What if Jesus Didn't RISE from the Dead?

My son, Rick, asked me a question in a discipleship group with his brother that most Christians are afraid to voice. Dad, what if the whole thing is made up? What if Jesus didn't really rise from the dead? It hit me, not because it shook my faith, but because everything hinges on that one event. As the Apostle Paul said, if Jesus stayed in the grave, we are to be pitied above all people. Today, we're going to imagine a world where the resurrection didn't happen. What would our lives be like today if Jesus didn't really rise from the dead? By the end of the video, you're going to understand why the resurrection isn't just something we celebrate on Easter Sunday. It's actually an event that holds the entire universe together. Welcome back to Get Into the Word. My name is Robbie Gallaty, and let's jump right into it. If there was no resurrection, then our message is a lie. Paul doesn't dance around this in 1 Corinthians 15, 14. Here's what he says. If Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith. In vain, it's empty, a waste of time. If there was no resurrection, then every single person who claimed to have seen Jesus was a liar. Peter, liar. Paul, a liar. Mary Magdalene, a liar. All 12 apostles, for that matter, were liars. Every witness, every testimony, every sermon ever preached about Jesus coming back from the dead for over 2,000 years, a coordinated deception.

But here's where it gets interesting. Paul doesn't just say, trust me on this one. He gives us something you can actually verify in the first century, which is why he writes in 1 Corinthians 5 through 8 that Jesus appeared to Peter. Then he appeared to the 12th, and then he goes on to say that Jesus appeared in the resurrected form to over 500 brothers at the same time. And then Paul adds this line, which is easily missed. Most of them are still alive. Now think about what he just said. He's writing this letter around 55 AD, which is roughly 22 years after the crucifixion of Christ. He's basically saying, listen, if you don't believe me, go and ask the people personally yourself. Most of them are still living. They can vouch for this. This is not the response of a con man. A manipulator does not provide a list of living witnesses for one to go out and interview. Paul actually invites the scrutiny because he knows it will hold up. You could offer fake news to a few people in the ancient world, but you couldn't fake it with people who were still living in the region at that time. You don't offer first names along with 500 eyewitnesses if you're going to tell a lie. This was a growing movement that was threatening the Roman Empire at that time and the religious leaders,

both of whom had every motivation to produce a body and then to shut the whole thing down and say that it was fake. They could have debunked the claims right away, but they never did. Why? Because Jesus' body was gone. See, the message isn't a lie. The witnesses didn't lie and the evidence holds true. Secondly, if the resurrection didn't happen, Paul goes on to say that our sins would still condemn us. Eyewitness evidence for the resurrection is one thing, but Paul doesn't stop there. He ups the ante. Look at verse 17. He says, if Christ, don't miss this, if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then your faith is worthless and you and I are still in our sins. We'd still be in our sin if Christ didn't rise, like nothing ever happened, like no debt was ever paid. To feel the weight of that, you have to understand what God set up from the beginning. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, something had to die to atone for their sin. Think of it this way. Their shame had to be covered. Genesis 321 shows us the Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife and he what? And he clothed them.

This is the first death that happened in the new world. An innocent animal died. Blood was shed and that's where it starts. Then we know what happens next. Abel offers a lamb. Then Noah offers a birth sacrifice. Then the entire nation of Israel is commanded year after year to bring a spotless lamb to raise it, to name it, to care for it, and then to lay it down on the altar. Hebrews 9.22 says plainly, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. Think about what that actually meant for a family. You raise this lamb from birth. You watch it stumble around on weak legs as a newborn. You hear it cry out on cold nights. Maybe your kids name the animal. They feed it from their own hands. It follows them around the yard. It's one of your family members in a sense. And then one day dad says, tell him goodbye. We won't be seeing him any longer. That is an R-rated experience. And it was supposed to be because God was not letting his people forget that sin cost something. Innocent blood covers guilty sin. That's the system. And it ran for thousands of years

until the lamb of God, Jesus Christ, came to the earth. The one the whole system was pointing to. And when Jesus died on the cross, think about what happened. The one who breathed life into dead men became lifeless. The hands that healed the lepers were pierced through. The voice that calmed the storms of the sea went silent. The eyes that looked to and fro for someone whose heart was turned toward God are now closed. The heart that beat with compassion stopped. It's Friday. Things look dark. The next two days are a blur. But Sunday morning is coming when that cave that held our Lord will be empty. And that empty tomb meant that the sacrifice was accepted by God. You see, the debt was paid in full. At that point, the system reached its culmination. If Jesus didn't die, the payment wouldn't be accepted. Your sins are still on God's spiritual ledger, every single one of them. But Jesus did rise, which means the payment did go through, which means you and I are fully, completely, permanently forgiven if you are in Christ. And that deserves an amen. If there was no resurrection, our hope would be useless. We talked about what's at stake for the message and for our sin. But this third consequence is the one

that shapes how you and I face death itself. Don't check out here. Verse 19 shows us if we are to put our hope in Christ, something happens. If we have our hope in Christ for this life only, then we should be what? Pityed more than anyone else. I want you to do something for me. I want you to do a thought experiment, and I want you to imagine a world where Jesus stayed in the tomb. Yes, Jesus was a great teacher, the greatest teacher who ever lived, but his bones are still there. You could book a flight to Jerusalem, drive to the site, look at his tomb where the remains of Jesus are still lying today if he didn't rise from the dead. In that world, Good Friday isn't good at all because Sunday never came. Christmas isn't a celebration because Jesus is no different than any other prophet. Funerals are terrifying because nobody knows where they're going. There's no reunion with family or friends in heaven or even on the other side. Why? Because no one is on the other side. The world is all there is. And here's what makes Jesus one of a kind. You can go visit the gravesite

of every major religious founder in all of history. Muhammad right now is in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Buddha was cremated in India. Confucius is in Khufu, China. You can go see where he is. Joseph Smith is in Navajo, Illinois. Every single one of them has a grave you can stand at, but Jesus does not. Not because there's no record of where he was buried. There is, I've actually been there. We know where the tomb is. We know where the location is. We know who owned it. It was owned by a man named Joseph of Arimathea who actually donated his own tomb for Jesus' burial. You see, the Romans put a seal on it. They posted soldiers outside the entrance to make sure no one could get in. They had every reason in the world to keep that tomb occupied. But you know what? It's empty because Jesus walked out the tomb. The stone was rolled away, not to let Jesus out, but to allow us to look in. And notice what 1 Corinthians 15 says. It gives us a stunning picture of what happened. But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead. The firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. You see, every year at Passover, a farmer would cut the first sheaves of barley

from his field and he would bring them to the priest as an offering to God. It was called the firstfruits. And the whole point of the firstfruits celebration was this. It's a preview of the harvest. It's a sample of what's coming in the future. It's basically saying, without saying a word, there is more from where this came from. And when Paul calls Jesus the firstfruits of the resurrection, here's what he's saying. Jesus is not a one-time miracle. Jesus is the first of a harvest. And if you and I belong to him. We are part of that harvest. After my son, Rig, asked me the question at the beginning, I didn't give him a theological answer. I gave him a practical one. I said, son, consider how the men who followed Jesus finished their lives. 11 of the 12 disciples died by torture, flogging, or crucifixion. According to tradition, Peter was crucified on an upside down cross. Andrew, his brother, crucified on an X-shaped cross. James, the son of Zebedee, was beheaded. Philip was hung from a tree. Bartholomew was skinned alive and then beheaded. Matthew was stabbed with a sword. Thomas, the doubter, speared to death. James, the less, was stoned to death.

Jude was clubbed to death. And Simon, the zealot, was sawn in two. People die for lies all the time, I'll grant you that. But there's a crucial difference. People who die for a lie believe that the lie is true. You see, these disciples would have died for a lie that they knew was a lie. If they had stolen the body and fabricated the resurrection, then they would have known the whole thing was made up. And I don't know anybody, not one person, who would endure flogging and crucifixion for something that they personally invented and knew the entire time it was fake. You see, they died because they had seen Jesus with their own eyes. They heard his words with their own ears. They ate meals with him in his resurrected form. They touched the wounds in his hands and nothing, not imprisonment, not beatings, not death, was enough to make them back down from their faith. Because he lives, the message is true. Because he lives, your sins and mine are forgiven. Because he lives, death is not the final chapter of our story, not mine, not yours. Which is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 54, in a shout of jubilation, here's what he says. He says, death, where is your victory? Why? Because it's been swallowed up in victory. Where, death, is your victory?

Where, death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. You see, the resurrection isn't just history. It's power available to you right now. It squelches all of your fear. It reframes all of your grief. It turns every funeral from a period into a comma. Some of you have lost someone recently and death is not the end for them. Some of you are staring a diagnosis in the face and death is not the end for you. Some of you have been living with the quiet question that Rick asked me, what if none of it is real? What if it's not true? And I want you to know, the evidence is there. The witnesses are credible, the tomb is empty, and Jesus is alive today. If you've never surrendered your life to him, today is the moment, not just with words, but through a surrendered, transformed heart. Acknowledge your sin, trust what Jesus did on the cross, and give him everything because he gave you everything. He's not a story, he's a risen savior. If this video helped you see something new in God's word, do me a favor, hit that like button and share it with someone. It really helps our channel get out there. And if you haven't subscribed, believe it or not, 85% of the people who watch videos every time haven't subscribed, so do me a favor

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