Episode Details

Remsen Bible Fellowship, Easter 2020

Why does the resurrection of Jesus matter? Why, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, for two millennia have people celebrated Jesus’ rising from the dead? 

We face no fiercer or more menacing foe than death. It looms over us all, waiting to swallow us. Proverbs 27:20 tells us that Sheol and Abaddon [the grave and death] are never satisfied. Death is coming for me, and it’s coming for you. We can try to ignore this, we can distract ourselves from this truth, but Ecclesiastes 7 tells us that death is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to heart. We can’t live with wisdom while this truth: we are mortal. And this very mortality stands as a judgement upon us. We were created by God to live as his representatives here on earth-death was not meant for us. And yet here we are. What can be done?

Into this bleak reality burst the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: Death is swallowed up in victory! O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?

What could be more glorious than this? The victory of death swallowed up by a greater victory. The pain of final loss removed by some greater truth. How can this be?

Paul’s words here are an immense comfort and joy to me, but to cling to them I need to know if they are true. And not just if they’re true, but why they are true. Thankfully, these words are the final piece of an argument in this portion of Scripture. So what we are going to do this morning is try and briefly trace Paul’s logic through 1 Corinthians 15. In doing so, we’ll see 4 truths about the Resurrection of Jesus that give us hope today.

Truth #1:  Jesus’ Resurrection is the Central Fact of Human History, v1-11

* Where does Paul begin? 1st importance. (v3)

* v1-2, He emphasizes the importance of this gospel, this good news, in how he refers to it: he [an apostle] has preached this gospel to them, they have received this gospel with joy, they stand in the power of this good news, and it is saving them-if they hold fast. 

* V3-4, Jesus did many amazing things, healing, miracles, casting out demons, giving authoritative and life-changing teaching: yet what does Paul consider essential to communicate? Death, burial, resurrection: in accordance with the Scriptures.

* Perhaps the most prominent of those Scriptures is what we read in Isaiah 53, where it is prophesied that for our iniquities he would be crushed, our transgressions led to his piercing. And the wrath of God crushed him. For you. And for me. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. This is good news, because it means we can stand before God now as those who have been covered by the blood of the slain Lamb of God! And more than that, because he has been raised, we too have the promise of life. 

* Why would Paul linger in v5-8 on appearances of Jesus? None of this matters if it isn’t True. 

* V2, believed in vain. Paul has suggested that maybe if they are quick to let go of the truth of Jesus rising from the dead it is because they have believed in vain, or believed on scanty evidence. He belabors the point that the historical evidence is overwhelming, they are not making some sort of “blind leap of faith.”

Truth #2: Jesus’ Resurrection Re-Centers Our Hope, v12-28

* What would happen if Jesus weren’t alive? What if this is all a lie? That’s what the Corinthians were being told. Some had come among them saying resurrections don’t happen, therefore Jesus couldn’t have been raised from the dead. (v12-13)

* If they are right, if the many who use the same logic pattern today are right, then: preaching hope and having faith are in vain (