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THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
It has always been of interest to me that the resurrection of Christ
was never one of the things that I had doubted since becoming a Christian.
I believed it long before I ever heard the Gospel. I must admit that I
wondered about the why of Easter and all that goes with it, but I can't
remember of ever doubting the fact that Christ rose from the dead.
It is one of those things that had been taught to me in Sunday School,
which had just never been put into practical application in my life.
My concern today is that we are raising a generation of "Christians"
just like myself and that one day we will have a Christian nation in name
only.
The resurrection of Christ was of great importance to the apostles.
It was one of the requirements for the replacement of Judas. Acts 1:21-22;
"Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that
the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of
John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained
to be a witness with us of his resurrection."
They wanted someone that had witnessed what they had witnessed, so that
they all could go forth giving account of those things that they had seen
and witnessed.
The resurrection is indeed fundamental to the Christian faith.
1. Without it the Bible is nothing but fables and wasted time. The apostles
claimed that the Lord was raised. They are either witnesses of truth, or
they are liars of the worst kind. They have, and are guilty of giving false
hope to the millions that have followed Jesus over the centuries. They
have duped millions into a false religion and a false security concerning
their eternal souls.
2. If the Lord was not raised from the dead, then what hope have we
of being raised from the dead to eternal life with God? None! Without that
hope then we are left with the solemn realization that when we die, we
have nothing else. We go to the grave and rot into oblivion.
Even the Pharaohs of Egypt did not believe that one!
Indeed, the resurrection is not only fundamental to the Christian faith,
but it is unique to the Christian faith. There is no other religion that
claims the resurrection of its founder. All religions can go to a grave
where their leader remains.
It has always occurred to me that we have a unique situation in Christianity,
yet we still have that grave as a part of the Holy Land itineraries. He
isn't there, He hasn't been there for nearly two thousand years, indeed,
it may not even be His grave, yet people spend thousands of dollars to
see it!
There is one religion that is based on a resurrected leader and that
is the old Babylonian religion that viewed Tammuz as resurrected. This
is modern day Roman Catholicism.
Thomas Arnold, the author of the three volume HISTORY OF ROME and a
man that was appointed to the chair of Modern History at Oxford mentions
of his thoughts on the resurrection,
"The evidence for our Lord's life and death and resurrection may be
and often has been, shown to be satisfactory; it is good according to the
common rules for distinguishing good evidence from bad. Thousands and tens
of thousands of persons have gone through it piece by piece, as carefully
as every judge summing up a most important case. I have myself done it
many times over, not to persuade others but to satisfy myself. I have been
used for many years to study the histories of other times, and to examine
and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know
of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and
fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer,
than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again
from the dead."
The Old Testament not only foretold the event, but also foreshadowed
it through Jonah. It is hidden in the prophecies of the Messiah as well.
Let's just glance at some references that will depict these truths.
1. Ps. 16:10, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt
thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." This passage looks far further
than the Psalmists thoughts to someone future.
2. "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And
Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." Jonah
1:17
"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly;
so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth." Matt 12:40
3. The dual aspect of the Messiah coming as a baby and as a king requires
two comings which required a death and resurrection, though the prophets
certainly did not understand this.
Isa 9:6,7 depict the child/king aspect very nicely as one thought and
one coming. The prophets had no idea that there was a two thousand plus
year time gap between the child and king aspects of Messiah.
I. TIME OF THE RESURRECTION:
There are some very good explanations to all of the theories of when
Christ was crucified, and when He arose.
We won't go into the discussion for it is much to detailed. Let me encourage
you however to consider well, the thought that it was three full twenty-four
hour periods of time. There is much evidence that this was the case. There
are some good arguments for the other views but I think that the evidence
tends toward three twenty-four hour periods. This is most consistent with
the easy literal interpretation of the scriptures as well.
Please do not stop fellowshipping with others over this controversy
for there are very good men on the various sides of the discussion.
Why is it important what day He was crucified on?
1. He said that He would be in the grave three days and three nights.
Was He speaking of only an hour or two on two days and twenty-four hours
on one day, or was He talking about three days and three nights? The literal,
easy understanding of it is three of each equaling three twenty-four hour
periods, or very close to it.
2. Will you have, or participate in Good Friday Services when you get
into the ministry. A Friday Triumphal entry requires less than three twenty-four
hour periods.
3. I don't know, isn't a good answer for people that have gotten into
discussions about the subject. They will expect their pastor and Sunday
School teachers to know these things!
II. PROOFS OF THE RESURRECTION:
A. The appearance of the risen Lord to a large number of people. This
is covered in section III.
We in the 1990's are quite fond of the "EYE WITNESS" report, indeed,
we are becoming quite accustomed to film, or video coverage of the events
that we are interested in. We do not have video coverage of the resurrection;
however, we have a number of eyewitnesses to the resurrected Lord. (Can
you imagine the network fight over coverage of the resurrection if it were
to happen today? Or would there be any interest in the occasion?)
B. The empty tomb requires a resurrection. First, the body couldn't
have been stolen for there were guards posted, and the tomb was sealed.
Secondly, the body of someone that had been drugged could not have rolled
the stone away and overcome the guards without them knowing that it had
happened.
It is not acceptable that the Lord would allow His disciples to perpetuate
fraud by preaching the resurrection when He knew He hadn't died. In all
of His life He had acted in the proper moral and legal manner, why would
He end His life in a cloud of lies? NOT LOGICAL!
C. The message of the disciples was based on the resurrection. They
would not have gone about preaching unless they believed that the Lord
had truly been raised from the dead. They would not have gone to their
graves for their beliefs as many martyrs did in the early days as well
as through the centuries.
Their transformation is also linked to this line of thinking. Peter
for example the denier, transformed into a preacher on the day of Pentecost.
Since they did not believe that he was going to be raised (The women
went to embalm him.) They must have really believed it to be true to go
about preaching it.
D. Paul's conversion necessitates a real experience and not just a dream.
He was convinced that the Lord was risen.
E. The believers shifting their day of worship and gatherings to the
first day would indicate their belief in the resurrection. If nothing definite
had happened, they would have continued in their old ways.
F. There were precautions taken to keep the body in the tomb. Mk 15:46
mentions first that the body was wrapped in grave clothes. This would be
hard to get out of if the Lord had really been alive. They rolled a stone
into place in front of the tomb. Matt 27:62-66 mentions that the Jews sealed
and set a watch, just in case something were going to happen.
G. The church is based on the resurrection. Had it not happened the
church would never have begun.
Phillip Shaff in his HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, Vol. I, p.172-73
has a discussion of this thought. I think that Paul deals quite adequately
with it as well. I Cor. 15:17, "And if Christ be not raised, your faith
is vain, ye are yet in your sins."
H. The transformation of the thousands of believers over the centuries
proves that many have believed the evidence that has been presented in
the Word and in the life of others.
We don't have time to go into the many testimonies that I could repeat
of people that have been transformed by the Gospel. I will allow the few
words of a friend of mine suffice as proof of my point. When I told him
that I was going to college to be a preacher, he looked me straight in
the eye and hollered, "Stan Derickson - a PREACHER?" End quote.
I. Many doubters and lost men have set out to disprove the claims of
Christ over the years and many, if not most of these men find that the
claims of Christ are to strong to deny and submit to them in receiving
Him as their personal savior.
Years ago there was a little Readers Digest size magazine that was put
out by a man that had set about to disprove the resurrection. He studied
and studied until he found the Lord. He made an offer that stood for years
and was printed in his magazine every month. The offer was that if anyone
could prove in a legal sense of evidence that the resurrection did not
occur, he would pay them $5,000. He had the money in an account set up
for the purpose. To my knowledge there was not even one to take up the
challenge.
III. NATURE OF THE RESURRECTION:
A. Supernatural: Not as in hocus pocus, but in the fact that the whole
scenario was outside the very laws of nature and should not have happened
as these laws are written.
The Lord was not drugged into a stupor whereby He appeared dead.
He was not acting as if He were dead. Can you imagine the actor that
would have the ability to act dead when he has been there on the cross
with nails in his feet and hands for several hours? Can you imagine the
actor that would be needed to act dead as a spear is stuck into his side?
He died and was raised from the dead as the scriptures state, or the
accounts are completely false and unworthy. If the accounts are unworthy
in this one respect then they are unworthy in all respects.
B. Physical: Christ told the disciples that He was not spirit but flesh
and bones. He told them to observe his hands and feet. Lu. 24:39 Not only
did He tell them to, they did. They had time with Him to know that He was
really the Jesus that they had known before the crucifixion. Jn. 20:27
He told Thomas to touch his side. Lu. 24:42,43 He ate fish and honeycomb.
There is a difference between His body before and after the resurrection.
Rom. 6:9 mentions that death has no power over Him now. "Knowing that Christ,
being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion
over him."
IIII. PERSON OF THE RESURRECTION:
A. Christ appeared on the first day:
1. To Mary Magdalene. Mk. 16:9,11; Jn. 20:11,17; Matt. 28:1,8,9
2. To other women. Matt. 28:9,10
3. To Peter I Cor. 15:5; Lu. 24:33,35
4. To the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Mk. 16:12,13; Lu. 24:13,35
I have always been envious of those on the road that Christ appeared to.
I would have loved to have been there with a recorder or note pad to hear
that discussion of the Lord in the Old Testament. What a lesson that must
have been.
5. To ten of the disciples. Mk. 16:14; Lu. 24:36,43; Jn. 20:19-25
B. Christ appeared to others before the ascension:
1. To the eleven disciples. Jn. 20:26,29; I Cor. 15:5?
2. To seven disciples at the Sea of Galilee. Jn. 21:1-23
3. To five hundred plus. I Cor. 15:6; Matt. 28:16-20
4. To the Disciples at the ascension. Lu. 24:44-53; Acts 1:3-11
C. Christ appeared after the ascension:
1. Paul. Acts 9:3-6 Paul has been reported to have mentioned the resurrection
in each of his epistles.
2. John. Rev. 1:9-20
D. Misc. texts to relate:
I Cor 15:5 mentions the twelve. This may be a collective term for the
disciples, or may be an appearance after the replacement was chosen for
Judas. The collective idea seems the easiest to most, due to the fact that
the ascension preceded the choosing of Matthias. You would have to deal
with a lack of chronology if you held that it was the twelve not collective.
Matt. 28:16,17 mentions the eleven seeing him at the mountain in Galilee.
Some have suggested that this is the ascension, however the ascension seems
to have been at Jerusalem (Acts 1:4). This would probably fit best after
the sea of Galilee appearance.
V. ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE RESURRECTION:
A. It is the surety of our own salvation. I Pet 1:3-4, "Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant
mercy, hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you," I Cor 15:
It was also sufficient. It cared for all that was needed to redeem mankind!
Rom 4:25
B. It is the surety of the Abrahamic covenant. Acts 13:32,33, "And we
declare unto you glad tidings, how the promise which was made unto the
fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he
hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm,
Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." Everything that God promised
Abraham was set and made fact by Christ. All those things that Abraham
took by faith were made guaranteed.
C. It is the surety of the deity of Christ. Rom. 1:4, "And declared
to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by
the resurrection from the dead;" If He were able to raise Himself in his
own power as man I think that I'm going to have to start now to psyche
myself up enough to raise myself!
D. It is the surety of our faith and life. I Cor. 15:17, "And if Christ
be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins." Eph. 1:19,22,
Rom. 6:1-13
E. It is the surety of a future world judgment. Acts 17:31, "Because
he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained; concerning which he hath given assurance
unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."
F. It is the surety of our own resurrection. Indeed it is the surety
of all mankind's resurrection, II Cor. 4:14. Jn. 5:28, 29 mentions that
all mankind will be raised - some to life and some to damnation.
G. It is the surety of what Christ told the people of Himself. Matt.
28:6, "He is not here; for he is risen, as he said...."
H. It was the surety of His ascension into heaven. Without the blood
for the heavenly tabernacle there would have been no entrance.
I. It is the surety that the Bible is true and valid. Ps. 16:10 looks
forward to the resurrection. Matt. 16 21, mentions that He was to be raised,
and He was.
VI. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF THE RESURRECTION:
A. It helps us live moral lives. I Cor. 15:32-34 Paul mentions that
if the dead don't rise then we might as well eat, drink for tomorrow we
die.
B. We can be encouraged in the loss of loved ones that they will one
day be raised from the dead. I Thes. 4:16-18
C. We can relish the thought of what our eternal life will be like.
It is based on the resurrection of Christ and is a sure thing to come.
I Pet. 1:3-5
"A NEW BEGINNING
"Death is not the end; it is only a new beginning. Death is not the
master of the house he is only the porter at the King's lodge, appointed
to open the gate and let the King's guests into the realm of eternal day.
And so shall we ever be with the Lord.
"The range of our threescore years and ten is not the limit of our life.
Our life is not a landlocked lake enclosed within the shore lines of seventy
years. It is an arm of the sea. And so we must build for those larger waters.
We are immortal! How, then, shall we live today in prospect of eternal
tomorrow?"
J. H. Jowett 1
We are immortal, we are moving toward the open sea that is immeasurable
and full of complete joy. As Francis Shaffer puts it in his book title,
"How then should we live?" In light of the fact that the whole world is
immortal and moving toward the open sea that is immeasurable, yet not all
are moving toward the same sea. The unsaved are immortal and moving toward
a sea full of complete and utter agony and torment.
"HOW THEN SHOULD WE LIVE?"
Christ died and was raised that we might also be raised one day. The
sobering fact is however, that all the lost will also be raised. Our responsibility
is to show them the direction to the proper sea, the sea of eternal life
and not the sea of eternal death!
"HOW THEN SHALL YOU LIVE?"
END NOTES:
1. Stanley I. Stuber and Thomas Curtis Clark, "TREASURY OF THE CHRISTIAN
FAITH," New York: Association Press, 1949, pp 588-589
HANDOUT
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
I. TIME OF THE RESURRECTION:
II. PROOFS OF THE RESURRECTION:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
III. NATURE OF THE RESURRECTION:
A.
B.
IIII. PERSON OF THE RESURRECTION:
A. Christ appeared on the first day:
1. Mk 16:9,11; Jn 20:11,17; Matt 28:1,8,9
2. Matt 28:9,10
3. I Cor 15:5; Lu 24:33,35
4. Mk 16:12,13; Lu 24:13,35
5. Mk 16:14; Lu 24:36,43; Jn 20:19-25
B. Christ appeared before the ascension:
1. Jn 20:26,29; I Cor 15:5
2. Jn 21:1-23
3. I Cor 15:6; Matt 28:16-20
4. Lu 24:44-53; Acts 1:3-11
C. Christ appeared after the ascension:
1. Acts 9:3-6
2. Rev 1:9-20
D. Misc. texts to relate:
V. ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE RESURRECTION:
A. It is the surety of our own salvation.
B. It is the surety of the Abrahamic covenant.
C. It is the surety of the deity of Christ.
D. It is the surety of our faith and life.
E. It is the surety of a future world judgment.
F. It is the surety of our own resurrection.
G. It is the surety of what Christ told the people of Himself.
H. It was the surety of His ascension into heaven.
I. It is the surety that the Bible is true and valid.
VI. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF THE RESURRECTION: