He is Risen Indeed!
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Matthew 28:5-7 (Easter Sunday)
INTRODUCTION: Today is Easter Sunday, and so we are going to be looking at the resurrection of Jesus, but I want to look at it from several different perspectives this morning. We are going to look at three different belief systems and how each one views the resurrection of Christ: 1) How does atheism view the resurrection of Christ? 2) How does theological liberalism view the resurrection of Christ? And 3) How does Christianity view the resurrection of Christ? The title of our message this morning comes from the traditional Easter greeting: “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” (Read Matthew 28:5-7 and pray.)
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There are many ways to greet each other at Easter. The Hallmark Page gives a variety of suggested greetings. One is simply, “Happy Easter and God bless.” That’s not bad. I like that they have God in there!
But a lot of their suggestions seem to focus more on the time of the year than the reason Easter exists in the first place. So, they have such suggestions as, “After the winter we’ve had, I hope you’re feeling as glad as I am to say hello to Easter and springtime.” Or “Wishing you sunshine, good times and a very happy Easter!” Or even “ Happy, hoppy Easter to you!” Short but sweet but kind of misses the point.
Now to be fair, they do include some religious greetings such as: “Praying your Easter will be bright with the hope and joy of our risen Savior.” That’s nice. And “He is risen! Hoping your Easter is happy and blessed.” I like that too!
Christians sometimes debate whether we should say, “Happy Easter!” or “Happy resurrection day!” I’m good with both. But probably my all-time favorite greeting is the one we started the service with today. “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” It’s a call and response greeting like, “God is good! All the time!” It focuses on the central reason for celebrating Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, and it is full of joy and celebration. “He is risen! He is risen indeed!”
Sadly, some people have a very different response to the announcement that Jesus is risen, and so we are going to look at two common responses that fall short today before circling back to the Christian response: “He is risen indeed!”
I. Atheism – Jesus is risen in myth
So first, let’s look at atheism. How does atheism respond to the announcement that Jesus is risen? Instead of saying, “He is risen indeed!”, atheism says that Jesus is risen in myth. In other words, it never happened! It’s nothing but a legend! It’s all stories. It’s all a myth!
A. Makes the claim that Christianity got their stories of Jesus from early pagan myths
Well, if it’s all a myth, then where did Christians get the idea that Jesus rose from the dead? Atheism often makes the claim that Christianity got their stories of Jesus from ancient pagan myths. Every year around Easter you will see various memes popping up on Facebook or other social media sites claiming that the stories of Jesus as found in the Bible are just rehashes of pagan myths that were written down thousands of years before the time of Christ. And at first, these memes seem pretty convincing. They’re certainly convincing to those posting them. However, once you examine the claims more closely, you see that there is really no basis to these claims at all.
B. Examples: Horus; Mithras; Quetzalcoatl
Let me give you three examples of pagan myths and how people try to connect them to Jesus: the myths of Horus, Mithras and Quetzalcoatl. You may have already seen some of these online in the past weeks leading up to Easter.
1) Horus
Let’s start with Horus, the Egyptian god of war and sky. Horus is pictured in Egyptian writings as a man with a falcon’s head. And the various memes going around make claims such as this – that according to the ancient Egyptian myths: 1) Horus was born on December 25; 2) he was born of a virgin; 3) he was baptized by an individual known as Anep the Baptizer; and 4) he was crucified and raised from the dead three days later. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Now there are other parallels that are claimed as well, but these are the four main ones. And the people making these claims say, “Look at that! This was all recorded in pagan mythology thousands of years before Jesus came. These things never really happened to Jesus. The early Christians just made up these stories about Jesus using the writings of the early pagan myths.”
So, you might wonder, what are we to make of all this? It does seem like some pretty strong coincidences. Well, the whole thing falls apart when you start looking at it more closely. For example, the claim that Horus was born on December 25 is completely false. There is no specific date given for the birth of Horus in any of the Egyptian writings. Besides, the Bible never gives a date for Jesus’ birth anyways. We don’t know what day Jesus was born. December 25 was just chosen as a day we could all celebrate together.
Okay, then what about Horus’ virgin birth? This is also false. According to the Egyptian myths, Horus’ mother was not a virgin woman but the goddess Isis. Likewise, this supposed Anep the Baptizer is not found in any Egyptian writings. And there is no record of Horus being crucified and raised from the dead three days later. Crucifixion didn’t even exist in ancient Egypt! That was something the Romans came up with later.
So where did all the information for this meme come from? It was all made up by a man named Gerald Massey back in the 1800’s. There are no records of any of these claims before Gerald Massey presented them, there is no evidence for any of these claims in the ancient Egyptian writings, and all of these claims are completed rejected by any serious Egyptologists. So much for Horus, the god of war and sky!
2) Mithras
Well, what about Mithras then? Mithras was a Roman god. And once again, according to the memes: 1) Mithras was born of a virgin; 2) he had twelve disciples; and 3) he gave those disciples a meal consisting of his body and blood. Once again, it all sounds pretty convincing at first, until you do some reading and discover that actually according to the myths: 1) Mithras was born from a rock, not from a virgin; 2) he had two companions, not twelve disciples; and 3) the Mithraic meal was not shared with disciples but rather with the sun god, Sol, and they didn’t eat Mithras’ flesh but the flesh of a bull.
Not only are all the details wrong, but the timeline is wrong also. Christians were already proclaiming the virgin birth, writing about the twelve disciples and celebrating the Lord’s Supper long before they ever heard about the Mithraic cult which didn’t become popular until a hundred years or so after the time of Christ. So much for Mithras!
3) Quetzalcoatl
Well, how about Quetzalcoatl then? Quetzalcoatl was the Aztec god of the sun and the wind. He is pictured in Aztec writings as a serpent with feathers. Once again, the memes present various parallels between Quetzalcoatl and Jesus, most of which cannot be backed up but the main problem here is simply one of geography. The Aztecs lived in northern Mexico, so Christianity could not possibly be based on the Quetzalcoatl myths. No Christians even heard about Quetzalcoatl until sometime in the sixteenth century.
C. Contrast to the gospels which were written within the lifetime of the people who witnessed these events
Now, contrast these various pagan myths with the gospels which were written within the lifetime of the people who witnessed the events of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. The irony here is that so many people on social media pass on the details about these myths as truth without ever examining the basis of them, so that they end up being the ones who are spreading myths rather than Christians. The more you study the supposed details of these myths, the more the details fall apart; whereas with Christianity, the more you study the details of Jesus’ resurrection, the more it holds together! Atheism says Jesus is risen in myth. Christianity says Jesus is risen indeed!
II. Liberalism – Jesus is risen in metaphor
Well, how about theological liberalism then? What does theological liberalism say about Jesus’ resurrection? Theological liberalism says that Jesus is risen in metaphor. Notice we are talking about theological liberalism here, not political liberalism. Theological liberalism has nothing to do with politics. For simplicity’s sake I will just use the word “liberalism” from here on out, but please know that we are talking about theological liberalism rather than politics.
Liberalism gained popularity in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. And there are some clear distinctions between liberalism and Biblical Christianity.
A. Focuses more on the teachings and ethics of Jesus
First of all, liberalism focuses more on the teachings and ethics of Jesus. Liberalism seeks to separate the teachings of Jesus from his miracles and actions. But you can’t separate what Jesus said from what he did. As J. Gresham Machen, one of the early defenders of biblical Christianity from liberalism, writes: “According to Christian belief, Jesus is our Savior, not by virtue of what He said, not even by virtue of what He was, but by what He did. He is our Savior, not because He has inspired us to live the same kind of life that He lived, but because He took upon Himself the dreadful guilt of our sins and bore it instead of us on the cross. Such is the Christian conception of the Cross of Christ.” (Machen, J. Gresham. Christianity & Liberalism, p. 99. GLH Publishing. Kindle Ed.)
B. Denies the miraculous and the inspiration of Scripture
Another distinction between liberalism and biblical Christianity is that liberalism denies both the miraculous and the inspiration of Scripture. Dr. Gerd Ludemann is a good example of a modern liberal theologian. Ludemann was professor of Early Christianity at Gottingen University in Germany from 1983 to 1999. He says this about the Bible: “The view of the Bible as the Word of God or as Holy Scripture belongs to a past time. Today it hinders understanding. The Bible is the word of human beings.” (Ludemann, Heretics, p. 219). That is a very different understanding than that of the Bible as the inspired Word of God.
Liberalism also denies the miraculous in Scripture, such as Jesus’ miracles or the virgin birth. Ludemann describes the virgin birth as “the unholy, premarital, and probably violent fathering of Jesus.” (Ludemann, Virgin Birth?, p.141) Of course, if there are no miracles, there can be no actual resurrection. And if the Bible isn’t true, then there is no need to believe in the resurrection anyways.
C. Makes the claim that Jesus did not really rise from the dead, but rather is meant as an example or inspiration
Well, if there is no actual resurrection, then what are we to make about the resurrection accounts in the Bible? Liberalism says it’s all a metaphor. Jesus did not really rise from the dead, but these accounts are simply meant as an example or inspiration for us instead. Ludemann makes the following statements concerning the resurrection: “We can no longer take the statements about the resurrection of Jesus literally” (Ludemann, What Really Happened to Jesus, p. 134). “Jesus decayed and did not rise bodily” (Ludemann, The Unholy in Holy Scripture, p. 133). “So let us say quite specifically: the tomb of Jesus was not empty, but full, and his body did not disappear, but rotted away” (Ludemann, What Really Happened to Jesus, p. 135). And finally, “There is no such thing as the ‘Risen Christ’” (Ludemann, The Great Deception, p. 110). (Note: The various Ludemann references in this message are all found in Dr. Paul Hartog’s article, “Christianity and Liberalism,” located at https://faith.edu/faith-news/christianity-and-liberalism/)
We see this same liberal understanding of the resurrection in a 2019 interview between New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and Dr. Serene Jones, the president of Union Theological Seminary in New York. The article begins with Kristof asking Jones: “Do you think of Easter as a literal flesh-and-blood resurrection? I have problems with that.” Jones responds by saying, “When you look at the Gospels, the stories are all over the place. There’s no resurrection story in Mark, just an empty tomb. Those who claim to know whether or not it happened are kidding themselves. But that empty tomb symbolizes that the ultimate love in our lives cannot be crucified and killed.” (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/20/opinion/sunday/christian-easter-serene-jones.html)
As you can see, liberalism does not believe in a literal resurrection. For liberalism the empty tomb is just a symbol. It’s a metaphor that encourages us to keep on loving because love can never really die. Liberalism says Jesus is risen in metaphor. Christianity says Jesus is risen indeed!
III. Christianity – Jesus is risen indeed!
And, of course, that is what we are celebrating as a church this morning. “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” We believe in a God of miracles, and we believe that God’s word is true. We believe that Jesus’ teachings are important, but we also believe that the teachings about Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection are equally important. And they are not only important, but true!
And although you could just take it all on faith, the Bible and history provide important evidences for Jesus’ resurrection. Remember what we said earlier? The more you study the supposed details of the pagan myths, the more the details fall apart, whereas the more you study the details of Jesus’ resurrection, the more it holds together! In our time remaining let’s look at some of these evidences that Jesus is risen indeed.
A. The tomb was empty
– Matthew 28:11-15
The first and one of the most important pieces of evidence is that the tomb was empty. We read in Matthew 28:11-15:
While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. (Matthew 28:11-15)
One thing most everyone agrees on is that the tomb was empty on Easter morning. The disciples, the chief priest and the guards all agreed – the body of Jesus was no longer in the tomb! If it had been, the authorities could easily have produced the body and stopped all the rumors from circulating. But they didn’t because they couldn’t. And they couldn’t because the body was not there. That’s the first piece of evidence for the resurrection: the tomb was empty.
B. There were multiple witnesses
– 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
A second piece of evidence is that there were multiple witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. We read in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8:
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)
If only one person saw Jesus alive after the resurrection, I suppose you could say they were either lying or mistaken. But when all the disciples saw Jesus risen together as one group, and then you have individuals such as Peter and James and Mary Magdalene, and then five hundred people all at once, most of whom were still alive when Paul was writing this letter, and then even Paul saw the risen Christ from heaven – that is some pretty strong evidence.
Even today some skeptics speculate that the disciples were hallucinating when they saw Jesus, but there is no such thing as mass hallucinations, and then you still have to explain the empty tomb. If the disciples were just hallucinating, then Jesus’ body was still in the grave and the authorities could have produced it at any time. That’s the second piece of evidence for the resurrection: there were multiple witnesses to the risen Christ.
C. The disciples’ lives were changed
– John 20:19-20
And then a third piece of evidence is that the disciples’ lives were changed. We read in John 20:19-20:
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. (John 20:19-20)
The disciples’ lives were not only changed on that first night, but they were changed forever. They went from hiding in the upper room out of fear of the authorities to boldly proclaiming the gospel of Christ to the whole world! All twelve of the disciples either died or were exiled for their faith in the resurrection. Some people still claim that the disciples stole the body from the tomb and were lying about the resurrection, but people don’t die for a lie.
Something must have happened to account for this change in their lives. And that something was the resurrection. J. Gresham Machen writes: “What was it that within a few days transformed a band of mourners into the spiritual conquerors of the world? It was not the memory of Jesus’ life; it was not the inspiration which came from past contact with Him. But it was the message, ‘He is risen.’ That message alone gave to the disciples a living Savior; and it alone can give to us a living Savior today.” (Machen, J. Gresham. Christianity & Liberalism, p. 35). GLH Publishing. Kindle Edition.)
The disciples’ lives were changed by the resurrection, and countless lives continue to be changed today by the risen Christ.
D. If Christ is not raised, your faith is in vain
– 1 Corinthians 15:14-19
There are other evidences we could look at this morning, but the final point I want to focus on today is this: if Christ is not raised, your faith is in vain. The apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:
If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 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…. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. (1 Corinthians 15:14-19)
There’s a reason skeptics keep attacking the resurrection of Christ, and that’s because they know the resurrection is essential to Christian faith. The message of Christianity is not only that Jesus died on the cross for your sins but that he rose from the dead on the third day. If there is no resurrection, then there is no Christianity. If Jesus is risen only in myth, then your faith is in vain, and you are still in your sins. If Jesus is risen only in metaphor, then there is no salvation, no forgiveness and no hope of life after death. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
CONCLUSION: And that’s why the message of Easter is such good news. Jesus is risen indeed! I don’t know that there are many atheist churches, but if there are, I would be curious to know how they handle the Easter greeting. I can’t imagine people greeting one another, “He is risen! He is risen in myth!” And I’ve never been to a liberal church for Easter, but I don’t imagine they greet each other, “He is risen! He is risen in metaphor!”
But I do know what this church teaches and believes. And when I greet you on Easter morning, there is only one response I long to hear: “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” The tomb was empty. There were multiple witnesses. The disciples’ lives were changed, and countless lives continue to be changed today. Christ has conquered sin and death and when you put your faith in him, you will be raised also.
That is the good news of Easter. Jesus is not risen in myth. He is not risen in metaphor. He is risen indeed. Therefore, your faith is not in vain. “He is risen!!! He is risen indeed!!!”
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Links for further reading:
• Horus Ruins Christmas (fun animated video)
• Forty Quotes from Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism
© Ray Fowler
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