Easter Hooray!

Just imagine those who are physically disabled today will one day dance in beautiful coordination and leap in ecstatic joy. Those who spend their lives absorbed in total darkness will see every colour in the spectrum of light. In fact, the first face they will see will be of the One who gives them sight. And those precious souls whose minds and emotions are limited by mental disability, disease, or old age will enjoy to the full unhindered and uninhibited relationships. It's enough to put a smile on any weary face. There's nothing like the hope of resurrection to lift the agonizing spirits of the heavyhearted.

Unless, of course, it's all a cruel hoax.

That's Paul's whole point in 1 Corinthians (15:19). Remember how he put it? If bodily resurrection is only an empty dream, then "we are of all men most to be pitied." All our preaching has a hollow ring to it, our faith is worthless, the dead have perished, and we are still under the condemnation of our sins. What a deplorable state of affairs! It's enough to make all of us run and hide!

But wait. That hypothetical argument hinges on a conditional presupposition if. "If there is no resurrection of the dead", then we're out to lunch. But there is a resurrection with all its promised hopes. It is as sure as we're alive at this moment.

How can we be so certain that we will be resurrected? What is the source of our assurance? What gives us unshakable confidence in the face of death? The fact of Christ's resurrection.

Because He has been raised, we too shall rise. As Paul stated in that same section of Scripture, "Christ [is] the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming". That's us! Jesus Himself promised, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies", John (11:25).

No wonder we get so excited every Easter! No wonder we hold nothing back as we celebrate His miraculous resurrection from the grave! It's a double-barrelled celebration: His triumphant hurrah over agony and our ultimate and eternal hooray.

Matthew (12:38-40)

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

If Jesus rose from His tomb Sunday morning after being interred Friday evening, we have no Savoir! Jesus gave only one sign of His Messiah ship: "so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

Why did the Pharisees ask Him for a sign? The answer appears in the section immediately preceding their request. Jesus had been preaching that "a tree is known by its fruit", so naturally, these Jews asked for a sign from Jesus to prove He was the Messiah! They wanted to see what fruit He would produce!

Jesus swiftly rebuked them because they had completely missed the point. To satisfy their curiosity, they wanted to see a miracle, but the fruit Jesus meant was repentance, good works, and spiritual growth. He would make them wait to see the fruits of His ministry.

Thus He says, paraphrasing, "The only sign that will absolutely prove the truth of My message is one that I will have no control over. I will be exactly three days and three nights in the grave. I will be dead. I will not be able to resurrect Myself. So if God the Father resurrects Me after exactly three days and three nights, it will be proved beyond doubt that I am the Messiah."

He gave the same sign in other places to different audiences, each time using similar wording. In John (2:19-2), He says, "'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' But He was speaking of the temple of His body."

To His disciples, He says, "The Son of Man is being delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day".