In the case of the resurrection of Jesus, the evidence is clear. There are historical facts that do not lend themselves to any other interpretation (and over the centuries, people have tried all sorts of explanations).

When the impossible is eliminated, that which remains, however improbable, must be the truth – Christ is risen indeed.

Often the life of Jesus is ignored. The ancient creeds say that he ‘was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate’, as though the thirty years in between aren’t worth mentioning (so because you and I were neither born of a virgin nor suffered for the sins of the world, would that make us irrelevant too?). More modern theologians explain that the reason Jesus’ humanity matters is so that he was qualified to die for us. There is truth in this, but the life and humanity of Jesus also matters in its own right.

If Jesus were not divine, he would not be qualified as a saviour (what creature could bear the weight of the sin of the world?). This is well documented, and is often presented as the central consequence of Jesus’ divinity. It is not, however, the only consequence. Here are three more reasons that Jesus’ divinity matters.

The events of Good Friday can be viewed as the darkest and most hopeless day in human history, or they can be seen as the greatest and most glorious thing to have ever happened.

When we think of mission, we can tend to think in a very human-centred way: mission is all about us, as humans, doing God a favour by telling people about him, and by going to other countries to share the gospel.

If, however, we understand that the Bible sees this task as part of God’s bigger mission, the way we understand and do mission will change.

Acts is the earliest account we have of the activities of the early Church. It is mainly a description of the missionary activities of the apostles (and particularly Paul from chapter 13 onwards). Looking through the story of Acts will help us understand God’s mission in the early Church.

So far in the Biblical narrative, God’s mission has reached the point where the Messiah of Israel has died for the world’s sins, been raised from the dead, and sent off his followers to be witnesses to these events all the way to the ends of the earth. God’s ultimate mission is to see the world filled with his glory. At the moment, that mission is being accomplished by Christians proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples. As disciples are made, people who have the destiny of being “conformed to the image of [God’s] son” (Romans 8:29) are appearing. The more the image of Christ is seen in believers and the more widespread that image is, the closer the moment when God says: ‘mission accomplished.’ That moment will ultimately be when God recreates or renews heaven and earth and the whole of new creation is saturated with God’s presence (Revelation 21-22 – see below). So what does the New Testament tell us the final steps in God’s mission becoming accomplished will look like?

The story of God’s mission is one continuous story. In the Old Testament, the New Testament and Church History, the mission remains the same – bringing together all of creation with a global community of worshippers under Jesus, to the glory of God the Father.

Whilst the mission is unchanged, at different times in history, the way the mission was to be fulfilled has varied. Before the fall, it was through Adam and Eve filling and subduing the earth, with no reference to the redemption of sinners or need for reconciliation with God. For much of the Old Testament, it was through God’s interactions with the nation of Israel, and though there were prophetic exhortations to be a light to the Gentiles, the majority of this season of salvation history was focussed around this one nation. For three years, it focussed around the personal ministry of Christ and his disciples as he preached the kingdom, healed the sick, and freed the oppressed.

It was following the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ that the mission of the church to the Gentiles took centre stage.

The last thing that Jesus said to his disciples before he ascended to heaven re-iterated the mandate for their mission. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon 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)

Persecution is normal for Christians.

It is easy to be blinded to this reality. In Western nations, Christianity has tended to dominate the cultural agenda since the reformation. This experience can divert our focus from the global, historical, and Biblical reality that persecution is a part of the normal Christian life.

As the church has fought to hold fast to the truth over the last 2,000 years, disagreements about that truth have been commonplace. There are very few theological questions that have not become the subject of debate. Many of these debates arise around secondary issues and are conducted in a gracious and loving fashion, but sometimes battle has raged around key theological issues.