Christ died and rose to give us peace with God. And that really matters. The resurrection of Jesus matters eternally, because His new life is the signpost and the means to eternal life for you and me, for all who turn from sin and trust in Him.

Imagine a person whose only exposure to Easter is popping into High Street shops during March. What impression would they have of the significance of the festival? It’s likely that if they drew a pie chart of their findings, it would be one quarter bunnies, one quarter chicks, and a whole load of chocolate eggs!

But since you’re reading a Christian magazine, my guess is you know the real reason for this season: remembering Jesus’ death and resurrection. And perhaps you’re also aware, this isn’t something off to the side of Christian belief; Christ dying and rising again is utterly central to the faith. That’s shown really clearly in a passage from the New Testament of the Bible, written by Paul, a man who began hating Jesus, and ended up sharing the good news of Jesus to many thousands of people in many different countries:

“What I received I passed on to you as of first importance; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also”
(1 Corinthians 15:3-8)

Paul was writing to a group of Christians in Southern Greece, about twenty years after the life of Christ. He makes this huge claim, which had also been made by Jesus during his life on earth: after dying on the cross, Jesus Christ rose back to life again. He also makes another huge claim later in the letter: If Jesus didn’t actually rise from death, the whole Christian faith crumbles faster than a chocolate egg that’s been dropped from the top of Yr Wyddfa.

Perhaps you know the resurrection of Jesus is the central claim of Christianity. Maybe you’re not opposed to it, but you’re not quite convinced either. In a very brief way, I want to ask and answer two questions which I hope will help you:

Did the resurrection of Jesus really happen?

Does the resurrection of Jesus really matter?

Did the resurrection of Jesus really happen?

If not, according to the Bible, you might as well rip up this magazine (or, if you’re reading online, close this tab). We could be chowing down on Lindt bunnies, rather than thinking about something that didn’t happen.

You might have a thousand different questions about the Christian faith: its teachings, and how we are to live out those teachings.  Those questions are good. But according to the Bible, there is no more important question you can be asking than this one: Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

If Christ is dead and buried, the religion that takes his name should be too. But if he is alive, that changes things in relation to Christian faith, and in relation to your life.

So, we’re going to spend a little time looking at some of the sentences written by Paul, and thinking where they point us.

Of course, if someone is utterly convinced that nobody could ever possibly be raised from the dead, then what I write isn’t going to convince them. Whatever evidence they’re presented with, they’ll find a way to fit that in with their pre-existing beliefs.

Kind of like someone who doesn’t want to believe in the existence of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch will find ways to refute all the evidence for it: The mapmakers just put it in there for a laugh, never thinking anyone would believe it was a real place name. All those photographs of the town were just mislabelled—they were really taken in Llandovery. All those people who claim to have been there are just lying about it—for some reason.

If someone really doesn’t want to believe Jesus rose from the dead, they’ll say ‘okay, these people claim they saw Jesus alive after his death. ‘But they were lying, mistaken, or hallucinating. Or they did see Jesus alive—but that’s because he never actually died on the cross.’ They’ll find a way to get around the evidence.

But that’s not you, is it? So, here’s two ways the words we read from Paul 15 point to Jesus truly being risen from death.

The Witnesses

Paul says, ‘don’t just take my word for it. I’m not the only one he appeared to. He appeared to different people, on different occasions, for about forty days after he returned to life.’

And maybe you want to say this: ‘So what? I could claim a thousand people saw a dragon in Swansea this afternoon. That doesn’t make it true.’

That’s right. If I want to trick a young child into believing something that isn’t true, maybe I would just say, ‘hundreds of people saw it.’ But an adult is going to want more evidence than that. They’re going to want to say, ‘let me talk to those people’.

And that’s exactly what Paul sets up here. When he points out that many of those witnesses are still living, he’s saying, ‘you can talk to them! See if what they’re saying adds up!’

Yes, seeing a man risen from the dead is a huge claim. But these people claim they saw him, interacted with him, spoke and ate with him.

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