1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you - unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. 10 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. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Have you ever wondered which is more important to Christian theology - the death of Jesus Christ or His resurrection? It’s a trick question really, because both events form part of the same story - God’s glorious plan to redeem lost sinners to Himself.
Although His death is the reason Jesus came into the world, His resurrection on the third day is no less important, because it is through the resurrection that all of His claims are validated and proven to be true. It is because of the resurrection that the Gospel message of the cross makes any sense.
The resurrection of Christ is the clincher. If you look at the disciples before Jesus went to the cross, they did believe in Him and His claims to be the Son of God. Peter said in Matthew 16:16, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This was a genuine confession of faith, but it was an immature faith, which was proven by how much the faith of these men was challenged by Jesus’ death.
Despite their promises of bravado, they did scatter once the enormity of the death of their master began to hit home. Peter, who gave that remarkable testimony in Matthew 16, denied that he even knew Jesus three times, and this was before the crucifixion. It’s easy for us to look back after all these years and be critical of the disciples, but when you read the Gospel accounts prior to the cross, they did believe that Jesus was who He said He was.
It was Jesus’ arrest and brutal death which shattered their faith. But then something happened, which gave them a fearless and unwavering faith in Christ, and that something was the resurrection of Jesus from the grave.
The Gospel message they proclaimed in the early days of the Christian Church was the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world.
The death and resurrection of Jesus was the core and the focus of their message, and they shared this message in obedience to Jesus’ command. Luke records what happened immediately after the resurrection. “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:44-48)
Later on, the apostle Paul understood that the resurrection of Christ was to be central to his preaching too. “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.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)
Peter preached that David had written about Jesus’ resurrection when he quoted from Psalm 16 in Acts 2:27. “For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.” The death and resurrection of Jesus was always at the heart of the apostles’ preaching, which is why you cannot separate these two events. They belong together.
The resurrection proved that Jesus is who He claimed to be and that He accomplished what He claimed to have come to earth to accomplish, so the resurrection is the historical base on which all other Christian doctrines are built.
If it can be proven that He actually rose from the dead, as the early Christians believed and as the Bible claims, the Christian faith is built on a firm and solid foundation. If the resurrection stands, all other core Christian doctrines stand. Likewise, if the resurrection falls, the other truths also fall, which is exactly what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:14-18. “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.”
There are many who claim that the resurrection of Jesus is nothing more than a fantasy story, but there are many eye witness accounts, both Biblical and from secular, historical writings at the time, which prove inconclusively that Jesus did, indeed, rise from the dead. Those who deny the resurrection are simply blindly denying the facts. Of all the things the enemies of Jesus tried to do then and now to discredit His followers, there is one thing they have never been able to do: Produce a body.
In 1 Corinthians 15:14-18, Paul was not discussing the possibility that Jesus was not raised as one of two options. It was a proven historical fact, and he was using hyperbole to make his point about the reality that our faith is built on a sure foundation, and that foundation is the actual, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So what does the resurrection of Jesus prove? What are the doctrines that are built on this truth? We simply don’t have the time to go through all of them, but we’ll look at just five of those key doctrines this morning.
The resurrection of Jesus proves the existence of God, it proves that Jesus is God, that we are justified in the sight of God, that our eternal salvation is secure and that judgment is coming on those who reject Jesus as the only means of salvation.
1. The Existence of God
The resurrection proves that there is a God and that the God of the Bible is the true God. It’s a question everyone has asked. Is there a God, and if so, what is He like? These are the first questions that any religion or religious teacher has to answer. But very different answers have been given to such questions by religious teachers.
The truth claims that the smorgasbord of world religions give to these questions range from somewhat reasonable to outrageously ridiculous, so which one is right? It is the resurrection of Jesus Christ alone which answers this question with certainty.
Have a look at the evidence of the life of Jesus, what He did, and what He claimed. Just the most basic study of His earthly life shows that He consistently taught and proclaimed the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Many times He said that men would put Him to death and that they would put Him to death by crucifixion. He said that after He had been dead for three days that God would raise Him from the dead. Can you imagine someone making such outrageous claims today? Yet, this is exactly what Jesus claimed, and even more outrageously, this is exactly what happened.
Throughout history many people have made all sorts of weird and wonderful claims and statements, but they have all be confined to history, except the man Jesus Christ.
Not only did He predict His death - anyone can do that - but He predicted that God the Father would raise Him from the dead, and so He did. The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that God, as revealed in the Bible, not only exists, but that He is the only true God.
The fact, borne out by history and countless eye witnesses, that Jesus was miraculously raised from the dead, proves that the God who did such a thing really does exist, and that there is no other.
2. Jesus is the Son of God
The second truth claim which is proven by Jesus’ resurrection are His claims to Deity. Jesus Christ is not only a man. He is God in human form. During His life on earth He consistently claimed to be equal with God and that God would raise Him from the dead three days after His execution by the Jewish and Roman authorities. He said to His disciples in 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 on the third day be raised.”
Had He not been raised from the dead, all of Jesus’ claims can be dismissed as either the claims of someone who was not in His right mind, or an evil blasphemer. But if He was, His resurrection would be God’s way of substantiating His claims. So did He substantiate it? Did Jesus rise from the dead? Yes, He did. The resurrection is God’s seal on all of Jesus’ claims, including His claim to be Divine - at one with the Father.
This is what Paul said in his opening greeting in the book of Romans. “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 1:1-4)
What Paul is saying here is that every single claim that Jesus made about Himself is true, and what seals each of His claims is His resurrection.
Let’s look at this logically for a moment.
Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. He said that God was His Father, He said that He had come into the world from the Father, and that when He left the world, He would return to the Father. And He said that whoever had seen Him had seen the Father. These are all claims to divinity, and because of them the religious leaders had Him executed.
Now those claims are either true or they’re false. Either Jesus is who He said He is, or He is a liar. Those claims, if false, are deceitful and blasphemous, and if they are blasphemous, God would never honour the person who made them.
But God did honour Jesus by raising Him from the dead. God vindicated His claims, which proves that Jesus is the unique Son of God.
The resurrection proves the divinity of Christ.
3. The resurrection of Jesus guarantees our justification.
One of the great doctrines of the Christian faith is that all who believe in Jesus are justified from all sin. Firstly, what does it mean for us to be justified? It’s a word we often hear, but what is justification? One of the simplest explanations is to break the word down. When we turn to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, God then accepts us just-as-if we had never sinned.
R. C. Sproul gives us a more theologically accurate definition in his book Essential Truths Of The Christian Faith when he writes, “Justification may be defined as that act by which unjust sinners are made right in the sight of a just and holy God. It is an act of God whereby He declares unjust sinners to be just after He has imputed to them the righteousness of Christ.”
Paul wrote in Romans 4:25 that Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” There’s that word again - raised. The resurrection of Jesus is God’s declaration and affirmation that He has accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sin, and because He accepts Jesus’ payment of our sin, we are set free from the condemnation we deserve. 2 Corinthians 5:19 in the New Living Translation says, “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them.”
Jesus claimed that He would atone for, or pay the price of, our sins. He said in Matthew 20:28, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Not long after He said this, He died on the cross. The sacrifice was offered, and the substitutionary atonement was made.
Now, it’s one thing for Jesus to say He would atone for our sins, but how can we know for certain that His death on our behalf was acceptable to God? The answer is the resurrection. Because He raised His Son, we can know that the Father has accepted the death of His Son as sufficient payment for our sins. This is how we can know that we are accepted and justified in the sight of God. He no longer counts our sins against us.
The Bible teacher Reuben Torrey wrote, “When Jesus died, He died as my representative, and I died in Him; when He arose, He rose as my representative, and I arose in Him; when He ascended up on high and took His place at the right hand of the Father in the glory, He ascended as my representative and I ascended in Him, and today I am seated in Christ with God in the heavenlies. I look at the cross of Christ, and I know that atonement has been made for my sins; I look at the empty tomb and the risen and ascended Lord, and I know the atonement has been accepted. There no longer remains a single sin on me, no matter how many or how great my sins may have been.”
The resurrection seals our justification.
4. The resurrection guarantees eternal life for those who put their faith in Jesus.
When Jesus rose from the dead He showed that death is not the end. Death is, in fact, defeated for all who by faith are united to Him. Jesus said to His disciples on the night He was arrested, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:3)
This promise presupposes the disciples’ own resurrection after their physical deaths. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:14, “Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.”
As Christians, we are united to Jesus by faith in such a manner that if Jesus rose from the dead, we will also be raised. Just as we are united to Him in death, we will be united to Him in the resurrection.
What this means is that firstly, apart from the resurrection of Jesus Christ there is no guarantee of life beyond the grave for anyone, and secondly, because Jesus did rise from death, those who put their faith in Him can be certain of their own resurrection.
Jesus said in John 14:19, “Because I live, you also will live.” It is His resurrection which seals this promise. In a moment we will be singing about this promise - in Christ alone my hope is found. Death for the Christian, is victory because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is no hope apart from Him, which leads us to our final point based on the historical fact that Jesus rose from the dead.
5. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means final judgment on all who reject the Gospel. Paul wrote in Acts 17:30-31, “God commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead.”
Jesus taught about this final judgment, saying that He, in fact, would be the judge. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’” (Matthew 25:31-34)
As we have seen already, God raised Jesus from the dead, confirming and underlining all of His claims, including this chilling warning we read in Matthew 25. The day of judgment is coming.
When Jesus died on the cross, His enemies thought they were finally rid of Him, but the resurrection has given them a bigger problem.
James Montgomery Boice wrote, “Men and women imagine that death is the end of all things, particularly when it strikes their enemies. A mosquito bites us; we are annoyed; we swat it and congratulate ourselves that we have seen the end of that mosquito. A fox breaks into the chicken coop and we shoot it. So much for the fox. We have an enemy, but when he is dead we dismiss him from our minds. So it was with Christ. Jesus came into the world doing good and people resented His holiness. They resented it so much that they tried to find something of which to accuse Him. He claimed to be God’s Son; they called it blasphemy. He spoke of their sin and of a coming day in which He would judge all humankind; they hated Him for it. Eventually they killed Him. We can imagine the jubilation in Jerusalem on the high feast day following the crucifixion. Those who had disposed of Christ congratulated themselves. At last they were done with Him. They were secure; they would never need to endure His arrogance again. Then came the resurrection, and by that act God declared that death would never be the end of Christ. It could never be the end for Him, for He is Himself the life. Evil is in the world, but nothing opposed to God will finally conquer. Sin triumphed at the cross, but God triumphed at the resurrection.”
It is Easter Sunday, and all over the world, those who believe in Jesus Christ rejoice at the promise of eternity with God. Our proof, the event which seals all of His promises is His actual, bodily resurrection from the grave. Because He lives, we will live. All the Church stands for and proclaims is built on this solid truth, but there is a warning for those who reject the Gospel message. Death is coming for us all, and our only hope - your only hope - of escaping the judgment and condemnation your sins deserve, is Jesus Christ. Turn to Christ, repent of your sins and receive His gracious gift of forgiveness and eternal life. The alternative does not bear thinking about.
The resurrection of Jesus proves the existence of God, it proves that Jesus is God, that we are justified in the sight of God, that our eternal salvation is secure, but judgment is coming on those who reject Jesus as the only means of salvation.
We must each choose: Salvation or damnation. Those are our only options.