The Three Most Important Words in History

The three most important words in history: He Is Risen.

Yes, those three words have affected every aspect of modern life, but their deeper significance is what they imply about God’s plan for the world:

In the end, everything will be okay. If it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.

Scripture: Luke 24:1-12

Preacher: Andrew Forrest

Quotation:

“On the day after Jesus’ death, it looked as if whatever small mark he left on the world would rapidly disappear. Instead, his impact on human history has been unparalled….

“Normally when someone dies, their impact on the world immediately begins to recede…. Jesus impact was greater a hundred years after his death than during his life; it was greater still after five hundred years; after a thousand years his legacy laid the foundation for much of Europe; after two thousand years he has more followers in more places than ever….

“If someone’s legacy will outlast their life, it usually becomes apparent when they die. On the day when Alexander the Great or Caesar Augustus or Napoleon or Socrates or Mohammed died, their reputations were immense. When Jesus died, his tiny failed movement appeared clearly at an end. If there were a kind of “Most Likely to Posthumously Succeed” award given on the day of death to history’s most influential people, Jesus would have come in dead last.”

“Maybe Jesus was a kind, simple, innocent soul with a good mom and a knack for catchy sayings who showed up in the right place at the right time. Jesus Gump.”

“One of the unique aspects of Christianity compared to other faith movements is that it actually traces its origin to one particular event in one moment on one day in history. That is not true for Judaism or Buddhism or Islam or atheism. But one day there was no such thing as a church, and then suddenly overnight there was.”

--from Who Is This Man? By John Ortberg