HOMAS JEFFERSON, the Enlightenment author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (and that nation's third president), took it upon himself to edit the New Testament, removing all supernatural events of healing, in order to retain what he considered the real value of the text, the moral teachings of Jesus. Here is how the Jefferson Bible ends: "There laid they Jesus: and rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed."

Was Jefferson right? Are the good teachings of Jesus of Nazareth enough? Were insightful parables sufficient to launch a worldwide religious movement spanning 20 centuries? Are His words alone worth dying for? Is a martyr's memory powerful enough to change sin-hardened people?

Jefferson may have helped to bequeath to America the blessings of church-state separation, but sadly, his Bible leaves humanity dejected and hopeless at the garden tomb.

This is certainly how the women felt as the first day after Passover dawned in Jerusalem. "On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, 'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: "The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again."' Then they remembered his words. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others" (Luke 24:1-9).*

The ripples of this cosmic explosion began that very morning.

Those Roman soldiers guarding the tomb wondered how they were ever going to explain how their dead charge escaped.

The Jewish rulers wondered how to suppress the reality that this One who had troubled the nation was alive again. Lies about disciple thievery only delayed the inevitable.

The disciples wondered as they talked with Jesus, touched His scars, had breakfast with Him, and 40 days later watched Him move off the Mount of Olives into the sky.

The world still wonders about the resurrection of Jesus today. The atheist denies it; the liberal textual critic dismisses the Bible as a myth; and many believers live as if it never happened.

To these wondering ones Ellen White throws down the challenge: "From grateful hearts, from lips touched with holy fire, let the glad song ring out, Christ is risen! He lives to make intercession for us. Grasp this hope, and it will hold the soul like a sure, tried anchor. Believe, and thou shalt see the glory of God" (The Desire of Ages, p. 794).

Little Philip, born with Down's syndrome, attended a third-grade Sunday school class with several 8-year-old boys and girls. The children did not readily accept Philip with his differences. But because of a creative teacher, they began to care about Philip and accept him as part of the group. The Sunday after Easter the teacher brought L'eggs pantyhose containers, the kind that used to look like large eggs. The children were told to go outside on that lovely spring day, find some symbol of new life, and put it in the container.

After running about the church property in wild confusion, the students returned to the classroom and placed the containers on the table. Surrounded by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. After each one, whether a flower, butterfly, or leaf, the class would ooh and aah.

Then one was opened, revealing nothing inside. The children exclaimed, "That's stupid. Somebody didn't do their assignment." Philip spoke up, "That's mine." "Philip, you don't ever do things right!" a student shouted. "There's nothing there!" "I did so do it," Philip insisted. "It's empty. The tomb was empty!" Silence followed. From then on Philip became a full member of the class.

He died not long afterward from an infection most normal children would have shrugged off. At the funeral his young friends marched up to the altar, not with flowers, but with their Sunday school teacher, each to lay on it an empty pantyhose egg (source unknown).

More than 300 verses of the New Testament speak of the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ. Why? Because the resurrection of Jesus turns sadness to joy; makes heroes from cowards; transforms our doubts into rock-solid certainties.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ gives us certainty! It is the sure, tried anchor holding us safely to God in the daily storms of life.

This heavenly anchor is forged from three certainties that were revealed at the resurrection.

1. The Certainty that Our Salvation Is Secure in Christ. The text here is 1 Peter 1:3-5: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time."

The resurrection of Jesus gives us a new birth. Have you ever wished you could just start over? When you comprehend what Jesus did for you and surrender your affections and thinking to Him, it's like being born a second time.

Don't you love verse 4? "An inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade." You are now in God's family--you get the same inheritance Jesus gets. We're not physically there yet, but the Father promises you that it won't fade with time. He won't forget about you. It's ready right now!

And Jesus protects His property. Peter says we are "shielded by God's power."

The resurrection of Jesus Christ brings us the certainty that our salvation is secure with Jesus. But there's more.

2. The Certainty that Death is a Vanquished Foe. Says the apostle Paul: "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 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. 15:20-22). And in Romans 6:5 he says that "if we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection."

Teddy and his father were driving down a country road on a beautiful spring afternoon. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bumblebee flew in the car window. Teddy was allergic to beestings and was petrified. Dad quickly reached out, grabbed the bee, squeezed it in his hand, and then released it. But as soon as he let it go, Teddy became frantic again as it buzzed by his head. Once again Dad reached out his hand, but this time he pointed to his hand. There, still stuck in his skin, was the stinger of the bee. "Do you see this?" he said. "You don't need to be afraid anymore. I've taken the sting for you."

For the believer in Christ, death is a mere intermission between the life here and the eternal life to come. Funerals are sad but not hopeless. Death is an enemy, but it's a vanquished foe. Our heavenly Father remembers every spot where His children rest.

"The voice that cried from the cross, 'It is finished,' was heard among the dead. It pierced the walls of sepulchers, and summoned the sleepers to arise. Thus will it be when the voice of Christ shall be heard from heaven. That voice will penetrate the graves and unbar the tombs, and the dead in Christ shall arise. At the Savior's resurrection a few graves were opened, but at His second coming all the precious dead shall hear His voice, and shall come forth to glorious, immortal life. The same power that raised Christ from the dead will raise His church, and glorify it with Him, above all principalities, above all powers, above every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world to come" (The Desire of Ages, p. 787).

The resurrection of Jesus Christ brings us the certainty that death is a defeated foe. Because He arose we shall live again with Him.

3. The Certainty of Power to Share This Good News With Others. "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

The resurrected Lord has a vital lesson here: the potency of the church to carry her mission comes from one source--the Holy Spirit of God.

Today's Christians in America are confused here. Some church leaders clamor for government funding to carry on church programs; others call for churches to become extensions of political parties; some sue in courts for state recognition to confirm God's existence and governmental promotion of biblical doctrines such as the Ten Commandments. All in the hope that this will turn the tide of immorality and secularism in the country.

But the Lord is clear: The power we seek is kept only in the treasure-house of heaven. And the One who conquered death itself holds the key to this storehouse.

His promises are complete and all-providing. In John 14:12-14 He is unconditional about this: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Cutting-edge strategies, sharper Web sites, better production values, and other human contrivances have their place. But nothing comes close to the real thing--a single heart eager for God's glory, and a mouth willing to speak about what He's done for you.

The resurrection of Jesus brings certainty--certainty of our salvation, certainty of victory over death, and, finally, certainty of power to share the good news with everyone.

Little did those women know when they ran from the empty tomb that Sunday morning that they were the heralds of a new reality. "He is not here; He is risen" still echoes certainty down to us today. We must grasp this hope. We have His promise that it will hold our souls like a sure, tried anchor.

Benjamin Franklin, in his epitaph penned years before his death, expressed a hope we all can enjoy:

The Body of B. Franklin, Printer,
Like the Cover of an old Book,
Its contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms.
But the Work shall not be wholly lost:
For it will, as he believ'd, appear once more,
In a new & more perfect Edition,
Corrected and amended by the Author.

_________________________
Bradford C. Newton serves as president of the Nevada-Utah Conference of Seventh-day Adventists with headquarters in Reno, Nevada.