Or else let these men themselves say what wrongdoing they found when I stood before the council. Other than this one thing that I cried out while standing among them, it is with respect the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day.
– Acts 24:20–21
This is interesting. This is Paul giving a defense. He’s been imprisoned. He’s now defending himself. And he says there in Acts 24:20, “These men who are claiming I’ve done this or that wrong, they don’t have anything against me except for this one thing I said. And when I said this, it changed everything.”
Acts 24:20–21 Narrates Paul’s Defense of the Resurrection
And he quotes what he said previously. “It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I’m on trial before you this day.” I read that and I think, yeah, that’s pretty much the hinge upon which everything turns, the resurrection of Jesus.
This is Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 15. He says, “If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then I, and all of us who are Christians are wasting our time. Our life and our faith is in vain.” If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead then on the words of the late Tim Keller,
“We don’t really need to listen to anything he said because he said he would rise from the dead and all of his teaching hinges on his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave.“
If this didn’t happen, then Jesus is not who he said he was, and we don’t need to follow him. Christianity is foolishness. Paul himself says this in 1 Corinthians 15, “If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead,” so whenever I’m having a conversation with someone who is genuinely asking questions about Christianity, or even sometimes I’ll say this with someone who’s not very genuinely dismissing the claims of Christianity, and I’ll say, “So, have you just come to the conclusion that Jesus definitely didn’t rise from the dead because that is the hinge upon which everything in Christianity turns, everything in the Bible turns, everything in our faith hinges on the resurrection of Jesus.”
Acts 24:20–21 Emphasizes the Resurrection as the Radical Basis of Our Faith
And then take it a step further because this is what Paul’s saying in Acts 24. This is why he’s imprisoned. The reason why he’s being persecuted. Because he’s proclaiming Jesus’s resurrection from the dead. And this is the hinge upon which our witness turns. This is why we go to people around us and into the world, to all the nations proclaiming the name of Jesus.
Why? Not just because we’ve found in Jesus this or that while other people have found this or that and Muhammad or this or that and this Hindu god or that Hindu priest. No, we go into the world proclaiming there is only one who has conquered death and sinned in the grave. His name is Jesus and he is Lord over all. Again, to quote from Tim Keller,
“If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, we don’t need to listen to anything he said. If he did rise from the dead, we need to listen to everything he said and not just listen to it, but to align our lives with it.“
He is Lord over death. He’s Lord over life. He is Lord over us. So let’s just consider all the ways this leads us to pray. First and foremost, oh God, we praise you for raising Jesus from the dead. Jesus, we praise you as the risen and exalted king of kings, Lord of Lords at the Father’s right hand. You are not dead. Lord, you are alive. You alone have conquered sin. God, you alone have conquered death. You alone have risen from the grave.
Acts 24:20–21 Encourages to Respond with Faith and Hope the Truth of the Resurrection
All glory be to your name, our risen king, the risen king of creation. We exalt you and we pray that you would help us to boldly just like Paul did, proclaim the resurrection of the dead, to proclaim that you have risen from the dead, that you are Lord, and that all of our eternity hinges on how we respond to you.
God, help us not to sit silent with this news, with this reality of resurrection, knowing that every single person we will interact with today will spend eternity either in a resurrected body, in heaven with you, enjoying you, free from sin and sorrow and death forever, or they will spend eternity in hell separated from your love and your grace and your mercy, given over to themselves and sin and wickedness and evil in condemnation and judgment forever and ever in a way that’s described as fire and torment in your word.
Oh God, please help us to live in light of the weight of this reality of resurrection, the resurrection of Jesus, and of the coming resurrection of all who trust in him and coming condemnation for all those who don’t. Oh God, we pray for unreached people in the world who’ve never even heard about the resurrection of Jesus. God, we pray that they would be reached with the good news of the gospel.
Praying for the Adi Andhra People
We prayed today for the Adi Andhra people of Sri Lanka and India, this Hindu people group among whom they were no known followers of Jesus.
God, we pray that the good news of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead would spread to the Adi Andhra people of India and Sri Lanka. Please, oh God, cause the gospel to go to them. Help us to be faithful, to get the gospel to them. Do whatever is needed in our lives and our churches to cause us to wake up and get this good news to those who’ve never heard it.
Oh God, we praise you for raising Jesus from the dead. Help us to live in light of the fact that this world is not our home, that these bodies are not the end of our story. The resurrected bodies are coming, that a new heaven and a new earth and your kingdom is coming. God, help us to live today and to speak today in light of resurrection and eternity to come. In Jesus’ name, we pray according to Acts 24:20–21. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
