Easter’s Resurrection Promise

Easter’s Resurrection Promise

1 Corinthians 15

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Professional golfer Paul Azinger was diagnosed with cancer at age 33. He had just won the PGA Championship and had 10 tournament victories. In his book, “Zinger,” he wrote about his battle with cancer.

He said, “A genuine feeling of fear came over me. I could die from cancer. Then another reality hit me even harder. I’m going to die eventually anyway, whether from cancer or something else. It’s just a question of when. Everything I had accomplished in golf became meaningless to me. All I wanted to do was live.”

He then remembered something Larry Moody, who taught a Bible study on the PGA Tour, had said to him. “Zinger, we’re not in the land of the living, going to the land of the dying. We’re in the land of the dying, trying to get to the land of the living.”

That’s what Easter, or Resurrection Sunday, is all about. It is God’s way for humanity to be reconciled to Him, to take them from the land of the dying, as the Bible says, “The wages of sin is death,” to the land of the living, as it goes on to say, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 NKJV)

Jesus said, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?” (Luke 9:25), or, as He said in Mark 8:36, “and loses his own soul?”

If it is possible to live forever, then there’s no more important or relevant issue than this. Since we are all going to die, can we live again? The Apostle Paul seems to grasp this idea in this observation.

“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.”  (1 Corinthians 15:19 NKJV) In other words, we’re to be pitied more than all men.

If it is true that life in this world is coming to an end, and there is no hope for life after the grave, then our life here on earth is lived in futility. But for those who believe in Jesus, who have made Him Savior and Lord, there is the hope of life beyond this realm, and for them, hope truly springs eternal.

Vance Havner, a preacher and Bible scholar from the 1900s, said, “The hope of dying is the only thing that keeps me alive.”

This is the good news of Easter, the day Jesus rose from the dead.

Now, in 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul addresses some important questions about life after death.

Is There Life After Death?

The answer is yes, and the resurrection of Jesus proves it beyond a doubt.

Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-7

In the Old Testament, Isaiah spoke not only of the Messiah’s death but also of His resurrection.

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; 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 53:4-7)

It goes on to say, “For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked--but with the rich at His death.” (Isaiah 53:8b-9a NKJV)

Now, so far, all we’ve seen in this passage is His death. But then it goes on to say, “He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.” (Isaiah 53:10b-11a NKJV)

Jesus’s death was no accident; His death was deliberate. He offered His life as the perfect sacrifice for sin, and in doing so became our substitute.

Again, I go back to Romans 6:23 that states, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 NKJV)

Jesus died on the cross and was buried. But it wasn’t permanent. Instead, we could say that Jesus was laid in a borrowed tomb, and the only reason you borrow something is that you’re going to use it temporarily. This is what Jesus did: on the third day, He rose from the dead and came out of the tomb.