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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
April, 1935
2:18-22). As far as the record goes, this was the only sign Christ ever offered to His enemies in sub stantiation o f His claims. His ene mies never forgot this declaration, and they did what they could to prove Him false. To make the sep ulcher of Christ as secure as pos sible against the fulfillment o f the sign, they procured from Pilate a
} a s t e r — the crown of all the _ . festivals o f C h r is t ia n it y ! Easter is the great day which pro claims that the church rests upon the solid foundation 0 / the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Year by year the recur rence of the day recalls the fact that Jesus Christ was crucified and yet He lives. So great is its mean
guard of soldiers to watch the tomb, which was sealed with the seal o f the Roman government (cf. Matt. 2 7 :62-66). To strengthen the faith o f His disciples and to prepare them for the unique event o f His physical resurrection, our Lord assured them seven times over that He would rise from the dead. Unlike His enemies, His disciples evi dently forgot what He had told them, as the subsequent history reveals. Hence, if Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead in a physical sense, if His body disappeared in some mysterious manner, or if it was a spiritual resurrection only, then His words are proved untrue and He stands convicted o f false hood, whether uttered in ignorance or with deliberate in tent to deceive. If Jesus Christ was untrustworthy, the preaching o f the gospel is a vain pursuit; the preachers of that gospel are false in their proclamation of the good news; the faith o f Christians is a pagan superstition and they are yet in their sins: those who have died are now perished; and the living Christians are. of all people upon earth the most miserable ( c f . 1 Cor. 15 :12-19). But the efforts of Christ’s enemies to prove His words untrue have only resulted in more fully establishing the trustworthiness o f His claims. The best attested fact of history is that which Easter celebrates, that is, the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And the reality o f that resurrection is the.one grand proof that He spoke the truth when He said He would rise again. I n s p i r a t i o n o f t h e O l d T e s t a m e n t The inspiration o f the Old Testament stands or falls with the fact o f the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The apostles enforced their preaching by quoting from the Old Testament many passages predicting this great event. Paul at Antioch of Pisidia three times over mentions the resurrection o f Christ as promised in the Old Testament. He declares that the promise made afore time had been fulfilled “ in that he [God] hath raised up [Continued on page 133]
ing, and so glorious its promise;' that even the world has adopted it and dates the emergence from winter’s gloom into the sunshine o f the spring by the grand Easter festival. The importance of Easter to the Bible cannot be over estimated. The church has turned to the Bible for her be liefs ; in her creeds she states herj}elief s derived from a consideration of the entire Bible. (The heart o f the Bible for the church is found in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Without Him, the Book is a mere collection of moral teachings, a system o f ethics, or a philosophy of religion. The importance of His physical resurrection is re vealed when we remember that while other truths concern ing Him are more or less vital, the certainty o f His physical resurrection is absolutely essential because upon that fact all other tiuths depend. Hence, if the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a fact, all the rest oLjthe Bible is ren dered useless as an authoritative WorcQ V e r a c i t y o f J e s u s C h r i s t The veracity of Jesus Christ depends upon His physical resurrection. Early in His public ministry, the Lord Jesus entered the temple at Jerusalem and found there certain in dividuals who desecrated its sacred precincts by their com mercial activities, turning the house o f God into a den of thieves, as Christ declared. He therefore made a scourge o f cords and drove these buyers and sellers forth from the temple. The leaders o f the people immediately challenged His right and asked Him for a sign which would prove His claims to be true. In answer to this challenge, He said: “ Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Holy Spirit is careful to make clear that the Lord meant His coming physical resurrection, for the account continues: “ He spake of the temple o f his body” (cf. John *Bible teacher, conference speaker, and author of the expositional notes on the Sunday-school lessons published in the K in g ’ s B u s in e s s .
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