Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, "What does this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods," because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. (Acts 17:16-18)
The fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ stands at the center of Christianity - and at the center of man's unbelief. The empty tomb is the sign of Godâ??s promise to raise Christ from the dead as a testament to His victory over sin. Yet sceptics scorn the idea of Christ's physical and bodily resurrection. There is nothing new in present-day unbelief in the resurrection of Christ; in the days of the apostles there were those who scorned and scoffed at the resurrection. There is no excuse for rejecting the resurrection because all the evidence is clear: Christ rose from the dead. But man's sin corrupts and blinds, so that humankind is unable and unwilling, apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, to believe in Jesus. Humanity's fundamental problem is that all are sinful. All humanityâ??s great wisdom and learning is subject to and clouded by our sinful nature. The only answer to humanity's problem is the grace of God in salvation. God has appointed His Son as the only way anyone can be saved. The only escape from the judgement of God is through faith in the Gospel. This is the most important message that the world can hear: that Jesus died - and rose from the dead - for the salvation of sinners.