By REV. DR. JOHN HATCHER
Religion Columnist

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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