//i CHRISTS GLORIOUS h ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ // RESURRECTION / / i ' / / by William. Ward Ayer n /
W hile millions this E aster will either deny the physical resurrection of Christ or change its meaning by flowery phrases concerning the immortality of the soul, yet all the facts show that Christ rose bodily from the grave. Let us be logical. Our Lord rose from the dead or He did not rise . . . He is either the Christ of the Empty Tomb or He is the Christ of the Tomb . . . If He is the Christ of the Tomb, a dead Christ, then He is no Christ at all—He is only a dead, fanatical idealist, a vain impostor, and a blas phemer . . . He claimed to be God . . . He said that He and His Father were one; and He said that if you destroyed the temple of His body He would rise again . . . If He didn’t rise again in that body then He was a fool and a blasphemer and crucifixion was too good for Him. But if that tomb in Jerusalem is empty (and it is), then something new has happened in the world, and the One who came forth from that tomb is truly God, and He is qualified to be what He came to be: the Saviour of a lost world. We have let the promises of the springtime have too much influence upon our theology. Beyond the poetry, the philosophy, beyond the springtime illustrations (which actually do not illustrate) is a blessed fact: Death was conquered by the Son of God; He came back from the tomb; the body that had been laid there in death became alive again; the conqueror, death, was finally conquered by the Prince of Life. Let us think intelligently. There is no trúe illustra tion of Christ’s resurrection in nature. Nature reveals a Creator, an infinite and intricate Designer, but noth ing in nature tells of a resurrection of that which was dead. The coming of springtime flowers is merely a new manifestation of life resident in the roots of those flowers during the long winter sleep, and that’s all! Christ’s resurrection shows there is a God in the uni verse. The stars move majestically in their courses; evi dences of universal design and purpose are plain, but the incontrovertible truth about God is that He changed the natural order for His own Son and raised Him from the dead and made Him the first fruits of the dead, and promised that those who were partakers of His life should also rise triumphant o’er the tomb. No C orruption Only an all-powerful God could do this, and only a God of love would do it. And David in prophetic utter ance said, “ Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”
Men may search the fact of the earth, but they will find no tombstone erected in memory of Christ, though there are millions of tombstones of ordinary men; but none for Jesus. His inscription is different from that of men. On men’s tombstones is written, “Here lies . . .” But of Jesus it is written, “He is not here, but is risen.” In one of the villages in North India a missionary was preaching in a bazaar, and, after he had closed, a Mohammedan gentleman came up and said, “ You must admit that we have one thing you have not, and it is better than anything you have.”
CHRIST IS RISEN "He is not here, but is risen!"— Luke 24:6 Christ is risen Hallelujah! Death has lost its awful sting. Grave's defeated. Hallelujah! Joyous let our anthems ring. Jesus liveth, Hallelujah! Deathless now and evermore— King Eternal! Hallelujah! Victor in sin's awful war. See the loved ones, Hallelujah! Who, before, have passed the flood; Living, shining, Hallelujah! Praising 'fore the throne of God. O the glory, Hallelujah! When we too shall live again In His image, Hallelujah! Free from sorrow's blight and pain. Christ is risen, Hallelujah! Haste the day of world domain. Christ returneth, Hallelujah! O'er the earth a King to reign.
— William Ward Ayer
The missionary smiled, treating him as a gentleman, and said, “ I shall be pleased to hear what it is.” The Mohammedan said, “ When we go to our Mecca we find at least a coffin. But when you Christians go to Jerusalem, which is your Mecca, you find nothing but an empty grave." And the missionary replied, “ That is just the dif ference. Mohammed is dead. Mohammed is in his coffin. ’ Our Christ is not entombed, but is alive! He intercedes in heaven. He will come again!”
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APRIL, 1965
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