Join me in a simple thought experiment. What would unravel or be undone if Jesus didn't rise again?

If Jesus were still dead...

  • Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wouldn’t have written their accounts of Jesus’s life.
  • There would be nothing for them to write about if Christ were dead. He would have been a phony, a hack, a con man.
  • All of the disciples would have gone back to their professions—fisherman, doctor, collector, etc.
  • Luke would have never wrote Acts—the events wouldn’t have happened.
  • Paul wouldn’t have become an apostle of Christ.
  • There wouldn’t be a New Testament.
  • We would have never heard of Jesus of Nazareth.
  • There wouldn’t be a Church.
  • There would be no Christianity.
  • We would still be dead in our sins.
  • We would not have eternal life.

And think of the implications in your sphere of life if Jesus had not risen from the dead:

  • Since Natalie and I met in a college ministry, we would have never met, dated, and got married. There would be no such thing as a college ministry.
  • Therefore, our children wouldn’t exist.
  • Most of the transformative blessings in your life wouldn’t exist. There would be no Christian books, resources, songs, friends, conferences, podcasts, etc.
  • You wouldn’t be reading this.

But thanks be to God that Jesus is alive! "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead" (1 Cor 15:20)!

Everything hinges on the resurrection of Jesus. Resurrection is the ecosystem of the entire Christian life. As the old song says, "Because He lives!"

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Happy Easter!