Hallelujah! He Is Risen!

HALLELUJAH, HE IS RISEN! Spring Valley Mennonite; EASTER SUNDAY, April 9, 2023; 1 Corinthians 15:14-23 "If Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless; and your trust in God is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, but that can't be true if there is not Resurrection of the dead. If there is not Resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, they your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ have perished! And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world. But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again". 1 Cor. 15:14-20 We gather this morning to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the Resurrection is why we meet here every Sunday morning! The Resurrection is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, and to be a Biblical Christian, by God's definition, one must believe that Jesus was not only crucified and buried, but that He rose again on the third day. That is the Gospel, the Good News! This Easter morning, I want to re-examine with you three aspects of the Resurrection: * The Prophesy of His Resurrection * The Proof of His Resurrection * The Purpose of His Resurrection I. THE PROPHESY OF HIS RESURRECTION At the empty tomb that first Easter morning, after the angel spoke those marvelous words: "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is risen! He then reminded the women, "Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." Prophesies of the Resurrection had often come from the lips of Jesus, although it seems to me that for the disciples, the idea that Jesus would die seemed so unreasonable that they blocked out the whole idea. Only after the fact did they remember. The New Testament record proves that none of His followers really expected the Resurrection. When the ladies went to the tomb early on the first Easter morning, they went fully expecting to anoint a dead body. In addition to Jesus prophesying of His Resurrection, the fact that the Messiah would rise was also written of by the Psalmist David in Psalm 16:10: "For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Neither will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay." Then hundreds of years before Christ, God's reluctant prophet Jonah provided a foreshadowing of the Resurrection. Once certain of the Jews came to Jesus requesting a sign, and Jesus answered them: "No sign shall be given to this evil and adulterous generation which seeks after a sign, except the sign of Jonah: as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." This sign that He was the Messiah was that He would rise from the dead after three days. It amazes me that even though the disciples forgot this prophesy, His enemies the Jews did not, for they went to Pilate after the crucifixion and requested the tomb be guarded. Why? Matthew 27:63 records their words to Pilate: "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I am to rise again.' Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, lest the disciples come and steal Him away and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead', and the last deception will be worse than the first." His enemies remembered! They knew the impact that His Resurrection would make. And-they were right! The soldiers placed to guard the tomb only adds to the proof of the Resurrection. Consider with me the multiple points of evidence proving the Resurrection: II. EVIDENCIAL PROOF OF THE RESURRECTION When we think of proving something, we might think of a trial, with evidence presented and witnesses examined. This is a good way to think, for it is impossible to scientifically prove the Resurrection. Lest that upset you, we can prove very little scientifically, especially in the area of anything that has happened in the past. There are no "time machines" in which we can go backward and relive the events of the past. To be honest, we cannot prove scientifically that yesterday even happened! To prove something scientifically, it must be repeatable. But there is another way to prove something other than by scientific proof, and that is through legal proof: we look at the evidence surrounding an event and then draw conclusions. In this arena of legal proof, there are few events of history for which there is more certainty than the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many brilliant men down through history have tried to disprove this event: one such man was an Englishman named Gilbert West, and after a year of study and trying to disprove the Resurrection, reported to his friend Lord Lyttleton that the Resurrection was a fact and that, based on this evidence, He had become a Christian. Such has been the experience of many. Perhaps today you are here and harbor doubts of whether the Resurrection actually happened, or whether it is all that important. I would encourage you to listen and draw your own conclusions. However, you dare not ignore the question of whether Jesus was raised from the dead. Allow me to quickly give you several proofs of the Resurrection: * First, I give you the proof of reason: Reason with me: We know that Jesus was crucified, His body placed in a new tomb, and a large stone was rolled in front. His enemies did two things to guarantee the body would not be removed from that tomb: they had Pilate, the Roman governor, place the Roman seal on that tomb. For anyone to break that seal would mean certain death. You just didn't fool with a Roman governmental seal! All the power and authority of the Roman Empire stood behind that seal. If that weren't ENOUGH, a contingent of Roman soldiers was stationed outside the tomb to make sure that no one would tamper with the body. Now reason with me: if Jesus Christ came out of that tomb, either man took Him out, or God took Him out. There is no other possibility. If man took him out, it was either his friends or his enemies: Now, His enemies would not have taken Him, for they were the ones who placed the guard and seal on the tomb. They wanted that body to stay right where it was! And furthermore, when the disciples began proclaiming the Resurrection, his enemies, had they taken it, would have only had to produce the body to settle the issue. But after the Resurrection, His enemies were silent! Is it reasonable to think then that His friends, those who ran away when He was arrested, those who were in hiding afraid of the soldiers and Jews themselves-is it reasonable to think that they suddenly gained enough courage to attack the guards and steal a dead body? So maybe the guards were asleep when the disciples came: The punishment in the Roman army for sleeping on the job was to be burned at the stake, with a fire started from your own garments! They would not have been sleeping! It is not reasonable that either his friends or his enemies took the body. The only reasonable explanation is that God raised Jesus from the dead. So we have the proof of reason. * A second proof would be the proof of human nature. The first law of life is self-preservation. When it comes to life or death, most humans will fight for life. But consider the disciples after the Resurrection: here were men who were willing to give their lives because of what they knew to be true. We read in Acts 4 how the Jews were enraged because Peter was "proclaiming in Jesus the Resurrection from the dead". Peter was arrested and brought before the very same people who sentenced Jesus to death, and to whom he then boldly and fearlessly preached the Resurrection! Men will not willingly die for what they know to be a lie. The disciples and tens-of-thousands of Christians since that time, and continuing to this very day, have willingly died because they believed Jesus rose from the dead. * A third proof comes from the common experience of how we humans handle death. When a loved one dies, there is sorrow. We all have experienced this. It takes a while to get over such a loss. When Jesus was laid in the tomb, the disciples were shocked, devastated, and grief-stricken. Yet, three days later they were filled with joy and excitement! Something happened to bring about this sudden change; their sorrow was turned to Joy because they had seen the risen Christ! * I give you one last proof: the proof of time. Because Jesus Christ was the only one Who claimed to be God and predicted that he would be raised from the dead after three days! He has passed the proof of time. Over 2000 years have passed since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Only history students remember anyone else who lived 2000 years ago. Yet millions of people are celebrating the Resurrection this day, and we bear witness that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has transformed our lives. Unless Jesus had been raised from the dead, there would be no church or believers alive today. Christianity and its Savior have passed the proof of time. Having examined some of the proofs for the Resurrection, we may ask, "What was the..." III. PURPOSE OF THE RESURRECTION? First of all, the Resurrection proved that Jesus was God. When Jesus was raised from the dead, it declared to every created being that He was the Son of God. Romans 1:4 tells us that Jesus, "...was declared the Son of God with power by the Resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord..." Jesus staked His reputation on the fact that He would be raised form the dead. In effect, He was saying, "If I do not come back to life after I am killed, I am a fraud. Do not believe anything else I said." You see, Jesus was so much more than a good teacher, for if He was not raised from the dead, He was a liar and millions of people have been and are being deceived. Paul declared to the Corinthians that if Jesus is not raised, then we are pitiful fools! But Jesus is God in the flesh, proven by the Resurrection. The Resurrection's first purpose was to prove Jesus is God. Romans 4:25 states a second foundational reason for the Resurrection: Paul describes Jesus as: "He who was delivered up because of our transgressions and was raised because of our Justification." Our justification, our being declared righteous, was guaranteed by Jesus' Resurrection. Why was this? It is very simple: if Jesus had only been crucified and not then raised from the dead, He would be like all the other sacrifices that were offered, all the other lambs previously slain. If we could only claim that Jesus died for our sins, a vital question could be asked: "How is His sacrifice any different? What evidence do you give me that Jesus' death had anything to do with my sins? After all, everyone dies sooner or later." But no one had ever predicted that He would come back to life and THEN DID IT! The Resurrection proved that the sacrifice was effective, adequate, and most importantly, ACCEPTED BY GOD. The Divine law was satisfied; the Divine justice was vindicated. The Resurrection was the necessary sign that God had accepted the blood sacrifice that satisfied the requirement of payment. So, the Resurrection made possible our justification, and we are declared righteous. Our sins have been paid for. A third reason Jesus was raised from the dead is to give us the hope that all those related to Him by faith will also be raised from the dead. I Corinthians 15:20-23: "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the Resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming...." Many of you know I love to pick blackberries. There is a place in the sand hills over toward Hutchinson where wild blackberries thrive alongside the roads. Each summer, I eagerly watch for the red and green berries to turn black. All blackberries don't ripen at the same time. When the first berries turn black, as black berries do when they ripen, I know for sure that the other ones which are green or red are also going to ripen. The first fruit that gets ripe is a guarantee that there will be more berries to come. Jesus was the first man to be raised and receive a changed, glorified body, a body suited for eternity! When Jesus was ministering, He raised several people from the dead. Yet, those people eventually died. Jarius' daughter, the son of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus only got an extension on their lives. But Jesus was the first fruit-the first one to be raised in a glorified body that will live forever. As Jesus received an eternal resurrected body, so will we! Our Resurrection bodies will not grow old, they will not be handicapped, they will not have pain; they will be eternal, like that of Jesus. Our last funeral here at Spring Valley was for Verna Dyck. Funerals are sad, for we are separated from those who have been very important in our lives. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ gives us hope that our husband that died in Christ will be raised again: his spirit will be reunited with His body. The wife or mother or father or child or dear friend to whom we have had to say 'goodbye' will be resurrected on that great day when Jesus returns. If Jesus Christ is not risen from the dead, how do I know He is the way, the truth, and the life? How do I know that whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life? How do I know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all my sin? How do I know that He has gone to prepare a place for me, and will return again to take me with Him to heaven? How do I know that death is no longer a wall but a doorway to eternity? How do I know that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy of being compared with the glory that shall be revealed to me? How do I know that the promises in this book are worth more than the ink it took to print them or the paper on which these promises are written? If Christ is not risen from the dead, there is no way of knowing. But...Christ IS risen from the Grave! The Tomb is empty! Jesus is alive! Heaven's gates are open wide. Up from the grave He arose, with a mighty triumph o'er His foes; He arose a Victor from the dark domain, and He lives forever with His saints to reign! He Arose! He Arose! Hallelujah, Christ Arose! 4