RESURRECTION SUNDAY ON APRIL FOOL'S DAY!

RESURRECTION SUNDAY ON APRIL FOOL'S DAY

April Fool's Day rarely coincides with Resurrection Sunday, but it does this year.  This unique day (April 1, 2018) affords us an opportunity to remember these two themes (the Resurrection and being a fool):

1) On the very day He rose again from the dead, the risen Lord Jesus clearly defined what a fool is. A fool is anyone who refuses to believe all that the Word of God says, especially concerning the Lord Jesus: "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken...and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Lk. 24:25-27).

 
2) A fool is anyone who refuses to consider the overwhelming evidence in favor of the Resurrection, which was perhaps the most verified event in ancient history.  Over 500 people could have testified that they had seen Jesus alive (1 Cor. 15:6).  The apostles made the Resurrection the cornerstone of their preaching (Acts 4:2), and they were willing to die for this truth.

3) A fool is anyone who is willing to accept any of the alternate theories designed to explain away the Resurrection such as "The disciples stole the body."  Such theories are easily disproved by careful examination and by the basic rules of logic.  For a soldier to say (Mt. 28:13), "His disciples came by night, and stole Him away while we slept," is absurd and laughable.  If the soldier fell asleep, then how did he know what had happened?  Soldiers sound asleep are usually not good witnesses.  And why would the disciples go forth and preach what they knew to be a lie at the great cost of persecution,  prison and even death?  Some very foolish alternate theories have been suggested:  "The women went to the wrong tomb"; "The people who thought they saw Christ actually had hallucinations"; and "Jesus did not really die on the cross and somehow managed to escape the tomb so that when people later saw Him alive, it was because He had never died"  All such explanations are absurd and can be easily answered by the facts of the case. 

4) A fool is anyone who blasphemes Christ and accuses Him of the very sin of which he himself is guilty.  The chief priests and Pharisees blasphemously called Christ a "deceiver" (Mt. 27:63). Yet, in the end they were the ones who were determined to deceive the masses by lying and hiding the truth (Mt. 28:11-15).

5) A fool is anyone who refuses to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved (Acts 16:31).  What more proof could anyone need?  If He rose again from the dead, then this proves that He was everything that He claimed to be, the Son of the living God who came to this earth to provide a full and free salvation for lost sinners (Lk. 19:10; Jn. 3:16-17).  Like "Doubting Thomas," who a week later became "Convinced Thomas," we need to bend our knee before Him and cry out, "My Lord and my God!" (Jn. 20:28).

HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY

From George Zeller: www.middletownbiblechurch.org