The Resurrection of Jesus is the Heart of the Gospel and Fundamental to the Christian Faith (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday April 5, 2026

Special: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the Heart of the Gospel and Fundamental to the Christian Faith

1 Corinthians 15:1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (NIV84)

The resurrection of Christ was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

Psalm 16:10 “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.” (NASB95)

It is also the greatest attested fact in all of human history and is mentioned by secular historians as well (Tacitus, Annals, XV, 44; Josephus, Antiquities, Book 18, chapter 3).

Tacitus writes, “Christus, from whom the name (Christians) had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular” (Annals XV, 44).

Josephus writes, “Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works-a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.”

Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, the resurrection of our Lord from the dead is a fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith at the very heart of the gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (NASB95)

The resurrection is fundamental to the gospel because it demonstrates that Jesus of Nazareth is in fact God.

It demonstrated the substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of our Lord were acceptable to the Father as the atonement for sin.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead was central to the preaching of the apostles, who were witnesses of His resurrection (see Acts 2:24, 32; 3:15, 26; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30, 33, 34, 37; 17:31).

Only one resurrection has taken place in human history-the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He was the first fruits in resurrection (1 Cor. 15:23).

There were only resuscitations prior to the humanity of Christ’s resurrection.

Jesus never predicted His death without adding that He would rise again.

Look at the list of Scriptures in which Jesus predicted His resurrection: Matthew 12:38-40; 16:21; 17:9, 22-23; 20:18-19; 26:32; 27:63; Mark 8:31-9:1; 9:10, 31; 10:32-34; 14:28, 58; Luke 9:22-27; John 2:18-22; 12:34; chapters 14-16.

Jesus not only predicted His resurrection but also emphasized that His rising from the dead would be the “sign” to authenticate his claims as being the Messiah (Jn. 2:13-22).

Our Lord declared openly that He was the resurrection (John 14:6).

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (NASB95)

The apostles confirmed that He had risen from the dead on the third day (Acts 1:22; 2:24, 32; 3:15).

The resurrection of Christ demonstrated to all that He was indeed who He claimed to be, namely, the incarnate Son of God (Rm. 1:1-4).

Neither the Romans nor the Jews could produce the body of our Lord to disclaim what the apostles were proclaiming to the world.

It was in the interests of these two groups to put an end to such talk by simply producing the body which they could not since He had in fact risen from the dead.

Not even a guard of Roman soldiers protecting the tomb could prevent the resurrection of Christ.

The tomb of our Lord was owned by Joseph of Arimathea who was rich and was sealed with large rock by the Romans at the request of the leaders of the Jews in order to prevent the theft of the body by the disciples (Matt. 27:62-66).

Even our Lord’s enemies remembered Him distinctly saying that He would rise from the dead on the third day.

Pilate’s own soldiers were sent to perform the task of protecting the tomb (Matt. 28:14).

These hardened Roman soldiers were terrified by the angel who rolled away the large rock which had sealed the tomb from entry on that Sunday morning of our Lord’s resurrection (Matt. 28:4).

In fact some of the guard went into the city of Jerusalem to report the resurrection of Christ (Matt. 28:11-15).

In Matthew’s day it was common knowledge in Jerusalem that these Roman soldiers had witnessed the angels rolling away the great rock which sealed the tomb and had accepted a bribe from the Jews to keep quiet about the resurrection (Matt. 28:15).

It was the guards that spread the lie that the body had been stolen.

The foundation of Christianity is built upon the resurrection of Christ since the integrity of our Lord is at issue and as attested by many witnesses He did rise from the dead as He said He would (Acts 1:22; 4:2, 33; 17:18; 23:6; 1 Cor. 15:14).

Christianity stands or falls with the resurrection of Christ.

If Jesus Christ didn’t rise from the dead, then He is the greatest deceiver of all time.

If He did rise from the dead, then He is indeed the Son of God and we are obligated to worship and adore Him as our Lord and Savior.

If the resurrection of Christ never took place, then as Paul says we as Christians are of all people to be most pitied (1 Co. 15:15-23).

The Lord Jesus Christ has three credentials: (1) Impact of His life through His miracles and teachings upon history (2) Fulfilled prophecy in His life (3) His resurrection.

During His ministry, He pointed to the sign of His resurrection as His single most important credential.

He boldly declared even to His enemies that He would rise from the dead.

He said something only a fool would dare say.

No founder of any world religion known to men ever dared say a thing like that!

But Jesus did!

Christ predicted His resurrection in an unmistakable and straightforward manner.

His disciples didn’t understand the fact that He had to suffer and rise again, but His enemies, the Jews took His assertions quite seriously (Mt. 27:62-66).

Think about this for a minute regarding Jesus’ claims of rising from the dead.

If you or I should say to any group of friends that we expected to die, either by violence or naturally, at a certain time, but that, three days after death, we would rise again, we would be quietly taken away by friends and confined to an institution until we got our act together.

You would have to be a fool to make the claims that Jesus made unless you knew without a doubt that this was going to take place.

Only someone who was the Son of God could know these things about Himself and make the claims that Jesus made!

Paul said that the resurrection demonstrated to all that Jesus Christ was indeed who He claimed to be, the incarnate Son of God (Rm. 1:1-4).

C.S. Lewis wrote, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.”

William Lane Craig states: “Without belief in the resurrection the Christian faith could not have come into being. The disciples would have remained crushed and defeated men. Even had they continued to remember Jesus as their beloved teacher, his crucifixion would have forever silenced any hopes of His being the Messiah. The cross would have remained the sad and shameful end of His career. The origin of Christianity therefore hinges on the belief of the early disciples that God raised Jesus from the dead.”