liThe Miracle of the God-Man 4"

by Desmond Ford

The Bible is also impressive for what it does not say. The accounts surrounding the greatest miracleof all-the resurrection of Christ-are noteworthy for their lack of verbal embroidery.

They are too candid, honest, and lifelike to be invented. The risen Christ has watched over hisstorm-tossed church for two thousand years-and watches over you.

There are many logical reasons for believing in Christ'sgreatest miracle, his own resurrection! Let me give yousome psychological reasons for believing.

What the Bible Does Not SayThe Bible is marvelous in what it does not say in connectionwith Christ's resurrection. It doesn't say anyone saw theactual rising.

If I had been writing it-inventing it-l would surelyhave put that in! With all the trimmings.

liThe risen Christ, full of holy strength, touches the hugerock that seals his tomb. It flies away, knocking over the sol-diers in its course!"

But the Bible says no such thing. It doesn't mention therolling away of the stone. It would have been such a goodstory-but the Bible has none of it.

Candid, Honest, and LifelikeThe Bible never tells about the risen Christ appearing to hisold enemies. If the account was invented-if I'd been writingit-I would have had Jesus knocking at Pilate's bedroomwindow in the hush of sunrise. After Pilate was put in hisplace, I'd then tell about Jesus going to visit Mr. Herod!

But the Bible has none of that.What it does have is that on several occasions his disci-

ples didn't recognize him! Why put that in? Readers mightdoubt that it was Christ they saw.

The narrative of Christ's resurrection is so candid, itmust be true. It is so honest, so lifelike, considering theuniqueness of its topic.

Belt-and-Braces ThomasThink of the apostle Thomas.

In Australia, we would call Thomas a real belt-and-braces man. That is, he would wear both belt and sus-penders to hold his pants up.

Why "belt-and-braces"? Because he was a pessimist. Ifhis belt fails, he's got his suspenders.

Thomas said he would not believe in Christ's resurrec-tion, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put myfinger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side"(John 20:25 NIV). Thomas wanted to see and touch!

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A week later, Jesus appeared to Thomas. Jesus said, "Putyour finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand andput it into my side" (v. 27).

Thomas says, "My Lord and my God!"Jesus responds, "Because you have seen me, you have

believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet havebelieved" (John 20:29).

Jesus Kind to ThomasThomas was blessed because he saw the risen Christ and

believed. Jesus looks forward in time. He sees all believersdown through the millenniums. He sees us. He says we areblessed, too.

I would have been harder on Thomas, if I'd been writingit (inventing it). Jesus would say, "Thomas, I'm glad futurebelievers are not going to be like you. I curse you for yourunbelief!"

Jesus does better than that. Far better. Our Lord is verycharitable. He says, "Thomas you are blessed because youbelieve. Those who believe in Me in the future, without hav-ing seen as you have seen, are even more blessed!"

Peter and John at TombThe Bible is so lifelike in its narrative of John and Peter run-ning to the empty tomb (see John 20:3-9).

Who arrives first? John. Why? Because he is younger.Who rushes in, though? The man who got there first or theman who got there last? The man who arrived last-Peter!

Why does Peter rush in and not John? Because Peterwas always rushing in. That's why he petered out. Becausehe was always rushing in. You see how lifelike the resurrec-tion story is?

Women WitnessesThen there's the beautiful story about the women who arelast at the cross and first at the tomb.

Christianity is such a different religion. The most pro-woman book in the world is the New Testament. There's nota trace of chauvinism anywhere. In Christ there is neithermale nor female. All are one in Christ Jesus (see Galatians3:28).

Therefore, the New Testament has women as the firstwitnesses to the empty tomb and the risen Christ.

Please understand that the culture of that time, theJewish culture, would not accept women witnesses. If I hadbeen writing the story, I would never have used women wit-nesses to prove my point. But God was changing things. Hehas women witnesses at the tomb.

Mary at the TombWhat a beautiful story it is when Mary is at the tomb. Hertears are quietly coursing down her cheeks when the risenChrist comes toward her, gently and softly. She doesn't alto-gether look up. She can only see someone's feet.

"She thought he was the gardener and said, 'Sir, if youhave taken his body away, please tell me, so I can go andget him'" (John 20:15 CEV).How was Mary going to carry acorpse all alone? How lifelike to say something absurd underduress!

The risen Christ just says one word: "Mary."The psychological factors for the resurrection are

in themselves overwhelmingly sufficient to assure usof its truthfulness. And the reality of the miracle ofChrist's resurrection guarantees all other resurrec-tions. That is, the resurrections to come at thereturn of Jesus. Christ's resurrection guaranteesthe resurrection (or translation) of every believer.

A Predictive MiracleThere is one miracle more--a predic-tive miracle-we need to think about.

After Christ fed the five thousand,the crowd wanted to make him king.Jesus compels the disciples to climbinto the boat. As they cross the lake,they begin to grumble:

"Why won't Jesus let the peoplemake him the king? It would be thekind of success we've been seeking. Oneof us could be Prime Minister, anotherSecretary, another Chancellor of the Exchequer,or Treasurer, of the new kingdom."

So God does what he always does when we grumble. Hegives us something worth grumbling about. A terrible stormcomes down on the disciples, and the billows ride up. Nowthey are convinced their lives are coming to an end, andnone of them will be Prime Minister or Secretary, orTreasurer. They wrestle with the storm until the fourth hourof the night.

One Who Watches over UsWhat they don't know is that there is One up the mountainwho is watching them. His eye is ever on them. Not for a sec-ond is his gaze distracted from them. He sees them toiling atthe oars.

His strength surrounds the boat. He measures the bil-lows so they cannot flood that little boat. Then, when allseems lost, he comes down from the mountain, and walks tothem across the lake, on the water.

At first sight, the disciples are scared to death. ThenJesus says, "It is I; be not afraid" (John 6:20 KJV).The recordsays that when they took Jesus on board, "immediately theship was at the land whither they went" (verse 21).

Jesus Is with His Storm-tossed ChurchThere is two thousand years of history! Jesus broke the bread

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to feed the multitude. That is the cross of Christ, where hisbody is broken for us. The disciples climb aboard the ship. Aship is always used in Scripture, in Christian history, and inChristian doctrine as a symbol of the church.

The disciples are in the ship (or church) on the tossingbillows of earth's history. And Christ foretells that at the endof the church's voyage, there will be a great storm, a greattribulation such as never was (see Matthew 24:21). This ter-rible event will threaten to wipe out all of them in the toss-ing ship.

And where is Christ? He is up on the heavenly moun-tain-in heaven--and his eye is on us. Therefore, the billowsare never higher than he sees is good for us. Then, just whenit looks as though the world is going to swallow up thebelievers in the last great, stormy tribulation-Jesus returns.He comes down from heaven at the Second Advent, "It is I;be not afraid! Peace, be still!"

As soon as Jesus is with his disciples again, they are atthe other shore-heaven itself!

The Bible Is Holy LiteratureThere is a whole cluster of miracles in this story.There's the multiplying of the loaves and fishes, the

miracle of walking on the water, andthe calming the sea. But the biggestmiracle of all is that the story predictstwenty centuries of history! There isthe cross of Christ, the disciples in theship of the church, Christ intercedingin heaven above, his eye alwaysupon his people, the final tempest,and his coming down to rescue us.

What a miracle! I tell you, theNew Testament is no ordinary book.

Yet, it is literature. The Bible isholy literature.

I often wonder if The JesusSeminar reads the great classicbooks of the centuries. If a per-son is unfamiliar with literature,

they won't be much good with theBible. We need to know literature, or

our vision will be too narrow to see things in proper perspec-tive and proportion.

What Faith Does for YouAn elderly lady attended a lecture. The lecturer was anatheist.

He poured scorn on all the fools who believed in Christand the Bible. After he finished, there was a question time.

Up went the lady's hand, "Sir, will you kindly answermy question?"

"Of course, good woman. What is it?"The frail and bent woman said, "Sir, over 20 years ago

my husband died and left me with eight children. All I hadwas my Bible and faith in God. I raised those children.We've been a very happy family.

"I'm soon to die. Yet, I'm still a very happy woman anda happy mother because I'm a happy Christian.Immortality is mine. I have no fears about death. That iswhat my faith has done for me.

"Tell me, Sir, What has your 'faith' done for you?"The lecturer mumbled something inaudible, and left the

podium. d

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