Did Jesus rise from the dead?
His Resurrection Foretold
- God the Father was the first to Share the Gospel of Jesus Christ
- Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
- After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, as God pronounced His curse on the serpent, He declared the ultimate outcome of the struggle between good and evil; Eve’s descendant, Jesus Christ, would defeat Satan. Jesus demonstrated His victory over death (the result of sin) when He rose from the grave three days after He died on a Roman cross!
- The prophet Isaiah also shared the Good News about the Suffering Servant
- Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
- After suffering unimaginable suffering and pain, Jesus, our sinless Savior, died to pay the sin debt of mankind. Hundreds of years before it happened, Isaiah told us that Jesus would see the results of His atoning death (‘see His seed’) by rising from the dead to live eternally (‘prolong His days’) and reign victoriously as our King (‘the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand’). God loves us so much, He caused and allowed all this to happen (John 3:16).
- Jesus told His Disciples what was going to happen to Him
- Mark 8:31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
- Jesus knew why He had to come to earth as a man – to live a sinless life, to be killed as the once and for all perfect sacrifice to pay for man’s sin, to rise from the grave as proof that He is God, and to show that all that He said was true!
His Resurrection Recounted
- The Apostle John tells us about Jesus appearing to His Disciples after He rose from the dead
- John 20:19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
- Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ appeared to a group of His disciples the same day He rose from the grave.
- Luke tells us of two disciples who encountered our risen Savior on the road to Emmaus
- Luke 24:30-31 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
- These two men walked with Jesus and listened as He shared the truth of scripture about Himself. Finally, He revealed Himself as their resurrected Lord.
- The Apostle Paul documents many of the sightings of Jesus after He had risen from the dead (including his own)
- 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
- Prior to his conversion, Paul persecuted followers of Jesus. Once He believed, He literally spent His life proclaiming the gospel (‘good news’) about Jesus’ victory over death. Jesus is our only hope for salvation!
His Resurrection Doubted
- The disciple Thomas was not with the others when Jesus first appeared to them (see John 20:19-24)
- John 20:25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
- Although he had spent about three and a half years with Jesus during His earthly ministry, without actually seeing Him, Thomas didn’t have the faith to believe that He had risen from the dead. But Once he saw Him, there was no doubt (John 20:26-28)!
Jesus’ Apostles, disciples and others had a very rare and precious opportunity in human history; they got to spend time with God in the flesh.
- John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
- John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus understood how difficult it would be for Thomas (and all of us) to believe without seeing.
- John 20:29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
That is why Jesus prayed that we would believe through the words written in the Bible.
- John 17:20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
It takes faith to believe!
- Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
- 2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Do you believe?
- John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Believing, professing, accepting, surrendering… Jesus is the only way to a right relationship with God and eternity in Heaven.
- John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
- Romans 10:9-10 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Saved from what? God’s wrath!
How? Through faith in Jesus!
HE HAS RISEN!
Prayer
Gracious, loving, faithful Father, please give the faith to believe in Jesus to those who long to know You. May Your Word and Your Spirit draw them, save them, and change them. I pray to you in faith and in the name above all names, Jesus Christ. Amen.
