In 1986, Sir David Suchet, the English actor known for playing detective Hercule Poirot, began a quest to understand the resurrection of Jesus. Wondering what would happen after he died, he began reading the book of Romans. After twenty years of careful consideration, he committed fully to believing in Jesus.
“Without the resurrection there is no faith,” Suchet concluded, echoing Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. Thus, he observed, what he believes “is based not only on the death, the crucifixion, of Jesus, but also on the resurrection.” The miracle of Jesus rising from the dead, Suchet said, is what gives us hope and points to Him being both human and God.
When Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, which he’d founded and lived with for eighteen months, he was concerned over reports of division and a waning belief in the resurrection. He stated: “If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). Not only did Jesus die and rise again, but so would His believers as well. If the church at Corinth didn’t hold on to this hope, then they would be pitied “more . . . than anyone in the world” (v. 19).
When God helps us to trust that Jesus rose from the dead, we can delight in the assurance that we’ll live with Him forever. And that’s a wonderful conclusion to a worthy quest.
-Amy Boucher Pye
How does knowing that Jesus rose from the dead and is alive give you hope and shape you in the way you live? Why does this matter?
Risen Christ, thank You for dying on the cross and rising to new life. I rejoice in the life I have with You.
12 But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead,
why are some of you saying there will be
no resurrection of the dead?
13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead,
then Christ has not been raised either.
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then
all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless.
15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we
have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But
that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead.
16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ
has not been raised.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is
useless and you are still guilty of your sins.
18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost!
19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are
more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.
He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
21 So you see, just as death came into the world
through a man, now the resurrection from the
dead has begun through another man.
22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam,
everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.
23 But there is an order to this resurrection:
Christ was raised as the first of the harvest;
then all who belong to Christ will be raised
when he comes back.
24 After that the end will come, when he will
turn the Kingdom over to God the Father,
having destroyed every ruler and authority and power.
Christ has been raised from the dead.
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