Actually, this series is from Understanding Bible Truth booklets by Robert Hicks and Richard Bewes (1981), but I have expanded some texts for modern readers (to make it easier to read) and added Scripture quotes (I’m using ESV Bible) into these writings to clarify its points more clearly. My purpose of making this series available in the internet is single: So that you can be clear the essential facts about the Bible’s teaching in a readily understandable form.
What is ‘the Resurrection’?
In a catechism of the Christian faith, there is a question: What do we understand by the resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Answer: By the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are to understand that God exerted His great strength and might in Christ, raising Him from the dead in a transformed and glorified spiritual body, thereby vindicating His passion and declaring Him to be the Son of God.
In the Bible, Apostle Paul writes, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
The Foundation of the Christian Faith
The resurrection of Jesus Christ lifts Christianity from the level of philosophy, or a mere code of conduct, to the supreme stature of God’s good news for the human race. In the resurrection God set His seal of approval upon Christ as Son of God (Romans 1:4), and underlined the value of His death. It was the resurrection that transformed the followers of Jesus, and sent then out into the world to preach the good news. The resurrection is the pivotal point of the Christian faith (Refer 1 Corinthians 15 where Paul dealing with the topic of resurrection of Christ in detail).
An Event Supported by Evidence
If we inquire into the evidence for the resurrection, we are confronted first by factual evidence. There is the empty tomb, containing only the abandoned grave clothes, and the persistent failure of all explanations other than that Christ (really, truly) had risen. Also to be faced are the numerous reported appearances of the risen Jesus, at different times and before different people. For example, after 3 days Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene first, then to his disciples and then again to all of them, especially to Thomas (Read John 20:1-29).
There is also the psychological evidence. For example, there are the transformed disciples (cowardice to boldness in preaching Christ), the conviction of the early church in the face of persecution, and the change from Saturday to Sunday as the Christian day of worship (after centuries of Sabbath worship).
[Josh McDowell’s More than a Carpenter, Evidence for the Resurrection, and The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict; and Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ are highly recommended books for you to read on the subject related to Jesus’ resurrection.]
A Promise of Ultimate Victory
If Christ had not been raised from the tomb, His death would have been evidence of the failure of His mission. Thus the resurrection gives positive assurance that the Christian believer had not believed in vain. The mission of Jesus did not end in failure, but in triumph. Ultimately all things, even the ‘last enemy’, death itself, must submit to the victory and rule of Jesus. Philippians 2:8-11 declared;
“And being found in human form, [Jesus] humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
The Power of Christian Experience
To the Christian, the resurrection of Christ is far more than a past event of history. It plays a vital part in Christian living in the present, and colors the outlook, hopes and motives of every believer.
The New Testament teaches us that Christians must be ready to be like Jesus Christ in His life and death. This means that when we are willing to die to self-interest then we will be able to live a new life (as Jesus died and rose to new life). The Christian lives and works in the very power by which God raised Jesus from the dead [Refer to Romans 6:5-14].
The Promise of an Eternal Home
Christ’s victory over death has made immerse changes in the area of sorrow and bereavement. The finality has been taken out of death. All those who die can know that Christ has been through this experience before them, and will bring them through it to be with Him. “I am the resurrection and the life” said Jesus, “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).
Furthermore, because Christ’s body was raised from the death, the Christian has the guarantee that he or she too will receive in eternity a resurrection body of beauty and strength. This new body will be related to the old, but without weakness or decay.
My Conclusion about Jesus’ Resurrection
Timothy Keller in his book The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism writes, “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead”. And yes, the Scripture testified that Jesus really has risen from the death and all His teachings are true – His promises are true. This fact and truth gives me hope with an everlasting confident in the Lord. He is not dead; He is Alive! Therefore, my faith, the faith that God had given to me, is a living faith in the Living God! Amen.
THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.
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