The Proof of Christ's Resurrection!

    “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3)

    “To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3)

The important place of this doctrine in the Christian system cannot be overstated!  These two verses clearly declare how Christ literally died and arose again. All Christian teaching rest upon the fact of Christ’s resurrection:

• In that wonderful chapter on the resurrection (1 Cor. 15) Paul makes Christianity answer with its life for the literal truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That the body of the founder of the Christian religion did not lie in the grave after the third day is fundamental to the existence of the religion of Christ: “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (v. 14). “If Christ be not raised … ye are yet in your sins” (v. 17). …Remove the resurrection from Paul’s Gospel, and his message is gone. –Evans, W. 1998, c1974. The Great Doctrines Of The Bible

The gospel shows how completely the resurrection of Christ had been demonstrated (1Cor. 15:1-11). It is the foundation and hope of Christianity—everything soundly rests on the resurrection of Christ.  Let us explore four areas of Christ’s resurrection and its significance to our Christian faith:

1. The nature of the resurrection of Jesus Christ
2. The proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ
3. The necessity for the resurrection of Jesus Christ
4. The results of the resurrection of Jesus Christ

I.  THE NATURE OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST

Answering the question, What?

A. The meaning of credibility

1. Credibility is the quality or power of inspiring belief.  –Merriam-Webster
2. When we say something is credible, we mean it offers reasonable grounds for being believed.
3. Credibility refers to the acceptance of a fact in a manner that deserves belief; it is belief based upon good authority, reliable facts, and competent witnesses…. The resurrection of Christ is a fact proven by competent evidence, and is deserving of intelligent acceptance and belief. It is a doctrine buttressed by “many infallible proofs.”  --Evans, W. 1998, c1974. The Great Doctrines Of The Bible
4. 1 Cor. 15:3-4, For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; [4] And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

B. The meaning of Christ’s resurrection

Negatively:

1. Not a swoon.
1. Some believe Jesus merely swooned on the cross, and in the cool air of the tomb He revived and came forth from the tomb as though He had really risen from the dead. But, the disciples believed that He had really died and risen again (John 19:33–37; Matt. 27:57, 58).
2. Jesus definitely died on the cross. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people witnessed it. The Romans were not careless executioners; they knew when a person was dead. They had ways of making sure. They broke the legs of the person so he could not support himself to breath any more, and he asphyxiated. But Jesus needed no bones broken. He was already dead. To be sure, the Roman speared his side. No reaction. Blood and water came out, a sign of legal death. The executioner had to verify the death to Pilate. If he had gotten it wrong, it would have meant his death. 
3. In fact, when Jesus Christ appeared to the disciples after the third day, he was not a weak, suffering, half-dead man, but a conquering, triumphant victor over death and the grave. He never could have made this impression upon the disciples if He was Himself a half-dead man.
2. Not a resuscitation.
1. Jesus had suffered much even before He was nailed to the cross. He had undergone the horrible ordeal of a Roman scourging which shredded His back by a whip with pieces of glass and metal at the end of the leather strands. The pilot’s soldiers had struck Him on the head repeatedly. He had been forced to carry the cross from pilot’s headquarters toward His place of execution until, due to Jesus’ weakened state, another man was compelled to carry the cross the remainder of the way.
2. But suppose for a minute that the Roman executioners were wrong and Jesus had somehow survived and was buried alive. How likely would He have endured another seventy-two hours in a cold, damp tomb without food, water, or medical attention? Would He have survived being wound in heavy, spice-laden grave clothes weighing an estimated seventy pounds? Would He have had the strength to free Himself from the grave clothes, roll away the heavy stone sealing the mouth of the tomb, overpower the Roman guards, and then walk several miles on feet that had been mutilated with nails?

3. Not continued existence of only the soul of Jesus.
1. According to this theory, belief in Christ’s resurrection only means faith in the survival of the soul of Jesus.  That is Jesus was spiritually alive, and lived with God, while His body decayed in the grave.
2. But, all the facts in the Gospels sharply contradict this theory.  Jesus could be touched and examined by His disciples and He even ate with them to prove He literally physically and bodily rose from the dead (Luke 24:37-44;John 20:26-31; Acts 1:3).
3. Jesus’ resurrection, which was a divine act involving all three Persons of the Godhead (John 10:17-18; Acts 13:30-35; Rom. 1:4), was not just a resuscitation of the ruined physical frame that was taken down from the cross for burial. It was, rather, a transformation of Jesus’ humanity that enabled him to appear, vanish, and move unseen from one location to another (Luke 24:31, 36). It was the creative renewing of his original body, the body that is now fully glorified and deathless (Phil. 3:21; Heb. 7:16, 24). The Son of God in heaven still lives in and through that body, and will do so forever.  –Packer, J. I. 1995, c1993. Concise Theology

Positively:

A literal resurrection of the physical body of Jesus Christ from the tomb in Joseph’s garden

1. The resurrection of our Lord is portrayed in the NT as the miraculous restoration of His physical life, and the reunion of His spirit with His body! Christ Resurrection in the deepest sense was not unnatural but entirely natural; He had to be raised from the dead.
1. Acts 2:24, Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
2. Acts 1:3, To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
3. Romans 1:4, And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

2. In addition, the risen Lord’s body was real; the same the disciples had seen Him with before His crucifixion, and that which had died (Luke 24:39; John 20:24-29). But, Christ lived in such a way that the natural limitations that previously confined Him were set aside.  Christ’s resurrection was wrought by the miraculous power of God (Acts 13:30; Rom 1:4; 1 Cor 15:15); therefore it presents no difficulty for faith to one who really believes in God.
1. Christianity is the only religion that bases its claim to acceptance upon the resurrection of its founder. For any other religion to base its claim on such a doctrine would be to court failure. Test all other religions by this claim and see. –Evans, W. 1998, c1974. The Great Doctrines Of The Bible
2. The Living One

A Muslim and a Christian were discussing their religions and had agreed that both Mohammed and Christ were prophets. Where, then, lay the difference? The Christian illustrated it this way: “I came to a crossroads and I saw a dead man and a living man. Which one did I ask for directions?” The response came quickly, “The living one, of course.” “Why, then,” asked his friend, “do you send me to Mohammed who is dead, instead of Christ who is alive?” This is the basic difference between Christ and every other religious leader. All the others came into the world, lived, and died—but none of them lived again. The resurrection of Christ was the one event that persuaded His disciples once for all that He was the Christ, God’s Son.

II. THE PROOF OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST

Answering the question, Why?

A. Cause and effect:

Here are certain effects, the cause for which can be traced only to the fact of Christ’s resurrection.

1. The empty tomb.
1. The Jews demanded and received from Pilate a Roman guard outside the tomb for the period of three days. In addition, a Roman seal was placed on the tomb, which meant a death sentence to anyone breaking the seal. Nevertheless, on Sunday morning after the crucifixion, Jesus’ followers went to the tomb and found it open. Jesus was gone, though His grave clothes lay as though Jesus’ body had evaporated from them.
2. The fact of the empty tomb was confirmed to by solid witnesses—from friends and foes (Matt. 28:6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:3, 12; John 20:1, 2).
3. The condition in which the linen cloths were found lying by those who entered the tomb excludes the possibility of the body being stolen.
4. Then the testimony of angels to the fact that Jesus really arose as He predicted is totally trustworthy (Matt. 28:6; Mark 16:6; Heb. 2:2).
5. It is not surprising that critics of Christianity have zeroed in on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If they can cast doubt upon it, they can destroy Christianity entirely. But, as best-selling author Paul Little once said before he died, “After 2000 years, no one is going to ask a question that will bring Christianity crashing.”
6. If you apply the same tests to the resurrection as you would to any other historical event, you come away concluding that Jesus actually rose from the dead. Only those who do not want to believe it come to another conclusion, and must wrench the arm of historical research to do it.

2. The Lord’s Day.
1. The Lord’s Day is Sunday, the first day of the week; the day especially associated with the Lord Jesus Christ to celebrate His resurrection from the dead. Clearly the early churches assembled on Sunday, the Lord’s Day (1 Cor. 16:2).
2. The divinely-inspired apostles, by their practice and by their precepts, preserved the Lord’s Day for meeting together for meals, for worship and spiritual instruction, for giving offerings for the ministry, for concentration on spiritual disciplines.
3. The Lord’s Day is not the original Sabbath. Why was it changed?  In the New Testament the converted Jews changed their time-honored seventh day to the first day of the week—the Lord’s Day.
4. What is the cause of this tremendous effect? The resurrection of Christ Jesus was the cause for this great change in the day of worship.

3. The Christian Church
1. The Christian Church is a glorious effect; what is its cause?
2. Once again, the resurrection of Christ is the obvious answer. If the resurrection did not occur, how can one account for the transformation of Jesus’ discouraged and defeated disciples into dynamic, joyful people willing to suffer and die to preach a risen Savior? Why didn’t they save themselves by recanting the story, or salve their conscience by a death-bed confession of the deception? How did this message gain so many adherents among people who had contact with the events spoken of and would have detected falsehood? (For example, in 1 Corinthians 15:6, Paul refers to more than five hundred people who saw the risen Jesus and were still living more than twenty years later).
3. When the risen Christ appeared unto the discouraged disciples and revived their faith and hope, they went forth, under the all—conquering faith in a risen and ascended Lord preaching His gospel. All over the world people believed on Christ, assembled to study the Scriptures, to pray, to worship Christ, and to extend His kingdom in the souls of men. It is the resurrection of Christ that inspired and empowered these endeavors.

4. The New Testament.
1. If Jesus Christ had remained buried in the grave, the story of His life and death would have remained buried with Him.
2. The 27 books of the New Testament describes the birth of Jesus Christ, His life, death, resurrection, and ascension to Heaven. It also contains the teachings Christ has given His Apostles for the churches, as well as prophecies of the end of this age. The New Testament embodies the new covenant of which Jesus was Mediator sealing it with His atoning death (Jer. 31:31–34; Heb. 9:15). The second half of the Bible has been use by spiritually sensitive Christians for nearly two thousand years.
3. The New Testament is an effect of Christ’s resurrection. It was the resurrection that put heart into the disciples to go forth and tell its story. The New Testament is the book of the resurrection.

B. Testimony:

1. The number of witnesses (1 Cor. 15:3–9).
1. The resurrection of Christ is a historical fact clearly verified by over five hundred witnesses.

1.      Surely this is sufficient to establish a fact of evidence in any court of law.

2.      The sheer number of eyewitnesses, more than five hundred, should cause doubters to stop and think before dismissing the Resurrection accounts of a few followers. All these people saw him at one time, and at the time of Paul’s writing, most of them were still alive.

3.      The resurrection story was undisputed, so far as we know, twenty-five years later!

2. Paul could invite his readers to check his facts if they doubt his words.

2. The credibility of the witnesses.
1. The value of the testimony of a witness depends much upon his character; if that is discredited, then the testimony is rejected. Scrutinize carefully the character of the men who bore witness to the fact of Christ’s resurrection. They are unassailable on ethical grounds.
2. “No honorable opponent of the Gospel has ever denied this fact. Their moral greatness awakened an Augustine, a Francis of Assisi, and a Luther. They have been the unrivalled pattern of all mature and moral manhood for nearly two thousand years.” --Evans, W. 1998, c1974. The Great Doctrines Of The Bible
3. The nature of the fact witnessed (Luke 24:36-48).
1. Christ’s resurrection is fully stated in each Gospel record.
2. The apparent differences in the testimony of the witnesses to the resurrection may be clarified with a correct knowledge of the manner and order of the appearances of Christ after His resurrection.

4. The lack of motive for perjury.
1. Every one of them (except one) died a martyr’s death for his loyalty to the story of Christ’s resurrection. What had they to gain by fraud? Would they have sacrificed their lives for what they themselves believed to be a lie?

b.      The first disciples had scattered like quail before hunters when Jesus was crucified. Some had gone back home to Galilee. But now, they could not be silenced. What made the difference?

c.       If the resurrection could have been refuted, would thousands of Jews have risked being cut off from family and regular Jewish society?

C. Experience: (1Cor. 15:17)

1. Paul’s (15:8-11).
1. Some have debunked this Resurrection appearance as simply the pious vision of believers seeing with the eyes of faith. But Paul could have cited the testimony of two for whom that was not true, James, the half brother of Jesus, and himself. Like Paul, James probably came to faith (cf. John 7:5 with Acts 1:14) because of an appearance of the resurrected Christ (Acts 9:3-6; 22:6-11).  –Walvoord, J. F. 1983-c1985. The Bible Knowledge Commentary
2. But one of the greatest witnesses of the Resurrection was Paul himself, for as an unbeliever he was soundly convinced that Jesus was dead. The radical change in his life—a change which brought him persecution and suffering—is certainly evidence that the Lord had indeed been raised from the dead.  –Wiersbe, W. W. 1996, c1989. The Bible Exposition Commentary
2. Corinthians’ (15:1-4, 12-20)
1. 1 Cor. 15:17, And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
2. If there is no resurrection, then Christ was not raised. If He was not raised, there is no Gospel to preach. If there is no Gospel, then you have believed in vain and you are still in your sins! If there is no resurrection, then believers who have died have no hope. We shall never see them again!
3. The conclusion is obvious: Why be a Christian if we have only suffering in this life and no future glory to anticipate? (In 1 Cor. 15:29–34, Paul expanded this idea.) The Resurrection is not just important; it is “of first importance,” because all that we believe hinges on it. –Wiersbe, W. W. 1996, c1989. The Bible Exposition Commentary   
3. Ours
1. Christ has saved us, our sins are forgiven, and He is changing our lives daily!
2. How Do I Know He Lives?

How do I know that Christ has risen?

What proof have I to give?

He touched my life one blessed day,

And I began to live.

How do I know he left the tomb

That morning long ago?

I met Him just this morning,

And my heart is still aglow.

How do I know that endless life

He gained for me that day?

His life within is proof enough

Of immortality.

How do I know that Christ still lives,

Rich blessings to impart?

He walks with me along the way

And lives within my heart. –A Treasury of Bible Illustrations