It was preached
as a major proof for Jesus' claims. But it was also used to teach many other
important lessons.
If the
resurrection was so important in the preaching of inspired men in the first century,
surely it should be just as important in our preaching today.
The purpose of
this study is to consider the significance of Jesus' resurrection.
We will consider
how gospel preachers in the New Testament used Jesus' resurrection in their
preaching. That should show us how we ought to use it in our preaching today.
Gospel preaching
about the resurrection, teaches importance lessons about the following
subjects:
I. The Nature of
Jesus
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Romans 1:4 -
Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power, ... by the resurrection
from the dead. The resurrection was preached to both Jews and Gentiles as a
major proof of who Jesus is. Today we need similar evidence to strengthen the
faith of believers and also to answer the challenges of atheists, humanists,
and evolutionists.
Consider a few of
the many examples where the resurrection used to confirm Jesus' claims.
Luke 24:44-46
=========
Jesus claimed His
resurrection fulfilled prophecy and proved Him to be the Christ predicted by
Old Testament prophets.
The main purpose
of Jesus' miracles was to confirm that His teaching was from God and His claims
were true. When a man claimed to have a message given him directly by God,
people needed some way to determine whether or not this claim was true. If that
man could perform acts that are impossible by natural law, people would know
God was really working through him and would believe his teaching.
In many ways, the
resurrection of Jesus is the greatest miracle that ever occurred, and is the
one best supported by eyewitness testimony. It proves Jesus' claims and
teaching are true. Surely, God would never have raised Jesus if He were a false
teacher and not who He claimed to be.
[Mark 16:20;
Hebrews 2:3f; Acts 14:3]
John 20:24-31
=========
Here is an
example of Jesus' appearances to eyewitnesses to prove He had arisen. These
appearances persuaded people to confess Jesus to be "Lord and God."
While we cannot personally see Him, yet the eyewitnesses wrote what they saw so
we can believe Jesus is God's Son and can have eternal life.
The power of this
claim can be seen when we realize that no other major religion even claims the
founder of their faith arose from the dead. No such claims are made by Judaism
for Moses, nor by Islam for Mohammed, nor by Buddhists for Buddha, etc. Why
not? Because it would be so difficult to convince people it had been
accomplished. But Jesus not only made the claim, He presents eyewitness
testimony to convince honest people it is true.
The resurrection
is a unique claim of the gospel of Jesus. [Acts 13:28-37; Matthew 12:39f]
Acts
2:23,24,29-32,36
==============
After Jesus
ascended to heaven, the apostles preached (as Peter did here) that the Jews had
killed Jesus, but God raised Him and the apostles were eyewitnesses that He was
alive again. This had even been prophesied in the Old Testament by David. This
leads to the conclusion that Jesus is both Lord and Christ [1 Corinthians 15:4;
Acts 17:3]
Note the amazing
fact that this was prophesied ahead of time, making it a double miracle. It
requires miraculous power just to be able to predict future events and have
them be fulfilled. But to prophesy a specific miraculous event, such as the
resurrection, would be miraculous on both ends - both the act of prophesying
and the event predicted would be miraculous.
But the
resurrection was predicted, not just by Old Testament prophets, but by Jesus'
Himself during His lifetime (John 2:18-22; Matthew 16:21). Note how unlikely it
would be that an impostor would ever keep His following after making such a
claim: he would be proved a fraud 3 days after his death.
It is very hard
to take people seriously when they make predictions that they won't die, let
alone that they will arise from the dead at a certain time, because their
predictions fail. Jesus not only made the claim, He provides multitudes of
eyewitnesses that He made good His claim, and people were converted by the thousands
when this claim was preached. [Matthew 17:23; 20:19; 27:63; 17:9; 26:32; Mark
8:31; 9:31; 10:34; 9:9,10; 14:28; Luke 9:23; 18:33; 24:4-7,44f.]
Imagine the power
required to raise somebody from the dead. Then imagine the power required to
predict ahead of time that you were going to do it. Jesus and Old Testament
prophets predicted that the Christ would arise from the dead. Many eyewitnesses
testify that Jesus did so, exactly when He said He would. What greater proof
could anyone want that Jesus is the Son of God?
[Note also Acts
3:15; 5:30; 10:40; 13:33ff; 17:3; 17:18,31, etc.]
II. The Destiny
of Man
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Three future
events are connected in Scripture to Jesus' resurrection:
A. The
Resurrection of All People
====================
1 Corinthians
6:14 - God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. The
same God who promised to raise Jesus, has also promised to raise us. If we
believe He kept the promise to raise Jesus by His power, then we must believe
He will keep His promise to raise us up by that same power. [2 Corinthians
4:14]
1 Corinthians 15
- Vv 12-14 explain that Jesus' resurrection proves men can be raised by God's
power. Vv 20-23,25,26 - Jesus' resurrection is the guarantee (firstfruits)
demonstrating that He will raise us up. The first fruit to ripen, from orchard
or garden, gives hope of more to come. So, Jesus' resurrection assures us there
will be a harvest in which we will all be raised.
[1 Thessalonians
4:13-17]
B. The Judgment
of All People
===================
Acts 17:30,31 -
The assurance that God will judge us is the fact that He raised up Jesus. In
order for all to be judged, we must first come back from the dead. The fact God
has already raised Jesus demonstrates His power to keep His promise to raise
and then judge us.
If a man came
promising to give you an new house, most of us would be skeptical. But if he
could produce a number of people to whom he had already given a new house, we
would be more likely to believe.
The same God who
promised to raise Jesus and fulfilled that promise, has also promised to raise
us and judge our lives through Jesus. If we accept the proof that Jesus was
raised, then we must believe God's promise that He will judge us.
C. The Eternal
Reward of the Righteous
========================
1 Thessalonians
4:13-18 - If there is no resurrection of the dead, then our only reward for
righteousness would have to come during this life. But if we believe Jesus died
and rose again (v14), then we should also believe that, when He returns, the
dead will be raised and we will be with Him forever.
1 Peter 1:3,4 -
We are begotten to a living hope of an eternal inheritance by the resurrection
of Jesus. If we die before Jesus comes again (as most men have), then to
receive this reward, we must be raised. Jesus' resurrection proves that God
will keep His promise to raise and reward us.
To Christians,
Jesus' resurrection is important, not just because it proves to us who He is,
but also because it is the basis for the hope of our own eternal reward.
[1 Corinthians
15:9]
III. The Life of
a Christian
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Besides teaching
us about our eternal destiny, Jesus' resurrection can teach us important
lessons about our daily life as Christians:
A. Obedience to
God's Word
=================
Acts 2:36 -
Jesus' resurrection (vv 23-32) proves to us that He is Lord and Christ. Luke
6:46 - Your Lord is the one you must obey.
2 Corinthians
5:15 - Jesus died for all so we should no longer live for self but for Him who
died and arose for us. By dying and rising, Jesus purchased us. He bought us
with the price of His blood, so we belong to Him and ought to let Him control
our lives.
Illustration:
Suppose I agree to sell you my car, and you pay me the price we agree upon; but
when you come to take it, I refuse to give you possession! I want you to pay
for the car, but I still want to control it and use it for my purposes.
Likewise, many people want Jesus to purchase them from sin - accept His payment
price - but don't want to turn over control of their lives to Him.
Romans 6:4-13 -
Baptism symbolizes, not just Jesus' death, but also His resurrection (vv 4,5).
In baptism, we undergo a death (like Jesus died on the cross) in that the body
of sin is put to death or separated from us (vv 6,7). But we also undergo a
resurrection in that we should walk a new life, one set apart from sin.
Why were you
baptized into Jesus' death? To get rid of sins. You need this because the wages
of sin is death (v23). But if we see the value of getting rid of sin, then we
should also see the value of staying away from it after we have gotten rid of
it.
This is
symbolized by Jesus' resurrection. Just as He was raised never to die again, so
we should be forgiven never to serve sin again (vv 8-13).
The person who
asks Jesus to forgive him of sin, is committing himself to dedicate his life to
living apart from sin. True, if we sin again we can be forgiven again, but not
if rationalize, justify, and excuse the sins and then continue to refuse to
repent and change. To continue in sin is to fail to see the meaning of Jesus'
resurrection.
[Romans 14:9; 1
Corinthians 6:19f]
B. Power in Our
Lives
=============
Ephesians 1:19,20
- We can have in our lives the power of God that raised up Jesus. We have
considered how great the power must be to cause the resurrection. Imagine
having that kind of power working in your life!
Ephesians 6:10-13
- Here is what this power can do in our lives. When Jesus was raised, He gained
His greatest victory over Satan. Likewise, we can defeat Satan in his efforts
to lead us into sin if we use the power God provides.
The resurrection
of Jesus teaches great lessons to Christians. It not only proves we have great
blessings ahead in eternity, it also proves the great responsibilities and
great power we can have in our lives now.
[Romans 8:33-35;
1 Corinthians 15:58; Philippians 3:10]
IV. Forgiveness
of Sin
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
A. What Does
Jesus' Resurrection Have to Do with Our Salvation?
=======================================
1 Corinthians
15:13-17
******************
If Jesus was not
raised, our faith is vain and we are yet in sin. We are saved by His life,
because He had to be raised after He died or we could not be saved! [Acts
13:38,39; Hebrews 7:25]
Romans 4:24,25
*************
Jesus was
delivered up for our sins and raised for [because of - NKJV] our justification
[i.e., because we needed it, cf. Hebrews 2:9]. His resurrection is as essential
to our salvation as His death. What good would it be for Him to die, if He was
not raised? Had He not been raised, Satan would be the victor. But by rising
from the dead, Jesus won the final victory.
Romans 5:10
***********
We are reconciled
through Jesus' death and saved by His life.
Calvinists
(including some brethren) say this means Jesus' sinless life is imputed to us:
God gives us credit for the good deeds Jesus did. If we sin, they say God just
sees Jesus' good deeds in us and overlooks our sins, even if we never repent or
ask forgiveness. So they fellowship all who have been baptized, even though
they teach and practice error.
Where does the
passage say that Jesus' sinless character or deeds are credited to us, or
people are counted sinless even when they don't repent? Such a doctrine
contradicts many other passages. Jesus' sinless life is no more imputed to us
than Adam's sin is imputed to us [Ezekiel 18:20].
The
"life" by which we are saved refers to Jesus' resurrection. We are
reconciled by His death and saved by His life. Note that the death came first,
then came the life. The "life" that saves is Jesus' life after the
death: i.e., His resurrection. This simply confirms what we already learned
from other passages.
B. How Can We
Receive This Salvation by His Resurrection?
=====================================
Note how every
condition of forgiveness and eternal life is tied by Scriptures to Jesus'
resurrection.
Hearing and
believing
******************
1 Corinthians
15:1-4 - To be saved, we must hear and believe the gospel, including the
message of the resurrection.
Repentance
**********
Acts 17:30,31 -
All are commanded to repent because we will be judged. What is the proof that this
is true? The assurance of this is the fact Jesus was raised.
Just as surely as
Jesus was raised from the dead, just that surely all men must repent of their
sins in order to be ready for judgment. Have you repented?
Faith and
confession
*****************
Romans 10:9,10 -
We must believe in the resurrection and confess Christ as Lord to be saved
Did you know that
people cannot be saved who do not believe in Jesus' resurrection? Many people
claim to be Christians - even prominent denominational preachers - who doubt or
deny Jesus' resurrection. The gospel says that, to be saved, you must believe
God has raised Him from the dead.
It is not enough
to believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died for your sins. You must also
believe that He arose from the dead!
Then you must
confess Christ as your Lord: the one who has the right to control your life.
But remember that His resurrection is what proves He is Lord (1:4)
Baptism
*******
1 Peter 3:21 - In
likeness to Noah's salvation, baptism saves us by the resurrection of Jesus. If
you believe that Jesus' resurrection is essential to our salvation, that you
must also understand that baptism is essential in order for you to be saved by
the resurrection.
Colossians
2:12,13 - As in Romans 6:3-5, we are buried and raised with Christ in baptism.
Forgiveness of sins gives us new life with Him. This new life refers to being
"born again" to become a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
This occurs in baptism, not before. If you believe that Jesus' resurrection is
essential to the new birth, then you must also understand that baptism is
essential in order for you to be born again.
Note also the
implication that baptism must be an immersion, for we are buried and raised
with Him. Sprinkling and pouring do not satisfy, because they do not properly
symbolize Jesus' burial or His resurrection.
And remember that
we have already emphasized that Jesus' resurrection teaches that baptism must
be followed by a faithful life.
Conclusion
=======
Do you believe
the evidence that Jesus was raised from the dead? If so, then you must accept
the consequence that He is the Son of God. You must also believe that someday
He will judge you and give you eternal life, if you obey the gospel and then
live a faithful life. When people do not properly respond to the gospel, they
demonstrate that they do not truly appreciate the meaning of Jesus'
resurrection.
*****************************************************
(C) Copyright 2007, David E. Pratte You are free to keep copies of this material on computer and/or in printed form for your own further study. If you have any other requests about the use of this material, please read our copyright guidelines at www.gospelway.com/copyrite.htm.
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