The message of Easter: Death is not the end - Greg Laurie - http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/the-message-of-easter-death-is-not-the-end/
Pastor Greg Laurie offers compelling argument for historicity of Resurrection
A little boy was on his way to church on Easter morning, and he didn't really want to go. It was early, and he was cranky. His parents overheard him muttering to no one in particular, "I don't know why we have to go to church on Easter anyway! They keep telling the same old story, and it always comes out the same in the end!"
That is right. But aren't you glad it does? It is the greatest story ever told.
This Easter might be a happy day for you. You might be looking forward to spending time with family and friends. On the other hand, this may be a sad day for you. While others are dressed in their Sunday best and have big plans for the day, you are overwhelmed by deep sadness - not because of Easter itself, but because Easter is a marker of time. You might be remembering a loved one who was with you last year but isn't with you now.
Easter is for those who have been devastated by death. It has been more than six years since the Lord called our son Christopher home to heaven. At the time, I had been a pastor for 34 years. On many occasions, I had spoken to parents who had lost children and tried to say and do the right things. I had presided over many services for little ones who had gone to heaven. I thought I understood the pain parents were experiencing because a couple of my friends had lost children, and I knew their children quite well. I thought, I am as close as one could be to this without it happening to me.
In retrospect, I realize that I had no idea what it was like. It tears you apart.
Not long ago I spoke with a young woman whose husband was killed in a tragic accident. I anticipated her questions. I said, "Right now, I bet you are wondering why God took him instead of you."
She said, "I am."
"I bet you are thinking it is just not fair."
She said, "I am thinking of that."
"You are so young. You were newly married. Why did God let this happen to you?"
"That's right," she said.
"It is OK to ask those questions," I said. "But you have to understand this: you are probably never going to get an answer that will satisfy you this side of heaven."
Then I began to talk to her about the hope of the Resurrection. I reminded her that death is not the end; it is just merely a bend in the road.
Jesus' disciples had been devastated by his death. They didn't expect it. Despite the fact that Christ spoke repeatedly of his own betrayal, arrest, crucifixion and resurrection, they missed it altogether. So when it happened in real time before their eyes, it was shocking.
The problem was they didn't know how the story ended. As far as they were concerned, Jesus was going to establish his kingdom and bring the Roman occupation to an end. They thought they would rule and reign with him. But instead, he suddenly was betrayed by one of their own. He was brought up on trumped-up charges in a kangaroo court of injustice. He was flogged by Pilate. Then he was nailed to a cross. They never thought they would see him again. The dream was over. Their hope was gone.
But if they would have remembered another incident at the tomb, it would have given them perspective. If they would have thought back to the time when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, they would recall that Jesus did something unexpected. He wept. Why? Because it was not part of God's original plan for people to age. Jesus wept because his heart broke to see the devastation that death brings us.
Jesus had said to Martha, the sister of Lazarus, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:26-27 NIV)
Jesus wept, and then he brought Lazarus back to life.
The disciples had heard from an angel that Jesus had risen again. And it changed a disheartened, frightened group of fishermen, tax collectors and the like into bold preachers of the gospel. The world was not the same as a result.
That alone is, in my opinion, one of the most compelling arguments for the historicity of the Resurrection. Some claim the disciples made it up because they wanted to start a new religion. But I find it interesting that they all died a martyr's death, with the exception of John, who was banished to the island of Patmos. Not one of them recanted on their deathbed. Not one of them said, "We made it all up." If someone has lived a lie, he usually wants to get something like that off his chest on his deathbed. But none of them confessed it wasn't true. They could not deny what had changed everything about their lives. Jesus was alive.
The Resurrection impacted them, and it impacts us, too. Why? Because one day we are all going to die. There is nothing we can do to change that.
The good news is that because Jesus died and then rose from the dead, we can live forever. The resurrection of Jesus was the death of death. The Bible tells us, "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).
Here is what Easter was saying to the disciples and to us: Death is not the end. If your loved one has died as a believer in Jesus Christ, then you will see him or her again. And this Easter, here is what Christ is saying to you: "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
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