The Resurrection

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Jesus was smitten for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, he was buried with the wicked and the wealthy, though he did no violence and did no wrong. He who knew no sin, became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God.

But the story does not end there. As Paul tells us,

“¹Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ² and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed” (1 Cor. 15:1-11).

As Paul tells us Jesus did not stay in the grave, but he rose again and appeared to hundreds of people. Including two remarkable examples, Paul and James. Why are these two so remarkable?

Well, Paul was a persecutor of Christians, who dragged them off to jail for execution. He was in this way a murderer of Christians. And what does it take to change a man’s mind like this, to make him into a zealous believer of the gospel that Jesus had risen from the grave? An encounter with that risen Lord, which is precisely what he says happened. The other Apostles were sceptical of course, but Barnabas vouched for him and Paul proved his conversion was genuine when he consistently suffered for Christ and preached the truth. Something remarkable had to happen to produce this dramatic conversion.

And James, this one is even more remarkable. James was the brother of Jesus, yet he became convinced that Jesus was Lord. What does it take to convince you that your brother should be worshipped as the God of creation, as the God-man? What does it take to move you to this position? Jesus’ family, which includes his brother James, once thought Jesus was mad because of his teachings and actions (Mark. 3:21). What changes a man’s mind to worship his own brother? Would you worship your own brother? Never. Something big has to happen. His own brother must prove himself, that he is more than a man. The fact that Jesus’ brother is listed among those who believed the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, which claims that Jesus is the Lord of creation (John 1:1; Col. 1:15, Rev. 1) is one of the most remarkable bits of evidence that these men believed they saw the risen Lord. So is the fact that many of them died for this belief, refusing to deny it.

We can be confident that the Lord rose on the 3^rd day as the Scriptures say, for many reasons, here I have shared two brief reasons. So, let’s praise our Lord because he defeated the grave, and in him we do to.  

Hallelujah
Jesus is Alive
Death has lost its victory
And the grave has been denied

Jesus lives forever
He's alive, yes He's alive

He's the Alpha and Omega
The first and last is He
The curse of sin is broken

And we have perfect liberty
The Lamb of God has risen
He's alive, yes He's alive

Happy Easter