If the writer had any doubts concerning the fact of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, the examination of Scripture on this subject, necessary for the writing of this pamphlet, would have dispelled them all. Not that he had previously any doubt whatever, but the survey of Scripture is so convincing that it left him wondering how a tact so fully proved by competent wit-nesses, and especially having been prophesied long centuries before the event took place, could ever have been doubted. It has demonstrated to him more than ever the unique character of the resurrection of our Lord, and that the whole scheme of Christianity hinges upon it.
And further the impact that Christianity has made upon the world, the beauty of individual Christian lives, the power that resides in the Word of God as living and powerful, the fact that it has been translated in whole or in part into about one thousand languages, and is the world's best seller to-day, all tell us that the fountain, from which for centuries such a stream of blessing has been and is still flowing, must be a pure fountain, truthful and holy and divine.
We can now see still more clearly how everything hinges on the resurrection of Christ. If His assertion that He was the eternal Son of God, the eternal Word, was not true, God would not have raised Him from the dead. If it was not true that He was the eternal Son of God, then the claim to this would have been blasphemy of the very worst kind. Would God have raised a blasphemer? Surely not. Yet He raised Christ from the dead, proving that His claim to be the Son of God was true. If His claim to be the sent One of the Father, to be "the Word made flesh" (John 1:1414And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)) was not true, God would not have raised Him from the dead. Would God have raised a blasphemer? Surely not. Yet He raised Christ from the dead, proving that His claim to be "the Word made flesh" was true in the sight of heaven. If our Lord's life had been marred by one sinful thought, word, or deed, God could not have raised Him from the dead, for Christ would then have been a sinner needing a Savior. But God raised Him from the dead, proving the sinlessness of His earthly life. When our Lord died on the cross He claimed His death to be the fulfillment of the Father's will, an atoning, sacrificial, vicarious death, necessary for the vindication of God's glory, and the salvation of sinful man. With His latest breath our Lord cried with a loud voice, "IT IS FINISHED."
If this had not been blessedly true, God could not have raised Him from the dead. But He was raised by the glory of the Father, showing that heaven fully recognized the character of our Lord's death on the cross, the pledge of salvation to the believing sinner, so we read:-" He was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification." (Rom. 4:2525Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25)).
It will be thus seen that the Godhead glory of our Lord, His spotless humanity, His atoning death on the cross, and His resurrection, this last being the fullest acknowledgment of heaven of every claim that our Lord made concerning Himself when here on earth, form one indissoluble whole. Everything about our Lord stands or falls together.
We cannot do better in closing what we have to say on this vital matter than repeat the truly magnificent words of Holy Scripture:-" CHRIST WAS RAISED UP FROM THE DEAD BY THE GLORY OF THE FATHER"
These words stand in all their magnificence and depth of meaning.
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