From the Editor Mar/Apr 2019
What would you do if someone asked you, “What’s the big deal about the resurrection?” That was the question a talk-show host asked a guest many years ago. The guest, a professing Christian, paused and hemmed and hawed and failed to come up with anything to tell the millions of people who were listening.
Yet the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is crucial to Christianity. Without it, the Christian faith would be futile. We would be spiritually dead in trespasses and sins and would be of all people “the most pitiable” (1 Cor. 15:19). Because Jesus lives, we shall live. For those of us who have placed our faith in Him alone for our salvation, death becomes the doorway to a wonderful, abundant life in the presence of our great God for all eternity. Christian author Josh McDowell called the resurrection “the most remarkable fact of history.”
In his autobiography, Just As I Am, evangelist Billy Graham wrote, “[Jesus] alone could say, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life’ (John 14:6). The proof of that claim is that Christ broke the bonds of death through His resurrection from the dead. . . .That sets Him apart from all other persons who have ever lived. . . .The resurrection also confirms for all time that Jesus was in fact who He said He was: the unique Son of God, sent from Heaven to save us from our sins.”
On April 21, believers will gather in churches around the world for Easter services to remember the great sacrifice Christ made for us. So we’ve devoted this issue of Israel My Glory to the resurrection. And if someone ever asks, “What’s the big deal about the resurrection?” we’ll all be ready to reply.
We also are delighted to run an article by Elwood McQuaid, former executive director of The Friends of Israel and retired editor-in-chief of this magazine. Elwood was at FOI Headquarters in August to discuss the rewrite of his 1978 book It Is No Dream, which I recommend you get. He has completely revised and updated it, and it is the best book I’ve read on the history of the Jewish people and the outworking of prophecies that eventually will usher in the glorious future God has prepared for them. This book is timeless and a true keeper.
And to all our Jewish friends who will be sitting down to seders on April 19, we wish you a very Happy Passover!
Waiting for His Appearing,
Lorna Simcox
Editor-in-Chief
