Several years ago, a group of historians met and asked a number of intriguing questions.
- What if the Moors had won in the great historic battle in Spain?
- What if the Dutch had kept New Amsterdam?
- What if Louis XVI had been a strong, firm king?
- What if Lee had won at Gettysburg?
- What if Booth had missed Lincoln?
- What if Napoleon had escaped to America?
What would history be like if these events had never happened?
What if Jesus had never been born?
There would be no “God with us.”
There would be no victory.
We live in a cynical age in which only one prejudice is tolerated – anti-Christian bigotry. Yet despite the unbridled slanders and attacks against the faith, one powerful truth is undeniable: if Christ had never been born, nearly every facet of human life would be much more miserable than it is today. Watch this video about what the world would be like without Christmas and Easter.
I don’t know how you came to Jesus, if you have already. Different people come for different reasons. Some of you came because it just made sense to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It just seemed right.
Some of you came because you got into a difficult problem, and the only way out was up: you found him there waiting for you. Some of you came because you felt so burdened by guilt and sin and the past that you reached out and found Jesus there with mercy and compassion ready to forgive you.
If I had it to do over again, I’d come to Him because of His love. At Christmas, love came down – love that was going to bear the terrible price for our sins at Easter. And once you come to know that love and experience that forgiveness, that compassion, that embrace, if you had it to do all over again, it would be because of love. If Christ had not come-turn off the bells, stop the music, close the church. No hope. But,
“I bring you good tidings of great joy. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, the Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
“And the light came into the world, and we beheld his glory, the glory as the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. And the darkness could not overcome the light!”
But, HE did come, and He has made a huge difference in the world. It’s not just His coming, however, it was the other bookend of His life. After His death for OUR sins, He AROSE from the grave and when He was seen by upwards of 500 people before He went back to His Father in heaven, He sparked a Movement that continues.
One Final Note
You simply cannot explain away how unsophisticated, unlearned fishermen, tax collectors, and even physicians could turn the world of their day…and by extension…ours, upside down.
Your marriage will be immeasurably better when you embrace the Gift of Easter.
