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for the encouragement of the good and as a terror to evil-doers. In talking with men of other faiths, I have found that the resurrection of Jesus is the chief proof of His deity. I have had extended conversations with Jews concerning the claims of Jesiis to Messiahship. Invariably the con versation has drifted to the claim of His resurrection. I remember a bright young Jewish lawyer, whom I met and talked with in camp during the World War. He ac cepted a copy of the New Testament and was reading the record of the resurrection. Another Jew, whom I met in camp, had been trained to become a rabbi, but had lost his faith and become an atheist. We had several pro longed conversations. He also took a New Testament and promised to read the Life of Jesus, and, especially, the account of His resurrection. The last word I remember him saying was, “I cannot pray to God, but I am praying to your Jesus.” C hrist ’ s D eity P roved by H is R esurrection While on a trip to the Orient I made it a point to talk with representatives of the Eastern faiths with whom I could converse in the English language. There stands out in my memory the case of the Hindu priest at Rama- patnam, with whom I talked on the comparative merits of Hinduism and Christianity. The resurrection of Jesus emerged as the supreme proof of His deity. Going from Korea to Japan I formed the acquaintance of a young Japanese official. After he had satisfied him self that I was not a spy, we became good enough friends to talk on the subject of Christianity. Here again the argument gravitated to the claim of the resurrection, in which he became deeply interested. When the Son of God came to earth to establish the kingdom of heaven among men He accredited His divine authority by irrefutable proofs, chief among them being His resurrection from the dead in bodily form (Acts 2 :22- 24). The representative of Christ who has no faith in His resurrection will have small part in extending the con quests of His kingdom. Before entering the Gospel ministry I was engaged in the practice of law, and I am convinced that from the lawyer’s viewpoint the life of Jesus is consistent and har monious throughout. It would be surprising if one who did the works which the Record shows that He performed should enter and leave the world as an ordinary mortal. If He was the unique, pre-existent Son of God—as the Bible declares He was—and it was decided in the counsels of eternity that He should take upon Himself our nature for the purpose of human redemption, it would be quite proper that His entrance into the world should be through divine, rather than human, generation. Granting the supernatural birth, then the sinless life and the miraculous works should occasion no surprise. But it would be sur prising if He should die as ordinary mortals die and His divinely conceived body should undergo corruption. The Virgin Birth, the sinless life, the miraculous works, and the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ are con sistent and harmonious. Give up any of them and you will be driven finally to abandon them all, and with them the deity of our Lord and His atonement for sin. “ I n C hrist J esus S hall A ll B f . M ade A live ” There is a beautiful significance in thè physical resur rection of our Lord. It is a pledge of the resurrection of the body of every believer. The process of resurrection is mysterious, but none the less certain. Throughout the natural life the human body is changed many times in its constituent particles, the tissues being worn away and
tally incompetent or morally unreliable; if there is no disagreement of the witnesses on the point at issue; if no collusion or improper influence has been shown; then their testimony stands and is credible. This asserted disagreement among the witnesses is not, however, borne out by the facts. On the contrary, there is a beautiful harmony, such as is produced by a skilled orchestra composed of many instruments, every one of which contributes its particular part to the symphony. T he R esurrection A n A ccepted F act We do well here to remind ourselves that the Gospel narratives were not written primarily as a carefully,con structed proof of the resurrection of the Lo rd ; but rather to tell how the event occurred and how the disciples were brought to an unshakable belief in this momentous truth. The fifteenth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Co rinthians, which is often cited as an argument for the resurrection of Jesus, makes no attempt to prove that fact. It is an argument for the resurrection of believers, and is based on the accepted fact that Jesus arose from the dead. Paul declares that if Christ did not arise, then the whole argument falls to pieces and the Christian “ faith is vain.” “But now hath Christ been raised from the dead,” as was unanimously agreed among the Christians of Paul’s day, and it is to "be noted that the resurrection of which Paul is writing here is clearly a resurrection of the body. With legal insight Paul sensed the fact that the resur rection of Jesus is the keystone in the arch of the temple of the Christian faith. In his greatest doctrinal epistle, —to the Romans,—Paul bases the divine authority of Jesus on His resurrection (Romans 1 :4). Everywhere he stresses this truth. He shows the doctrine contained in the Old Testament Scriptures—in “The Prophets and Moses” (Acts 26:22, 23). He quotes and applies the second and sixteenth Psalms definitely to the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 13:30-37 and Psalms 2 :7 ; 16:10). In his defense before Agrippa, he appeals to the general belief of the Jews in a resurrection of the dead. The climax o f .his sermon on Mars Hill in Athens is the resurrection. And it is pertinent to remark that it was at this doctrine that the Athenians “mocked,” as some men are mocking in these days. “T h e N atural M an R eceiveth N ot ” The man of the so-called “modern mind” professes to be unable to accept the physical resurrection of Jesus, because in his thinking it would be unscientific to do so : “A miracle would violate the laws of nature.” It must not be forgotten that there are spiritual laws as authoritative and binding as the natural laws. And it should be borne in mind that science does not presume to dogmatize in the spiritual realm. She frankly confesses that the whole realm of the material is not yet charted: vast stretches of territory lie undiscovered. No less authorities than Huxley and John Stuart Mill affirm that there is no scientific impossibility in miracle; that it is purely a question of evidence (Huxley, “Con troverted Questions,” pages 258, 269; Mill’s Logic, book 3, chapter 25). With this opinion a lawyer can heartily agree. It would be perfectly competent to come into a court of law with evidence to prove that a living man had died. It would be equally competent to introduce evi dence to prove that a dead man had come to life. The evidence would be received and duly considered in either case. As a pastor, battling for many years against sin, I am persuaded that this modern world needs a Saviour and Lord of supernatural power and divine authority, both
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