The Resurrection of Jesus (I Corinthians 15; Acts 17:16-34)

Sometimes God does great things very publicly and many people witness it taking place. At other times he does things very quietly and only a few people observe it. With regard to the resurrection of Jesus, no human person saw it happen.

The dead body of the crucified Saviour had been placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea after he had gone bravely to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, and begged to take the dead body of Jesus away from the cross at Calvary. The actions of Joseph and his friend Nicodemus were done in love but not in hope. There is no evidence that indicates they expected Jesus to rise again from the dead.

It is possible that they did not know of the prediction of Jesus that he would be killed and rise again on the third day. Yet other observers of the burial of Jesus who had spent more time with Jesus than did Joseph or Nicodemus – the women who had followed him from Galilee – should have recalled it because they must have heard him say that he would rise again on the third day. Along with his male disciples, Jesus had instructed them about his death and resurrection. Perhaps they did recall he had said he would rise again, but if they did recall his words it is evident that they did not believe what he had said.  

The Jewish leaders, however, definitely recalled that Jesus had said he would rise again on the third day. They did not believe what he had said, but they were apprehensive that the disciples of Jesus might remove the body from the tomb and pretend that he had risen. So the Jewish leaders persuaded Pilate to place guards at the tomb to prevent any such attempt by the disciples of Jesus.

Those guards may have had to perform unusual tasks before, yet it is likely that they would have regarded this assignment as a very easy one. They would have been confident that the disciples would never manage to break through the defences and steal the body. Compared to some other duties that could have been given to them this role was without difficulty.

Then towards the dawn on the third day, the guards changed their outlook. A sudden earthquake happened and an angel appeared like lighting and rolled away the stone from the tomb. The guards shook more than the earth did and passed out. When they recovered, they saw that the body of Jesus had disappeared. They rushed to report the news to the chief priests. The priests called an emergency meeting of the council and it decided to pay the guards to say that they had fallen asleep and during their slumber the disciples of Jesus had stolen the body (Matt. 28:1-15).

Strangely the council did not try to avoid the obvious question, ‘If the guards were sleeping, how would they know who had stolen the body?’ Moreover the guards do not seem to have wondered if the angel they had seen had removed the body. The feeling of money in their hands, given to them by the council, would have silenced such obvious questions about what had happened to the body of Jesus.

Meanwhile, events moved on that day. The tomb was empty, but the body of Jesus had not been removed from it by an angel or by a group of his disciples. Instead he had walked out of it, no longer under the power of death. He was at liberty, but at liberty to do what? The records in the Gospels tell us he initially used his freedom to meet with his disappointed disciples on that day of resurrection. Thereafter he met with them during the next forty days before he ascended to heaven.

Proofs of the resurrection of Jesus

It has long been recognized that there are convincing proofs that the resurrection is a historical event. Among them are the following. First, there is the missing body of Jesus. If the disciples had stolen the body and hidden it, the authorities would have had little difficulty in forcing them to say by torture what they had done with it.

Second, there is the change in the outlook of the disciples and their willingness to die for their convictions. Why would they be willing to suffer for something that they would know was a lie, if all they had done was steal the body and make up a story about the resurrection? Something happened which turned them from distraught, cowardly men into determined, confident spreaders of a message for which they were prepared to die. The something was the fact that they met the risen Christ. Moreover, although they were devout monotheistic Jews they persisted in and insisted on the worship of the risen Jesus as God.

Third, the early Christians saw no significance in preserving for posterity the site of the tomb of Jesus. It was common for followers of religious leaders to venerate their tombs. If Jesus had a final resting-place, it would have been inevitable that some of his followers would have regarded him as a great teacher and would have cherished his memory. But they did not merely remember him as such. Jesus had no tomb because even the one he was in was not used by him for long.

Fourth, there is the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. There never was an opponent of the gospel like him. The ones we face today don’t have his determination to crush the church. His climb up the ladder to fame and fortune depended on him doing his worst against the church of Christ. There is no logical reason that can explain his turnaround apart from his own claim that he realised his previous lifestyle was wrong when he met the risen Saviour.

Fifth, there is the evidence of hundreds of witnesses who affirmed that they had seen Jesus after he was raised from the dead. Paul mentions them in 1 Corinthians 15 and if anyone had wished to meet them he could do so. All of them would affirm that they had seen the risen Christ with their own eyes. These witnesses, as well as the other proofs just mentioned, don’t immediately tell us what the resurrection means but they do tell us that it happened. We have to probe a bit further to find out what it means, and when we do we discover that it means a great deal.

Five details of the resurrection of Jesus

We can find out some answers to this question by noticing some of the statements made by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, a chapter by Paul the apostle that focuses on the resurrection of Jesus and its effects. We can also bring in some other comments recorded by other New Testament writers.

Why should we do this? An answer to this question includes the facts that the resurrection of Jesus was an essential element of the good news that was carried round the known world by the early church, that the same message has been handed down from one generation to another as the basis of the Christian hope, and that it is affecting countless millions today in the world today and transforming their outlooks as they consider what will happen to them after they die.

There are many details connected to Jesus’ resurrection that we could consider, and some of them will overlap with other details later mentioned in the Apostles Creed. Since that is the case, we will look at them briefly, knowing that we will come back to them in later studies.

Meet with his people

The first detail mentioned by Paul in that chapter, and surprisingly it is one that is often overlooked, is that the risen Jesus wanted to meet with some of his people (1 Cor. 15:5-8). In fact, the record indicates that the only ones he appeared to as risen from the dead were previous disciples, such as the eleven and the women, or future disciples, such as his brother James or his opponent Saul of Tarsus.

Jesus’ appearances to them inform us that it was a priority for him. Why did he do so? The answer is that he loved them and wanted to bless them. Most of them had failed him (the eleven who had fled), they and others had succumbed to unbelief (such as the women who wanted to bury him properly), whereas others had opposed him, including members of his own family. His blessing of them would depend on their circumstances. Some needed their faith encouraged, others such as Peter needed the assurance of forgiveness after drastic failures, and others such as James and Saul needed to know that they had a prominent role in his plans for the future blessing of the world. And this leads us to the second detail that Paul highlights.

A successful harvest

In verses 20-23, Paul uses as an illustration a practice found in Old Testament Jewish worship when a sample of a crop was given to God as the firstfruits of the future harvest. In addition to being a sample, the firstfruits were also a guarantee that the harvest would take place. Paul in these verses reminds the Corinthians and us of the permanence of the humanity of Jesus – he is still a man after his resurrection and will be so forever. Further he will have a vast number of followers – the success of his mission is likened to a harvest. Elsewhere we are told that they will be a number that no one can calculate (Rev. 7:9). Paul as it were urges his readers to join in the celebrations of heaven as its inhabitants rejoice in the success of the gospel.

Universal lordship

This famous chapter by Paul also mentions a third personal consequence of the resurrection of Jesus. Because of his resurrection Jesus would become the universal Lord over ‘every rule and every authority and power’ (v. 24). This comprehensive authority includes both personal and impersonal powers – the last impersonal power to be defeated will be death itself on the day when Jesus returns.

What kinds of power are included in Paul’s description? The only way to answer this question is to say every authority that will try to oppose the rule of Jesus. They will not all be destroyed at his return. Some are defeated down through history. Many empires and ideologies have attempted to oppose Christ’s kingdom, and they have all failed despite having seemed to be successful for a while.

The same will happen to the movements that oppose him today. We hear a lot about the power of secularism, but we must remember that however long it may seem to have a place of prominence, its power is temporary. Not only is it temporary, it is also limited because Jesus remains Lord, whatever his opponents arrange or do.

Indeed, it looks from Paul’s words that when Jesus returns there will only one authority left to be defeated and that will be death. And Jesus will defeat it by resurrecting all who have died.

Judge of all

A fourth consequence of the resurrection of Jesus is mentioned by Paul and recorded by Luke in the Book of Acts. In chapter 17, Luke describes the circumstances of Paul’s speech to the Athenian philosophers and relates some of his arguments. Among his arguments was the claim that the resurrection of Jesus is the assurance that God has given that there will be a Day of Judgement. It is assurance in the sense that God raised the Judge, but it is also assurance in the sense that the resurrection is for specific purposes, one of which is the judgement. The logical consequence of the resurrection of Jesus is the fact of future judgement. Admittedly, it is not based on the logic of earthly wisdom – all it can do is deride Paul. But earthly wisdom cannot explain the resurrection of Jesus, nor can it explain away the resurrection of Jesus. The proofs are there for the resurrection, and if we are wise we will realise that the resurrection is the evidence that we are heading for the Judgement Seat.

Assessment of gospel power

The final point I want us to think about in this sermon is mentioned by Paul in Ephesians 1:19:20: ‘and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.’ In this passage, which is a description of a marvellous prayer by the apostle, he stresses three blessings that we need to remind ourselves of continually, and since we are unable to do so, he urges us to imitate him in praying for them for one another. They are (1) the guaranteed hope of all believers, which includes perfection in a perfect environment with Jesus; (2) the glorious inheritance of the new heavens and new earth; and (3) the realization that estimation of God’s great power that is currently working in all believers is the resurrection of Jesus.

The apostle reminds us here that God has sufficient power to raise the spiritually dead. When we see individuals or communities that seem beyond the influence of the gospel, think of the resurrection of Jesus. How low God’s cause appeared on the evening of that Jewish Sabbath when Jesus was in the tomb! His resurrection power accompanies the gospel.

Paul also reminds us that this same power sanctifies saved sinners. True, it is a reminder of the greatness of our sins since only such power can deal with them. But it is also a reminder of the greatness of God’s grace since that is the power he lovingly uses in order to transform his people into the likeness of Jesus.

Finally, Paul reminds us here that God possesses sufficient power to raise the dead. He revealed his power when Jesus rose on the third day. All over this world are millions of graves in which the lies the dust of Christian believers. One wonderful day, the great power of the risen Christ will resurrect all of them. And that is one event we are longing for!