Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-30

Easter brings us every year its mes
sage of the future life. 1t sets aside
the quarters review so that We may
face the fundamental question of the
death" entered the race, men have
asked the question, IF man die,
shall he live again."
During His ministry. Jesus demon
Strated His power over death by sew
eral OF His miracles. They proved that
in Him the grave had met its master.
While our Lord by His messages and
methods of service gave to men a
higher conception of the present life,
so that every phase of modern socialism
has its germ in His gospel, our Master
faced death without fear, being con-
fldent that He would defeat mans foe
and prove beyond question the reality
of the future life. In fact, He risked
His life and hopes for the establish
ment of the Kingdom of God among
men upon His power to conquer death
and come forth from the tomb in
triumph.
Christianity has been established
upon the Lords victory over the grave.
We would never have had a church of
Christ, the New Testament or the OBJ
servance Of the first day of the week
as a day of Christian worship, if He
had not risen. When His enemies had
succeeded In erucifying Him on the
cross, the courageous Joseph and
Nicodemus demonstrated their faith
III Him by securing His body, after His
death had been established by the issue
of blood and water, when His side
was pierced by the sword. They proved
their love for Him by giving His body
burial In new-made grave in the
garden. His enemies recognized the
danger of His turning defeat into VIC
tory by providing for the sealing of the
tomb by the government and placing
it under double guard to prevent the
apostles taking the form Of their be-
loved Master.
The disciples had no thought of His
possible resurrection. Their hopes for
the establishment of the kingdom had
been crushed. They were discouraged
at the outcome. They doubted the first
news of His conquest of the tomb. They
disbelieved the testimony Of those who
had seen Him after His resurrection.
This helps confirm the statement of
Strauss, a prominent German rational
ist who says, There is more historic
evidence. of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ than of the life and death of
Julius Caesar" While men may con-
tinue to differ about the future life,
every student of philosophy and religion
recognizes that it forms the background
of at least three-fourths of all philo-
sophical speculation and Of every great
religion. K
Christianity's Foundation. i
rI,riet;apitv recfs ,inoY, the fo,lnda-
ton of belief in the future life, dem
onstrated by the reality OF Christ's
resurrection and Of His living presence
and power in the lives of men. Our
faith is in a living Lord and not a
dead Christ. The women who went out
to the Masters tomb early on the
morning of the first day of the week
did not dream of the Lords resurrec-
ton. If they had expected Him to
master death they would never have
brought the spices with which to en-
balm the body. When they arrived. at
His @burial. place they were surprised
to find that the Stone, that had been
rolled up TO close the opening OF the
tomb and sealed by the Roman, authori-
ties. had been rolled away Gods power
had preceded them, breaking the
Roman seal by an earthquake. The
sealed tomb was the evidence that men
planned to prevent his resurrection. for
his enemies recalled His prophecy OF
His resurrection. The empty tomb pro-
claimed the Masters victory over death.
Christianity bases the commencement
of their faith upon the empty tomb
that the women found and investigated.
Luke tells us that these women were
afraid when they saw the two messen-
gers, wearing heavens garments, who
explained that Christ had risen. These
angels called for them to remember our
Lords prediction that He would arise
from the dead the third day, when they
were up in Galile. They recalled
His words and started to inform the
eleven apostles of His resurrection. The
women, who had been true to Christ
at the cross, were the first to learn OF
His resurrection and they became the
first preachers of the gospel OF His
triumph, that became dynamic note
of His gospel.
The apostles considered their words
to be idle tales. Two of the number
determined to investigate. John. who
loved Him, and Peter, who had denied
Him and to- whom, as we learn from
another gospel. Jesus had sent special
message John, being the younger,
reached the tomb ahead of Peter, but
ne did not enter. PeJer, WQen ne ar
rived made note of the evidence that
the tomb was empty. He saw that
Jesus had not hastily removed His
grave clothes, but had placed the linen
cloths by themselves. John tells us
that Peter went in and made survey.
His investigation confirmed the women's
story for no grave robber would have
been 50 careful in the arranging of
them. Peter did not recall the words
of Jesus or Of the Psalmist psalms,
xvi.8-11, 2-7). He was filled with won-
der and doubt as they returned to
Jerusalem. John believed the Master
was risen. Peter came to accept the
fact that Jesus was risen. This meant
more than the mere continuance of
existence. It was destined to be the
foundation Of Christianity with its
gospel of a future life.
The Future Life.
Jesus had sought to prepare the
apostles for the trying times of dark
ness in the upper room, the night pre-
ceGing His crueifixion. The very foun-
dations of their organization appeared
to be crumbling with the desertion of
Judas, who had gone out to betray the
Lord. Jesus saw their need and sought
~AY - ~w1-~