DID JESUS REALLY DIE AND RISE AGAIN?
I CORINTHIANS 15:1-9
Key Verses: 3-4 “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: 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”
INTRODUCTION: The cross of Jesus Christ is central to Christianity. It is the foundation of the church, the only way by which fallen, sinful men can approach a Holy Sovereign God. The empty cross and risen Lord is the paramount doctrine upon which the believer rests his or her eternal destiny. I Corinthians 15:14 states that if Christ did not die and rise, then our preaching and faith is completely worthless.
I. THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION DISPUTED
A. For the past year the number one best selling fiction book has been the DaVinci Code, which denies the resurrection of Christ.
B. Hugh Schonfeld in his book, The Passover Plot, suggested that Jesus might have been given a hallucinogenic drug just before the crucifixion allowing him to faint lose consciousness or “swoon” into a death-like trance. Believing that he was dead, he was taken off the cross and entombed. Several days later the disciples returned to the grave, resuscitated him with a narcotic and proclaimed resurrection.
C. Another theory presented by a college professor was that James, the brother of Jesus, helped perpetrate the myth of the resurrection by showing up on the road to Emmaus and was mistakenly identified as Jesus.
D. Islam denies the death of Christ. The general assumption accepted through the centuries by Muslims is that God loved His prophet so much that just before the crucifixion, He lifted up Jesus into heaven and allowed someone else made to resemble Him to be crucified in His place. The key passage from the upon which this assumption is based Koran is from Surah 4: "And because of [the Jews’] disbelief and because of their saying: We slew the Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, Allah’s messenger – They slew him not nor crucified, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! Those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain. But Allah took him up unto Himself. Allah was ever Mighty, Wise"
II. THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION DEFENDED
A. Luke 9:22 …The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
B. The Gospels tell us that prior to the crucifixion; Christ was stripped then repeatedly struck on the head with a staff. A crown of thorns several inches long was pressed into his scalp, which was further beaten in with the staff causing severe bleeding. He continued to be beaten by the soldiers so brutally that Isaiah 52:13 states that Christ no longer looked human. Isaiah 50 states that they pulled out fistfuls of his beard. During the flogging, Christ most likely was tied to a post, leaving his back entirely exposed. Using a whip, called a flagrum or flagellum which consisted of small pieces of bone and metal attached to a number of leather strands, Christ’s back was laid open like raw hamburger. The number of strikes is not recorded in the gospels. The number of blows in Jewish law was set in Deuteronomy 25:3 at forty, but later reduced to 39 to prevent excessive blows by a counting error. Often those beaten died from the beating. From the beating, Jesus was made to walk on the path to be crucified at Golgotha just under ½ mile carrying the crossbar or patibulum of His cross, which weighed between 80 to 110 pounds across His shoulders. Laying the cross upon the ground Christ was nailed to the cross with 7” long nails, which were driven in the wrists sending shocks of pain through the arms. When the cross was erected upright, there was tremendous strain put on the wrists, arms and shoulders, resulting in a dislocation of the shoulder and elbow joints. The arms, being held up and outward, held the rib cage in a fixed end inspiratory position which made it extremely difficult to exhale, and impossible to take a full breath. Due to the shallow breathing, the lungs begin to collapse in small areas causing hypoxia and hypercarbia.
C. According to Dr. C Truman Davis, a graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, to make doubly sure of that Christ was dead, the Roman legionnaire drove his lance between the ribs, upward through the pericardium and into the heart. John 19:34 states, "And immediately there came out blood and water." Thus there was an escape of watery fluid from the sac surrounding the heart and the blood of the interior of the heart. Conclusive post-mortem evidence that Jesus died, not the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium. - A Physician Analyzes the Crucifixion, by Dr. C. Truman Davis
D. According to the Medical evidence. A team of doctors at the Mayo Clinic studied the historical record of the beating and crucifixion of Christ. They wrote an article for the Journal of the American Medical Association published in March, 1986. They concluded that "Clearly the weight of the historical and medical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead before the wound to His side was inflicted, and supports the traditional view that the spear thrust between His right ribs probably perforated not only the right lung, but also the pericardium and heart, and thereby ensured His death. Accordingly, assumptions that Jesus did not die on the cross appear to be at odds with modern medical knowledge." In the first century no-one came down from the cross alive.
E. John 10:18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.
F. Christ did in fact literally die. However, if Jesus had remained dead, then Christianity is nothing but an empty promise. But three days after His death, Christ rose again from the dead.
G. The evidence of the resurrection
1. The Empty Tomb – Luke 14:2-3 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
2. All religions point to the graves of the founders – Mohammed, Confucius, Buddha – only Christianity points to an empty tomb and declares He is Risen!
H. The evidence of the eye witnesses
· 1 Corinthians 15:5-9 ...He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 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. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
I. The evidence of the changed lives of the Apostles
1. Peter from Coward to Courageous
a. Matthew 26: 69- 74 Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came to him, saying, "You also were with Jesus of Galilee." But he denied it before them all, saying, "I do not know what you are saying." And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, "This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth." But again he denied with an oath, "I do not know the Man!" And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, "Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you." Then he began to curse and swear, saying, "I do not know the Man!"
b. Acts 2:22-24 Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know – Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
2. Paul from Persecutor to Proclaimer
a. Acts 8:3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.
b. Acts 9:1-6 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads." So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?"
3. Men and women today testify that the power of the risen Christ has transformed their lives. We know that Jesus is alive not only because of the historical and biblical evidence but also because He has miraculously touched our lives.
III. THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION APPLIED
A. 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
B. Because He lives…
1. We have a Savior – 1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. We have an advocate – Hebrews 7:24-25 But He (Christ), because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
3. We have power to live – Ephesians 1:18-23 …that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far 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. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
4. We have a bright hope for tomorrow
a. 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – 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. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 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."
b. I Thessalonians 4:13-17 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
c. Benjamin Franklin penned his own epitaph. He wrote: The Body of B. Franklin, Printer Like the Cover of an old Book Its contents torn out, And stripped of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms, But the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believed, Appear once more In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and amended by the Author.
5. We can and will live forever
a. John 14:19 A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.
b. John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?
