What Greater Sign?

While we celebrate the resurrection particularly on one Sunday a year, Christians also celebrate the resurrection every Sunday. Indeed, we celebrate every Sunday. Often, however, it is easy for us to move back into our sermon series and extra curriculars, and move away from the beauty and power of the fact that this Jesus did rise from the grave. 

Even as I write this article, I am painfully aware of my own ability to forget the majesty of what God has done. We are too easily sucked back into a world of worry and fear, as if Christ had not risen from the grave. On the other hand, if we are not careful, we may go on like the world looking for better signs of his grace and love, hoping for more brilliant displays of his glory.

I am reminded of the time Jesus had just fed thousands with little more than a kid’s lunchbox (John 6:1-14). Jesus retreated from all and his disciples went across the Sea of Galilee and before they had arrived, Jesus once again proved his power and authority over the elements by walking on the water, meeting them on the face of it and stepping into their boat. They were frightened at what they had witnessed (John 6:15-21). It was the power of one who would soon die and rise again.

Arriving at the shore, he and his disciples were met once again with the very same multitudes that had fed off the miracle of Jesus in the five loaves and two fish. They asked how they might also do the works of God. Jesus’ response: believe. They countered, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe in you? What work do you perform?” (John 6:30)

The loaves and the fish were not enough for them. Still today, the cross and resurrection are not enough for some. Even rising from the dead would not break their unbelief. Like the multitudes who had eaten their fill and craved more, people today balk at the evidence of Jesus’ power and authority. Even if they were to see his risen body and to put their hands in the wounds, they would not believe. But present unbelief is not only passive in ignoring the evidence.

Romans 1 tells us that it is in the unrighteousness of our own hearts that we suppress the truth in the face of irrefutable evidence (Romans 1:18-20). Our own hearts testify to the existence and the power of God. Our own conscience bears witness to the image in which we were created and to his law (Rom 2:15). Even if we are unable to place our hands in the wounds or hear his voice from heaven, we are without excuse.

If this is true of all, what excuse do we have as Christians to neglect the ever-present power of our risen King? What greater sign could there be of the love of God than this? We too, like all others, were once dead in our sin and trespasses. We too, like the rest, were gone astray and seeking our own way. But God in his divine mercy, shows his love in that while we were yet sinners and enemies to his throne, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6-8). “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” (1 Peter 2:24) This Jesus, “suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit…” (1 Pet 3:18) 

It is in light of what God has done in Christ—life, death, and resurrection—that all are called to repent and believe. And those who believe are to be baptized in his name, “as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” (1 Pet 3:21b-22)

Friends, if we are believing in him, we have need of no other evidence than his Word. The mystery hidden for ages is now revealed: Christ in us, the hope of glory! (Colossians 1:26-27) “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” (Col 1:28)

 If you are reading this and cannot claim that hope today, may you be convicted by the Spirit of God to turn from sin and believe in the risen Jesus, who was sent by the Father, crucified and raised for the justification of all who believe. What greater sign could there possibly be?