(#25) It Would Have Radically Changed the World

  1. Share
11 1

If Jesus Rose from the Dead, then (#25) It Would Have Radically Changed the World [audio]

But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” Acts 17:5-7

The second greatest circumstantial evidence that points to the validity of the resurrection is the global movement that began at that moment in Jerusalem. The world was being turned “upside down” not only in the radical transformation of the individual human heart, but the very fabric of culture was also being changed. Views and practices that were long-held and socially ingrained were being challenged and overturned. Here are just ten[1]:

  • Abortion and infanticide
  • Human sacrifices
  • Prostitution
  • Pedophilia
  • Slavery
  • View of marriage
  • View of women, widows and orphans
  • View of the blind, lame and diseased
  • View of the poor
  • View of labor

When the Romans discarded their infants into the river, the Christians plucked them out. In a world where women were second-class or even low-class, mutilated and abused, Christians regarded them as a fellow heir and built safe houses. Where young boys were made sexual toys, Christians eventually put a stop to pedophilia. When plagues invaded the land and people fled, Christians remained behind to care for the sick. Where orphans were constricted to workhouses, Christians built orphanages.

When Christianity was born, the Romans detested manual labor and seventy-five percent of their work was done by slaves. It was the Christian worldview that transformed the view of labor and the work ethic. When the slave trade raged in Europe, William Wilberforce dedicated his life to abolishing it. When the king was the law, might made right and tyranny reigned, Samuel Rutherford wrote Lex Rex: The Law and the King and the notions of liberty and justice and God-given rights were given wing. It was a Christian worldview that established modern universities and hospitals and gave birth to modern science. 

There isn’t enough space to list the impact this uprising, started 2,000 years ago, has had on the world. We have yet to even mention its deep influence on art, music and literature through people like Rembrandt, Bach and Bunyan.

C. F. D. Moule, Cambridge scholar, stated that Jesus ripped a great hole in history the size and shape of the resurrection. It’s hard to put it more succinctly. 

No matter how hard people try to discount the historicity of Jesus or the empty tomb or the resurrection appearances of Jesus, it is impossible to deny that a revolution began on that morning—a revolution that continues to reverberate around the world.

It wasn’t a revolution begun and propagated by the high and the mighty, but by the common man. This, too, was revolutionary. The world seeks the rich and the famous; God seeks the humble and contrite of heart. Peter and John, were “uneducated and untrained”, yet they stood up in the face of the Jewish authorities and defied their order to speak no longer in the name of Jesus. So too, countless no-named people have been part of a two-thousand-year movement that has headed west from Jerusalem and moved around the globe, completing its circuit in the Muslim world, where many are coming to Christ in numbers never seen before.

This is the revolution that began when Magdalene was sobbing before the empty tomb and heard Jesus speak her name. It began when Thomas felt the nail prints in His hands and fell to his knees proclaiming “My Lord and my God!”. It began when Jesus left and the Holy Spirit came to empower the hotel maid and the plumber, the farmer and the rancher, the truck driver and the trash man. Yes, the Lord told us that there would be weeds within the church, those who pretend to be followers of Jesus but are not. You can look down the history of the church and see the ugly fruit of their work as well. But, it has been the steadfast labor of the humble and faithful servants of Christ that have fueled its steady growth.

This is that great cloud of witnesses.

God has entrusted the primary work of the kingdom to the common, ordinary believer. May we ever carry on the great heritage that we have been given.

[previous] [next]


[1] Numerous resources record the impact of a biblical Christian worldview. However, I commend to you an excellent summary which I made required reading at the Focus Leadership Institute: How Christianity Changed the World, by Alvin Schmidt

Community tags

This content has 0 tags that match your profile.

Comments

To view comments or leave a comment, login or sign up.

Related Content

30
(#2) The Seal Was Broken
 If Jesus Rose from the Dead, then (#2) The Seal Was Broken [audio] We don’t spend much time talking about the seal that was placed upon the tomb, but I think it is significant. Here is the historical record: The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. (Matthew 27:62-66) The account states that the chief priests and the Pharisees “made the tomb secure by sealing the stone…”.  This seal was most likely several ropes that were drawn across the stone and then affixed to the tomb walls with a soft clay imprinted with some symbol of authority. It was also likely that the ropes were sealed at their juncture in front of the stone. In this way, no one could move the stone or the ropes without breaking the dried clay and destroying the “seal” affixed upon the clay.  The seal was there to “put on notice” that no one was to mess with the tomb. Rome could deal quite nastily with those who did so. Now, this doesn’t mean much to us today, for we are long past the norm of using “seals” as they were utilized in ancient times. but in those days, a seal was inviolable[1]. It represented authority, authenticity, and finality. No one messed with a seal. In the book of Esther, when King Ahasuerus issued the order to save the Jews, he commanded them to “seal it with the king's ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked.” (Esther 8:8) When Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, “… a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel." (Daniel 6:17) In the vision concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, the Scripture says: And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” (Isaiah 29:11) The permanence of a seal against all who were unauthorized to break it was an inviolable part of their world.  It becomes even more apparent when John is caught up to heaven and there beholds the scroll with seven seals. John weeps because there was “no one worthy to open the scroll or to look into it” (Revelation 5:4). Of course, we find that the Lamb, “standing as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6), was worthy to break the seals. And when each of those seals were broken, great calamity came upon the earth. Seals in the Scripture mean something. And John had wept, because the seal represented an inviolable wall to anyone who did not have the authority to break it. Seals show authority. They show authenticity. And they show finality for all except the one who had the authority to break them. And so, we now come back to the tomb. The seal, whether it was a Roman seal or the High Priest’s seal, represented a fixed closure that no one was allowed to breach. When it was set upon the tomb, there was a finality, a stamp of ultimate authority, that said, “This tomb is closed.” Ah, but God is not subject to the laws or seals of man. I can imagine that when the earth began to shake and the stone was rolled aside, that those clay seals with the authority of man impressed upon them broke into a thousand pieces and lay as trash littering the ground. If Jesus rose from the dead, then the seal of man, meant to keep Him in the grave, had been utterly and completely destroyed. But there is one more thing that must be mentioned regarding “seals”. It is important to note that God has given us this detail in the record to help substantiate the reality of the accounts of the empty tomb and the risen Lord Jesus. But it also brings our minds to something quite wonderful. In John 6:27, Jesus said: Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” If God seals something, it is sealed! In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13) “… it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 1:21) This is God’s seal of authority, authenticity, and finality. You are His, sealed with His guarantee. Oh, my, dear brothers and sisters in Christ! How deep is the steadfast love of God that He should do such mighty things to secure us to Himself and then tell us that He has put His own seal upon you and me? As David writes: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.” (Psalm 139:6) [previous] [next]     [1]Inviolable /ĭn-vī′ə-lə-bəl/: never to be broken, infringed or dishonored; unassailable; secure from violation or assault or trespass
10
If Jesus Rose from the Dead, then... (#0)
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important truth claim in a biblical worldview. It is the key apologetic for Christianity. It is the most important event in history. The implications of the Resurrection are so deeply woven into the fabric of our Christian faith that it is important for us to continually embed its truths into our heart and mind such that it becomes an ever-present reality. To do this, I would like for us to ponder fifty compelling arguments and implications that are true if Jesus, indeed, “rose from the dead.” We will look at these, one a day, over the next seven weeks. This will take us through Ascension Day and Pentecost. The latter two are important days of remembrance following the Resurrection and we will highlight them. But more importantly, I want to help people contemplate, on a daily basis, over a sustained period of time, the tremendous significance of the Resurrection. We will do this by considering not only the many proofs, but also the many deep implications. I would encourage you to do this as devotions with your spouse or as a study for your small group and then engage in a healthy discussion (suggested questions will be provided in the daily email). My prayer is that God will use these days to increase faith within the Body of Christ and our ability to provide a "neighborly apologetic" to those who are open to hear as the result of the relationships we are building with them. Paul states that without the resurrection, our faith would be in vain and we would still be lost.  “… if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”      1 Corinthians 15:17 This is not a minor statement, and it should cause us pause, for it puts this unique historical event into sharp perspective. Without the Resurrection, we are hopelessly lost. We are without a true faith and we are unforgiven, still condemned in our sins. We should probably read that verse over several times before plowing forward. It is easy for me, and possibly you, to treat Easter as another Christian holiday marked by multiple, and possibly extensive, preparations. Church choirs rehearse diligently and on overtime, special services are prepared (think Good Friday and sometimes Sunrise Services), thousands of lilies are tended and provoked to bloom at the right time and are purchased to line sanctuary rails, special meals are planned and prepared and joyously consumed, treasure hunts are created, painted eggs are hidden and Easter baskets are filled with chocolate bunnies, peeps, and who knows what else the market has, and will, come up with.  The point here is that just like Christmas and Thanksgiving and every other holiday, including birthdays, anniversaries, and the multitude of “take-your-boss-to-lunch” kind of days, they are preceded with much preparation, happy execution, and then forgotten except to toss the wrappings into the trash and press on with life as usual. When I was at the White House, the annual “Easter Egg Roll” on the south lawn was a big deal with weeks of preparation, followed immediately by a massive clean-up and the Secret Service hustling folks out of the “compound”. The next day, it was impossible to find any evidence that there had been anything going on. For the Resurrection, however, Paul implies that it is something so critical to our faith that it should be an ever present reality. The astounding cry, “He lives!” should be ongoing, not a one-and-done holiday. Certainly, "We serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today," as the famous hymn states, is an astounding, continual reality. I believe it is important for us to frequently ponder and meditate upon the deep implications that the tomb was really, truly empty and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is absolutely true. So, we will look at not only these implications, but also the apologetic propositions and the incredible truths that logically follow this unmatched historical assertion. We will generally lay down the apologetic arguments first and then deal with the implications. And hopefully, after working your way through all of this, you will have imprinted these implications and truths deep in your heart such that they will help you with your walk into the darkness we call future. Because it is the Resurrection of Christ that stands not only at the forefront in the apologetic reality of who Jesus is and what God has done for us, but also the enduring hope we have in Christ. As another famous hymn states: "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow." [Next: It Would Have Shaken Everything]