Nothing is more basic to Christianity than the culmination of Christ Jesus' ministry in his resurrection. Sorrowing onlookers had seen Jesus crucified and laid in an earthly tomb sealed with a rock. Yet he came forth.
After the crucifixion the disciples might well have believed that the spiritual inspiration kindled by their Master's teachings was destined to fade in an everyday world. But the resurrection transformed that sad resignation; it showed them an entirely new world in which God and man are inseparable.
Jesus had earlier foretold his rising. When asked for a sign of his spiritual authority, Jesus answered his questioners, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."John 2:19. The deep spiritual import of his promise is illumined by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. She writes: "It is as if he had said: The I—the Life, substance, and intelligence of the universe—is not in matter to be destroyed." Science and Health, p. 27.
