1.) The Reality of the Resurrection – Christ is risen indeed!
(1 Cor 15:1 NKJV) Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
(1 Cor 15:2 NKJV) by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you; unless you believed in vain.
(1 Cor 15:3 NKJV) For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
(1 Cor 15:4 NKJV) and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
(1 Cor 15:5 NKJV) and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
(1 Cor 15:6 NKJV) After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
(1 Cor 15:7 NKJV) After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
(1 Cor 15:8 NKJV) Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
A songs has the words:
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when He rose up from the dead?
We weren’t around when George Washington or Abe Lincoln lived but we know the history—they existed!
We were not around during the time in which the Resurrection of Jesus Christ took place. However, there were many who did observe Jesus, who was once confirmed dead but was now alive. These New Testament “witnesses” were fully aware of the background against which the Resurrection took place. Let me share with you some of this background:
* The body of Jesus, in accordance with Jewish burial custom, was wrapped in a linen cloth. About 100 pounds of aromatic spices, mixed together to form a gummy substance, were applied to the wrappings of cloth about the body.
* After the body was placed in a solid rock tomb, an extremely large stone was rolled against the entrance of the tomb. Large stones weighing approximately two tons were normally rolled (by means of levers) against a tomb entrance.
* A Roman guard of strictly disciplined, fighting men was stationed to guard the tomb.
* This guard fastened on the tomb the Roman seal, which was meant to "prevent any attempt at vandalizing the tomb. Anyone trying to move the stone from the tomb's entrance would have broken the seal and thus incurred the wrath of Roman law.
But three days later the tomb was empty. The followers of Jesus said He had risen from the dead.
Luke reports that He appeared to them during a period of 40 days, showing Himself to them by many "infallible proofs." The apostle Paul recounted that Jesus appeared to more than 500 of His followers at one time, the majority of whom were still alive and who could confirm what Paul wrote.
Many security precautions were taken with the trial, crucifixion, burial, entombment, sealing, and guarding of Christ's tomb that it becomes very difficult for critics to defend their position that Christ did not rise from the dead.
Consider these facts:
FACT #1: BROKEN ROMAN SEAL
As we have said, the first obvious fact was the breaking of the seal that stood for the power and authority of the Roman Empire. The consequences of breaking the seal were extremely severe. The FBI and CIA of the Roman Empire were called into action to find the man or men who were responsible. If they were apprehended, it meant automatic execution by crucifixion upside down. People feared the breaking of the seal.
Could it have been Jesus’ disciples who broke the seal? I don’t think so. The Scriptures tell us that before, during and after Jesus’ trial, His disciples did nothing but display signs of fear and hid themselves. Peter, one of these disciples, went out and three times denied that he even knew Christ.
FACT #2: EMPTY TOMB
The disciples of Christ did not run off to Athens or Rome to preach that Christ was raised from the dead. Rather, they went right back to the city of Jerusalem, where, if what they were teaching was false, the lie would be evident.
The Resurrection "could have not been maintained in Jerusalem for a single day, for a single hour, if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a fact for all concerned." (Paul Althaus)
The disciples would have been going around preaching “He’s risen” and people would have responded, “Man you guys are crazy” have you been to the tomb lately? Looks to me like there’s a corpse there.”
FACT #3: LARGE STONE MOVED
On that Sunday morning the first thing that impressed the people who approached the tomb was the unusual position of the one and a half to two ton stone that had been lodged in front of the doorway. All the Gospel writers mention it.
Those who observed the stone after the Resurrection describe its position as having been rolled up a slope away not just from the entrance of the tomb, but from the entire massive sepulcher. It was in such a position that it looked as if it had been picked up and carried away.
Now, I ask you, if the disciples had wanted to come in, tiptoe around the sleeping guards, and then roll the stone over and steal Jesus' body, how could they have done that without the guards' notice?
FACT #4: ROMAN GUARD GOES AWOL
The Roman guards fled. They left their place of responsibility. How can their behavior be explained, when Roman military discipline was so exceptional?
These guys were so afraid of their superiors and certain death if they failed to live up to their responsibilities they paid close attention to the minutest details of their jobs. One way a guard was put to death was by being stripped of his clothes and then burned alive in a fire started with his garments. If none of the soldiers would “fess-up to which soldier had failed in his duty, then lots were drawn to see which one would be punished with death for the guard unit's failure. Certainly the entire unit would not have fallen asleep with that kind of threat over their heads.
Dr. George Currie, a student of Roman military discipline, wrote that fear of punishment "produced flawless attention to duty, especially in the night watches."
The only explanation for the bizarre behavior of these trained me was that something spectacular happened—that something was the Resurrection!
FACT #5: GRAVECLOTHES TELL A TALE
John, a disciple of Jesus, looked over to the place where the body of Jesus had lain, and there were the grave clothes, in the form of the body, slightly caved in and empty. The first thing that stuck in the minds of the disciples was not the empty tomb, but rather the empty grave clothes--undisturbed in form and position.
FACT #6: JESUS' APPEARANCES CONFIRMED
Christ appeared alive on several occasions after the Resurrection.
Let’s say I were to take a survey on favorite ice cream flavors and conclude that the favorite flavor of the majority of the people present today is “Banana Ripple.” If someone told you that I asked only three people in this building their opinion, how accurate would you believe the data to be?
When studying an event in history, it is important to know whether enough people who were participants or eyewitnesses to the event were alive when the facts about the event were published.
One of the earliest records of Christ's appearing after the Resurrection is by Paul. The apostle appealed to his audience's knowledge of the fact that Christ had been seen by more than 500 people at one time (1 Cor. 15:6).
Paul reminded them that the majority of those people were still alive and could be questioned. Dr. Edwin M. Yamauchi, associate professor of history at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, emphasizes: "What gives a special authority to the list (of witnesses) as historical evidence is the reference to most of the five hundred brethren still alive.
Paul says in effect, 'If you do not believe me, you can ask them.'
We’ve looked at the reality of the Resurrection, now let's look at the ridicule of the Resurrection.
2.) The Ridicule of the Resurrection
The Corinthian Christians believed in Christ’s resurrection, or else they could not have been Christians (cf. John 6:44; 11:25; Acts 4:12; 2 Cor. 4:14; 1 Thess. 4:16). But some had particular difficulty accepting and understanding the Resurrection of believers. Some of this confusion was a result of their experiences with pagan philosophies and religions. A basic tenet of much of ancient Gr. philosophy was dualism, which taught that everything physical was intrinsically evil; so the idea of a resurrected body was repulsive and disgusting (Acts 17:32).
In addition, perhaps some Jews in the Corinthian church formerly may have been influenced by the Sadducees, who did not believe in the Resurrection even though it is taught in the OT (Job 19:26; Pss. 16:8–11; 17:15; Dan. 12:2).
(1 Cor 15:12 NKJV) Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
There were some who didn’t understand the Resurrection while others out right denied it and attacked it.
HOSTILE WITNESSES
Jesus appeared to those who were hostile to the Christian way. This only served to strengthen the case for believing in the Resurrection. Jesus didn’t limit His post-resurrection appearances to just His friends. He also appeared to those who were hostile or unconvinced.
No one would regard Saul of Tarsus as being a follower of Christ. The facts show the exact opposite. Saul despised Christ and persecuted Christ's followers. It was a life-shattering experience when Christ appeared to him. Although he was at the time not a disciple, he later became the apostle Paul, one of the greatest witnesses for the truth of the Resurrection.
Many who deny the Resurrection must with their denial have to supply “proofs” or explanations why it couldn’t have happened. Let me share a few with you.
THE WRONG TOMB?
One theory assumes that the women who reported that the body was missing had mistakenly gone to the wrong tomb. If so, then the disciples who went to check up on the women's statement must have also gone to the wrong tomb.
We may be certain, however, that Jewish authorities, who asked for a Roman guard to be stationed at the tomb to prevent Jesus' body from being stolen, would not have been mistaken about the location. Nor would the Roman guards, for they were there!
If the Resurrection-claim was merely because someone searched the wrong tomb, the Jewish authorities would have lost no time in producing the body from the right tomb, thus effectively quenching for all time any rumor resurrection.
HALLUCINATIONS?
Another attempted explanation claims that the appearances of Jesus after the Resurrection were either illusions or hallucinations. If the disciples and others were hallucinating there must have been a lot of psychos running around. Didn’t Paul say over 500 people witnessed the resurrected Christ? And again, if this were just a hallucination it would have been no problem for the Jewish leaders and Roman authorities to produce a body.
DID JESUS SWOON?
Another theory, popularized several centuries ago, is often quoted today. This is the swoon theory, which says that Jesus didn't die; he merely fainted from exhaustion and loss of blood. Everyone thought Him dead, but later He resuscitated and the disciples thought it to be a resurrection.
Skeptic David Friedrich Strauss--certainly no believer in the Resurrection--gave the deathblow to any thought that Jesus revived from a swoon. He notes:
It is impossible that someone who had came half-dead out of the grave, who crept about weak and ill, needing medical treatment, who required bandaging, strengthening and sympathy, and who eventually would die as a result of His sufferings, could have given to the disciples the impression that He was a Conqueror over death and the grave, the Prince of Life, an impression which would provide a foundation for their future ministry.
If Jesus would have appeared to His disciples as a half-dead, pathetic example of a victor, such an appearance could only have weakened the impression which He had made upon His disciples while He lived, and by no means could have changed their sorrow into enthusiasm, and have elevated their reverence into worship.
THE BODY STOLEN?
Skeptics of the Resurrection have also claimed that the disciples stole the body of Jesus and faked the Resurrection.
Knowing what we know about the cowardly disciples and the disciplined Roman soldiers makes it hard to believe the excuse that the body of Jesus was stolen while the guards slept.
There was nothing that would make them become so brave and so bold as to face a detachment of soldiers at the tomb and steal the body. They were in no mood to attempt anything like that.
This would be like you and I going up against a battalion of United States Marines with only Super Soakers full of water.
Another theory was that the disciples came and moved the body. If the authorities had the body in their possession or knew where it was, why, when the disciples were preaching the Resurrection in Jerusalem, didn't they explain: "Wait! They moved the body, see, He didn't rise from the grave"?
If they had known where the body of Jesus was they surely would have put it on a cart, and wheeled it through the center of Jerusalem. Such an action would have destroyed Christianity--not in the cradle, but in the womb!
The had the right tomb but it was empty.
The disciples weren’t hallucinating, they saw the risen Savior!
Jesus didn’t faint from exhaustion and then recover; He died and was resurrected by the power of God!
The body wasn’t stolen or moved--- HE GOT UP!
We’ve looked at the reality of the Resurrection and the ridicule of the Resurrection. In verse 13 Paul begins to discuss the subject of the Christian’s reliance on the Resurrection.
3.) Our Reliance on the Resurrection
If you are a Christian, you should be glad and grateful for the Resurrection. You and I need the Resurrection—our faith for today and bright hope for tomorrow is dependent on its reality.
This is exactly the point that Paul makes in verses 13-19:
(1 Cor 15:13 NKJV) But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
Our future in heaven hinges on Christ’s being raised from the dead. We live because He lives!
(1 Cor 15:14 NKJV) And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
If Christ is not risen, we don’t have anything to preach about. We can all go home—preaching is empty, and our faith is empty.
(1 Cor 15:15 NKJV) Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up; if in fact the dead do not rise.
(1 Cor 15:16 NKJV) For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
If Christ is not risen, we are all liars. If the dead do not rise, then everything we’ve ever told others about Jesus and Heaven and salvation, and the peace of God, and the power of God and the love of God is a lie.
(1 Cor 15:17 NKJV) And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
If Christ is not raised then we are still in our sins. If we are still in our sins we are on our way (not to heaven) but to a Christ-less eternity where we will burn forever in the lake of fire. The Resurrection is proof that God accepted the death of Christ as payment-in-full for our sin.
(1 Cor 15:18 NKJV) Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
(1 Cor 15:19 NKJV) If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead then our loved ones in Christ, those who have died in the Lord, are not in heaven they are in hell paying for their own sins—certainly, Christ didn’t pay for them if He hadn't risen. Paul says, if Christ hasn’t been raised from the dead then this life is all we have and we Christians may as well say with everyone else, “Let’s eat, drink and party hearty for tomorrow we die.”
This is the Christian’s reliance on the Resurrection. Fourthly, let’s look at the rendering of the Resurrection.
4.) The Rendering of the Resurrection (Because He live, we live)
In verses 20-28 Paul discloses the means by which the Resurrections comes and its effect on the Kingdom.
(1 Cor 15:20 NKJV) But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
(1 Cor 15:21 NKJV) For since by man came death, by Man also came the Resurrection of the dead.
(1 Cor 15:22 NKJV) For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
(1 Cor 15:23 NKJV) But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.
Christ was first, as the firstfruits of the Resurrection harvest. Because of His resurrection, “those who are Christ’s” will be raised and enter the eternal heavenly state in 3 stages at Christ’s coming (cf. Matt. 24:36, 42, 44, 50; 25:13):
Those who have come to saving faith from Pentecost to the Rapture will be joined by living saints at the Rapture to meet the Lord in the air and ascend to heaven (1 Thess. 4:16, 17);
Those who come to faith during the Tribulation, with the OT saints as well, will be raised up to reign with Him during the Millennium (Rev. 20:4; cf. Dan. 12:2; cf. Is. 26:19, 20); and
Those who die during the millennial kingdom may well be instantly transformed at death into their eternal bodies and spirits.
The only people left to be raised will be the ungodly and that will occur at the end of the Millennium at the Great White Throne Judgment of God (see notes on Rev. 20:11–15; cf. John 5:28, 29), which will be followed by eternal hell (Rev. 21:8).
(1 Cor 15:24 NKJV) Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
(1 Cor 15:25 NKJV) For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
(1 Cor 15:26 NKJV) The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
(1 Cor 15:27 NKJV) For "He has put all things under His feet." But when He says "all things are put under Him," it is evident that He who put all things under Him is accepted.
(1 Cor 15:28 NKJV) Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
Christ's resurrection guarantees the Resurrection of all believers. It not only guarantees the Resurrection of all believers, it guarantees the inheritance and glorious future of all believers in Christ.
Ephesians 1:15- 23:
Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
All the Christian’s hope not only for this life but the life to come is predicated on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Our state of forgiveness rests on the Resurrection.
Our future inheritance is tied to the Resurrection.
Our future glorification depends on the Resurrection.
All our joys, dreams, hopes, aspirations, desires, longings, prayers, praises, songs, hymns, evangelizing the lost, ministering to the found, our worship and fellowship hinges on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!
Because He lives we live. This brings us to my fifth point.
5.) The Results of the Resurrection (vs. 35-49)
Paul begins verse 35 by addressing some of the mocking that was more than likely being generated by the “evil company” he addressed in verse 33. Some who didn’t believe in or at the very least didn’t understand the Resurrection were taunting those who did.
(1 Cor 15:35 NKJV) But someone will say, "How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?"
To the questions asked in v. 35, Paul answers in 4 ways:
He gives an illustration from nature (vv. 36–38);
He offers a description of resurrection bodies (vv. 39–42a);
He contrasts earthly and resurrection bodies (vv. 42b–44); and
He tells them that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the prototype (vv. 45–49).
(1 Cor 15:36 NKJV) Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.
(1 Cor 15:37 NKJV) And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain; perhaps wheat or some other grain.
(1 Cor 15:38 NKJV) But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.
In other words, when a seed is planted in the ground it dies and as it decomposes it is no longer a seed as life proceeds from it. Just as God gives a new body to that plant that rises from the dead seed, He gives a resurrection body to a person who dies.
(1 Cor 15:39 NKJV) All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.
(1 Cor 15:40 NKJV) There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
(1 Cor 15:41 NKJV) There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.
(1 Cor 15:42a NKJV) So also is the Resurrection of the dead…
In these verses Paul tells his readers that the resurrected body will be quite different from these “shells’ in which we live that will eventually go back to the dust.
In verses 42b–44, focusing directly on the Resurrection body, Paul gives 4 sets of contrasts to show how the new body will differ from the present ones we occupy (cf. v. 54; Phil. 3:20, 21):
no more sickness and death (“corruption”);
no more shame because of sin (“dishonor”);
no more frailty in temptation (“weakness”); and
no more limits to the time/space sphere (“natural”).
(1 Cor 15:42b NKJV) … The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.
(1 Cor 15:43 NKJV) It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
(1 Cor 15:44 NKJV) It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
Our bodies will be like that of Jesus’ body!
(1 Cor 15:45 NKJV) And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
(1 Cor 15:46 NKJV) However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.
(1 Cor 15:47 NKJV) The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.
(1 Cor 15:48 NKJV) As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly.
(1 Cor 15:49 NKJV) And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.
Like Jesus, the resurrected body of a believer will have flesh and bone, but will be dramatically changed (Luke 24:39; 1 Corinthians 15:50).
Luke 24:31: Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
Luke 24:36-43: Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” 37But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39“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.” 40When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43And He took it and ate in their presence.
His resurrection body was glorified, and altered from its previous appearance (see John’s description in Rev. 1:13–16), and this surely explains why even Mary did not recognize Him at first (cf. John 20:14–16).
In Luke 24:31 Luke writes that after His meeting with two of His disciples on the Emmaus road He vanished from their sight.
Soon after this Jesus appears with His disciples in the upper room. Luke 24:36 along with John 20:19-27 records that the disciples were all huddled in the upper room because they were fearful that the Jews who crucified Jesus would so be after them.
Though Luke doesn’t mention it, John makes a point in His version of the story that the door was shut. Both writers tell us that Jesus doesn’t knock but just appears in the room. Luke’s gospel gives hint to the suddenness of the appearance.
These passages show us that Christ could appear and disappear bodily. His body could pass through solid objects—such as the grave clothes, or the walls and doors of a closed room.
Now don’t think that Jesus was a ghost or a phantom. The Bible lets us know that His resurrection body was a real and very much tangible body. Luke 24:42 tells us that Jesus’ resurrected body was even capable of ingesting earthly food. Jesus ate a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb in presence of His disciples.
The resurrected body will not only have the ability to pass through solid objects and eat food, it will apparently be able to travel great distances in a moment of time. Emmaus was seven miles from Jerusalem (Luke 24:13) By the time the Emmaus Road disciples returned to Jerusalem, Christ had already appeared to Peter (v. 34).
Forty days later, after appearing to some 500 people Jesus would ascend into heaven.
Luke 1:8-11:
8“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
9Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
The fact that He ascended into heaven bodily demonstrated that His resurrection body was already fit for heaven. This means that one day, those who are in Christ will have bodies having the ability to fly!
The resurrected body will have the ability to pass through solid objects and eat food, it will be able travel great distances in a moment of time; it will be fit for heaven and be able to fly. These are the results of the Resurrection!
The Scriptures also hint that the resurrected body will retain certain identifying features such as the nail-wounds that Jesus still had after He rose from the dead. (John 20:25–27).
(John 20:27 NKJV) Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing."
(John 20:28 NKJV) And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"
There are some of the results of the Resurrection. However before we go to our last point let me share with you one more result of the Resurrection.
This result can be found in the lives of those early Christians. Remember Peter, what changed Him from a coward who denied His Lord three times to a crusader who preached the Gospel until he was himself crucified upside down on a cross. The answer is the Resurrection.
What caused them to go everywhere telling the message of Christ?
What caused them to give up prestige, wealth, notoriety and material benefits?
Why would they trade these things in for beatings, stoning, being thrown to the lions, tortured and crucified?
The answer again is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This is why Paul would write in Philippians 3:7-11
“7But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11if, by any means, I may attain to the Resurrection from the dead.”
We’ve seen the reality of the Resurrection, the ridicule of the Resurrection, our reliance on the Resurrection, the rendering of the Resurrection and the results of the Resurrection.
Our fifth and last point will be the most brief but by no means the least important. Paul lets us know that we can rejoice because of the Resurrection.
5.) Our Rejoicing because of the Resurrection
(1 Cor 15:50 NKJV) Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
(1 Cor 15:51 NKJV) Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed;
(1 Cor 15:52 NKJV) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
(1 Cor 15:53 NKJV) For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
(1 Cor 15:54 NKJV) So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
(1 Cor 15:55 NKJV) "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"
(1 Cor 15:56 NKJV) The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
(1 Cor 15:57 NKJV) But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(1 Cor 15:58 NKJV) Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
* We can rejoice because some of us may not die. This is a promise that is based on the Resurrection. The Rapture may occur before death comes and some will be caught up straight into heaven (1 Thess. 4)
* We can rejoice because the bodies of those who have died in Christ will be raised incorruptible and changed. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
* We can rejoice because one day we will be united with the Lord Jesus and see Him face to face. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
We can rejoice because one day we who are saved will be reunited with our loved ones who have gone on to be with the Lord.
* We can rejoice because death no longer has a stranglehold on the one who has obeyed the Gospel and has trusted Christ. Death has now become a portal to eternal bliss. “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord!” (2 Corinthians 5:8).
* We can rejoice because death has been vanquished! In verse 55 Paul taunts death as if it were a bee whose sting was removed. "O Death, where is your sting? “ That sting was the sin that was exposed by the law of God, but conquered by Christ in His death. (“For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh…”
"Death is swallowed up in victory."
"O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"
* We can rejoice because we have victory in Christ Jesus and because of this victory we can be “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord and have the confidence that our labor is not in vain in the Lord!”
WHERE DO YOU STAND?
How do you evaluate this overwhelming historical evidence? What is your decision about the fact of Christ's empty tomb? What do you think of Christ?
The answer is put best by something Jesus said to a man who doubted--Thomas. Jesus told him: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me" (John 14:6).
On the basis of all the evidence for Christ's resurrection, and considering the fact that Jesus offers forgiveness of sin and an eternal relationship with God, who would be so foolhardy as to reject Him? Christ is alive! He is living today.
You can trust God right now by faith through prayer. Prayer is talking with God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. If you have never trusted Christ, you can do so right now.
The prayer I prayed is: "Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and trust You as my Savior. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be. Thank You that I can trust You."
