By Anthony Dell
As toddlers, most of us looked up at our dads as our saviours or heroes. We felt safe in his hands and arms. Games like being swung around, thrown into the air and caught, or even riding on his shoulders. Even though we felt skyscraper high, we felt safe. We never even thought: “What if”…?
What if Dad didn’t catch me? Or what if I fell from his skyscraper shoulders? At that age, those thoughts never entered our minds.
So, by now you might be asking yourselves… what if… what? You might be asking… Well, I’m glad that I’ve grabbed your attention!
As we all know, there are a lot of “what if”s in our lives daily. This was also very true with many men and women throughout the ages.
From the beginning of time, there have been many men and women who walked intimately with God. Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, and Moses are just a few. Let’s look at some “what if”s regarding them.
“What if…” Adam and Eve hadn’t eaten from the forbidden tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil?
“What if”… Noah hadn’t trusted God when his neighbours and friends were mocking him for building a gigantic ark?
“What if”… Abraham hadn’t had the faith in God to leave his homeland and follow God… or “What if”… his lack of faith in God hadn’t allowed him to sacrifice Isaac?
“What if”… Moses had decided that he wasn’t strong enough to lead the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt?
Hebrews 11:7-9, 17, 23 and 27 (NIV)
By faith, Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear, built an ark to save his family. By his faith, he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith, he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. By faith, Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, by faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
Now, let’s get to the big “What if”s… of today’s discussion.
“What if”…….Jesus had not risen from the dead? Have you ever stopped to think about how this would have affected mankind? Where would we, and the world, be today?
There was a great possibility of this happening, as in accounts in the Gospel records Jesus asking God to let this cup pass from Him. This prayer reveals Jesus’s mindset just before His crucifixion, how human He was and how prone to pain and suffering. In this, He expresses a natural human desire to avoid pain and suffering.
Yet despite this, He totally submitted to the Will of God, which He was able to do because, while He was fully human, more importantly, He was fully God. His Godly nature made Him perfect, while through His human nature, He still struggled with pain and torture.
Matthew 26:39, 42 (NIV)
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
So, “What if”… Jesus’s human nature had superseded His Godly nature at that moment in the garden of Gethsemane?
Again, I ask where would we, humanity, be today?
1 Corinthians 15:12-22 NIV
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if, in fact, the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
WITHOUT THE RESURRECTION:
- Jesus would not have been resurrected from the dead.
- Preaching and faith in the Gospel would be empty.
- There would be NO remission of our sins.
- Death, being a certainty, but in this death, we would have perished.
- There would have been no hope beyond this short life.
This Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. It is the most important day in our calendar. As on it we recognise God’s promise throughout the ages to bring a saviour into the world to save us from our sins.
WITH THE RESURRECTION:
- Jesus rules and reigns on the throne of God and He will return to resurrect all who believe in Him.
- The Gospel is fruitful and is our LIVING Word.
- The Gospel is the PROMISE of the forgiveness of our sins.
- Sins are forgiven, and death is defeated.
- We are undeserving HEIRS and have hope now and forever.
For us, there is no “What if”… to worry about, regarding Jesus’s resurrection. Let us take some time on Sunday to reflect on God’s wonderful gift to us and the sacrifice that He made for us with the painful death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus, who gave up His life for our sins.