IF CHRIST HAD NOT RISEN

​From Ted's New Book "The JOURNEY and DESTINY of a Christian"

"And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain,

and your faith is also vain. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye

are yet in your sins. If in this life only we have hope in Christ,

we are of all men most miserable."

1 Corinthians 15:14,17,19

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The Empty Tomb (Mark 16:1-8)

Did you ever think about what would have happened if Christ had not risen? In the verses above, the apostle Paul tells us that without Jesus' resurrection, our preaching and our faith would be in vain. If we only have hope in Christ as Christians within this life, and not for all eternity, we will be the most miserable of all people. This means that everything depends upon the one and only important fact: a risen Christ. It is important that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is absolutely essential to everything we believe and hope for. It is the cornerstone of our salvation.

If Jesus had not risen, then none of Jesus' following claims and teachings would be fulfilled. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19). "For as Jonas 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 "I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again..." (John 10:17,18).

In reality, if Jesus had not risen, His work would not be finished. After His three years of public ministry, Jesus was crucified, one of His disciples betrayed Him, and another denied Him. Finally, the apostle Mark tells us: "And they all forsook him, and fled" (Mark 14:50). If Jesus had died and would not have risen, where would be the atonement? It would have been impossible for Him, through the Holy Spirit, to dwell in the heart of every believer to give him supernatural power in his daily life. The individual who trusts Jesus Christ shares His life, and that life changes him to break the bond of sin, and to set him free from all his transgressions. In other words, if Christ be not risen, the preaching is empty, our faith is in vain, we remain in our sins, and we are controlled by them. If Christ actually be not risen, His death was just another typical, natural death, and the doctrine of justification is nonsense—only a big joke.

Because some in Corinth did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 explains the importance of the resurrection of Christ and gives us a few terrible realities if there were no resurrection:

1. Preaching Christ would be senseless, and faith in Christ would be useless: "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain" (v. 14).

2. All the witnesses and all the preachers of the resurrection would be liars: "Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not..." (v. 15).

3. No one would be redeemed from sin: "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins"

(v. 17).

4. All former believers would have perished: "Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished" (v.18).

5.  Believers in Christ would be the most miserable people on the earth: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (v. 19).

"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept" (v. 20), assuring us that we will follow Him in the resurrection. "And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power"

(1 Corinthians 6:14). What a wonderful and glorious truth! The first evidence of the resurrection is the testimony of the disciples who saw Him in many of His various appearances. "He [Jesus] rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once"

(1 Corinthians 15:4-6).

Even with their own previous unbelief, they preached and died for Him. The testimony of the apostle Paul himself is such a vital proof, and all of today's critics cannot explain what made him turn from persecutor of the church to a missionary. Paul saw Jesus and heard Him from heaven and the One whom he thought was dead, he found out was alive. As a result, he gave all his life to Jesus Christ by preaching the gospel and finally dying for Him. Paul believed and taught that "It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God..." (Romans 8:34).

The results of preaching about the risen Christ are that people experience forgiveness, peace, salvation, and supernatural power. The final line of evidence of actual resurrection from the dead is the church, a group of men and women and children, joined together from all nations. Before the resurrection of Christ, the Holy Spirit came upon individuals only at certain times and only for particular reasons. But now, after the resurrection, Christ through the Holy Spirit dwells in the heart of every believer to give him supernatural power in his daily life. Individuals who trust Jesus Christ share His life, and that life changes them.

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I SERVE A RISEN SAVIOR

I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today;

I know that He is living whatever men may say;

I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer,

And just the time I need Him, He's always near.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.

He lives, He lives, Salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.

Hymn, by Alfred Henry Ackley (1887-1960)

He Lives (I Serve a Risen Savior) Video

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• "I know the resurrection is a fact...Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned, and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren't true..." — Evangelist, Charles Colson

• "The Gospel is the Gospel of the Risen Christ. There would be no Gospel for sinners if Christ had not been raised." — Dr. H.A. Ironside