Category: Resurrection

Posted on

Not Where, but Whom

The highlight of my visits to the Holy Land was always the Garden Tomb. It is a  place of quiet reflection and prayer. The garden surrounds a first century gravesite that was discovered in the late 1800s.

My first time there was on a Sunday morning over forty years ago. A minister led an outdoor worship service attended by hundreds of people from all over the world. He faithfully proclaimed the gospel of Christ, emphasizing the resurrection of our Lord, from a tomb like the one before us in the garden. That worship service left a lasting impression on me.

The site was made famous by a British military officer, General Charles Gordon. He was taking a year-long retreat from his duties in 1883. He was a well-known and successful soldier and also a devout Christian. During that year in Palestine Gordon did research on various sites associated with the ministry of Christ.

He became convinced that a rocky bluff on the north side of Jerusalem was “the place of the skull,” or Calvary, or Golgotha, the place where the Lord was crucified. His writings about the place influenced many others to agree with him. Indeed, observers could see in the rocky face of the cliff what looked like the eye sockets and mouth of a skull! Visitors today are shown the same formation in the cliff. Ever since, the hill has been called “Gordon’s Calvary.”

Nearby is the tomb cut out of the rock in the other side of the same hill. This matches the description in John’s gospel: “At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid . . . the tomb was nearby” (John 19:41-42). The New Testament tells us that this was outside the city of Jerusalem. “Jesus suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy” (Hebrews 13:12). The Garden Tomb lies just outside the city wall of Jesus’ day.

While there have been many such tombs unearthed in the region, few could fit the biblical requirements: proximity to Skull Hill, outside, but close to the city of Jerusalem as it was in the first century, and the appearance of the tomb itself.

Another supposed site of the Lord’s crucifixion and burial is covered by an historic church maintained by priests representing Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Coptic traditions. Its buildings are furnished with religious artifacts, symbols, and icons. This ancient burial place was identified by pilgrims in the fourth century. It has the weight of tradition to support its claim to authenticity. It has testified to the resurrection of Christ for more than 1500 years.

Multiplied millions of pilgrims have come to this ancient place to worship and remember the sufferings and the resurrection of Christ. This testifies to the timeless significance of the resurrection and its importance for believers century after century.

But what really matters is not the place of the resurrection, but the person who was resurrected. Not where, but whom. Disagreements about the location of Jesus’ tomb will fuel religious debates for a long time to come. No one can say with absolute certainty where Jesus was raised from the dead.

What is certain, however, is that it happened. In the words of Peter Walker, “As far as believing Christians are concerned, the historic reality of the Resurrection itself is a fixed point in their faith. Without it, they would not be Christians.” He added, “No Resurrection, no Christianity!”

Paul said as much in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith.” If Jesus did not rise from the dead there would be no Christian faith and there would be no hope of eternal life or resurrection for us.

I, for one, am glad for the empty tomb, whichever one it was. It is as the angel said to Mary Magdalene, ‘He is not here, for he has been raised!'”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

Posted on

The Resurrection is No Joke

At this time of the year our thoughts turn to our Lord’s death and resurrection. Eternal life is offered to us because Jesus died for our sins and rose again in victory over death. This is what we celebrate on resurrection Sunday.

Yet there have always been those who deny the resurrection. The gospel of Mark describes an encounter Jesus had with some of his religious detractors. They did not believe in an afterlife or bodily resurrection. The way our Lord responded to them provides us with a reassuring basis for our own hope of life with God after death.

Jesus’ enemies wanted to do all they could to discredit him in the eyes of his followers. They tried to use the scriptures to disprove the resurrection. So they referred to part of the law of Moses which made provision for the care of widows in ancient Israel (Deuteronomy 25:5-6).

They treated the subject as a riddle, stretching the law to a ridiculous extreme. “Suppose,” they said, “a man died, leaving his widow with no children to care for her. So, in accordance with the law of Moses, the man’s brother married her to continue the family line in his brother’s name. He also died, leaving no children. So she married a second brother who died, and a third, and a fourth, and a fifth, and a sixth. The woman had had seven husbands, all of whom died” (Mark 12:20-23 my paraphrase).

Then they asked their big question. “If there is to be a resurrection, whose wife would she be in the hereafter?”  They thought they had outmaneuvered Jesus. We can almost hear them snickering at the ludicrous joke they made out of the resurrection.

Jesus’ answered that the resurrection is a certainty. It is not a joking matter. He said that they did not really understand the scriptures they claimed to believe. And in denying the resurrection they were denying the power of God (Mark 12:24). After all, the God who created the universe is perfectly capable of raising the dead.

He clinched his argument by reminding them that the God they claimed to believe in, the God of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, “is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Mark12:27). The three patriarchs, long dead, were still alive in God’s presence. In heaven they continued to be who they were on earth, but without the limitations of earth.

Jesus also addressed the strange riddle posed by his adversaries. In the resurrection there will be an entirely new order of existence. “When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage,” he said. “They will be like the angels in heaven” (Mark12:25). Now our Lord was not saying we will become angels. He was saying that in the resurrection God’s people will be like the angels. beautiful, powerful, created beings, engaged in the happy service and worship of God.

Marriage here on earth, as wonderful as it can be, will pale in comparison to the perfection of our relationships in heaven. Our relationships there will be unspoiled by misunderstandings, slights, frustrations and disappointments. There will be no jealousy, selfishness, offenses, or sin in heaven. In heaven we will know and love each other with a perfect love.

John Newton said, “When I get to heaven I shall see three wonders there. The first wonder will be to see many people whom I did not expect to see. The second wonder will be to miss many people whom I did expect to see. The third and greatest of all will be to find myself there.”

Jesus answered his critics who challenged his teaching on life after death. In his brilliant response he linked the resurrection to the existence of an all-powerful God and the authority of his written word.

In stating that God is not the God of the dead but of the living, Jesus is teaching us that those who die in faith will live with him forever. Is your faith in Jesus? In John 11:25 he said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies.”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

Posted on

More Alive Than Ever

C. S. Lewis had a profound influence on the life of Sheldon Vanauken. Vanauken became a Christian when he studied under Lewis at Oxford University. In his book A Severe Mercy he described their last meeting.

Over lunch at a pub in Oxford they had spent time pondering the nature of life after death. When they had finished eating, they stood outside for a few moments and just before parting ways, Lewis said to Vanauken, “I shan’t say goodbye. We’ll meet again.” Then the great scholar plunged into the traffic to cross the street while Vanauken watched his friend walk away.

When Lewis got to the other side of the street, he turned around, anticipating that his friend would still be standing there. With a grin on his face, Lewis shouted over the din of the passing cars, “Besides — Christians never say goodbye!”

During this season as we anticipate the celebration of our Lord’s resurrection, it is important to remember that the hope of eternal life is not based upon wishful thinking. Our assurance of life after death is based upon the promise of Christ.

When Jesus was accosted by some of his detractors who denied that there would be a resurrection, he told them they were in error, badly mistaken (Mark 12:24). His opponents were religious skeptics who believed that this life is all there is. They believed the soul perished with the body. There would be no rewards or punishments after death.

This materialistic philosophy exists today. Doubts about life after death are widespread, especially now as our nation moves further away from biblical values. People seem to be pursuing pleasure and prosperity for the here and now, with little thought for a life hereafter.

The Lord Jesus answered his critics in Mark 12:25-27 by directing their attention to God. He is alive. He is the giver of life. Eternal life resides in God. Jesus quoted the Bible where God said to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:5-6).

Then Jesus said something that is a key to our understanding of life after death. “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Mark 12:27). Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are alive! If they are alive with God, then my parents are alive with God. My brother’s baby who died is alive with God. My friend Stanley who was killed in Vietnam is alive with God. They will be resurrected when Jesus comes again.

That is why C.S. Lewis said what he did to Sheldon Vanauken, For a believer in Christ, to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).

The American evangelist Dwight L. Moody famously said, “Some day you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now; I shall have gone up higher, that is all, out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal — a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto his glorious body.”

“He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” This brief statement of Jesus is proof that faith in him includes the certainty of overcoming death. It is a promise of eternal life.

Pastor Randy Faulkner