THE RESURRECTION
The rising of our blessed Lord from the dead was one of the most important events in the history of his life on earth.
Let us take an illustration of its importance. Suppose that we were living in England, and that we were well acquainted with Victoria—the good and gracious queen of that great kingdom. And suppose that it should please the queen to make us a present of one of the fine old castles of England, with all the lands and property belonging to it. In giving us this castle, or, as the lawyers say, in “conveying it to us,” the queen would order a title deed to be made out. This deed would be necessary; because if any one else should claim that the castle belonged to him, we could then open the deed and show that the queen had really given it to us. A title deed, like this of which we are now speaking, is generally written on a sheet of parchment. In this deed would be found the name of the castle, with a full description of it, and all the property belonging to it. It would be stated here how many acres of land were connected with it; and then it would be written down that the queen had given it to us, and that it was to belong to us, and to our children, or heirs forever. But after all this had been written out, the deed would be good for nothing unless something more were done to it. It would be necessary for the queen to sign her own name to the deed—Victoria Regina—and then put the royal seal upon it. The property described in it could never become ours, unless the queen’s signature and seal were added to it.
When Jesus came down from heaven to earth, his great object was to secure for his people a home in heaven,—a mansion in the skies. When he hung upon the cross, we may well say that he was writing out the title deed to those mansions, in his own blood. But, after this deed had thus been written, it was necessary for his Father in heaven to show that he approved of what had been done. When Jesus died and was buried, we may say that he took with him the title deed to our heavenly home, to get his Father to sign it and seal it. And when the resurrection of Jesus took place it showed that this was done. Then God the Father did, as it were, say—“I approve of what my beloved son has done. I sign and seal the title deed which he has written out to secure a home in heaven for all who love and serve him.”
This shows us how very important the resurrection of Jesus was. And because it is so important, we may well feel a great interest in studying the subject of Christ’s resurrection. And in doing this there are two things for us carefully to consider. These are—The proof of the resurrection of Christ; and the lessons we are taught by it.
Let us begin by considering—the proof of the resurrection of Christ. We have great cause for thankfulness that the proof given us on this subject is so clear and strong. There is no fact of history supported by stronger proof than is the fact of Christ’s resurrection. We believe that there was such a person as Napoleon Bonaparte; that he was emperor of France; and that he died a prisoner on the island of St. Helena. We believe that there was such a person as George Washington; that he was the leader of our armies during the revolutionary war; and that, after the war, he was the first president of the United States. We believe that there was such a person as Julius Cæsar; that he was a successful general of the Roman armies; and that he met his death in the Senate chamber from the daggers of the Roman senators. No one doubts these facts. They are matters of history. And yet the proof we have of the resurrection of Christ is clearer and stronger than the proof we have for what we believe respecting Julius Cæsar, or George Washington, or Napoleon Bonaparte. Nothing that we read of in history is more sure than this, that Jesus did rise from the dead.
Many years ago, there was an infidel club in England. It was composed of learned and distinguished men. At the meetings of the club, its members were in the habit of ridiculing the Bible and of trying to show it was not worthy of being believed. On one occasion a member of this club was appointed to examine the subject of the resurrection of Christ and to write an essay for the purpose of showing that there was no satisfactory proof that he ever rose from the dead.
He examined carefully what is said on this subject in the New Testament. And the end of it was, that he became fully convinced of the fact that Christ did rise from the dead. And, instead of writing an article for that infidel club to show that what Christians believe about the resurrection of Christ is not true, he wrote one of the best books that ever has been written, to prove, beyond all doubt, that the resurrection of Christ is true. He became an earnest Christian. And that which led to this great change was the convincing proof he found in the New Testament of the truth of the resurrection of Christ. He saw it was true that Jesus did rise from the dead. And when he became satisfied that this was true, he was obliged to admit that all the other teachings of the New Testament respecting Christ must be true also. The resurrection of Christ is the foundation stone on which the religion of the Bible is built up. If that falls, this must fall. But if that stands firm and sure, then this must stand firm and sure also.