Ten Implications Of The Resurrection Of Jesus Christ
Prairie View Christian Church
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday April 4, 2010
Special: Ten Implications Of The Resurrection Of Jesus Christ
Please turn in your Bibles to John 20:1.
This morning I am going to present to you ten implications of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
John 20, “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.’ So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again to their own homes. But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.’ When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, ‘Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’ Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord,’ and that He had said these things to her. So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.’ But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’ After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.’ Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.’ Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”
The first implication is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ sharply distinguishes Christianity from all the world’s religions since the bones of Abraham, Moses, Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius, Lao-Tzu and Zoraster are still here on earth.
The second implication is that the resurrection of Christ was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, which Peter communicated to the Jews on the day of Pentecost (See Psalm 16:10 and Acts 2:22-28).
The third implication is that Jesus Christ’s resurrection demonstrated that He was the greatest of Israel’s prophets since He predicted His resurrection several times (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; 14-16).
The fourth implication is that the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth demonstrates that He is in fact God (Romans 1:1-4; cf. 10:9-10).
The fifth implication is that Jesus Christ’s resurrection demonstrated to the entire human race and the angels that His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the Cross were acceptable to the Father as payment for the sins of the entire world.
Our Lord’s resurrection demonstrated that our Lord’s spiritual death solved the problem of personal sin in the human race and His physical death and resurrection solved the problem of the sin nature.
It demonstrated that both of these unique deaths redeemed and reconciled sinful humanity to a holy God and propitiated the Father’s holiness, which demanded that sin and sinners be condemned.
Romans 4:25, “Who has been delivered over to death because of our transgressions and in addition was raised because of our 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.
The sixth implication is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees that those who trust in Him for eternal salvation will receive eternal life and will live with God forever and those who reject Him will suffer eternal condemnation in the Lake of Fire (John 3:16-18, 36; Acts 4:12; Revelation 20:11-15).
John 11:25-26, “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’”
Paul in Romans 10:9 teaches that faith that the Father raised Jesus from the dead is in fact an acknowledgement of the deity of Christ since the resurrection demonstrated that Jesus is God.
Romans 10:9, “Because, if you acknowledge with your mouth Jesus is Lord in other words, exercising absolute confidence with your heart that God the Father raised Him from the dead ones, then you will be delivered.”
Paul in Romans 10:10 continues his thought from verse 9 by teaching that a person believes with his heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead resulting in righteousness while on the other hand with his mouth he acknowledges to the Father Jesus is Lord resulting in salvation.
Romans 10:10, “For you see, with the heart, one, as an eternal spiritual truth, does exercise absolute confidence resulting in righteousness on other hand with the mouth, one, as an eternal spiritual truth, does acknowledge resulting in deliverance.”
The seventh implication of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is that it demonstrated the fact that our Lord is the head of the new creation (Romans 5:12-21; Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 1:18; 2:10).
The eighth implication is that the resurrection of Christ resulted in the Holy Spirit indwelling those who trust in Him for eternal salvation (John 14:16-20, 26; 15:26; 16:7-16; Acts 2; 1 Corinthians 2:10-16; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Galatians 5:5, 16-25; Ephesians 3:16-19; 5:18; 1 John 2:20-27).
The ninth implication is that the Father has delegated Jesus Christ authority to judge mankind (John 5:22-29; Acts 17:31; Philippians 2:5-11).
The tenth is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees that all those who trust in Him for eternal salvation will receive a resurrection body like Him.
Romans 6:4, “Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism with respect to His physical death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead ones through the glory of the Father, in the same way, we, ourselves will also walk in the realm of an extraordinary life.”
Romans 6:5, “Therefore, if and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that we are entered into union with Him, conformed to His physical death. Of course, we believe this is true. Then, certainly, we will also be united with Him, conformed to His resurrection.”
Romans 8:11, “However, if, and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument the Spirit, proceeding from the One (the Father) who raised the unique Person of Jesus from the dead ones, does dwell in all of you. Of course, He does! Then, the One (the Father) who raised Christ from the dead ones, will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who does permanently dwell in all of you.”
This leads us to the communion service and so therefore, could we have our ushers pass out the communion elements and let us take a few minutes to meditate upon the Lord and prepare ourselves for the Lord’s Supper.
1 Corinthians 11:23, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread.”
1 Corinthians 11:24, “and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’”
1 Corinthians 11:25, “In the same way {He took} the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink {it} in remembrance of Me.’”
1 Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.”