Old Testament Reading – Psalm 16 and 22
New Testament Reading – Mark 16:1-20
Saying Farewell to Fear # 3
“The Risen Christ: Our Victory over Death”
1 Corinthians 15:1-58
The resurrection of Christ is the centerpiece of the gospel.
If Jesus died 2000 years ago, and something happened to His body, other than His resurrection, Christianity is not true, none of the Scriptures are true, we have believed in Christ in vain, and we are still lost and without hope in this world.
In A.D. 57, the Apostle Paul wrote his first letter to the church at Corinth:
- To refute the Gnostics who did not believe in the physical resurrection of Christ, and who were disturbing the Church with their religious mysticism.
- To reaffirm the Christians who believed in the physical resurrection of Christ, and who had dedicated their lives to the global proclamation of that truth as the foundation of the Christian Faith.
While the global unrest may take its toll on our lives, the lack of peace and tranquility also teaches us some very valuable life lessons.
- We do not control the circumstances of our lives, much less the changing environments of the world.
- None of us are immune to life’s tragedies, and there is no way to protect ourselves from every natural disaster or catastrophe.
- Even as advanced as we think we are, the leaders of the nations cannot inherit man’s sin nature, nor can they prevent the fulfillment of God’s prophetic events.
- Panic and fear are not from God, but rather from Satan, who is the father of all lies.
- Peace and hope are from God, and He is the only certainty in this world.
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness, therefore,
says my soul, I will hope in Him.”
Lamentations 3:22-24
The calamitous condition from which we all suffer is called mortality.
- God never intended for us to live forever in these temporal bodies, for God never intended this earth to be our final home.
- God never intended our physical bodies to be free from all sickness, disease, or death. Apart from the Rapture, death is the doorway through which we will enter our eternal life, and into our eternal home.
- However, God has provided a way for us to live forever in His presence, and the proof of that provision is in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- Through His physical, visible resurrection, Jesus Christ gave us victory over sin, death, and the grave.
“If we would remember that all the trees of earth are marked for the woodman’s axe, we should not be so ready to build our nests in them.” – Spurgeon
1. The Validity of Christ’s Resurrection – 1 Corinthians 15:1-19 – “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.”
Paul began his defense of the resurrection of Christ by reminding those who had heard his presentation of the gospel of three irrefutable facts.
- “That Christ died,” – not just Jesus, the man, but Christ, the God-man. For had Jesus died as a man, His death would have only paid for His sins, but since He was the God-man, His death paid for the sins of every man.
- “That He died for our sins,” – not that He died for us, for that would have made Him a martyr, but that He died for our sins, which makes Him our Savior.
- “That He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures,” – the fact that He rose from the dead, just as He said He would, confirmed that he was Who He said He was, and that He did what He said He did, for the reason He said He did it, and that He did it for ALL who would believe in Him as their Savior and Lord.
Christ’s death was not a tragic event that happened 2000 years ago, but rather it was according to the Scriptures.
- Jesus of Nazareth proved Himself to be the savior sent from God by fulfilling the 300 Old Testament prophecies regarding the character and the work of the Messiah.
- The resurrection of Christ turned the narrative of history into the gospel: the foundation of the Christian Faith.
- If something happened to Jesus’ body other than His physical resurrection, the concept of Christianity is not true, and we are still lost and without hope in this world.
“If Jesus rose, then this gospel is what it professes to be; if He rose not from the dead, then it is all deceit and delusion.”
Spurgeon
2. The Value of Christ’s Resurrection – 1 Corinthians 15:20-34 – Verse 20 – “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
Jesus has fulfilled or will fulfill the Seven Jewish Feasts God established with Moses in Leviticus 23, as “appointed times” for the Jews to cease work and to worship Him.
Fulfilled:
- Passover – at the same hour the Jews were slaughtering their lambs in preparation for the observance of Passover, Jesus was being crucified as the “Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.” (1 Corinthians 5:7)
- Unleavened Bread – leaven symbolizes sin, and since Jesus was without sin, His burial during this time fulfilled the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
- First Fruits – Paul said Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the Feast of First Fruits, which was Sunday, which is why it is called the Day of the Lord, and our day to worship Him.
- Pentecost – fifty days after the resurrection, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to empower the disciples to preach the gospel to the people in every language, and 3000 Jews were saved. This event gave birth to the Church, and fulfilled the Feast of Pentecost.
To be fulfilled:
- Feast of Trumpets – will be fulfilled on the day Jesus calls the Church to “Come up hither,” – a call preceded by the blast of a trumpet.
- The Day of Atonement – Jesus made the atonement for the sins of all believers when He died on the cross. However, during the final days of the Great Tribulation, the surviving Jews will “See the One whom they pierced,” repent of their sins and receive Jesus as their Messiah.
- Feast of Tabernacles – will be fulfilled when Jesus comes again as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and reigns upon this earth for 1,000 years, and then in the new heavens and the new earth forever, world without end.
Paul said, by one man, Adam, death came to all men, and by one Man, Christ Jesus, the hope of resurrection came to all men.
- Jesus Christ was the first person to defeat death and enter into a new life.
- Therefore, apart from Jesus’ resurrection, we would have no hope of life beyond the grave.
- However, because He lives, we can know there is life beyond the grave for those who will believe in Him.
3. The Victory of Christ’s Resurrection – 1 Corinthians 15:29-58 – “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
A resurrected body is not a resuscitated corpse, but rather a new kind of body – a spiritual body that will never die.
- Our physical bodies are made of dust; they exist in weakness, and will eventually return to the dust from whence they came.
- Our spiritual bodies will be similar to the resurrected body of Christ, they will exist in power, and they will never die.
- Therefore, death has no power over those who are in Christ, because He defeated death by His resurrection from the grave.
- Everyone will be raised from the dead, but not everyone will share the same eternal destiny.
- The first resurrection is the raising of all believers, to which Jesus referred as the “resurrection of the just,” (Luke 14:14), and takes place in various stages.
- The resurrection of Christ – “first fruits.”
- The resurrection of the Jerusalem Saints.
- The resurrection of “the dead in Christ” at the Rapture.
- The resurrection of the martyrs at the end of the Tribulation.
- The second resurrection is the raising of all unbelievers, to which Jesus referred as “the resurrection of damnation,” (John 5:29), and will take place at the Great White Throne.
“Now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
1 John 3:2
