But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened. – Luke 24:1-12 (ESV)
Why don’t people believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The evidence is compelling, for anyone who will consider it. The problem is that we don’t make decisions simply on the basis of evidence. James Baird tells the following story about the famous philosopher Aldous Huxley:
On an Easter morning Aldous Huxley was in a party of people. Huxley came to prominence right at the turn of the century, a philosopher, literary giant, a brilliant man from a brilliant family. Huxley had a group of folk at this party who got up early on Easter morning and were going to the local church to worship. Huxley grabbed one man that he knew and respected as a Christian and said, “You stay and you talk to me and you tell me what Easter is all about and what Jesus Christ means to you.” The man said, “You’re too brilliant. You’d just argue me like you do everybody else.” Huxley said, “I won’t say a word. You just tell me.” And so the man stayed and he began to tell Huxley about Christ and His resurrection, and what had happened in his own life as he received Christ, and how he had served him, and the peace and the joy and the service that was his. And at the end, Huxley bowed his head and said, “I would that, God, I could believe that.” “Why don’t you believe it, Aldous?” “Well, you see,” he writes in another place … “For me to acknowledge Christ would mean He would be my master, and I would have to give up my lifestyle and my women and I don’t choose to do that.”
You see, there are many people in the face of evidence who for their own chosen morality style will not believe, but we believe that He was raised from the dead and is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
The fact that Jesus is the risen and exalted King means that we are not in charge. Take some time to pray for your unbelieving friends and family members that they would come to see not only the truth of the resurrection but also that it is good news … that it is far better for our perfect Savior to be in charge of everything than it is for us sinners to go our own way.
MEMORY WORK – Shorter Catechism Q/A 102
Q. 102. What do we pray for in the second petition?
A. In the second petition, which is, Thy kingdom come, we pray that Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened.