the resurrection

Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in words alone but in every leaf at springtime.  Martin Luther

 

Our Savior’s resurrection is truly of great importance in Christianity, so great that His being or not being the Messiah stands or falls with it.  John Locke

 

the entire plan for the future has its key in the resurrection.  Billy Graham

 

Christianity in its very essence a resurrection religion.  The concept of the resurrection lies at its heart.  If you remove it, Christianity is destroyed.  John Stott

 

In the whole story of Jesus Christ, the most important event is the resurrection.  William Lyon Phelps

 

The resurrection of Christ is a fact.  BB Warfield

 

Prior to the resurrection, Jesus’ disciples were timid and fearful, even hiding when Jesus appeared to them.  Following the resurrection; however, they were all transformed into bold witnesses to what they had seen and heard,  even to the point of dying for their convictions

Had they not truly witnessed the risen Jesus they undoubtedly would have recanted of their teaching and opted for a simpler life free of suffering.  They certainly would have told the truth rather than dying for a lie.  Is it really plausible to assert that a group of scattered liars would remain loyal to one another and die for their lying in poverty and disgrace when riches and power could be obtained by their recanting?  Apart from the resurrection, is there any way to account for the transformation of Peter, a coward who denied even knowing Jesus before His crucifixion and resurrection, but afterwards became the fearless leader of the early church and was himself crucified upside down?  Mark Driscoll

 

It is impossible that the disciples could have persisted in affirming the truths they had narrated had not Jesus actually resurrected from the dead and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew of any other fact.  Simon Greenleaf