Gospel Outreach International

This Bible study is entitled The Promise of the Resurrection.

Gordon is reading from 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, and that after that he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. And he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all as to one untimely born, he appeared to me also. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

The Promise of the resurrection. It can be taken two ways and I’ve been a little bit awkward. It’s not the promise that there will be a resurrection, but there’s promises that come out of that resurrection is the line Im going to take. But before we can do that, we have got to make sure we understand about the resurrection. In John 14:19 Jesus said, because I live, you shall live also. Is the resurrection important? Is it the question?

After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. John 14:19

Yes, our text that is John 14:19 is a statement made before the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. When he was crucified on that cross, he was dead. Make no bones about it. The Romans were expert in the field of death. They certified his death. We celebrate the fact of his death every Good Friday. That’s tomorrow (study occured on thursday).

If there is no resurrection, this statement of John 14:19 can it be true? Think about that. If no resurrection, Christianity has no foundation. The crucifixion is the central truth. It may actually be listed as a pillar of truth. The resurrection is the concrete proof that what happened on the cross was complete and correct.

So is the resurrection important? Yes it is. What Jesus said. And Im just going to quickly go through one or two. Jesus had to rise from the dead. Okay, this is out of Acts, I admit. It is impossible for death to keep its hand on him.

But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. Acts 2:24

Impossible, why was it impossible? Because it’s only the soul that sins that dies. It’s only the sinner where death has any claim on that individual and Christ was perfect. Jesus was no ordinary teacher. He who has seen me, he said, has seen the Father and we’re all familiar with the first few verses of the Gospel of John.

For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise again three days later.” Mark 9:31

In Mark 9:31 he promised to rise. After three days I will rise he said. And you get that in other places. In the Old Testament, it was foretold that he would rise. 1 Corinthians 15, we read that, he rose according to the Scriptures. Psalm 16:10 to emphasize the Old Testament, not allow your Holy One to see corruption, that’s Psalm 16.

For You will not forsake my soul to Sheol; You will not give Your Holy One over to see corruption. Psalm 16:10

Now, why did he come? John 10, I give eternal life to them. They will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. He came to give eternal life. If he had died and stayed dead, he could’nt give eternal life. But the resurrection makes it all possible.

Now Im aware of three books. Some of you might know of others, but these were all written around about and considering the subject of resurrection. The first one I would draw attention to is entitled The Testimony of the Evangelists, And that was first published in 1846. This was written by a man called Simon Greenleaf, one of the founders, and this is important, one of the founders of Harvard Law School. And he studied and weighed up all the evidence, and well be looking at the evidence in a minute or two and with his lawyers analytical ability he concluded that the evidence would stand proven in any court of law. The evidence, for the resurrection.

The second one is one you would probably be familiar with. Who moved the stone? A man called Albert Henry Ross wrote a number of books under the name of Frank Morrison. His book on the resurrection was published in 1930 and has had many reprints and it’s still available today. He began his research on the resurrection after actually rejecting the truth of the resurrection. But after studying it he concluded there is profoundly deep historical basis for the resurrection of Jesus.

The third one a bit more modern, it was written by a man called Lee Strobel. He was newer as he was just born in 1952. He was an atheist and he was angry when he discovered his wife had become a Christian. So he decided that he would study the subject to prove to his wife and to demonstrate the utter rubbish as he thought of the whole story. He became convinced that the resurrection was true. He became a Christian and he now lectures widely on the truth of the Gospels and the resurrection. What were saying by looking at those three books is if you apply your mind to study the evidence, the conclusion will be that the resurrection is real and true and it is what carries on.

So what was the evidence there that caused a lawyer, a skeptic and an atheist to come to their conclusions? Well, there’s the teaching of Jesus and Im only just going through these very quickly and very simply. You will be able to add many other verses. The teaching of Jesus, John 2:19 destroy this temple and he was referring to his body if you remember and I will raise it again in three days. There are other verses you can get in Matthew and in Luke to on the similar theme.

The testimony of the women, because of the law of esteem, females had in Jewish, Roman and Greek circles, they were looked down on as often as mere chattels. So if you were conducting a fraud, the last people you would use would be the women, because they werent allowed to stand up and bear witness. One of the strange things, and I know this is a little bit taking a step aside, a man could divorce a woman in the Jewish system, but a woman could’nt divorce a man. That was the way it was. So the testimony of the woman used by the Lord bears great weight.

The testimony of independent witnesses and the number of them. And there was lots. We read in 1 Corinthians 15 of a number that Paul reminds us of and there are many more. Then there’s the truth that there is no contradiction in any of the Gospels or the Book of Acts to the basic truth of the resurrection. There are varying differences, but they’re not contradictory. And of course, it’s the testimony of the transformed anti-Christian, Saul, who became Paul.

The evidence is abundant to those who will approach honestly with an open mind and a genuine desire to discover. One of the reasons for looking into the evidence of the resurrection and determining is veracity. It gives confidence in the promises. And it’s these promises that was on my heart and mind.

You may want to add, I’ve just taken three. First, from our text, because I live, you will live also. Life is important to people, but to the Christian, our spiritual life and eternal life is more important. Secondly, this is the promise of a different existence with our new and spiritual heavenly body. Consider the book of Revelation, for example, it tells us there, Praise the Lord, that our new body, there would be no more pain, no more sickness, no more death. It is a different kind of life altogether.

Just think back to the Gospels. Were going to have a body like the Lord Jesus and you remember he could be in one place one minute and in the next somewhere else. He could pass through a brick wall although it was still a physical body in that you can handle it, touch it, you can put… Thomas was challenged to put his fingers in the wounds. But it was different. We have this tremendous promise, yes, we will live, but not in this weak, frail body. It will be new, it will be dynamic, and it will be like the Lord himself.

And the third one is this. As a result of the resurrection, we will one day be with Jesus where he is. These are three tremendous promises. We don’t often meditate on them in that line. But how tremendous. Because Christ died and rose again, we have these three promises. If there be no the resurrection, those promises would have failed. The resurrection is, if I dare say it, the proof that these things are real.

For example, when you read the opening of Paul’s letter to the Romans, and it’s talking about the Lord Jesus, concerning His Son, which was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, and was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.

That’s the promises that I love to dwell on. I will live forever. I will have to shuffle off this mortal coil, but I’ll have a body that will be vibrant and like the Lord. And I will one day be with him forevermore. All to me step out of this great Easter weekend and specifically the resurrection.

Bible References

• John 14:19
• 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
• John 14:19
• Acts 2:24
• Mark 9:31
• Psalm 16:10