Great and Holy Friday

On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (04/03/26), Hank reaches the conclusion of the four-part argument for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, transformation. What happened as a result of the resurrection is unprecedented. In the span of a few hundred years, a small band of insignificant believers succeeded in turning an entire empire upside down. The Twelve—minus Judas, plus Paul—were radically revolutionized. Peter, once afraid of being exposed as a follower of Christ, became a lion of the faith. Paul, the ceaseless persecutor, became the chief proselytizer of the Gentiles. Within weeks of the resurrection, not just a few, but an entire community of thousands of Jews, willingly transformed the spiritual and sociological traditions underscoring their national identity. Of one thing Hank has become certain—if twenty-first-century Christians would grasp the reality of resurrection like first-century Christians did, their lives would be totally transformed.

Today, Great and Holy Friday, “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5 NIV). As Theanthropos (God-Man), the spotless Lamb of God lived a perfectly sinless human life and died a sinner’s death to sufficiently atone once for all for the sins of humanity. Isaiah not only foreshadows the death of Christ but His resurrection as well. Isaiah prophetically looks forward toward the resurrection of “a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering” as the earnest of our resurrection on the last day. “After the suffering of his soul,” says Isaiah, “he will see the light of life and be satisfied.” In like fashion, our bodies will be resurrected from the dust of the ground. Jesus, who fulfills the entire mosaic of Old Testament resurrection prophecies left no doubt about this coming resurrection: “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:28-29 NIV). If Christ had not himself been resurrected, the promise that he will resurrect dry bones in scattered graves would be as empty as the tomb guaranteeing its fulfillment.