The Resurrection of Christ - What it means to you

[Resource Manager]

 

The Resurrection of Christ

 

What it means to you

 

The most important event in history

 

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important single event in history. This event is so vital that everything else depends upon it. It is central to the purpose of God in Jesus Christ. It is a key part of the purpose of God in the world. ‘If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty’ (1 Corinthians 15:l3-14). This statement was written by Paul, who, almost two thousand years ago, preached the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ through much of the Roman world. Paul’s words are confident, definite, uncompromising. Believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ must have that same uncompromising confidence in the resurrection of Jesus. Either Jesus was raised from the dead and now lives, or the hope of Christians has no value at all. Paul goes on to say ‘If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!’ (15:l7). This challenges us to look at what the Bible actually teaches about life, death and resurrection.

 

Death comes to all

 

For everyone, life must ultimately focus on one personal, inevitable event - which cannot be avoided - death. Men have devised beliefs about the afterlife as far back as records can be found. Ancient Chinese and Egyptian tombs clearly show a provision for the supposed change to something better and greater after death. These beliefs are just figments of the imagination of those who devised them. However, the Bible, which declares itself to be the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:14-17, 2 Peter 1:16-21), is reliable. The claim by the writers is to the authority of God, and not of themselves or others. On this basis, our enquiry is very reassuring.

 

In this booklet, we show that:

1. Jesus demonstrates his God-given power to raise those who had died,
   
2. during his lifetime Jesus was aware that he was destined to die and to be raised from the dead,
   
3. Jesus was raised from the dead,
   
4. Jesus appeared to many of his followers after he was raised,
   
5. the Old Testament writers prophesied Jesus’ resurrection,
   
6. afterwards the apostles understood why it was absolutely essential that the resurrection should have taken place,
   
7. Jesus’ resurrection means he is the firstborn from the dead - to die no more; and we also indicate,
   
8. what it must mean for us and the great promise it holds out for those who put their trust in the words, work and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
   

[Resource Manager]

What resurrection means

 

The word ‘resurrection’ in the New Testament means ‘standing up’ or ‘rising up’. It is connected with a bodily return from the dead. Resurrection is mentioned about forty times in the New Testament. It was a key part of the teaching of Jesus and his apostles. Jesus demonstrated his authority through the power, which God had given him, and raised many during his earthly ministry.

 

Miracles and the resurrection

 

Miracles are an important part of the Gospel records. Without them, there would be an enormous gap in both the presentation and purpose of the Gospel. The miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ were a foretaste of the Kingdom of God “... surely the kingdom of God has come upon you” he said (Matthew12:28). When doing the miracles, Jesus made this point to critics who thought that he was casting out evil by evil means! The cures were instantaneous. The sick people he cured recovered immediately. Of course, the people who were cured did eventually die. What the miracles showed was that in the coming Kingdom of God, everyone who had faithfully sought the Kingdom, would have their illnesses and even death removed. Life in the Kingdom is described like this: ‘There shall be no more death ... There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away’ (Revelation: 21:4). The most amazing of the miracles were surely the occasions when Jesus raised people from the dead. In the gospel records there are at least three occasions when this happened, although it is implied that others took place (Luke 7:22).

 

• There was a widow whose only son had died. Jesus met her as she was accompanying her son’s body to its burial. (Luke 7: 11-17). After consoling the widow, ‘He said “Young man, I say to you, arise”. So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother’ (v 14-15).
   
  
• Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, appealed to Jesus to save his only daughter, who was seriously ill (Luke8:41), but before he could reach her, the girl died. Undeterred, Jesus went on to the house and ‘took her by the hand and called, saying “Little girl, arise.” And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened’ (v54, 56).
   
  
• Lazarus, a close friend of Jesus was seriously ill dying, in fact to the point of death. Jesus was some distance away, when he heard about his friend’s illness. However, Jesus stayed where he was for a further two days. Jesus knew then that Lazarus had died; he told his disciples ‘Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up’ (John 11:11). When his disciples misunderstood, he told them plainly that Lazarus was dead. Lazarus’ two sisters both knew of the power which Jesus had. They were disappointed that Jesus had not cured their brother’s illness. Each said to him ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died’ (v21). Jesus clearly wanted to show them something greater. He said to Martha, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live’ (v25). He demonstrated the power God had given him, when at the tomb he called: ‘“Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes’ (v43-44).

The raising of Lazarus was one of the last miracles Jesus performed before his own death. It is clear that even then, Jesus’ followers did not realise that he too would rise from the dead. Yet it is here, that we begin to see how important resurrection is to Bible teaching. God’s whole purpose with the human race depends on it. This may seem a very strong statement to make, but Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:19 says ‘If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable’. Without resurrection we have no hope for we are told ‘the wages of sin is death’ (Romans 6:23).

 

Without doubt, the most telling chapter in the New Testament regarding the resurrection is 1 Corinthians 15. Paul argues forcibly that the Christian’s hope must lie in the fact of the resurrection. From verses 12-19 Paul uses the word ‘if seven times to show a terrible void in the hope of the believer; ‘if Christ has not been raised’ [from the dead]. Christ’s resurrection is thus a key part of the hope of the believer: ‘But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep’ (1 Co.15:20-21). Because Christ rose again, others too will rise from the dead.

[Resource Manager]

Christ foretold his own resurrection

 

The Gospel writers knew of his resurrection before they began to write. The ultimate end of the ministry of Jesus was well known to each writer, so his teachings, miracles, trial, death and resurrection must have influenced how they saw their Lord and Master. He had clearly been a living manifestation of all that he said and did. It is with this background in mind, that we must look at the Gospel records.

 

Jesus told his followers that he would be killed and then raised from the dead.

 

• ‘He [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again’ (Mark 8:31).
   
  
• ‘[Jesus] took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him. “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again”’ (Mark 10:32-34).
   
  
• In the record of the transfiguration, when the disciples saw the Lord glorified, Jesus ‘commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant’ (Mark 9:9-10).
   
  
• Jesus was keen that they should be aware of his coming trial. ‘He taught his disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day”. But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.’ (Mark 9:31-32).

The death of Jesus

 

Ultimately the day came when Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, in the Garden of Gethsemane. There he was arrested by the Jews and taken to the Romans for trial. Although the Roman governor Pilate found no fault in him, the Jews insisted that he should be crucified. In all this, Jesus submitted to the will of the people, knowing that these things had to take place if the purpose of God was to be fulfilled in him. At any time he could have resisted and called ‘twelve legions of angels to his aid. Jesus submitted voluntarily to his trial and death.

 

His crucifixion came as a shattering blow to his followers. Their hopes seemed to be totally destroyed by these events. They then saw where Jesus’ body was laid.

 

The empty tomb

 

The women on the way to the tomb faced a problem. ‘They said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away - for it was very large’ (Mark 16:3-4). But we are told that ‘an angel of the Lord ... rolled back the stone’ (Matthew 28:2). This was a totally unexpected sight. One of them thought that the body had been taken.

 

Many suggestions have been made to explain how the body of Jesus came to be missing. It was in the wrong tomb some say. This could not have been the case, because his followers saw where he was laid. Others say Jesus did not actually die, but fainted, recovered consciousness in the tomb, and then pushed the stone away from the door of the tomb. When we think of the pain, and loss of blood he suffered on the cross and how he was bound up in grave clothes, this suggestion is absurd. If the women couldn’t have moved the stone, how could Jesus in his weakened condition? In fact, the empty tomb became a still greater problem for the authorities who were Jesus’ enemies. They had set a guard to make sure that the disciples didn’t steal the body. The undeniable fact of the empty tomb caused those who had been responsible for Jesus’ death to take action to limit the damage. They ‘gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day’ (Matthew 28:12-15).

[Resource Manager]

How the resurrection changed the disciples

 

When Jesus was betrayed and arrested his disciples forsook him and fled. His enemies were clearly wishing him to be crucified. The disciples hid themselves for fear of the Jews. The last thing on their minds was to steal the body of their master. However, when they eventually saw the empty tomb and knew that Jesus was alive again, they were totally changed in their outlook.

 

In the Acts of the Apostles, which records events after Jesus’ resurrection, we can see a completely different style in the way that the apostles acted. No longer were they timid and frightened men, but bold in their speech and attitude. They were prepared to suffer hardship for their convictions; it meant rejection, imprisonment, beatings and execution by the authorities who spurned their words and work and tried to suppress them.

 

Paul too, was a changed man after his vision of the risen Jesus. Before, he had been a persecutor of the believers in Jesus Christ. Afterwards he became one who preached, wrote and travelled to spread the same faith. The sufferings Paul endured for his faith are recorded in 2 Corinthians 11:23-33.

 

These changes in attitude were not caused by an illusion, but by Jesus showing himself alive to many of his disciples on a number of occasions. “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke 24:39). Jesus ‘presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs’ (Acts 1:3). Paul lists names of some of the people who saw the risen Jesus - (1 Corinthians 15:5-8). He records that there were over five hundred witnesses and adds “Last of all He was seen by me also, as of one born out of due time” (15:8). The number of witnesses to the resurrection of Christ is compelling evidence.

 

Christ and the Old Testament

 

How did Jesus know of his impending death and resurrection? Why was he so sure? How did his life turn out like this? The answer is in a dramatic meeting after Jesus had been raised from the dead (Luke 24:13-27).

 

He joined two perplexed disciples walking on the road to Emmaus. They travelled with him for some time, but failed to recognise him. They spoke about the death of their Master, explaining that they ‘were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel’. Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

 

Jesus was impressing on the disciples that to fulfil God’s purpose of redemption he had to go through these sufferings. Paul supports these words of Jesus:

 

“I declare to you the gospel ... by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you ... that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

 

Paul bases his faith squarely on the fulfilment of prophecies in the Old Testament, the Scriptures to which he refers. Notice that Paul says that Christ was dead and buried. His emphasis on this destroys any notion that Jesus somehow survived death in some way. Jesus also says ‘I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen” (Revelation 1:18)

 

The resurrection of Jesus is as meaningful today as ever it was.

 

If we try to imagine Jesus teaching and performing his miracles and then ending his life as a martyr on the cross, that would have been no gospel (or ‘good news’) at all. His work and purpose would have ended there. Jesus could not complete the work and purpose of God, if he had died and stayed dead. His work is confirmed when he is raised from the dead. He is, in fact, a living expression of the gospel he preached. Peter says of Jesus that God raised him up:

 

‘having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it’ (Acts 2:24).

 

By telling his disciples that his work was prophesied, Jesus links His suffering and resurrection to the Old Testament - a sure sign to us of the purpose of God in him.

[Resource Manager]

The resurrection of Christ foretold in the Old Testament

 

We now turn to the Old Testament to see Christ’s death and resurrection foretold. Consider first Psalm: 16:8-11:

 

I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol [the grave], Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures for evermore’.

 

In his speech recorded in Acts 2, Peter quotes this Psalm, confirming that David was speaking about Jesus’ death and resurrection, ‘He, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades [the grave], nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses’ (Acts 2:31-32).

 

Isaiah contains a description of the sufferings of Jesus, within the purpose of God which says ‘He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth’ (Isaiah 53:7). Isaiah’s prophecy speaks not only about Christ’s death but his resurrection as well:

 

‘Yet it pleased the LORD [was in God’s purpose] to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand’. (Isaiah 53:10)

 

The New Testament confirms that these words apply to Jesus Christ. Acts 8:26-40 is the account of an Ethiopian who was reading from the Old Testament Scriptures (Isaiah 53). Philip preached Jesus to him, starting at that very chapter. As a result the Ethiopian believed and was baptised.

 

In Genesis 22, Abraham was instructed by God to offer up his son Isaac as a sacrifice. He was prepared to do this, but was stopped at the last moment by God, who praised him for his faith. In the New Testament, the Letter to the Hebrews shows that Abraham believed in the resurrection, for he concluded “that God was able to raise him [isaac] up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense” (Hebrews 11:17-19). Abraham’s belief in the resurrection of the dead points forward to the time of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

When Jesus was challenged for a sign of his authority, he answered his enemies “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:39-40).

 

The Old Testament prophet Jonah was miraculously delivered from the fish after three days and nights. Jesus said that this was a sign foretelling his own resurrection. After Christ had been raised from the dead, they would remember the lesson he had taught them about Jonah.

 

The resurrection is clearly taught in the Old Testament, but it was not understood by the disciples until after Jesus’ resurrection. “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32). The Old Testament should be seen, not only as the record of how death came upon all men, but also a record of God’s ultimate purpose through His son, the Christ, to give hope of eternal life by resurrection from the dead.

[Resource Manager]

The Apostles and the resurrection

 

Now let’s look at some of the statements made by the apostles about the resurrection.

 

In the Acts of the Apostles, the speeches made by Peter and Paul have the resurrection of Christ as their central theme. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, Peter preached to those in Jerusalem, saying “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).

 

On another occasion he said “You denied the Holy One and the Just... and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses” (Acts 3:14-15). Again, Peter speaks of “Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 4:10, read also Acts 10:34-43 and Acts 13:16-41).

 

Paul similarly made the resurrection a key issue in his defence of the Gospel in Athens (Acts 17:31).

 

In each case, the message is the same. God raised Christ from the dead, to further His purpose to redeem the world. The conviction of these apostles was based on their personal witness of Christ himself after he had been raised. So they were able to convey their conviction to others and show them that Christ’s resurrection was an essential part of the plan and purpose of God.

 

They knew Christ as a living person, for as Paul wrote, they were assured ‘that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him’ (Romans 6:9).

 

Earlier in the Letter to the Romans, Paul wrote that righteousness is imputed or reckoned to those ‘who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised because of our justification’ (Romans 4:24-25).

 

Peter writes that Christ was revealed for those ‘who through Him [Jesus] believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God’ (1 Peter 1:21).

 

Many cannot believe it possible

 

From the days of the apostles, and still today, many have dismissed the possibility of a resurrection. When Paul spoke about these things in Athens, it is recorded ‘when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter” (Acts 17:32). On another occasion, Paul answered King Agrippa “Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?” (Acts 26:8).

 

Today we find that belief in the immortality of the soul, taken from Greek philosophy, has eclipsed the clear Bible message about the resurrection. It is foreign to our natural mind to think that after death there is no consciousness or thought, but the book of Ecclesiastes makes it quite clear that this is the case: ‘the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing’. (Ecc. 9:5)

 

In Christ, God has broken this cycle of birth, life and death, to which we are all subject, and gives us a sure hope of something beyond this life. The example of the miracles of Jesus are a reassurance of his power, which will be exhibited to the full, when he returns to the earth.

[Resource Manager]

The new creation

 

Jesus is described as ‘the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation ... He is head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the pre-eminence’ (Colossians 1:15-18).

 

Here Paul writes of Jesus Christ as the “firstborn from the dead”, using similar language to 1 Corinthians 15:20, where the expression “firstfruits of those who had fallen asleep” was used. Both expressions clearly imply that Christ is the first of many, who will similarly be raised from the dead to receive everlasting life if judged worthy of it. They are part of the new creation of which Christ is the firstborn.

 

The purpose of God in Jesus continues now. When Paul was addressing a group in Athens about God and His purpose, he concluded his remarks with this statement:

 

“[God] now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).

 

These verses tell us that one of the reasons Jesus was raised from the dead, was so that he can judge the world. We have an opportunity to prepare for that judgement, by repentance and baptism. Jesus’ resurrection singles him out as the judge and saviour of mankind.

 

Men and women who believe and truly follow Christ, have the assurance that they too will rise from the dead when Christ returns. “Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Corinthians 15:23).

 

The resurrection and baptism

 

The resurrection of Jesus is a key part of Paul’s argument in Romans regarding the believer’s commitment to Christ, in baptism:

 

‘Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him’ (Romans 6:3-9).

 

Here is the direct association the believer has with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus the believer is baptised in water, as a symbolic association with the death of Jesus and is then raised again to a new way of life. Baptism is his or her expression of faith in what Christ has done. Our baptism into Christ brings the promise of our resurrection, should we die before our Lord returns.

 

Our association with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ gives us confidence to ‘eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (Philippians 3:20-21).

 

This hope transcends all others for ‘godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come’ (1 Timothy 4:8).

 

May we all be encouraged to believe, to repent, be baptised and to live in anticipation of such a great reward.

 

Ron Mitchell

 

ResurrectionOfChristMitchell.pdf