Easter

There are various ways Christians think about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is right since the Bible itself presents Christ’s resurrection in these lights. The resurrection is evidence that God has accepted Jesus’ sacrifice for sin on our behalf, for instance. Paul was thinking about this in Romans when he wrote that Jesus “was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Rom. 4:25).

What do you suppose the reactions of Paul were as he came to Athens on his second missionary journey? He himself had been trained in Tarsus, one of the great university centers, where he had been born and grew up. The fact that Paul seemed perfectly at home in the intellectual setting of Athens reveals something of his background. He came from a distinguished university. He was visiting a distinguished university. Yet Paul was disturbed as he interacted with the Athenian philosophers. Luke tells us that they were Epicureans and Stoics, the two great schools of thought in Paul’s day.

Paul’s address begins in verse 22. When you write a formal address or sermon, you generally begin with an introduction, have three or four main points, and then a good conclusion. This is exactly what Paul does here. He has a short introduction, followed by four clear points: 1) that God is the Creator of all things; 2) that God is the sustainer of all things; 3) that God is the ordainer of all things; and 4) that we should seek Him. After this there is a conclusion which says that we should repent since we have not sought God as we should, to which he appends three inducements. It is here, at the very end, that his warning about Christ’s resurrection comes in.

Third, Paul says that God not only sustains the universe but that He also guides the affairs of men. Verse 26 says, “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”

Paul’s exact words were, “He [God] has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead” (v. 31). The resurrection of Jesus is what we remember especially on Easter Sunday when we see it as proof of all those good things that pertain to Christian people. But we find here that it is also a great warning. For it is evidence that God does not ignore sin, that justice will be meted out, and that Jesus Himself will be our judge at that day— if we will not have him as our Savior now.