Risen Indeed

Saturday, April 16, 2022

What time is it? What day is it? What does the future hold for us? Does anyone know what the future holds? What can we actually know? Whose claims about the future should we accept? Which voices should we heed?   

As for the future of each of us and all of us, this one historical question just might be the most crucial, pivotal question of all: Did Jesus of Nazareth actually, physically rise from the dead?

If Jesus of Nazareth did rise from the dead, then, yes, we can know what the future holds.

How so?

If Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, then someday we will too. His resurrection is the basis and the guarantee of your resurrection and mine. Jesus himself said so. According to one witness, Jesus said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. And everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this?” That statement can be found in the Gospel of John, chapter eleven, verses twenty five and twenty six.

Such a fantastic promise seems entirely implausible, as it is completely and utterly outside our realm of everyday experience. Life beyond death? Life beyond the grave? How can someone possibly promise to personally provide life beyond death? 

And yet… what if? What if Jesus really did rise from the dead? Then maybe, just maybe death is not the ultimate end of us. Maybe, just maybe history (and, more pertinently, our own future) was completely altered in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. 

“Do you believe this?” How you answer this one question from Jesus will determine how you perceive the future. How you answer this one question may also determine your destiny. 

Personally, I will take his word for it. I hope you do, too.

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.