There are certain things that have the signature of God all over them. It might be a beautiful sunrise, a star studded evening sky, or the power of the crashing thunder. To me, all of these things give testimony of God. However, it is in the resurrection of Jesus Christ where I see the hand of God at work in a most profound and powerful way. In other words, it has His signature all over it.
Two of the clearest examples of His signature are in the paradox and power of the resurrection. Let’s consider first the paradox.
There Was A Paradox Signature.
In other words, God will often do things which defy human logic or understanding. The Bible states that God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Clearly we do not have the understanding to know why God does things the way He does. For example, sometimes God reveals things that might be downright embarrassing. The Bible is not written as a man would write it, especially when dealing with heroes. Consider the account of Noah, Elijah, David, Peter, or Thomas. There were certainly many embarrassing moments in their lives that were recorded in the Scriptures. This is also clearly demonstrated in the resurrection. Consider for example:
The First Eyewitnesses were Women. All the Gospels note that the first individuals to discover the tomb empty were women. Although you and I may not see any problem with this, it was a problem in that era. Women were not held in high esteem. In that culture, a woman’s testimony was not admissible in court. In Jewish circles, it took the testimony of two women to equate to that of one man. If one were to invent a story, the last people one would place as the first witnesses would have been women. But that sounds just like God to me!
Historically speaking, embarrassing details add veracity to a historical claim. The fact that women were the first witnesses, generally speaking would not have been a good idea. Apparently, God thought otherwise.
Another embarrassing detail would be that a member of the Sanhedrin (the same Sanhedrin that executed Jesus) had to give Jesus a proper burial. The fact that the disciples were fearful and fled serves as an embarrassing factor for the resurrection account. After His crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea. This fact is highly significant because it means that the location of Jesus’ burial site was known to Jew and Christian alike. People were free to go and publically witness the sealed tomb, and later the empty tomb.
But, that’s not all. As a member of the Jewish court that condemned Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea is unlikely to be a Christian invention. There was strong resentment against the Jewish leadership for their role in the condemnation of Jesus (I Thessalonians 2:15). It is therefore highly improbable that Christians would invent a member of the court that condemned Jesus to be a hero. Strangely, it was a member of a group antagonistic to Jesus who honored Him by giving Him a proper burial instead of allowing him to be dispatched as a common criminal.
Another paradox was that there was no human motive for the resurrection. Well, some think the disciple’s created a conspiracy to start a new religion, but this makes no sense. When a conspiracy is formed, three motivating factors are usually behind such a move; power, greed, or lust. It may be one of these, two of these, or all three of these, but they will be somewhere in the equation. The disciples would not gain any power behind claiming the resurrection as history. Their preaching was making them strong enemies. They were constantly threatened by the Jewish and Roman authorities. Their power as citizens was actually decreased because of their preaching. Greed certainly could not have been a motive. They taught one should not desire earthly possessions, but spiritual ones. There is no record of a thirst for riches by the early disciples. Lust was not a factor, either. Their message taught celibacy before marriage and fidelity after marriage. So what was the point of a conspiracy? There was nothing in the earthly realm to gain.
The conclusion is that in the resurrection the disciples had no tangible motivation behind claiming Jesus had risen from the dead. We can find no reasonable motivating factors existing for these disciples to invent such a story. The only reason the disciples proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus as a fact was because His resurrection had actually occurred.
Secondly, There Was Also A Power Signature.
First, this was a real resurrection. You might be thinking about Lazarus or others, who just like Jesus, were resurrected from the grave. Well, not exactly. Jesus did not, like Lazarus, simply get up and walk out from the burial crypt and resume life in ordinary time. With Jesus, His closest friends didn’t recognize him, not even Mary Magdalene. He was different now, no longer mere human flesh. Jesus could walk through closed doors. Lazarus couldn’t do that. Jesus was not bound by the earthly laws of gravity and matter, Lazarus was. Although any resurrection qualifies as a miracle, the resurrection of Christ was different.
Second, there was life transforming power released. God changes things. Changing the water into wine is just one example. But, God has always preferred to change people instead of things. For example, James, the brother of Jesus, was changed from a skeptic to a believer because of the resurrection. James along with his brothers did not believe in Jesus during His early ministry (John 7:5). However, after the resurrected Lord appeared to him, (I Corinthians 15:7) James became a leader in the early Jerusalem church.
Paul is another example of one who was completely transformed by the resurrection of Jesus. Paul had been a persecutor of the church. After witnessing the risen Jesus, Paul became a great evangelist for the infant church.
The resurrection of Christ changed, and continues to change lives. Of course, it also changed a few other things in the process. The practice of the early church in observing baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Sunday worship all point to the resurrection. Baptism is an illustration of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. The Lord’s Supper is a symbol of Christ’s sacrificial death. In addition, it is quite odd that faithful Jews would move their worship from Saturday to Sunday unless something major had occurred on that particular day. The major Sunday morning event that changed their day of worship was the resurrection. All of this attests to the power of God at work changing things that only God could change.
Also, the resurrection is one of the major evidences that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Paul affirmed that Christ is “declared to be the Son of God with power . . . by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4).
The resurrection also represents an assurance that we can have forgiveness from our sins. Paul contended: “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (I Corinthians 15:17). The reverse of the apostle’s affirmation would be this: if Jesus was raised, sins will be forgiven when we obey the gospel.
Next, the resurrection tells the world that the kingdom of God is ruled by a living sovereign. The founder of Islam is dead and his bones lie dormant in the earth. But the founder of Christianity sixty years after his death appeared to John on the island of Patmos and said: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and. Behold I am alive for evermore” (Revelation 1:18).
The resurrection proves that physical death is not the termination of human existence. God, who is the giver of life, has the power to reanimate and glorify the human body. Christ’s triumph over the grave is Heaven’s pledge to us that we too shall be raised. This is why Jesus is referred to as the “firstfruits of them that slept.” (I Corinthians 15:20).
Finally, the Lord’s resurrection previewed the ultimate victory of Christianity over all its enemies. In the book of Revelation, Jesus is depicted as a lamb that had been slain, but was standing again. This same Lord was “the lion of the tribe of Judah” that had overcome his foes. Christians too will overcome as a result of the Lamb’s sacrifice and victory over death (Revelation 12:11).
The resurrection of the Son of God should be a constant reminder to us of these wonderful biblical truths. We honor our Master’s victory over death, not just once a year but every day, and especially on the Lord’s Day. The earliest Jewish allegation that the disciples had stolen Jesus’ body shows that the body was in fact missing from the tomb. The earliest Jewish response to the disciple’s proclamation, “He has risen from the dead!” was not to point to his occupied tomb (they clearly knew where it was) and to laugh them off as fanatics, but to claim that the disciples had stolen the body. Thus, we have evidence of the empty tomb from the very opponents of the early Christians.
Actually, the resurrection only requires us to believe on one thing: it requires only one belief: that God exists. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the foundation of the Christian faith. If there was no resurrection, Christianity is a hoax, and we are wasting our time. But the truth is, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the clearest facts of human history. After all, it has the signature of God all over it!
Dr. Worthington has been in the ministry over forty years and serves as President of Pathway Ministries.