A spiritual experience void of biblical context is dangerous; yet, faith without a spiritual experience ultimately leads to doubt and eventually spiritual death. However, a faith that is both scriptural and experiential is divine. Jesus combined faith, scripture, and experience into a cohesive unit in John 7:38 when He stated, "He who believes in Me (Faith), as the (Scripture) said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water'" (Experience) (NASB).
The Resurrection of Jesus is an event that the scriptures teach as historical fact. We have been called as Christians to believe in the Resurrection. Paul taught that we could be saved by believing that God raised His Son from the dead (Rom 10:9). But are we to believe it to be historical fact simply because the Bible says it’s so, or can we also know it experientially? Consider that even though the Old Testament predicted Christ’s resurrection, and even though Jesus on several occasions spoke to His disciples concerning His resurrection, Jesus felt that is was still necessary to reveal himself as the risen Savior.
To those who are uncertain, Jesus always extends a personal invitation to “come see” and experience. To a few uncertain women, the angel said “Come see the place where He once laid. He is not here, He is risen” (Mt 28:6). He then gave them instructions on how to find Jesus. To doubting Thomas Jesus said, “Look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side” (Jn 20:27 NLT). To His troubled and perplexed disciples, Jesus stated, “Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me” (Lk 24:39). Two men on the road to Emmaus were perplexed over the empty tomb. The question in their minds was this: “Was Jesus’ body stolen, or did He indeed rise from the dead?” Jesus appeared to them and answered their questions by opening the scriptures, and their eyes.
Let me give you a word of exhortation today. Refuse to live a non-believing, non-scriptural, and non-experiential life. There is no greater time than this Easter to begin an experiential relationship with the resurrected Christ of scripture. If you are a non-believer, trust God's Word and then humbly ask God to reveal himself to you. If you are a believer who has never had a life altering encounter with God, humbly ask Him to give you an experience with Himself that is undeniable. There is an old song that ends like this: "On Calvary He died, but right now He is alive. I know because I talked with Him today." That’s experience my friends!