The significance of the resurrection of Jesus

Read 1 Corinthians 15 v 12 to 19

This passage shows us that the resurrection of Jesus is the central feature of the gospel message. It makes the following crucial points:

If there is no resurrection then Christ cannot have been raised If Christ was not raised, our faith in God’s plan is empty We then have no future hope and are in a hopeless situation

So it is vital to have confidence in the facts concerning the resurrection of Jesus. There are very good reasons for accepting that Jesus rose from the dead:

• The Bible record tells us that he was seen by over 500 witnesses. Have a look at Acts 1 v 1 to 3 and 1 Corinthians 15 v 1 to 8
• The apostles did not at first believe that Jesus had risen (Luke 24 v 11, 25 and 41). The evidence must have been convincing because they changed from being frightened men in hiding (John 20 v 19) to men who fearlessly accepted persecution as a result of their testimony to the resurrection (Acts 3 v 18 to 21 and Acts 5 v 40 to 42)
• Some have suggested the apostles were mistaken and that Jesus did not really die. But Pilate made sure that Jesus was dead before handing over the body as we read in Mark 15 v 43 to 45. He would have wanted to be sure that Jesus and his followers caused no more problems for him
• The dead body of Jesus was never seen again. The Jewish leaders would have gladly produced the body of Jesus in order to silence the apostles, whose claims were causing them so many problems
• Matthew 28 v 12 to 15 tells us that the Jewish leaders had no better explanation than that his frightened disciples had stolen the body from the guarded and sealed tomb

A small band of frightened, working class Jews challenged the religious leaders of their nation and laid down their lives preaching an incredibly novel and unpopular faith. The resurrection of Christ is the only way we can explain the sudden rise of Christianity in a totally hostile world.