Tag: Christianity

There is more evidence and it will be seen when it is all too late.

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²² For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴ Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. ²⁸ When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15 v 20-28)

Paul sees the resurrection of Jesus as like that of the first part of the crop that comes before the true harvest emerges later. We rejoice when we see the firstfruits because we know it is the evidence of the crop to come. When the crop arrives then it will show that what had been seen first was indeed the firstfruits.

• Paul is therefore saying that there will come a day when the follower of Jesus will be raised from the dead. On that amazing day it will be the ultimate evidence that Jesus was indeed resurrected. Nevertheless it will be too late for the critics.

Paul says there is a waiting time, which we are in now. We are waiting with expectancy for our own resurrection. There is a certainty within the wait although it can be hard and contain suffering. Yet suffering is only one side of the coin as the spiritual battle between darkness and light is taking place and we can see this happening in the many stories of people’s lives.

• Paul is therefore saying that even the waiting period is evidence of the resurrection because every time we see Christ defeating demonic influence in a person’s life then it is a declaration that Jesus is not dead and it points to a day when every enemy of God is brought down.

Paul says the last enemy to be defeated is death. There was a preliminary event that took place at the resurrection of Jesus when ‘the saints who had died rose from their graves and went into Jerusalem (Matthew 27:52-53). Death could not hold them back. Their families and friends would have had quite a shock that day!

• Paul is therefore saying that death, the last enemy, has indeed been destroyed. Attend a humanist funeral and a Christian funeral and you will see the difference regarding death. For the Christian it is a joyous moment as the focus is never on death but the centrality that the person is raised and is already with God. So if death is defeated then why do we die? It is because we go have to let go of this earthly body for the resurrected body we receive. It is evidence of the resurrection of Jesus.

We come to the reason why Paul is writing about the resurrection of Jesus. He leaves the big issue till the end of his letter. The Corinthians had begun to reject the application of the resurrection of Jesus. They were preaching that the Church would not be raised from the dead. Paul is aghast! He then presents what is the most powerful arguments for the centrality of Christ’s resurrection to the Christian faith.

“But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15 v 12-19)

Ever played Jenga? I’m sure you have. Jenga comes from the Swahili word to build or construct. Each player takes a wooden tile from the tower as gently as possible without letting it collapse. Paul builds a logical reasoning for the resurrection which is still true today.

• If there is no resurrection for us then Christ has not been raised.
• If Christ has not been raised then the entire Christian faith like Jenga, collapses. This game is over.
• You cannot have one or the other.
• If Christ is still dead then all our preaching is a nonsense.
• If Christ is still dead then every believer who has died is also just dead. They have gone forever.
• If there is no resurrection then all our beliefs as Christians and all our experiences of God are simply a lie.
• If that is the case then the 2.4 billion Christians today are still unforgiven and more than that, they have wasted and are wasting their entire lives on the greatest delusion the world has ever known.
• If the body of Jesus had been found in Jerusalem or some other place in the region at any point then the stack of cards come crashing down. The gospel cannot survive the dead body of Jesus being found.
• Our daily approach in life, to suffering and to death is a reality not a doctrine to defend. Remove the resurrection or its application or any part of it and the love, faith and hope that is our hearts as a living reality is utterly worthless.

This is Paul’s powerful logic for the resurrection of Jesus. The reality of which everything and everyone is transformed by that one event.

What’s important to you? Most probably loved ones is one of the responses. Nothing wrong with that. But for our Christian message Paul in his defense of the resurrection writes what appears to be an early form of a creed. A creed is a formal statement of belief (like the Nicene Creed in yesterday’s devotion) and it looks like this:-

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”  (1 Corinthians 15 v 3-4)

Here are 5 parts of what is of first importance to the Christian faith.

1. Christ died for our sins.

Jesus died on that cross. He was not resuscitated later. He did not faint. The suggestion that the Roman soldiers had somehow crucified the wrong man is ludicrous. The Chief Priests and the Pharisees slandering Jesus on the cross knew it was Jesus. The soldiers who crucified Jesus were experts in the cruel art of crucifixion. Historians concede the truth that crucifixion was the death sentence, no on survived. In fact many died under the Roman flogging. Prior to the cross Jesus had suffered haematidrosis where in the extreme stress that he was under in the Garden of Gethsemane he sweated blood. Jesus was giving out large amounts of blood from the flogging and then he was nailed to the cross. If Jesus had come down from the cross and recovered later, what kind of condition would he have been in to inspire and motivate his followers to lay their own lives down for a lie that he had been raised?

Jesus died on that cross. But He did so for our sins. There was a purpose. Many honourable people have died horrendous deaths over history but the death of Jesus was different for it was a redemptive, substitutionary, dying in our place and bearing the penalty of our sins, death. This was not a martyr’s death dying for a cause. It was a death for our sins. But it was a death nevertheless. There can be no resurrection without a death.

2. Christ was buried

This is as important as His death. Dead people are buried, not alive ones. Everyone thought it was over. The resurrection of Christ was a resurrection from the dead. Joseph and Nicodemus prepared His body and laid Him in a new tomb. The burial is equally as important as every other aspect of the creed. Instead of great applause He was buried in a grave. This was a moment of humiliation. There can be no resurrection without a burial.

3. Christ was raised on the third day (the tomb became empty).

In Acts 2:24 Peter preaches, “God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” If there was no empty tomb then don’t talk about it in the very city where the tomb was and where people would know if Peter was just making it up. Don’t begin the church there.

Also, if the gospel writers were wanting to make up the resurrection story then they would not have used women as the first eye-witnesses to the empty tomb. Women at the time could not testify in a court of law. Using women like they did would just not have been credible. They would have written that Peter or the other men got there first not the women.

Jesus had said he would rise after 3 days (not in some general end of the world resurrection) and it was the 3^rd day. He didn’t stay dead!

4. According to the Scriptures

This is so important to Paul he repeats it twice. He wants us to know that this event was in the mind of God and for thousands of years prophesied in Scripture, in places like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 for His death and for His resurrection in places like Jonah 1:17 and  in Matthew 12:40 where Jesus says, “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.” There are other Scriptures like Psalm 16:10, “because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay”. What the Scriptures prophesied and what Jesus said about His death and resurrection, Paul preached.

5. The Creed

I left the first part of what Paul said to the last but it is still part of the evidence of the resurrection. “I received what I passed on to you.”

Paul got the gospel from the risen Messiah, Jesus Christ, it was this visitation that verified his apostleship. (I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:11-12) He then went immediately into Arabia. The date was approximately AD33. After 3 years he went to Jerusalem to stay with Peter and James, Galatians 1:17-20. Why? He wasn’t sent for. He went on his own volition. Paul was hearing Peter’s story and all that he had seen and heard from Jesus. He also heard from James. Paul was sharing his own story too. This was not a new Christian-Paul. He was 3 years a follower of Jesus. He was not learning the gospel. He already had it. But Paul was certainly learning this creed:

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures

he was buried,

he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

This letter was written around AD55. That’s only 25 years after the event of the death and the resurrection of Christ. The creed was around in oral tradition for 20 years before he wrote it. If this creed and this event is a legend then it would be the first ever legend to emerge in such a short space of time ever in history.

This is of first importance and it is evidence for the Resurrection of Christ. But there’s more!

The message of Islam is that Jesus was never put to death, never rose from the dead and was not divine. There are other theories that Jesus fainted on the cross and was then taken down and he recovered later. Other Muslims believe that at the last moment Jesus was swapped with another man who looked like him and so Jesus was not crucified. In 5 weeks today we will be celebrating Easter Sunday and it is more important than ever that we declare the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus.

It is the centre of what we believe. It is the offence of the gospel. It is why there is only one way to heaven through Jesus Christ. It is why Jesus is more than a prophet. It is why Jesus is the Son of God, divine, God Himself. It is why those who put their trust in Him will never die but be raised to new life. The greatest miracle is the miracle of the resurrection. So what is the evidence for the resurrection? How do we answer the critic who says there was no resurrection? The Apostle Paul will help us. I normally read and write on a few verses at a time and over the next several days I will do the same. But first let us read the entire rest of this chapter.

^“ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. ⁶ After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸ and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. ⁹ For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve 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 to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. ¹¹ Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. ¹² But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. ²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²² For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴ Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. ²⁸ When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. ²⁹ Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? ³⁰ And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? ³¹ I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. ³² If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” ³³ Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” ³⁴ Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame. ³⁵ But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” ³⁶ How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷ When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. ³⁸ But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. ³⁹ Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. ⁴⁰ There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendour of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendour of the earthly bodies is another. ⁴¹ The sun has one kind of splendour, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendour. ⁴² So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; ⁴³ it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴ it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. ⁴⁸ As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹ And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we^[g] bear the image of the heavenly man. ⁵⁰ I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” ⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.”  (1 Corinthians 15 v 3-58)

The Corinthian Church lived at a time not dissimilar to ours. The very essence of Christianity and our core message was believed to be wrong. If you are dead you are dead. Today Muslims believe that until the Day of Judgment the dead stay in their graves. On that day they are brought before Allah and their deeds on earth are judged. The Jews are diverse and the resurrection is not important to them as much as we may think. There is no one view that is central to the Jewish faith. They too focus more on good works and the purpose of their life on earth.

For us as Christians and led by the teaching of Paul we hold to not only of the fact that Jesus was raised but that this is the determining factor for our own resurrection when we die. Paul’s defence of this would show that this is possibly the greatest issue for him. He has been told that someone has been preaching to the church that there is no resurrection (v12) and this is something that he writes at length about in order to bring correction. Without the resurrection we don’t have Christianity. Christianity hangs on the resurrection message, that of Jesus and that of ourselves. It seems unthinkable for Paul. He has fought wild beasts (v32) for the message of the resurrection.

So … the evidence? I will dive into this amazing passage over the next few mornings. But here are some brief points for the importance of the resurrection from reading this passage of Paul:-

1. This has been the essence of the Christian gospel for 2,000 years.
2. For Paul, if someone denied the resurrection then they were denying Christianity itself. Resurrection was not a component of the gospel. It is everything of the gospel.
3. If there is no resurrection of the dead then there is no resurrection of Christ. If there is no resurrection of Christ then there is no death of Christ on the cross. If there is no cross of Christ then we are still lost and we are still trapped in our sins.
4. The fact that our loved ones are safe with Christ is based on the resurrection.
5. If there is no resurrection then there is no need to live a surrendered life to Christ.
6. Without the belief in the resurrection there can be no belief in Jesus as the Son of God. When Jesus was raised it was God’s vindication of who He was.
7. Death has the victory over everything if the resurrection is not true. There is no hope.
8. Sin cannot be defeated nor forgiven if the resurrection is not true.
9. Our resurrection means not some life-less and body-less soul floating around. Rather it is a transformed body but a recognisable body definitely.
10. Christ’s resurrection means we live out new lives now whilst we are alive. His power and presence live within us now. We live a cruciform life. When people see us they see the cross AND the resurrection.

Before the evidence we must hold on to the importance of the resurrection. I am sure you can probably see more points from Paul’s writing here but these are my top 10!

Don’t let the culture of your world tell you otherwise.

Hold on to what was passed down to you.

The Nicene creed known also as the creed of Constantinople was written at the first council of Nicea in AD325 and has formed the foundation of Christianity since then. It is worth reading many times.

We believe in one God, the Father, the almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.