The truth that changed the world
By Michael V. Mallick - Sr. Minister
Jefferson Street Christian Church

[April 10, 2020] 

For those for whom Easter is merely a day to wear new clothes, search for colored eggs, and gather for a family meal, let me, as simply as possible, share the basic Good News and facts of Christianity’s celebration.

For humanity, the story begins with our first ancestors being banished from the perfect garden that God had constructed (Genesis 3:23). Adam and Eve had sinned, and the Lord punished their disobedience. They would die – both physically and eternally (Genesis 3:17-19). But God inserted a promise of hope – a promise that someone would come and destroy Satan’s work (Genesis 3:15).

For thousands of years, God’s people waited for this promise this Savior to come. During that time, the Lord gave them clues which would point to His Son as their saving substitute. In Micah 5:2 God said the Savior would be born in Bethlehem. In Isaiah 7:14 God promised that the Savior would be born of a virgin. That the Savior would be rejected and die on a cross (Isaiah 53:3& John 3:14). Perhaps most unbelievable of all was the promise that the Savior would rise from the dead. (Hosea 6:2). With all of these hints you would think that everyone should have been ready for the Savior’s arrival. But they weren’t.

Of course the story doesn’t end there because some 2,000 years later, a Child was born. He was born in Bethlehem, of a virgin, just as God had said. The Lord even sent some of His angels to clue the world in on this significant event (Luke 2). Some shepherds went to see the even but most missed His coming.

Jesus grew and became quite a person! He healed the sick. He cured blindness and those with crooked limbs. He cast out demons and even brought somebody who was dead back to life (Luke 7:22). Did the world follow Him? Some did, but most thought He was crazy and said all kinds of nasty things about Him.

You would think people would have applauded and appreciated Him. You would think they would have clung to Him and worshiped Him and stood in awe of Him. You would think that. But you would be wrong. They didn’t do it back then and they don’t do it now.

And then, Jesus Christ, the One born in Bethlehem of a virgin, who had fulfilled hundreds prophecies, who had done everything we couldn’t, who healed the sick and brought the dead back to life, who rejected one temptation after another, was nailed to a cross. People laughed as He died. Dead Jesus was quickly buried by His friends and family members in a borrowed tomb. His enemies placed a guard at the tomb. They made Jesus’ grave as secure as they knew how (Matthew 27:64-66).

But the Gospels do not end with Jesus’ death and burial. Jesus does something quite unexpected. He rises, and in that resurrection, despair and despondency are defeated. Depression and dejection are conquered. Desolation and death are crushed as Jesus comes back to life. Unbelievable? Unexpected? Jesus had said He would die (John 12:40) but He also said He would rise (Matthew 27:63). But nobody expected it.
When one of His friends, Mary Magdalene, went to the tomb, she was shocked to find it empty. Who can blame her? If you have buried someone close to you, you don’t go back to the grave expecting to see an empty hole. If you DID come upon an empty hole, you wouldn’t think, “Wow, my friend has come back to life.” You would come to the same conclusion that Mary did, “They have taken my Lord away, she said, and I don’t know where they have put him” (John 20:13).

But the resurrection of Jesus is why Christians say, “Christ is risen.” It is a truth that has changed the world. Our calendar is changed to mark His birth and coming. Our day of worship is changed to mark the day of His resurrection. Cemeteries are changed from places of weeping and wailing to a stopping place before an endless reunion. Christ is risen. This is the truth that has changed the world. But the question is, “Has it changed you?”