“To know what would have happened, child?” said Aslan. “No. Nobody is ever told that.”
So writes C S Lewis in Prince Caspian.
The Bible rarely tells us what would have happened if a person had taken a different decision. One exception is found in 2 Kings 13. Elisha instructed the king to strike the ground with his arrows. The king stopped after doing so three times. Elisha rebuked him for this, “You should have struck five of six times. Then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it.” But generally, in His mercy, God keeps from us what would have happened, or what might have happened.
But, there is another exception, the most important matter of all. Paul writes about the resurrection of Jesus Christ in 1 Cor 15.12-19;
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
If Christ had not been raised from the dead, this life becomes worthless. But, Paul insists, Christ has risen from the dead, and that changes everything!