“But God untied the death ropes and raised him up. Death was no match for him.”
— The Message, Eugene Peterson
Of all the books written about the life of Christ over the course of history—outside of the Bible itself—one of the most popular was authored by Fulton Oursler. It was called The Greatest Story Ever Told. His novel was first published in 1949 and became a best seller that was eventually made into a colossal movie. Using a fictionalized narrative set against a rich and accurate historical background, Dr. Oursler took the events recorded in the Gospels and added imaginative dialogues and personalities to recreate the first century, while maintaining the integrity of biblical accounts.
Fulton Oursler wrote at least two other best sellers with Christianity as his theme, The Greatest Faith Ever Known, a story about the early apostles as they spread the gospel message throughout the world; and The Greatest Book Ever Written; a beautiful narrative of the Old Testament. Many don’t know this but Fulton Oursler was also a prolific mystery writer, for those of you who love the esoteric. Don’t look for them under his real name, however, because he wrote over 75 of them under the pseudonym, Anthony Abbot. One of Dr. Oursler’s best quotations was motivated by his work about the life of Christ, “We crucify ourselves between two thieves: regret for yesterday and fear of tomorrow.” I’m sure we can all relate to that.
This Easter season, I would like to present to you a short story that Fulton Oursler didn’t get around to writing in his Greatest series. I call it, The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached. I can assure you that it wasn’t preached by me—but it wasn’t preached by Billy Graham either. It was preached by a simple fisherman named Simon Peter, on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, just fifty days after the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. You’ll find the whole sermon in Acts 2:14-40. Let’s look at two of at his key points.
Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. — Acts. 2:22-23
Jesus was the greatest miracle worker that the world has ever known. Matthew’s gospel tells us twice, that Jesus went through all the towns and villages . . . healing every disease and sickness (Mt. 4:23; 9:35). Healing the blind, raising the dead, turning water into wine, and feeding the five thousand were of such magnitude that there was no doubt that Jesus was the promised Messiah. He was God in the flesh.
Peter also makes it clear that the crucifixion of Jesus was God’s plan and we were all agents in it—because of our sin. We crucified him. But this sermon has a great ending.
But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. — Acts 2:24
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead—is the greatest single event in human history. This is why we celebrate this day on the Christian calendar. The word for “raised” here is the compound verb, anastasis. Ana means “up” and stasis means “to stand.” God stood Jesus up from the dead. He was on a stone slab in a cave—a lifeless corpse. There was no more breath coming from his lungs. His heart had stopped. His brain was dead. His life was gone. But God— “stood him up.” Hallelujah!
Like Jesus, the resurrection of his body from death—is the promise of Christianity to all who believe. “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:21-22).
Some day we will all die and every one of us has lost someone to death who we deeply love and miss. But let your hearts rejoice today my friends—as we are reminded once again that all in Christ will be made alive again. We will all stand up again—this time for all eternity—because of our Lord’s victory over death and sin in our behalf. Now that, I believe, is the best news we could ever hear from the Greatest Sermon Ever Preached. Aren’t we glad!
There will be no more tears, no more pain,
No more sorrow, no more strain.
His radiance reflected in us,
At the resurrection of the just.
I’ll be there and so will you,
What a day—when we’ll all be brand new.
Maranatha!
Pastor Don Kimbro