Recently I came across a book that was attempting to prove that one of the four major religions of the world is “the true religion.”
While thumbing through the 348 pages of this book, I wondered why it required so many pages to try to prove that this religion is the way to eternal life. After all, it really only requires four words to prove that Christianity is true and that faith alone in Jesus Christ alone is the only way to eternal life. These four words are: Jesus Christ is risen!
Christianity rests on one of the most established historical events in the history of the human race — the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. His resurrection is the heart and center of the Christian faith. If he did not rise from the dead, our faith rests upon something that never happened. The whole fabric of Christian revelation is shattered, and the plan of salvation collapses if Jesus did not rise from the dead. But as a fact, he did not remain in the grave. He is risen!
All one has to do to know that Christianity is true and that every other “religion” in the world is false, is to look at that empty tomb. As the angel said to the women who came to Jesus’ tomb on that first day of the week following the Sabbath of the Passover more than two thousand years ago, “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come see the place where he lay” (Matthew 28:6).
Jesus’ resurrection was the fulfillment of his promise that He would rise again on the third day, confirming his claims to be the Son of God and the Savior sent from heaven. His resurrection was the proof that he had accomplished redemption for his people and the seal of the approval of God upon his death as a propitiation for sin.
In raising him from the dead, the Father attested to the perfection of the work of His Son. Jesus’ resurrection validates the truth of what he said about himself as recorded in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
The resurrection proved that Jesus is indeed the living Christ and that by believing in Him you have eternal life. In John 11: 25-27, Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” Then he asked her, “Do you believe this?”
This was the most important question of Martha’s life. This is the most important question of your life, because your eternal destiny depends upon your answer. My hope and prayer for you is that you have answered this question the way Martha answered it: “Yes Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
Dennis Judy is senior pastor of Hancock Reformed Baptist Church in Greenfield. This weekly column is written by local clergy members.
