Introduction This week I found it necessary to do some of my research and preparation for this Easter message in a nearby dime store. I went there to learn how the average person attempts to celebrate Easter. That’s right, the dime store. One of the best sources of material on the theology of Easter is to be found in the “Easter” section of the greeting cards. I found a fairly good sized selection of cards on display, the vast majority of which were entirely secular. They ranged from the “thinking of you at Easter” variety to the ones which had pictures of fuzzy teddy bears, rabbits, and Easter eggs, and some kind of inane holiday greeting. Frequently there was a “Spring is Here” motif with Easter somehow associated with the coming of Spring, and the happy thought of leaving behind a dreary winter and looking forward to the fresh new life which signals the coming of Spring. There were three or four cards which might loosely be called “religious” cards. For example, one had a picturesque church on the cover, another had “an Easter prayer,” and another had a religious word or two. Not so much as one card contained a cross, an empty tomb, not even the name of the Lord Jesus. If the greeting card displays of most stores are like the one I visited, we would have to agree that the resurrection of Christ is not considered very significant by the marketplace. Easter bunnies and eggs have won “hands down” over Christ, the cross of Calvary, and the empty tomb. The significance of Easter is often overlooked or distorted by churches in America. All too often, Easter Sunday is more of a “coming out” ritual, a part of the celebration of the commencement of Spring, than it is an observance and celebration of the resurrection of our Lord. Ladies can show off their new hats and outfits. Once a year church attenders can show up to shock the preacher, and to give him his annual “shot” at them as they attend. Typically, many evangelical preachers take this occasion to give an apologetic sermon, seeking to show that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is a proven fact of history-- and that it is. I am convinced, however, that many of the non-Christians who attend Easter Sunday services accept the resurrection of Christ as a fact. They simply have not come to recognize and act of its significance. It is for this reason that I am addressing this message to the religious unbelievers who believe in the fact of Christ’s resurrection from the dead, but who fail to grasp its significance in a personal way. I will seek to demonstrate the significance of the resurrection of Christ by focusing on the uniqueness, the necessity, and the urgency of the resurrection.
The Uniqueness of Christ’s Resurrection The significance of resurrection of our Lord is first to be seen in the uniqueness of His resurrection from the dead. There are several facets of the uniquesness of the resurrection of our Lord which we shall focus on: CLICK ON THE LINK TO