On the third day, he rose again from the dead

Intro

This is about as pivotal to our faith as any doctrine could possibly be.

You would be hard-pressed to find someone claiming to be a Christian while also trying to do away with the resurrection of Christ, but plenty have tried throughout the course of history.

The disciples stole the body

Jesus never really died

Necromancy was involved

People hallucinated

At the end of the day, these are all shots in the dark attempting to explain factual events that occured: Jesus Christ was a Jewish man who claimed to be the messiah and the Son of God, he was killed by a collborative effort between the Jews and the Romans, he was buried in a tomb, and after three days that same tomb was empty, and hundreds of people claimed to see, talk, and eat with that same person.

What happened

Resurrection Event

The leadup

the death of Christ had been told in shadows and types since the beginning - Genesis 3, covenant with Abraham, the serpent on the staff, Isaiah 53:4-6

Isaiah 53:4–6 ESV

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Then in the New Testament, Jesus predicted multiple times that he would not only die but rise again.

Three times in plain language he foretold it, and once he told it through the illustration of the destruction of the Temple in John 2

But then the death actually happened, and there were a variety of responses, but it didn’t seem that there was much faith.

On the third day, Jesus really, actually, physically rose from the dead.

First some of the women of his disciples visited the tomb and found it empty

Then, John and Peter visited the tomb and found it empty.

appearances

Then, Jesus began to appear to people.

1 Corinthians 15:3–8 ESV

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

This is a wonderful miracle and also great evidence that strengthens our faith

How would we respond to someone who claimed that Jesus never rose from the dead? Or a brother or sister who are struggling with doubts that it actually happened?

What it means

Victory over death

1 Corinthians 15:54–57 ESV

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Vindication of Jesus

If he were what the Pharisees thought he was, he would have remained dead in judgement for blasphemy and sowing division.

As it is, God “took his side,” or rather shows that Jesus is exactly who he said he was.

Proof of Divinity

This was an act involving all three persons of the Trinity - because Jesus had authority to take up his life that was given him by the Father and witnessed to by the Spirit, we can see that this shows Jesus to be divine.

John 10:17–18 ESV

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Acts 13:30–31 ESV

But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.

Romans 1:4 ESV

and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

Why does the resurrection of Jesus prove him to be divine, but the resurrection of Lazarus doesn’t prove Lazarus to be divine?

Why it matters for us

Future

Bodily Resurrection

1 Thessalonians 4:14–16 ESV

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Eternal Life

1 John 5:11–12 ESV

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Present

Assurance

Romans 4:25 ESV

who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

How does the resurrection even assure us of salvation?

Newness of life

Romans 6:1–11 ESV

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:12–14 ESV

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

How does the resurrection change how we live today?