How Do I Prove that the Resurrection is Different from a Fairytale?

How do I prove the resurrection is different from a fairy tale? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Hi, I'm Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites. You can watch us right now on YouTube and send us a message through our YouTube channel, and you can email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Joshua calling in from Nashville, Tennessee. Joshua, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hello, thanks for taking my call. I really appreciate your show, appreciate what you do, and yeah, I originally wanted to ask why do we, you know, as Christians hold on to the name of Easter, where I think most people are realizing now that it has come from pagan origins, and I wanted to actually take the question deeper into why don't most Christians celebrate the biblical holidays, because I've been a Christian for a long time and actually didn't know much about them until recently, and I just kind of feel like we've dismissed them as, you know, irrelevant Jewish holidays where, where as they say they're God's appointed times, and they prophetically point to Jesus, and he celebrated them himself. So, you know, I just feel like we're missing a lot of really deep richness and all that, not that we need that for salvation, but yeah, I just feel like we're we're missing out, and I felt like we've been led more so to learn the traditions of the world more so than the world, than the word of God.

Hey Joshua, thank you for the, for one, the encouragement and for that question. Now with regard to the word Easter, I think there is some debate out there about the actual origins, the etymology of that word, and does it have pagan origins? Is this paganism creeping into the church? The reality is historically, I mean, this is one of the earliest quote-unquote holidays, if you want to call it that, that Christians would celebrate, worshiping the Lord and giving thanks, praising him for his victory over death.

I mean, obviously the first day of the week when Jesus rose again from the dead and Christians worshiping on that day, every Sunday became a commemoration of the resurrection of Christ's victory over death, but early on in the history of the church it seems like there was a specific day where they would, in a special way, remember that and celebrate that. And so my concern is not so much that, you know, it's got these pagan origins and so we should avoid talking about the resurrection of Jesus or whatever, it's that the way in which I think a lot of people celebrate Easter, if you will, today in Christian circles, just like with, you think of Christmas for example, that has become very pagan. We're not focused on what the word of God teaches, it could be totally commercialized, you know. I remember as a kid not really understanding what we were doing on Easter, you know, there's Easter baskets and chocolate bunnies and eggs and what is going on? Why are we doing these things? And so a lot of people have just sort of taken their eyes off of the focus of what the word of God teaches, Christ's victory over death, and it has become this sort of commercial enterprise.

And so that's a problem and I'm with you on that and we need to be cautious of that. But with regard to celebrating these things, you know, the feasts in the Bible, well one, there is I think one that we do celebrate, and in my church we celebrate it weekly, it's the Lord's Supper, which is ultimately I think the fulfillment of so many things that we see in the Old Testament, but in particular the Passover meal. Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 7 says, cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And then you get to 1 Corinthians chapters 10 and 11 and he's going to talk about how to celebrate that festival, the Lord's Supper. But with regard to those Old Testament celebrations, holidays that we see in places like the book of Leviticus, remember what the Apostle Paul said, Joshua in Colossians chapter 2 verse 16.

Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food or drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. This is why we don't celebrate those those festivals that were prescribed under the Old Covenant for the people of God is because they were types and shadows pointing forward to the reality, the substance who is Jesus Christ. And we have the substance now through the preaching of the gospel, in the sacraments of grace, baptism in the Lord's Supper. And so we don't go back to the old ceremonies and rituals of the Old Testament because what they pointed to ultimately we have as the body of Christ. And so we celebrate the feast, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians, that the Passover lamb, Jesus, was sacrificed for us.

We worship him, and that's what we're called to do as believers. And so may God bless you as you do that, and thank you for giving us a call. Hey Joshua, thanks so much, and thanks for being a listener to CORE Christianity. If you have a question for Pastor Adriel about the Bible or the Christian life, our phone lines are open right now. We'll be taking calls for the next 15 minutes or so. Here is our phone number. It's 833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. Now Easter, just a couple days away now, and we have a really wonderful book that will help you as you celebrate Easter. In fact, it'll help you all year round, and it's called Captivated, Beholding the Mystery of Jesus' Death and Resurrection. Yeah, we were just talking about rightly honoring the Lord as we think about his victory over death, and we have this resource. We're offering a book, Captivated, Beholding the Mystery of Jesus' Death and Resurrection by Tabidi Anyabwile, a wonderful resource that I think will encourage you in your walk with the Lord, and especially around this time of the year as many people are fixing their eyes once again on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We want to help you do that, and so get a hold of this resource. Again, the book is called Captivated, and it's yours for a donation of any amount over at corechristianity.com. Just a wonderful book, and we would encourage you to check that out.

Go to corechristianity.com forward slash offers and look for the book Captivated. Well, let's go to a voicemail from one of our callers. This came in from a listener named Cal. My question is regarding the Apostles' Creed, the statement regarding I believe in Jesus Christ that he descended into hell. That is my only question regarding that Apostles' Creed.

Please answer it. Thank you so much. I really do appreciate your teaching ministry. Thank you.

Well, thank you so much, sister, and that's a question that we've been asked before on the broadcast. Here's what it does not mean, and you know sometimes that language of descended into hell, people think, well does that mean that after Jesus died he was suffering in hell further for our sins, being tormented? No, that's not what the Creed meant there. There are some who have taken that to mean that Christ on the cross experienced hell in the sense that he bore the judgment that was due to us for our sins.

That's one way of looking at it, and there were some during the time of the Reformation who held that view. The other way of looking at this is that this is Christ proclaiming his victory over the grave. It's his vindication. It's his victory lap, if you will, around death, and I like to think of it that way, and so what I want to clear up for you is just recognize that what's not being said there is that Christ is suffering in Hades or in hell.

He bore the judgment that was due to us on the cross, and that was full and final, and after he died on the cross for that period of those three days right prior to the resurrection, I believe he was proclaiming his victory over the grave and all creation, and so God bless you, and thank you for that question. Love that you're thinking about the Creed. It's so important for us, I think, and this is what we talk about on Core Christianity, the fundamentals of the faith, and so for those of you who are not familiar with the Apostles' Creed, look it up, and really just the core doctrines there of the Christian faith. And it is so wonderful. I think all of us should know that and be able to explain to our kids what the words of the Apostles' Creed are really saying, so thanks for that, Adriel.

This is Core Christianity. Let's go to Kelly calling in from Bellevue, Illinois. Kelly, what's your question for Adriel? Hello. Hi, Kelly.

Hi. I have been reading in Ecclesiastes, and in chapter three, verse 11, it says, he has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, and I really like that phrase, and I wondered how you would explain that. How, what does it mean, he has put eternity into man's heart? Thank you.

Hmm. Yeah, let me, let me read the verse once more. Kelly, love to hear that you're studying Ecclesiastes. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. You know, there was a great theologian during the time of the Reformation who said that God has given to everyone this, this sense of the divine.

It was, it was called the sensus divinitatis in Latin. It was this idea that all of us deep down inside have a sense of God. You look up at the stars, you know, on a dark night, on a starry night, and you're just overwhelmed by the glory, the majesty of God's creation. Of course, this is something that we read about in Psalm chapter 19 or in Romans chapter 1, this sense of God that we all have, this sense of something far greater than us, and I wonder if that's not one way of looking at this, the eternity in our hearts, this sense that we were created for something more. And just looked up, Kelly, a quote from C.S.

Lewis. I love this quote. It's from his book, Mere Christianity, which we've actually offered on the broadcast before. He says in that book, or he said in that book, if I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, if I find in myself in this world, desires nothing this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation, he said, is that I was made for another world. This sort of longing that we all have, that we all feel, I think that that could be what the author to Ecclesiastes is getting at there, and that's personally how I take it, this sort of drive that's in all of us. And frankly, this should be something that we capitalize on when we're having conversations with other people, especially those who don't know the Lord. I think we can bring this up and talk about that deep sense of God, that we have that sense of longing, that desire for meaning, just in each and every one of us. And ultimately, we find the answers in Christ, in the word. And so that's how I take Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 11. Kelly, glad you're digging into the scriptures. God bless. You know, I was thinking about it, Adriel, what a great time of year to be talking with our friends and relatives about eternity and the fact that there's more to this life than what we see, the temporal existence from day to day, and to talk about the hope of the resurrection. Absolutely.

And by the way, let me just say this. I shared this with my church earlier this week. Hey, Easter's a wonderful opportunity, a time where you can invite people, friends of yours who don't typically go to church, to come and visit on a Sunday morning.

I love it for a couple of reasons. One, hopefully your pastor is preaching on the resurrection, so it's getting straight to the gospel. But two, for whatever reason, you know, I think a lot of people are more open to visiting, coming to church on a Sunday or Easter Sunday.

And so, man, take advantage of that opportunity. And maybe with some of the people in your own life who don't know the Lord or who don't go to church, you know, shoot them an invitation and see what God might do through that. I saw some stat that's saying the vast majority of people who receive a personal invite to a Christmas or Easter service will actually go.

So that's great. I'm so glad you encouraged our listeners to do that. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We're still taking your calls. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, Easter, the true meaning of it, feel free to give us a call. Here's the number 833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to a voicemail that came in from one of our listeners earlier this week. Hey, with young kids, I am wondering, how do you help them, you know, distinguish between the truth, the reliability of something like the resurrection with, you know, fairy tales and all of the other types of stories that we read to them and that they read and they hear throughout all of life? How can we help them distinguish between this true miraculous story and other myths that they hear in their life? Hey, thank you for that question.

Super important. Something I think about with the five children that I have. So this idea of, you know, the resurrection of Christ is a myth. It's just this fairy tale, right? I like to go to 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 16. For we did not follow, Peter said, cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. And as we saw it, the apostles said with our own eyes, for when he received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven. We saw it and we saw it and we heard it, Peter says, for we were with him on the holy mountain and we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. We also have the word of God, he says. The prophetic testimony, the scriptures, we have that, brothers and sisters as well. And we have the testimony of the apostles, those men who said we saw it with our eyes, we heard it with our ears, we handled it with our hands. I mean that's what John says in 1 John, the very beginning of 1 John. And so I think we treat it as real history and as we communicate about it with our children, we talk about it as real history.

We live our lives as though it were real because it is real. If we live like it's a fairy tale, if we live like this is a nice story that we can derive some nice morals from, well guess what? I mean that's what our kids are going to believe if we're teaching them by our lives, by our actions, that it really is a meaningless message.

I mean that's a huge issue. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 when he's talking about the resurrection of the dead, if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people the most to be pitied. You ever thought about that statement from the apostle Paul there? He says, look if we only have hope in Christ for this life that we're presently living, well then we're pretty pitiful. We're of all people the most to be pitied.

Why? Because they're living in such a way that they know that they have the hope of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Everything in Paul's life and in the life of the believer I think should be geared towards this is the reality that we live with. This isn't a fairy tale.

Christ has truly conquered death for his people. We have the hope of the gospel and that should shape the way that we live. We should be shaped by these truths brothers and sisters and as we are shaped by these truths, I think that the people around to see it in particular the people that we live with are children. And so how do we communicate to them that it's not a fairy tale? Well we don't teach it as a fairy tale. We teach it as true history as what God has done for us to deliver us from our sins. But we live our lives in a way that communicates that truth as well. Because you can say, oh this is true.

This really happened. But if you live in such a way that it's just totally contrary to the gospel of truth, to the victory of Christ over death, well then you're sending a mixed message. And we don't want to do that as Christians and as parents. And so may God help us first to embrace the gospel for everything that it is, to rest in the forgiveness of sins, to have the hope of the resurrection of the dead through what Jesus has done, and to be shaped formed by that truth, by that great gospel announcement so that we live lives in honor of the Lord before others. Thank you.

Amen. Some great counsel for moms and dads. Thank you for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Just a reminder, we have that wonderful Easter book called Captivated, Beholding the Mystery of Jesus' Death and Resurrection. We're offering that to you for a donation of any amount.

You can find out more about the book by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Let's go to Diane calling in from Rapid City, South Dakota. Diane, welcome to the program. Diane. Hello. Hi, Diane. Are you there? Yes, I am. Thank you for taking my call. I love your show.

I actually will listen at 2 30 in the morning when I can't sleep, so I appreciate it very much. So are you saying we helped to put you to sleep, Diane? No.

I'm just joking. You actually helped me think the right things through the night. I think the right things through the night. So I appreciate it.

Thank you, sister. I have a question. What are the five crowns that we have when we get into heaven?

I think I understand to some degree, but I'm not really sure what they all are. I believe that we get crowns for doing work here for the Lord. And when we get to heaven, we get to hand those crowns to him. Is that correct?

And I don't know what they are. Yeah. Well, thank you for that question. So the picture of laying our crowns at the feet of the Lord is something that we see in the book of Revelation. In Revelation chapter 4 verse 10, the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. And they cast their crowns before the throne.

And what do they do? They cast their crowns before the throne and they worship, saying, Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. Focus here on worshiping God as creator. And as the text continues in the book of Revelation, Christ is going to be worshipped as creator and redeemer. Really beautiful picture of the worship that's taking place in heaven. But believers are said to receive crowns from the Lord, rewards, if you will.

We talked about this earlier in the week on the broadcast. Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 has a little bit of a discussion here. He talks about believers receiving a reward for the things that they've done. Certainly when the scriptures talk about the final judgment, when we're standing before God, each person receiving, you know, his due for what he's done in the flesh, in the body. You have the language of believers receiving an imperishable crown in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 25, a crown of righteousness in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 8, and a crown of life in James chapter 1 verse 12.

Now what are those things? You know, righteousness, life, imperishable crown. It's just this picture that God is giving to the believer. Life, righteous, these are gifts from God, right? First and foremost, righteousness, life, imperishable crown, which is to say that this heavenly reward being in the presence of the Lord doesn't ever grow corrupt, doesn't ever decay. And so you have the picture of reward, but you have also, I think primarily, sister, the picture of this gift that God is giving to his people through his son Jesus. When we come into the presence of God, everything that we have comes from the Lord. And then the beautiful picture of worship in Revelation chapter 4 is all of those gifts that God has first given to us, we lay at his feet in worship saying, worthy are you, O Lord, our God.

And so I think the takeaway here is one, just the generosity and goodness of God to shower his people with these gifts, and two, recognizing this all comes from the Lord and goes back to him for his glory. Thanks for your question. Great response. Thanks, Adriel. This is Core Christianity, and we do receive emails. If you have a question for Adriel, you can email us anytime at questions at corechristianity.com. That's questions at corechristianity.com.

Here's one from Christy. She says, is there anything special we should be doing for Holy Week? I may fast on Good Friday. Is there anything else I can do to prepare for Easter?

Yeah. Well, honestly, let me just say this. We should always prepare to approach the Lord in worship. How is the word of God to be received by us so that it might have its work in us, effective in salvation for us? We should receive it with diligence, with preparation, with prayer. We should store it up in our hearts. We should practice it with our lives. We should give thanks to God.

This isn't just something that we should do once a year for the celebration of Easter. It's something, honestly, every single Sunday when you go to church, prepare your heart. The night before, pray. Think about the passage that the pastor is going to be preaching on. Ask God to open your heart, your eyes.

Go into it with this preparation, diligent preparation. I think you should do that all the time, but I think certainly this Sunday as well. May God bless you as you do that.

There's no prescribed, you need to fast and do this or that. We offer our hearts to the Lord in worship with humility, in faith, and repentance to receive the gifts he gives to us. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.