The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; and the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
	Genesis 8:2–4
What else took place on the seventeenth day of the seventh month? The Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Just as the ark rested on the Resurrection Day, so too, our faith rests on the fact of the Resurrection. If Christ is not risen, then we are, as Paul said, most miserable (1 Corinthians 15:19). We don’t know what to say to the Taoist, to the Mormon, or to the Buddhist. If Christ did not rise from the dead, we do not know if we’re headed in the right direction. If, on the other hand, He did rise from the dead, He did something no one else in history has every done. The Resurrection is conclusive proof that we are on the right track. Our ship of faith rests on the mountain of the Resurrection. I visit Israel almost every year. Every time I go, I check the tomb. And guess what? It’s empty. “That sounds good,” says the scoffer, “but maybe it’s the wrong tomb.” Believe me, when the word started spreading that Christ had risen, the enemies of Jesus would have searched frantically to make sure that the empty tomb was not a case of mistaken identity. You see, the leaders of Judaism desperately desired to see Christianity wiped out. All they would have had to do would be to say to the Christians, “Here’s the body of this One who claimed to be the exclusive way to Heaven. Here’s proof He couldn’t validate His claim.” But they didn’t. “Well, maybe the disciples stole His body to perpetuate the myth of a resurrected Jesus,” claims the cynic. Peter was crucified upside down. Thomas was speared in the back. James was sawn in half. Matthew’s brains were beaten out with a club. With the exception of John - who was banished to the isle of Patmos after an unsuccessful attempt to boil him in oil - each of the disciples died a torturous death. To believe that eleven men would have allowed their wives and children to be martyred, and their own bodies slaughtered to propagate what they knew to be a lie requires an incredible leap of faith. “It was the Romans who took the body,” declares the doubter. Christianity was such a threat to the Roman Empire that they launched ten waves of persecution in which sixty million Christians were killed. Indeed, Christianity would eventually cause the Empire to split in two - East and West - and ultimately fall. Certainly the Romans didn’t have the body, for producing it would have saved their Empire. “No one stole the body because Jesus didn’t really die,” muses the mocker. “One of the disciples put some drugs in the vinegar that was lifted up to Jesus as He hung on the Cross, which caused Him to go into a coma. After the cool air of the tomb revived Him, it appeared as though He had resurrected.” The scourging Jesus suffered before His crucifixion was in itself enough to kill a man. Jesus went on, however, to endure spikes through His hands and feet and a spear thrust into His side. Then He was put in a tomb for three days without food, water, or medical attention. To suggest He then stood up, single-handedly rolled away a two-ton stone, and took on the Roman soldiers guarding His tomb requires infinitely more faith than I could possibly muster. He who studies the Resurrection honestly and intellectually must finally rest on the mountain of evidence that says, “He is risen. He is risen, indeed!”