140420 The Purpose of the Resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is different from all “near death” or returning from the dead experiences known to man. Jesus himself called a widow’s son back from the dead and his friend Lazarus as well. These that have experienced a “resurrection” would all continue to age and eventually would die again. In Peter’s first sermon he stated without a doubt that, “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” Jesus’ resurrection did not result in him returning to a condition of aging only to die again. He was raised up to never be touched by death again.

Now, the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church to produce the evidence for the resurrection. And yet, he presents the case that the gospel he preached is essentially tied to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s strange to consider that there are those who think that somehow the gospel can be presented apart from the resurrection! Paul wants us to see that it is…

Of first importance — Christ died for our sins! 1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Some people are confused at the reference to “the tree”. Obviously, the tree referred to here is the Roman cross that Jesus was nailed to. Peter shows us that Jesus, having taken our sins into his own body, died to sin in order to live to righteousness. It is of first importance that Jesus, the Son of the living God, turned aside the Father’s wrath by dying for us. If that had not happened then the rest of the things that happened would mean nothing. He who had never known sin of any kind became sin for us so that we could be the righteousness of God in him. It is of first importance that he nailed our sins to the cross. And then…

He was buried. The rulers of the people that had organized three mock trials in order to convict him of blasphemy wanted to be certain that Jesus stayed in the grave. They knew that he had said that he would come back from the dead and they wanted to be sure that would not happen. So they placed a guard on the tomb to keep it sealed because they expected his disciples to try to steal his body. That is an amazing idea to me! The men who ran away at the first sign of armed opposition are now expected to be bold enough to hide his body and pretend that he had been raised from the dead! Peter was the leader of the group and he had denied Christ three times during the trials! Apparently the religious leaders were the only people that expected there to be any “resurrection”. The disciples certainly didn’t expect Christ to come back. They were hiding in an upper room. The women came to the tomb on the first Easter Sunday to finish the preparation of the body. They didn’t expect him to be gone from that tomb! Later, Paul could say…

On the third day he was raised again! Jesus had promised it would happen. Listen while I read from Matthew 12:38-40. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just 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.

It was of first importance that Christ died for our sins. After that he was buried and then on the third day he was raised again! Jesus himself had told them that’s what would happen. Why did they not believe him? Or is it simply that they did not understand? The religious leaders had come to Jesus to ask him to give them a sign. One of the popular ideas among the unbelievers was that Jesus was some kind of “magician” and he could perform tricks for their entertainment. During one of his trials King Herod Antipas had wanted Jesus to do a miracle for him. When he was approached by the religious leaders he called them an evil and adulterous generation who were looking for a sign. Then he told them what sign he would give them. He would give them the sign of Jonah! Now just in case you ever doubted the story of Jonah, take note that Jesus believed it was real! Using Jonah as his example Jesus said that he would be in the grave for three days and nights just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for that period of time. Not only was Jesus crucified for our sins, was buried and raised again on the third day…

He appeared to many eyewitnesses. Remember what Paul said in Vs’s 5-9? …that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

It is clear that Paul wanted the Corinthian church to know that there was plenty of contemporary evidence that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Obviously they trusted Peter, whom he called “Cephas”, Paul calls on the twelve as eyewitnesses to this resurrection. Then, he pointed to an event that is mentioned nowhere else. He appeared to more than five hundred witnesses at one time! Paul assured them that most of these five hundred were still alive. Then he pointed out that James, the brother of Jesus, saw him along with all the apostles! Then Paul said that last of all Jesus appeared to him on the Damascus Road when he was going to persecute the church. Because of his severe opposition to the church Paul considered himself to be the least of the apostles. This is evidence that…

He was recognizable, but different! Let’s look at the testimony of John found in John 20:14-16. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”  Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

Mary Magdalene had gone to the tomb of Jesus in the early morning hours. She saw that the tomb was open and so she looked inside where she saw two angels. They asked why she was crying and she answered that it was because someone had taken Jesus’ body. The angels were surprised because they knew that Jesus had told his disciples that he would be crucified, buried and raised again on the third day, at least three times. The last time she had seen Jesus his body was beaten until he was beyond recognition. In the hurried preparations for his burial she would have expected him to be washed but still very battered. The person she saw outside the tomb was not battered and bloody. All of this was very confusing to her! She asked this person where her Lord was. She recognized who he was only when he spoke her name.

Jesus was raised from the dead in the same body he was born with. However, there clearly was a difference! Today…

He has a physical body but, it is a “resurrection” body. We are too quick to condemn our human bodies. Remember Genesis 1:31? And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

At the end of the sixth day of creation God saw everything that he had made and it was very good. Adam’s body was absolutely perfect before he sinned. The “very good” creation included mankind. Had Adam and Eve not disobeyed God, I believe, they would have lived in their magnificent bodies forever! The moment they ate the forbidden fruit they died spiritually and began the process of dying physically. For that very reason God kept them away from the tree of life so that they would not live forever on this earth. Adam and Eve were given death as a gift so that they could go to paradise rather than live on this earth forever. God himself provided the sacrifice for them, symbolically in the animal skins he covered them with, and actually in Jesus Christ. Do I know that Adam and Eve are in heaven? No! But I believe it because, without a doubt, they believed in God and sacrificed to him. Above all people on earth they knew that God exists because they talked with him in the cool of the day for a period of time before they disobeyed him. Jesus’ physical resurrection body affirms the goodness of God’s original creation of man. Not as a mere spirit like the angels but as a creature with a physical body that was “very good”. We must never think that a spiritual existence is somehow superior.

Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried and raised again on the third day, again in accordance with the Scriptures. He appeared to many eyewitnesses and…

His resurrection gives us a living hope. Listen while I read 1 Peter 1:3-5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Peter praised God for causing us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is no doubt that Peter linked Jesus’ resurrection with our new birth. Jesus rose from the dead with a new quality of life. He now had a “resurrection life” in a human body and human spirit that were perfectly suited to fellowship and obedience to God for ever. (Grudem, Systematic Theology, p 614) in God’s eyes we also have that special quality of life. Jesus earned us a new life just like his! We still have our old bodies that are subject to disease and death. One day we will have our “resurrection body” to house our “resurrection life”! Our ultimate inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, securely kept in heaven for us. Nothing could be more secure! In Jesus Christ’s resurrection, we have a confidence that our God will raise us up with him! In fact, according to Ephesians 2 and Colossians 3, God thought of us as somehow being raised “with Christ” and in fact, “seated” with him in the heavenlies. Christ died for our sins, was buried, was raised again on the third day, and appeared before many witnesses. More than that…

His resurrection promises us freedom. Listen to what Paul wrote in Romans 8:1-2. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

When we come into this world we are subject to the law of sin and death! All have sinned and come short of the glory of God! That’s every one of us! And, the wages of sin is death! So we are born in trouble unless God acts on our behalf. God showed how much he loved us by coming to the earth in the person of Jesus Christ so that whoever believes in him would not have to perish but instead would have eternal life! This takes us out from under the law of sin and death and puts us under the law of the Spirit of life. So we can see that Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, promises us freedom from condemnation and…

His resurrection promises us an eternal body. Listen while I read Philippians 3:8-11. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Paul is clearly looking forward to a future time when he will know Christ and the power of his resurrection. This certainly doesn’t mean that Paul did not know Christ and salvation! He met him on the road to Damascus and spent many days in close fellowship with him. More than once Paul was visited by the risen Christ! Without a doubt he “knew him” but he did not know Christ as yet in the power of his resurrection. Paul knew that one day he (and we) will receive a resurrection body that is unimaginably superior to the body we now possess, Praise God!

In one of the last letters written by an apostle we find a remarkable statement. Listen while I read 1 John 3:2. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

One thing for certain. We will not be disembodied spirits floating around forever and ever! It is believed that the little letters of John were written when he was at, or about, a hundred years of age. Surely by that time he had begun to tire of this body that he lived in. It was revealed to him that we, who are now God’s children, will be changed because when he appears we he shall be like him. Just as Jesus has remained forever “the man Christ Jesus” we too will be recognizably human in eternity. We will have physical bodies like the bodies that Adam and Eve possessed when they were originally created and before they had sinned.

God saw all this happening before he created the earth. He knew that our original parents would sin and he knew that he would send his son, Jesus Christ, to bear our sins in his own body, be buried, and be raised from the dead on the third day. In the power of his resurrection he will give us new bodies so that we will live eternally with him free from sin. In the meantime…

His resurrection gives us power over sin. Listen while I read Romans 6:11-14. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:14 contains one of the greatest promises in Scripture. The resurrection of Jesus Christ, when applied to our lives, gives us a new power to gain more and more victory over the sin remaining in our lives. This last verse that I just read says without qualification, “sin will have no dominion over you”! Sometimes I have thought that will be impossible but God’s word says that it is true. The resurrection power that enables us to minister on behalf of the kingdom of God also enables us to gain victory over sin in our life. We have a new kind of freedom in Christ Jesus. We are free from condemnation because of the Spirit of life and we are, day by day, gaining victory over sin because of the power God has released in us through the resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.

This new power released on the disciples of Jesus is the power of the resurrection allowing them (and us) to be able to proclaim the gospel in miraculous ways. I wish I could explain all of this better. The Christian life is not just a collection of beliefs it is the power of God for salvation to those who believe.

The most important thing that Paul shares with us in this passage of Scripture is that Christ died for our sins. This was done, not according to some myth, but according to Scripture. Jesus was nailed to the cross and we were nailed with him. He became sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God in him. He was buried in the grave and left our sins there. When he was raised from the dead we were raised with him. His resurrection power gives us eternal life and enables us to walk in newness of life. When we come to the end of our physical life we are able to go to be with him and live eternally with a resurrection body. Do you know him today? If not, today is the day of salvation! Confess him as your Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead and you’ll be saved.

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.