Alive in
Christ
“Salvation”
Series
The Resurrection of Christ
Jesus Christ rose from the dead. After He has suffered an agonizing death on the cross, He was buried and on the third day after His death, He arose from the dead. This is not just some fanciful fairy tale. The Bible says that He showed “Himself alive after His passion by MANY INFALLIABLE PROOFS (Acts 1:3). Now if the proofs are really infallible, they would then be indisputable.
After His resurrection He appeared to His disciples (Judas Iscariot the traitor had committed suicide):
33 And
they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven
gathered together, and them that were with them,
34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared
to Simon.
35 And they told what things were done in the way, and
how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in
the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed
that they had seen a spirit.
38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why
do thoughts arise in your hearts?
39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself:
handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed [showed] them his
hands and his feet.
Luke 24:33-4
He appeared to Saul, who was on the road to Damascus to arrest the Christians there:
3 And
as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about
him a light from heaven:
4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice
saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord
said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the
pricks.
6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the
city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
Acts 9:3-6
Saul was converted, and became the Apostle Paul, one of the first missionaries and writer of much of the New Testament portion of the Bible. Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthian Christians that Christ had appeared to five hundred people at once after His resurrection.
4 And
that he [Christ] was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to
the scriptures:
5 And that he was seen of Cephas [Apostle Peter], then of the
twelve:
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at
once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen
asleep.
1 Corinthians 15:4-6
The resurrection is not just some fairy tale. It is true. It really happened. The Bible is true, but since you may not believe the Bible, here is more proof:
Jesus began His earthly ministry about age thirty. It lasted until His death three years later. During this time, He chose twelve disciples, who went with Him everywhere and became His closest friends. He also had other good friends, such as Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, siblings from Bethany, and Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils. These all believed that He was the Son of God, the Saviour of Mankind, the Messiah that God had promised. Of course He had His relatives, who did not believe on Him during His earthly ministry, but still loved Him.
During His ministry, Jesus Christ caused a lot of friction. The Pharisees and other religious leaders did not like what He was preaching, and they attempted to kill Him several times. (Since Jesus is the Son of God, He did not allow them to kill Him until the right time.) When Jesus was arrested and put on trial, His disciples fled for fear. Peter even went so far to deny Him. When He was condemned and sent to the cross, His disciples were devastated. They had all followed Jesus for those three years, trusting Him and believing in Him. His arrest and crucifixion turned them into a bunch of cowardly chickens.
But less than two months after the crucifixion, the disciples returned, BOLDLY preaching that Jesus Christ had been resurrected from the dead. They did this in the threat of death, even crucifixion. Most of them did end up dieing for preaching the resurrection.
Many have claimed that the disciples had stolen the body, and then went around saying that Christ had risen. If this were the case, Christianity would surely have died off in a few years. The fraud would have been made public, and recorded in the history books for all to see. This would have QUICKLY stopped the spread of Christianity. And if it was never exposed, why were the disciples so willing to die for a lie, altogether knowing that it was a lie? The persecution would have caused them to give it up sooner or later. So why did they keep preaching the resurrection of Christ, against all the odds?
MAYBE BECAUSE CHRIST REALLY DID RISE FROM THE DEAD!
Now if you still think that Christ’ disciples stole His body – Christ’s tomb was sealed and guarded by Roman soldiers to insure that THEY DID NOT STEAL the body.
62 Now
the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and
Pharisees came together unto Pilate,
63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver
[Christ (The Pharisees are the real deceivers)] said, while he was yet
alive, After three days I will rise again.
64 Command therefore that the sepulchre [tomb] be
made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal
him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last
error shall be worse than the first.
65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way,
make it as sure as ye can.
66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing
the stone, and setting a watch.
Matthew 27:62-68
The Jewish chief priests knew that Jesus had said that He would rise from the dead on the third day after His death. They were afraid that the disciples would steal the body and claim a resurrection, so they convinced Pilate (their Roman overlord) to guard the tomb with troops. The disciples could not have stolen the body. They would not have made it past the guards! They would have cut them to shreds! Plus they were running scared and most of them didn’t even go near the tomb for fear of arrest.
If His disciples could not have stolen the body, then maybe, just maybe, Christ really did arise from the dead.
Jesus told His disciples that He would rise from the dead before He died: “And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31).
He had told them that they would weep, but their sorrow would be turned to rejoicing:
20 Verily,
verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall
rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you
again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
John 16:20,22
They did get a joy that no one was able to take from them. How could this have been, if Christ did not rise from the dead?
Christ arose to show the world that He was really the Son of God. He showed that since He was God, death had no power over Him. God the Father didn’t raise Him from the dead; He rose Himself. What does this mean for you? Some day He is going to raise you from the dead, too. If you have accepted Him as your Saviour, you will be resurrected to eternal life, but if not, you’ll be resurrected to eternal damnation. Of course, you will want to be in the first resurrection, but if you have not accepted Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you will be resurrected unto damnation. Christ died and rose to take away your sins so you would not have to face hell.
If you want to learn how to obtain the resurrection unto life, CLICK HERE.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me.
Alive in Christ
