Salvation-The Resurrection of Jesus Christ and Salvation
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday December 10, 2015
Salvation: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ and Salvation
Lesson # 10
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)
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.
The resurrection is fundamental to the gospel because it demonstrates that Jesus of Nazareth is in fact God and 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) and 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 11:25; 14:6).
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 is 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.
The apostles always appealed to the resurrection of Christ when evangelizing (cf. Acts 2:14-41).
Not merely is the resurrection of Christ the principle theme of apostles’ message but if that doctrine were removed from their message, there would be no doctrine left.
If you remove the doctrine of the resurrection of Christ from the Bible, everything else in the Bible is meaningless.
For the resurrection is considered as being: (1) The explanation of Jesus’ death (2) Prophetically anticipated as the Messianic experience (3) Apostolically witnessed (4) The cause of the Baptism of the Spirit (5) Certifying the Messianic and Kingly position of Jesus of Nazareth.
The resurrection of Christ is the doctrine that turned the world upside down in the first century that lifted Christianity above Judaism and the pagan religions of the Mediterranean world.
The resurrection of Christ is of critical, practical importance because it completes our salvation.
The resurrection of Christ is an historical fact of history that can be verified by eyewitnesses: (1) Disciples of Christ (Lk. 24:9-11; Acts 1:1-3; 21-22; 2:23-24; 31-32; 3:14-15; 10:39-41; 13:29-39) (2) Roman Guard Protecting the Tomb of Jesus (Mt. 27:62-66; 28:11-15) (3) Enemies of Christ (Mt. 28:11-15; Acts 2).
The resurrection of Christ can be verified by evidence: (1) The Empty Tomb (Jn. 20:2-9) (2) The Stone (Mt. 28:1-4; Mk. 16:1-4; Lk. 24:2) (3) Seal (Mt. 27:62-66). (4) The Grave Clothes (Jn. 20:2-9) (5) The Roman Guard (Mt. 27:57-60; 28:11-15; Mk. 15:42-45; Lk. 23:50-52; Jn. 19:38). (6) The Silence of the Enemies of Christ at Pentecost (Acts 2) (7) The Transformed Lives of the Disciples of Jesus (8) The Existence of the Christian Church (9) The Observance of the First Day of the Week (Sunday) as the Lord’s Day (10) Christ’s Appearances (500 on more than one occasion: 1 Cor. 15:1-8; Peter 1 Cor. 15:5; 2 on the way to Emmaus Lk. 24:13-15; 11 apostles Jn. 20:24-28; Paul Acts 9).
There evidently were more appearances that the Scriptures do not record but which are implied by John at the end of his gospel since our Lord gave the disciples many infallible proofs that He had indeed risen from the dead (John 21:25).
In the book of Romans, Paul teaches how the resurrection relates to the Christian.
In Romans 4:25, Paul declares that the Lord Jesus Christ died because of the Christian’s sins and was raised from the dead because of the Christian’s justification.
Christ was raised for the Christian’s justification in the sense that the resurrection of Christ demonstrated that God the Father had accepted His Son’s spiritual and physical deaths on the cross to resolve the problem of personal sin and the sin nature in the human race.
In Romans 6:4-5, Paul taught that just as the Christ was raised through the glory of the Father so in the same way the Christian would be as well since the Christian has been identified with Christ in His physical death and resurrection.
In Romans 6:5, the apostle teaches that the justified sinner is identified with Christ in His resurrection in order that the believer might receive a resurrection body like the last Adam, Christ so as to replace his sinful body.
At the moment of conversion, the Holy Spirit placed the believer in union with Christ, identifying them positionally with Christ’s resurrection (Romans 6:5; Ephesians 2:6; Philippians 3:10-11; Colossians 2:12; 3:1).
When Christ was raised, the Father considers the believer to have been raised with Christ as well.
After conversion, the believer can “experience” identification with Christ in His resurrection by appropriating by faith the teaching of the Word of God that he has been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ.
This constitutes the believer’s spiritual life after their conversion (2 Corinthians 1:6; 7:10; Romans 6:11-23; 8:1-17; Philippians 2:12; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:5-17; 2 Timothy 2:10; 3:15; Hebrews 2:3, 10; 1 Peter 2:2).
The perfection of the church age believer’s spiritual life takes place at the rapture, i.e. resurrection of the church, which is the completion of the plan of God for the church age believer (1 Corinthians 15:53-54; Galatians 6:8; 1 Peter 5:10; John 6:40).
The Christian is guaranteed a resurrection body because of their identification with Christ in His resurrection.