Best Christian Books on the Resurrection: 11 Classics, Free
If you want to spend time with the risen Jesus, read Alexander Maclaren's After the Resurrection. It takes the meetings of the forty days one at a time: Mary at the tomb, the road to Emmaus, Thomas, Peter by the lake. If you want to know whether it really happened, read R. A. Torrey's The Bible and Its Christ, which lays out the evidence plainly. If you want to know what it means for your own body and your own grave, read E. M. Bounds' The Ineffable Glory.
The classic writers called the resurrection the keystone of the faith. Paul said it first: "if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain." They taught that Jesus rose bodily on the third day, and that the tomb was really empty. His rising was God's seal on His death for sin: the payment was accepted. He is alive now, at the right hand of God. And His resurrection is the firstfruits of ours. Those who belong to Him will rise too, in bodies made new, when He comes again.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
1 Corinthians 15:20
Here are the best books on the resurrection in TheWay Library, all free to read.
Start here
1. After the Resurrection, by Alexander Maclaren
The first ten addresses follow Jesus through the forty days: "Touch me not," the unrecorded meeting with Simon, the walk to Emmaus, the gift of the Spirit, Thomas, the breakfast on the shore, "Lovest thou me?", the five hundred brethren and the ascension. Later sermons turn to being risen with Christ.
If a man wants to love Jesus Christ he must think about Him.
After the Resurrection, Risen with Christ
See our guide to Alexander Maclaren's books. Read After the Resurrection.
2. The Bible and Its Christ, by R. A. Torrey
Torrey once doubted, and he writes for doubters. The middle chapters take up the resurrection, which he calls "the Gibraltar of Christian evidences." Without assuming the Gospels are true, he argues from the plain honesty of the accounts and from circumstantial evidence, like the change in the disciples, and then shows what the resurrection proves. His Talks to Men about the Bible and the Christ of the Bible covers much the same ground.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is in many respects the most important fact in history.
The Bible and Its Christ, chapter 5
See our guide to R. A. Torrey's books. Read The Bible and Its Christ.
3. Calvary to Pentecost, by F. B. Meyer
An hour's reading that moves from the cross to the empty tomb, the ascension and the coming of the Spirit. Meyer's chapter on the resurrection shows how Peter, Paul and John each built on it.
The hope of the inheritance was founded on the empty grave. The stone that was rolled away became the corner-stone of the new temple of hope.
Calvary to Pentecost, chapter 2
Did it really happen?
4. Is the Bible True?, by James H. Brookes
Seven addresses answering the German critic David Strauss, who denied the Gospel history. Brookes argues that the character of Jesus could not have been invented, and his fifth address meets Strauss head on at the decisive point, the resurrection. Read Is the Bible True?.
5. The First Epistle to the Corinthians, by Marcus Dods
1 Corinthians 15 is the great resurrection chapter of the Bible, and Dods gives it four chapters in this commentary: the evidence for Christ's rising, what follows if it is denied, and the spiritual body. He shows that the enemies of Jesus had every reason to produce the body and never did.
The evidence thus unintentionally furnished by the authorities is important. Their action after the Resurrection proves that the tomb was empty.
The First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 22
What it means
6. The Glory of the Redeemer, by Octavius Winslow
Winslow traces Christ's glory from His life with the Father before the world began, through the cross, to His resurrection, ascension and return. The resurrection and ascension chapters show the risen Lord as the proof that His work is done and the pledge that ours will be.
He came down to earth as man, he went up to heaven as God.
The Glory of the Redeemer, chapter 1
See our guide to Octavius Winslow's books. Read The Glory of the Redeemer.
7. The Creed of Creeds, by F. B. Meyer
Short chapters on the Apostles' Creed, phrase by phrase. Read "The Third Day He Rose Again," where Meyer treats the resurrection as a fact attested by eyewitnesses, and the chapters on the ascension and Christ seated at God's right hand. Read The Creed of Creeds.
8. Maclaren's resurrection sermons
Two more Maclaren volumes have sermons worth finding. In The Wearied Christ, read "The Resurrection as a Foundation Fact of the Gospel" and "Christ's Finished and Unfinished Work." In The Unchanging Christ, read "What Comes of a Dead Christ," on Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 15.
Great men die, good men die: Jesus Christ is not dead.
The Wearied Christ, Christ's Finished and Unfinished Work
9. Expository Thoughts on John, Vol. 3, by J. C. Ryle
Ryle's plain, practical notes on John 13 to 21 end with the empty tomb, Mary Magdalene, Thomas and the risen Lord by the lake. Good for reading one passage a day through Easter week. See J. C. Ryle's books. Read Expository Thoughts on John, Vol. 3.
Our resurrection
10. The Ineffable Glory, by E. M. Bounds
Twenty-two short chapters on the resurrection of believers. Bounds insists the whole man, body as well as soul, is made for immortality, that Christ is the firstfruits, and that we will be raised in the same body made new, not handed another one. He ends with the instant change at Christ's coming.
Our bodies are God's work, God's workmanship, God's temple, God's property.
The Ineffable Glory, chapter 18
See our guide to E. M. Bounds' books. Read The Ineffable Glory.
11. The World to Come, by Isaac Watts
Discourses on death, judgment and eternity by the great hymn writer. Read Discourse XI, "Safety in the Grave, and Joy at the Resurrection," which was written to comfort the dying. See Isaac Watts' books. Read The World to Come.
Also in the library
Spurgeon's Twelve Sermons on the Resurrection and Bounds' shorter book The Resurrection are both in the library, though their scanned texts have errors. G. Campbell Morgan's The Crises of the Christ has a fine chapter on the resurrection as "the divine seal" on Christ's work; it is in our guide to the best books on the person of Christ.
Where to start
For Easter, read Meyer's Calvary to Pentecost and then Maclaren's After the Resurrection. If you or someone you love has questions, give them Torrey. If you are grieving, go to Bounds and Watts, and see our guide to Christian books on grief.
The resurrection stands between the cross and the crown. For the first, see the best books on the cross. For the second, see the best books on heaven and the best books on the second coming.