The Resurrection Vindicates Jesus
If Christ had remained dead like any other ‘savior’ or ‘teacher’ or ‘prophet,’ his death would have meant nothing more than yours and mine. Death’s waves would have closed over him just as they do every other human life, every claim he made would have sunk into nothingness, and humanity would still be without hope of being saved from sin. But when breath entered his resurrected lungs again, when resurrection life electrified his glorified body, everything Jesus claimed was fully, finally, unquestionably, and irrevocably vindicated.
A Claim Unique to Christianity
Of all … religions, Christianity alone bases its claim to acceptance on the resurrection of its Founder.
J. Oswald Sanders, The Incomparable Christ, p. 211
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A READING GUIDE FOR THE INCOMPARABLE CHRIST
Where Is Death?
He died, but He vanquished death; in Himself, He put an end to what we feared; He took it upon Himself, and He vanquished it; as a mighty hunter, He captured and slew the lion. Where is death? Seek it in Christ, for it exists no longer; but it did exist, and now it is dead.
Hail the Day That Sees Him Rise
The Two-Fold Rejection of the Cross
Jesus suffered a two-fold rejection. He was too holy to be received by sinful men. And in that awful moment of His sacrifice He was too sinful to be received by a holy God. So He hung between heaven and earth, rejected by both until He cried, ‘It is finished… Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ (Jn. 19.38; Lk. 23.46). Then He was received by the Father.
A. W. Tozer, The Radical Cross, p. 52
Salvation Is Substitution
The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for man.
John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 159.
The Law of Life
The cross is the law of life. The revelation that was made there was made, not merely that we might cling to it as a refuge from our sins, but that we might accept it as the rule of our conduct.
Alexander Maclaren, Second Corinthians, Galatians, and Philippians, p. 383
Unbelief Is Not a Light Matter
To refuse the cross as the instrument of salvation is to choose it as the instrument of judgment.
Philip Hughes, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, p. 388
The Offense of the Cross
The offense of the cross is this — that I am so condemned and so lost and so hopeless that if He, Jesus Christ, had not died for me, I would never know God, and I could never be forgiven. And that hurts; that annoys; that tells me I am hopeless, that I am vile, that I am useless; and as a natural man I do not like it.
D. Martin Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981)
Life Is Worship 