If Christ Be Not Risen All Would be Hopeless

© 2023 by Tom Boynton (editing by Kathy Boynton)

One day, a dear brother showed me one of his hymnbooks.  It had been specifically compiled for use by Christians as they gather to participate in the “Lord’s Supper.”

My friend’s book included a hymn written years earlier.  The original version of that hymn included several verses regarding Christ’s death, and a final verse speaking of His resurrection.  My friend’s hymnbook had eliminated that last verse.  When I asked him why, he referred me to Christ’s statement in the following scripture.

“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.” (1 Corinthians 11:26)

 My brother believed it would be inappropriate to introduce the resurrection into a hymn being used to ponder His death.  Now, let me point out that my brother firmly believed in the resurrection.  He was not, in any way, trying to deny it.  However, I think he was ignoring the last three words in the above passage:  “till he come.”

When we remember the Lord in His death, the only reason it makes sense to do so is that His death was victorious, culminating in His resurrection.  Without the resurrection, Christ’s death accomplished nothing.  In speaking about His own imminent death, Christ, Himself, had said:

“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” (John 10:17-18)

When Christ told His disciples that he was facing crucifixion, He also told them about His coming again.

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:1-3)

Christ’s resurrection is an integral part of our joy as we remember His death “till he come.”  Without His resurrection, Christ wouldn’t be coming back!  The apostle Paul emphatically declared the importance of this in his letter to the Corinthian believers.

“… if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. … And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.  Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17-18)

Shouldn’t our thoughts of the Lord always have His resurrection in view, especially as others who don’t even know Him, think they are celebrating His resurrection?  Shouldn’t our thrill concerning His glorious resurrection be emphatically expressed, by us, in all its glory, especially to the unsaved around us who are contemplating it but celebrating it ignorantly?

 

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