INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
He is risen … is the same as saying 'He is alive'. Someone will say 'but I thought you said He was dead – yes but that is not the end of the story. He is risen
• No one prays to a dead person – He is alive!!!
• A dead person does not communicate to anyone
• We worship a living Christ!
• The head of the church is Christ, and He is risen, He is alive!
We need to understand the doctrine of His resurrection very well. It is basic to our Christian life and experience.
• If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable" – 1 Cor. 15:19.
• If Christ rose from the dead, then there is no hope for us – "if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. … 15 … For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished" – 1 Cor 15:13-18.
• The resurrection is a very important doctrine to Christianity. The resurrection has caused a lot of misunderstanding among believers over the years. Once they understood it after it happened, the apostles often used the resurrection in their preaching. It is a powerful concept to understand well.
The problem the disciples had was that they did not know the scriptures and therefore did not believe. John 20:9 "For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead" – we must understand the resurrection by studying the scriptures. Without it, we cannot understand.
"But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him" – Mark 16.6. Luke 24:4-7 says “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ” Acts 10:40-41 says "Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead"
Jesus had to rise from the dead. That He may be Lord of both the living and the dead. That He might fill all things, in heaven and on earth.
WRONG TALES ABOUT THE RESURRECTION
Many trying to discredit it
1. Chief priests planning to bribe the soldiers to tell a story that is not true. That the disciples came and stole Him away while the soldiers slept – Matt 1:11-15. If they did, they will not be alive to tell the story. A soldier guarding something and it is stolen, will they live? This was the plan of the chief priests, who bribed the soldiers who slept. No one bribes someone who did not do their job well. The chief priests and others feared it and wanted to stop it in the first place. So they make the tomb secure and set guards.
2. False teachings about the resurrection. 1 Cor. 15.12 – that there is no resurrection of the dead. Hymenaeus and Philetus who were teaching that the resurrection had already past – 2 Tim 2:17-18.
3. Sadducees who do not believe there is any resurrection – Matt 22:23
4. Some cults misrepresenting the story that it is not really a physical resurrection and some teach re-incarnation. They are both wrong.
SEVEN POINTS ABOUT THE RESURRECTION
1. The resurrection made the sacrifice complete and acceptable to God. He died, but that He rose from the dead was an issue.
2. He did not simply come back from the dead – like Lazarus in John 11. Lazarus died again. Jesus would have been subject to aging, sicknesses and eventual death. He was the firstfruit of the new life – 1 Cor 15:20, 23. His body was made perfect – never again to be subject to the weaknesses of this life. And He lives forever!!!
3. We must deal with unbelief. Thomas saw and believed – verse 8. Thomas is not the only unbelieving disciple. But “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” – John 20:29. God is Spirit and we need to approach Him in faith. Thomas said “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” – John 20:25
Unbelief makes us do many things that are not logical. Mary wanted to go and get the body of Jesus if she knew where they placed it. With unbelief, you can even see what you are looking for and not recognise it.
4. He had a physical body after the resurrection. They touched Him. He ate fish with them. He cooked the fish. People could recognise Him after the resurrection – Mary, the disciples, Emmaus road, the 11 minus Thomas, 11 with Thomas, and so on. Though they did not initially recognise Him, they eventually did. But He had put on immortality – 1 Cor 15:53. It was imperishable, raised in glory, in power, ... 1 Cor 15:42-44
5. The Great Commission – was made possible. We need to GO out and proclaim His death and resurrection. Else, what will you go and preach – that He died? Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain" – John 12:24.
6. Possibility of total transformation and change. We can live and become like Him because of the resurrection. Transformed lives are now possible. He can live in us, each of us. We are made alive with Christ, and raised together with Him. Changes began to occur in the lives of the disciples. Peter changed. And we can also change. Anyone in Christ can change. God has made it possible for us to change and become transformed. Changes occur in the lives of those who truly know Him and are born again. Anyone who had truly received Jesus Christ into their lives can experience great change – Eph 2:5; Col 3:1. That is why Romans 6:14 says sin will no longer have dominion over us. The power and significance of baptism is likened to His death and resurrection – Rom 6:4, 11. Second Cor 5:17 can become a reality in your life. We must die with Him, resurrect with Him, so that we can come to newness and total breakthrough.
7. He was raised for our justification. In the resurrection, the sacrifice was accepted and He only fully approved by God.
CONCLUSION
My prayer is that all that you have lost, all that was dead in your life, all that did not work well will come to life because of the resurrection. If you can put your trust in Him, things will turn around.
