holy day proclaims loud and clear the joyous message of the angel at Christ's empty tomb: "He is not here; for He is risen, even as He said" (Matthew 28:6).

Jesus has risen indeed. This most wonderful of all events is no myth concocted by deceived or deceitful disciples to keep alive the religion of a dead Messiah. Our Easter faith is based on historical fact that rests on solid foundation. Jesus arose from the grave and showed Himself alive by "many infallible proofs" (Acts 1:3). His resurrection is a certainty.

If any fact, not merely of Christianity, but of history, stands on an unshakeable foundation, this does. Because Jesus arose from the dead, He is Lord and His religion is the only true faith. The entire Christian religion stands or falls on this grand event. The Apostle Paul proclaimed boldly that if the resurrection of Jesus is false, Christianity falls to the ground (1 Corinthians 15:14- 19).

The evidence for Christ's resurrection is strong- -stronger than any other historical event. It has convinced countless skeptics, atheists, and unbelievers throughout history.

Take just one example out of many. In the 18th century, Europe was immersed in unbelief. The universities in England, France, and Germany attacked the Bible with ferocious zeal. Many lost their faith. In 1745 two men of tremendous talents at Cambridge, history scholars, were persuaded the Bible was not the Book of God but instead a human book filled with errors. And so they set out to expose the Bible's lies. Their strategy was to attack what they considered the two foundations of Christianity: the resurrection of Jesus and the conversion of Paul. Lord George Lyttleton, graduate of Eton and Oxford and noted member of Parliament, chose the conversion of Paul. His friend, Sir Gilbert West, took the resurrection of Christ.

Both sat down to their tasks full of prejudice against the Bible. After a year spent in examining all the historical evidences, they were both converted by the sheer weight of the abundant proof for Christianity. They came together not as they expected, to destroy the Bible, but to lament over their own folly and to rejoice in their joint conviction that the Bible is truly the Word of God. Both men wrote of their journey to faith and the evidences that convinced them in two of the most valuable books proving Christ's resurrection: Lyttleton's "Observations on the Conversion of St. Paul" and West's "Observations on the Resurrection of Christ." Yes, the resurrection of Jesus is the best attested fact in the annals of the world.

Of all the leaders who established a new religion, only one has an empty tomb: Jesus Christ. Because He arose from the dead, our faith and hope ought to be in Him alone, our service ought to be to Him alone, and our praise ought to be for Him alone. This is logical.

During the years that followed the outbreak of the French Revolution and the revolt against Christianity that accompanied it (1789), some in French society attempted to invent a new religion that would replace Christianity. One such man was Larevelliere-Lepaux who had made up his own religion which he called "Man Is God." After reading a long paper that explained his new belief-system, he complained that very few had welcomed it.

He asked the audience what he should do to get more people to accept his new faith.

Charles Talleyrand, the former French prime-minister, arose from his seat and said with a fine smile: "My dear sir, I refer you to a historical fact which may give you some light as to the best way to establish a new religion in the world. When Jesus undertook to establish a new religion, He was crucified, He lay in the grave three days, He rose again and ascended into heaven. At least you could do that much!"

Jesus is risen indeed! Andrew Paris is minister of Delphi Christian Church.