I’m Dennis
Finnan, host and speaker on the World, the Word & You! Broadcast and as
today’s broadcast is on Easter Sunday, I’d like to talk about the greatest
triumph a human being has ever made, and that is rising from the dead…
…In all the
Bible there is no passage of Scripture more important and treasured than what
the apostle Paul wrote about the Christian faith, in his first letter to the
Corinthians. Let's read this and then we'll take the time to look fully into
what is its meaning and message. Paul the apostle writes,
1 Cor 15:1-11 (NLT) Now let me remind you,
dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before… 2 And it
is this Good News that saves you if you firmly believe it… 3 I passed on to
you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me--that
Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he
was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said. 5 He was
seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles.
6 After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one
time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died by now. 7 Then he
was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8 Last of all, I saw him,
too, long after the others, as though I had been born at the wrong time. 9 For
I am the least of all the apostles, and I am not worthy to be called an
apostle after the way I persecuted the church of God.
10 But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor
on me--and not without results. For I have worked harder than all the other
apostles, yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 11
So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach. The important thing
is that you believed what we preached to you.
What wonderful
comforting words these are to those who believe. Yet these words are rejected
in unbelief by many in our world today. However, this particular passage of
Scripture in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 15, is in fact the pivotal foundation of
the entire Christian faith, for it is centered exclusively on the teaching of
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In fact, there
is no other portion of Scripture that so extensively covers this truth for
Christians to rest their faith upon. Now having read this, I was reminded that
the early church's emphasis was indeed the Resurrection of Christ. There was
literally no other doctrine or teaching that was shared and rejoiced in, more
than the wonderful truth that Jesus Christ, who died for mankind’s sins, was
raised from the dead in honor of God's full acceptance of His death on behalf
of all sinners. In fact, it is safe to say that New Testament Christianity is
exclusively a religion of Resurrection.
Therefore, if
you examine all other religious faiths today, there is none that boldly
presents a Messiah, or leader who triumphed over death. Take Buddha,
Confucius, Mohammed, and every other religious figurehead - why their bodies
are buried and forgotten - for no one has ever triumphed over death, save
Jesus Christ, the Lord! However, Paul's message to the Corinthians was the
most dramatic testimony of truth the true Church could ever have received.
Let's look at these passages, and in a refreshing way allow its teachings to
again touch our hearts.
First let's ask,
"Why did the apostle Paul bring up the subject of resurrection?"
The answer is, it was the most attacked doctrine of the Church in his day
even till now. If the enemies of the Gospel of Christ could destroy the
Christian faith, they can only do it by eliminating its foundation, the
Resurrection of Jesus Christ for it is the cornerstone of Christianity! So God
in this text motivated Paul to write these truths for all generations to know
and appreciate.
Now, in these
eleven verses we have a treatise for belief in the Resurrection of Jesus
Christ. What evidences are there to believe this truly happened? Well, the
Bible says there are five specific testimonies, and this section of Scripture
says they are, (1) the Church, (2) the Bible, (3) the Eyewitnesses, (4) a
Special Witness, and (5) the Message itself. So let’s examine this now. First,
we have,
1.
The Witness of the Church
Remember Paul's
words, in
1 Corinthians 15:1-2 (NLT) “Now let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters,
of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do
now, for your faith is built on this wonderful message. 2 And it is this Good
News that saves you if you firmly believe it--unless, of course, you believed
something that was never true in the first place.”
Notice the address. Paul writes to the "brothers and sisters" and says think
again about what you believed. You see the whole Church of the first century
believed in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ! It was a common faith of all who
claimed to be of Christ. Unfortunately today through popular novelist’s books
such as the “DaVinci Code,” old and unreliable writings such as the Gnostic
gospels and literature attempt to tell the world of today that the New
Testament Bible and its teachings of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, was
simply a myth perpetrated by emperor Constantine in the 4th century
to control paganism.
This of course, is baseless fiction and completely erroneous teaching, for the
witness of the Church from the very first century event, is the strongest
evidence of resurrection. From that moment on, Christians everywhere believed
God raised Christ from the dead. Multitudes saw him alive as testified. Even
to this day, more than 2000 years later, the basis of being a Christian, rests
solely on faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sadly today, there are
those who say they are Christians, who deny the Resurrection of Christ. But to
deny it and claim to be a Christian, is the most incongruous thing. One cannot
be a Christian without such belief.
Well, the early
church unquestionably and without doubt, believed in the Resurrection, long
before the 4th century. And, it is for us today one of the
strongest evidences of its truthfulness. Secondly, Paul, states the fact that,
2. God’s Word, the Bible
It testifies
throughout of the reality of the Resurrection. Again the Bible testifies in
the 1st century,
1 Cor 15:3-4 (NLT) I passed on to you what
was most important and what had also been passed on to me--that Christ died
for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised
from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said.
Heb 11:35 (NLT) “…But others trusted God…
they placed their hope in the resurrection to a better life.
1 Pet 3:21 (NLT) And this is a picture of
baptism, which now saves you by the power of Jesus Christ's resurrection.
Baptism is not a removal of dirt from your body; it is an appeal to God from a
clean conscience.
Acts 24:21 (NLT) “… I shouted out, 'I am on
trial before you today because I believe in the resurrection of the dead!'"
Today many
people say they believe in this good news Gospel teaching. But what passes
today as the Gospel is far from what it theologically is. Yet God in simple
terms reminds us. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simply and wonderfully, faith
in the fact that Christ died for the sins of the world, and that His death and
Resurrection are testified to by the prophecies and promises of Scripture.
You see, when Christ went to the cross and died there, this event was not
unknown to Him or those who carefully knew and believed the Scriptures.
Throughout the Old Testament, literally many hundreds of portions of the
Scriptures predicted the Messiah’s death on behalf of sinners and the
Resurrection of the Messiah which we know is Jesus Christ. In fact, the oldest
book in the Bible tells us this,
Job 19:25-26 (NLT) "But as for me, I know
that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. 26 And
after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!”
Isaiah the
prophet shouted aloud more than 500 years before Christ was born,
Isa 26:19 (NLT) Yet we have this assurance:
Those who belong to God will live; their bodies will rise again! Those who
sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy! For God's light of life will
fall like dew on his people in the place of the dead!
As such, even
Jesus Himself, while He walked the earth reminded his followers this was why
He came,
Mark 8:31 (NLT) Then Jesus began to tell them
that he, the Son of Man, would suffer many terrible things and be rejected by
the leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would
be killed, and three days later he would rise again.
John 5:28-29 (NLT) Don't be so surprised!
Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the
voice of God's Son, 29 and they will rise again. Those who have done good will
rise to eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to
judgment.
Yes, the whole
Bible from cover to cover, its main theme is God's love and redemption plan
that included the death, burial and Resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
The Scriptures itself is the second great testimony to the reality of the
Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now in this
passage of Scripture in 1 Corinthians 15, we have a third proof found in
3. The testimony of eyewitnesses
The most popular
trial of the past century was the O.J. Simpson murder case. In it, the lawyers
for the defense, fought for one thing -- not to prove his innocence in the
double murders of his ex-wife and friend, but simply to prove, there was but
one single reasonable doubt that he killed them. Our court systems will acquit
a defendant based on simple evidence of doubt. But my friend, how much more is
there to believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, where the evidence is
not doubt, but absolute confirmation again and again because of many “reliable
witnesses.” Here we see testimony of this in the Bible. Listen to God's Word
again,
1 Cor 15:5-7 (NLT) He was seen by Peter and
then by the twelve apostles. 6 After that, he was seen by more than five
hundred of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though
some have died by now. 7 Then he was seen by James and later by all the
apostles.
Did you hear
that? How many witnesses? While the O.J. Simpson trail glued the attention of
hearers on the West Coast, another public trial was proceeding on the East
Coast. A lone gunman had killed many people and injured as much in a shooting
spree on the Long Island Railroad. In his court case, he defended himself and
challenged the witnesses. Yet witness after witness who lived through the
shooting spree, identified this man as the killer. More than nineteen
witnesses in all, clearly said the defendant was guilty of the crime. In such
a manner, the court could find no other course of action than to render a
guilty plea because of the eyewitnesses!
Well think about it. Paul says individuals such as Peter, and all the other 11
apostles, personally saw Christ walking the earth, talking to them after His
cruel and bloody death on the cross! What's more, imagine 500 more people,
parading into the courtroom of eternity, testifying they too personally saw
Jesus Christ alive after his death! The evidence is overwhelming, just from
this third proof Paul the apostle presents. But now, for skeptics God gives
even more evidence.
4. A SPECIAL WITNESS, THE APOSTLE PAUL
We read in,
1 Cor 15:8 (NLT) Last of all, I saw him, too, long
after the others, as though I had been born at the wrong time.”
Here God brings
out a most unique proof. It was a special witness. Paul himself tells the
Corinthians, he too, personally saw Christ alive, but unlike the others he saw
Jesus Christ alive, long after he was dead!
This fourth
proof is significant for someone might say all the others were hoping He would
rise from the dead, and maybe hallucinated. However, this witness was not a
follower rather, a hostile witness. We know the story of Saul of Tarsus. This
man was a vehement hater of this new Christian faith that taught resurrection
of its leader. Saul of Tarsus, who later was called Paul, was the last person
logically to believe in Resurrection of Christ. So much so, that Paul before
personally seeing Christ hunted down Jewish believers, to persecute and even
have them killed for believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet, on
Saul’s way to Damascus, God literally arrested Paul and in the blinding light
of God's holiness and glory - the resurrected and living Christ appeared
personally to Saul.
Acts 9:3-5 (NLT) As he was nearing Damascus
on this mission, a brilliant light from heaven suddenly beamed down upon him!
4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why are
you persecuting me?" 5 "Who are you, sir?" Saul asked. And the voice replied,
"I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting!
Paul remembered
this and called it the most significant act of God's grace. Hear again Paul's
own words,
1 Cor 15:8-9 (NLT) Last of all, I saw him,
too, long after the others, as though I had been born at the wrong time. 9 For
I am the least of all the apostles, and I am not worthy to be called an
apostle after the way I persecuted the church of God.
Yes it was
grace, the unmerited favor of God, granted to this man who least of all
deserved it. But then isn't this true of you and me? Do I deserve the grace of
God to be saved from my sins? Do you? The answer is no! Neither of us have any
claim on God. I was born a sinner, and still in my flesh and nature I am a
sinner in rebellion to God. Yet the Bible offered me salvation full and free,
and I received it by the grace of the Lord. So Paul too could say,
1 Corinthians 15:10 "… But by the grace of God
I am what I am..."
This same grace
responsible for his calling in ministry, was in effect responsible for his
faithfulness too. The truth and power of the Resurrection of Christ gave Paul
a new life and heart to begin living for the glory of our God and Savior Jesus
Christ. So Paul testifies to the Corinthians. But now the last proof remains,
5. THE MESSAGE’S ABILITY TO CHANGE LIVES
We read in,
1 Cor 15:10-11 (NLT) “But whatever I am now, it
is all because God poured out his special favor on me--and not without
results…” This last evidential proof is that common message
every preacher and believer down through the ages has accepted and rests upon.
It matters not whether it was Paul the apostle, or all the apostles who
followed, nor the hundreds and hundreds who saw Christ alive after His death -
we too believe to this day because the resurrection message of hope, truth and
life promises all who will believe - a changed life in Christ! That’s right to
be born again means God remakes you into a new creation. Although this new
creation resides along side the old one, nonetheless, it is there born fresh
and new as a newborn baby enters the world. This new life in Christ manifests
itself in every true converted follower.
This is perhaps
the greatest testimony to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His new life is
imparted to all who believe and follow Him. Down through the centuries now are
billions of lives that were forever and remarkably changed from sinners to
saints.
So my friend
this Easter Day, let all true believers be reminded, our faith in the
Resurrection of Jesus Christ is no whimsical faith for the mentally impaired -
it is a faith based on facts, absolute documented evidences and truths -- and
more, a faith based on the mysterious but wonderful power of God to change our
hearts and souls. Every true believer knows the power of the resurrection for
themselves. We may not have personally seen Christ rise from the dead with our
physical eyes, but by the eyes of faith, God has given us conclusive sight --
sufficient enough to live by and even die by. O, glory to God, the Easter
message still rings out loud and true! He is risen from the Dead! So we preach
and so we have believed…
… Say friend how
about you? Are you following a faith that exalts a dead leader? Such a faith
has never been the faith of true Christianity! Maybe you are you following a
faith that exalts a present day messianic leader? Until he dies and is raised
from the dead, he can never prove to be of God or God Himself, and is unworthy
of following let alone faith. But for most, the greatest deception of faith is
to believe in oneself, as sufficient for righteousness and presentation to God
for eternity. I beg of all who listen, turn from such idols of the mind, and
turn to the only living and true God who is alive forevermore, the resurrected
and living Lord Jesus Christ.
