I remember

it so well. The astronauts had returned from their first

landing on the moon (for the first time man on the moon).

President Nixon had flown to the recovery aircraft

carrier to welcome the moon men who had been isolated for

fear of contamination. But President Nixon said,

"This (man on the moon) is the greatest event since

creation." I thought, what about the resurrection?

Where in the scheme of things -historical and

a-historical-does the resurrection of Jesus from the

dead come in? To me with a Bible in hand, it seems the

important events are: creation, resurrection, and the

third most important event has not happened yet.

So, this

coming Easter we celebrate the resurrection of the

historical Jesus of Nazareth. Now, just how important is

his resurrection? The Apostle Paul answers that question

in his letter to the Corinthian church. He basically

said...

Had Jesus

Christ not been raised from the dead, every Christian

sermon ever preached was in vain. Had not Christ been

raised from the dead, Billy Graham has been and is a big

joke and you who listen to Christian sermons are jerks.

Had Jesus

Christ not been raised from the dead, the idea of divine

forgiveness is the greatest trick of the devil-to

make us feel and sense guilt taken off our backs and to

have the sense of a cleansed heart. Without the

resurrection, there is no such thing as forgiveness of

sins.

Had Jesus

Christ not been raised from the dead, every loved one,

every close friend who died thinking they were Christians

and depending on the hope of eternal life, they have

perished. Consequently, foolish is he who thinks he will

see his wife again in heaven or she who will see her

mother again in heaven or the parent who will see his

child again in heaven. Without the resurrection of Jesus

Christ, when you become a flat line on the cardiac

monitor, that's it!

So, you

tell me. How important ranks the resurrection of Jesus

Christ? The resurrection- celebrated Easter

Sunday-observes that man's final enemy, death, has

been swallowed up by the victorious life of Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul put it this way: "But when this

perishable (our human bodies) will have put on the

imperishable (our glorified bodies) and this mortal

(doomed by death) will have been put on immortality

(limitless life), then will come about the saying that is

written, Death is swallowed up in victory," (1

Corinthians 15:54).

Therefore,

in Christ, listen to the sermons as messages from God.

Forgive one another as we have been forgiven by God in

Christ. Anticipate to see loved ones and to spend several

millennia with them.

So,

celebrate this Easter. Death has been knocked over!

The Rev. Dr. John

Hatcher is pastor of River's Edge Community Church in

Fayetteville.

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