The Virgin Birth and Resurrection — Welcome Detweiler

The Virgin Birth and Bodily Resurrection as Foundations of Christianity

If the story of Christ, as recorded by the four gospelers, ended with the account of the burial of Christ, we would have no gospel to preach, no salvation to offer to needy sinners, and no hope that we or any of our loved ones would ever be seen after death.

Two of the great pillars upon which Christianity rests are the virgin birth of Christ and the physical resurrection of Christ. If either one of these pillars are removed, the whole gospel scheme is demolished.

Denial of Christ's Bodily Resurrection

It can no longer be called Christianity. I want to speak very emphatically on this subject, for during the past few decades dangerous men have found their way into the pulpits of what were once fundamental churches, and these have very cunningly undermined one of these important pillars.

Some have gone so far as to deny both the virgin birth of Christ and his bodily resurrection. They may follow Christ from Bethlehem to Calvary with recognized interest, but they leave him in the grave.

His body became the prey of corruption according to these unscriptural theories. They would tell us he did not rise from the dead, nor did he ascend into heaven, nor is he in heaven a glorified man, nor is he ever coming again.

Refuting the Wrong-Tomb Explanation

A professor at a rather famous university was asked to explain the fact that the women and the disciples found an empty tomb, and this was his explanation. I believe that the early visitors got confused in their directions and went to the wrong tomb.

This answer proves that even professors sometimes are found invading the territory that belongs only to the ridiculous. So far as we know, there was no other tomb nearby to which they could have gone by mistake.

Did you ever hear of three or more bereaved ones who buried a loved one, and in no less than three days forgot where the loved one was buried? Did the Roman soldiers guard the wrong tomb? Did some light-headed rambler put spices and linens in an empty tomb?

If you haven't heard this silly explanation, you may have heard one that is equally absurd. I care not how sincere any representative of religion may be if he denies the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, he is undermining the whole structure of Christianity.

The Scriptural Evidence for the Resurrection

The Holy Spirit knew that such questions would be forthcoming, and he devotes the greater portion of 1 Corinthians 15 to this cardinal truth. Among the statements, you will find these, if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, if Christ be not risen, then is our faith vain, yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ.

Peter, John, and the women who came early to the tomb must all be classed as telling the untruth. Later, Christ is seen in the body by the ten in the upper room, and they are witnesses of his bodily resurrection.

A week later, he appeared to eleven in the same place. He was seen of above five hundred brethren on a mountain in Galilee. He walked with the two on the road to Emmaus after his bodily resurrection. Altogether, he was seen eleven times after his death and burial.

The Bible produces unusual evidence of the physical resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and one must be willfully blind to question or deny this most important truth, for it rests on fuller evidence and surer ground than any event in history.

Christianity's Living Savior

It is the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ that makes Christianity the only living gospel in the world. The faithful followers of Mohammed can follow their leader from his birth to a cold tomb. They may still bow and worship his bones, but he is at the very best a dead leader, and this is true of every religion on the face of the earth who has sought to deify its leaders.

Again, I say, the only gospel that stands the test of time is the one that presents a living Savior, one who has passed through the portals of death, was buried, and rose again. If Christ had remained in Joseph's tomb beyond the third day, it would have been proof that he was not the Son of God, for he said to his own, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him, and the third day he shall rise again.

The Sealed Tomb Could Not Prevent the Resurrection

The devil did everything in his power to prevent the bodily resurrection of Christ. He used the chief priests and the Pharisees as agents to request Pilate to use his Roman strength to keep Christ in the tomb.

We have this record in Matthew, chapter 27. Command, therefore, that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead, and the last error shall be worse than the first.

Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch, make it as sure as ye can. So they went and made the sepulcher sure, stealing the stone and setting a watch. By this command, Pilate decreed the superlative degree of security, seal it with the strongest possible seal, the Roman seal.

How strong was that seal! What an insult to the proud Roman government! The seal is broken, the victim is never tried, not even apprehended, which proves that man's greatest seal is as a spider's web in God's hands.

And what about the watch? They were supposed to be the best, but man's best watch is no match for God. Man did his utmost to keep Christ in the tomb, and it was, humanly speaking, impossible for Christ to rise.

But God selected this occasion to glorify His Son, and at the same time to frustrate the wicked designs of the enemy. The bodily resurrection of Christ was God's way of announcing that He was completely satisfied with the work that Christ accomplished on the cross.

Resurrection, Regeneration, and New Life

Some who doubt the importance of His physical resurrection will tell us that He arose only in spirit. Such will claim that Christ died only as a martyr, and that the value of His death is seen in the example He presented of courage and loyalty to His conviction.

It is also claimed that Christ died only to create a moral effect, so that men who consider the cross will be constrained to turn from lives of sin. This theory, which has no support in the Scriptures, assumes that God is seeking the reformation of men, while in reality the crosswork of Christ is the ground of regeneration and not mere reformation.

Christ did not die to make bad men good. He did not die to make good men better, but He died to give dead men life. This work of regeneration is far superior to the aims of reformation. A sinner may reform and perish in his sin, for he must receive divine life from God before he is fit to enter heaven.

The Promise of the Returning Savior

This life that makes a new man out of a spiritually dead sinner is offered to whosoever will, and it is offered to us through a risen Savior who is seated at God's right hand this very moment. I am glad that I do not need to lead you to a tomb where the bones of a dead leader are buried, but I have the high privilege of leading you to an empty tomb where the body of a risen Savior rested for three days only.

That Savior must be living, for He promised to come again to receive every blood-washed child of God to dwell with Him for all eternity. He must be living, for He promised to come to the earth to reign in righteousness and in peace for one thousand years, and all who know Him as Lord and Savior will reign with Him.

Calling Hearers to Faith in Christ

I wonder if you know this living Savior as your very own. Have you ever received Him, or are you still hoping to gain an entrance into heaven by some other way? The risen Savior would say to you, I am the way, the truth, and the light.

No man cometh unto the Father but by me. May God help you to put your faith and your confidence in Him this very moment, for His name's sake.