The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a spiritual idea but a literal, historical event – and everything in the Christian faith depends on it. Walking through 1 Corinthians 15:1-23, the case for the resurrection is laid out clearly: it was prophesied, witnessed by hundreds, and willingly accomplished by Christ himself. Without it, there is no forgiveness, no hope beyond the grave, and no purpose in living. But because Christ is alive, believers have every reason to rejoice – and those who have not yet trusted him have every reason to do so today.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the keystone of Christianity. Like the central stone in an archway, if it is removed, everything else crumbles. Every other major religion in the world has a dead founder – Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius, the Sikh gurus – but Christianity has an empty tomb. If Jesus Christ did not literally, physically rise from the dead, then the Christian faith is no better than any other religion with a dead leader.
The evidence for the resurrection is, however, an open-and-shut case. Christ’s death was prophesied in the Old Testament – in Daniel 9:26, Isaiah 50:6, Psalm 22:16, and Psalm 34:20 – and Christ himself prophesied it in Matthew 20:18-19. His death was carried out by professional Roman executioners who knew their trade. The unusual speed of his death prompted them to thrust a spear into his side to confirm it. Even had he somehow survived the crucifixion, the flogging, the binding in grave clothes, the sealed stone, and the armed guard would have made survival and escape impossible. The so-called swoon theory is medically absurd.
The burial was witnessed by multiple people – Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus worked together, and others beheld where he was laid. The Pharisees themselves sealed the stone and set an armed guard, unwittingly strengthening the case that the body could not have been stolen. The disciples were fearful, demoralised men who had fled on the night of the crucifixion. They would have had to steal the body, dispose of it without trace, keep the secret among all of them, and then go out and preach a resurrection they knew to be a lie – and die for it. Liars do not make good martyrs. People will die for something they have been deceived into believing, but not for something they themselves fabricated. Not one of them ever broke and confessed it was a lie.
The hallucination theory also collapses. Jesus was seen by over 500 people at one time. You do not have 500 people hallucinating the same thing simultaneously. And it was not merely an apparition – they were able to handle him and see that it was truly him. The empty tomb was witnessed by Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, Salome, and others. The soldiers were bribed to spread the absurd story that the disciples stole the body while they slept – but if they were asleep, how would they know who took it?
Turning to 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection is shown to be essential to the gospel message itself. Paul declares that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. You cannot have a complete gospel without the resurrection – it is inseparable from it. It was essential to the apostles’ doctrine, to the message received and believed by the Corinthian church, and to the believer’s position. You cannot stand in Christ’s grace and liberty without it. Romans 10:9-10 makes it clear: belief in the heart that God raised Christ from the dead is required for salvation. A mental understanding is not enough – it must be believed in the heart.
The resurrection is factual – grounded in the Word of God, not in philosophy or human religion. Christ died because of human sin, and that must be fundamentally understood. People often rate themselves higher than they are and measure themselves against other people rather than against the holiness of God. But the Bible says there is none righteous, no not one. Good people do not go to heaven and bad people to hell – forgiven people go to heaven and unforgiven people go to hell. Someone who has lived a far worse life by society’s standards may go to heaven because they accepted Christ’s forgiveness, while someone society considers good may not, because they rejected it.
The resurrection was prophesied in Psalm 16:9-11, referenced by the Apostle Peter in Acts 2. Every Old Testament prophecy that Christ should sit on David’s throne necessarily involves his resurrection. It was also willing – Christ laid down his life and took it up again, as he declared in John 10:17-18. It is historical, attested even by Josephus who wrote that Jesus appeared alive again the third day. And it is visual – Christ was seen by Cephas, the twelve, over 500 brethren, James, all the apostles, and finally by Paul himself on the road to Damascus. Each of these witnesses knew him personally and recognised him.
Paul then lays out what would follow if Christ were not risen. Preaching would be vain – empty, without purpose. Faith would be vain. Believers would be false witnesses of God. Sin would remain undealt with – no forgiveness, no pardon, no new beginnings, no imputed righteousness, no eternal life, no freedom from sin’s power or penalty. Those who had died in Christ would be perished, with no hope of ever seeing them again. And if hope in Christ were only for this life, believers would be of all men most miserable.
But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. Because Christ is alive, everything the believer does has purpose and worth – prayer, obedience, church attendance, Bible study, giving, missions, encouraging others. It is worth getting out of bed in the morning and doing the next thing as a believer because Jesus is alive. Death is conquered. The age-old questions about what happens after we die, whether there is a heaven or a hell, are answered through the resurrected Christ. Philippians 3:20-21 promises that he will change our vile body and fashion it like unto his glorious body. There is a resurrection coming – Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. The question is whether you will be part of that resurrection, and the way to be part of it is by placing your faith in the risen Lord Jesus today.
Sermon Audio Id: 452622538284