“And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.”
I Corinthians 15:14
In this verse the Apostle Paul was stating the awful repercussions that would exist if Christ did not rise bodily from the dead. The very gospel itself would have absolutely no spiritual or physical benefit if the historical foundation of Christ’s resurrection was not true.
If Christ did not bodily rise from the dead, then all that He claimed to be is profoundly false! He told the scribes and Pharisees, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). In this statement, Jesus identified Himself as the “Son of Man” so gloriously presented in chapter seven of Daniel, and then publicly proclaimed His resurrection, thus resting His entire credibility on the certainty of His rising from the dead.
If Christ did not rise, then God’s holy wrath against sin has not been satisfied, or as the Bible says, propitiated for believers. If that were true then there would be no ransom for sinners. And if there is no ransom, then no one could hope to stand in the holy Presence of God. If Jesus had remained under the power of death, then how could He could possibly deliver believers from the power of death?
If Christ did not rise from the dead, then faith would have no object, nothing to take hold of. Our faith would be groundless and empty because faith, in and of itself can save no one unless there is a hope in which to place faith. And that hope is the hope of life eternal which will come as a result of our own resurrection from the grave. That hope is the hope of our present justification, our ongoing renewal and our future glorification in and through the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross, which we take hold of by faith.
If Christ did not rise from the dead, then the message given by those who are preachers of the gospel would be empty of any meaning, void of truth, and totally without power. All the sermons ever preached would be just so much moralizing, and that has no ability to save anyone.
But... Christ did rise again bodily from the grave and He now sits at the right hand of God the Father until all His enemies are made into His footstool. And Christ was “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4).
You see, Christ came in the flesh, sharing in our humanity, so that “through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage... in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation (satisfaction) for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:14-15,17). Christ’s resurrection demonstrated for all to see that God the Father was satisfied with the worth of God the Son’s sacrificial death on behalf of all who believe.
Christ’s resurrection, therefore, has guaranteed that His death on the cross is a sure ransom for sinners such that “whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:15).
And the resurrection of Jesus Christ insures the power of the message given by the preacher of “Jesus Christ and Him crucified “ (I Corinthians 2:2). This message of salvation through Jesus Christ on the basis of His finished work on the cross is validated by Jesus Christ’s powerful rising again bodily from the grave.
Believers, let this wondrous truth of the bodily, historical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead fill your heart with; wonder at such a marvelous condescending mercy; affection for Jesus Christ’s suffering for you and; assurance of your future hope of eternal life. For if you have been buried with Christ by faith in His sacrifice for your sin on the cross, then “you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:12-14).
Let the historical reality of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave be your joy today!
I Corinthians 15:14
In this verse the Apostle Paul was stating the awful repercussions that would exist if Christ did not rise bodily from the dead. The very gospel itself would have absolutely no spiritual or physical benefit if the historical foundation of Christ’s resurrection was not true.
If Christ did not bodily rise from the dead, then all that He claimed to be is profoundly false! He told the scribes and Pharisees, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). In this statement, Jesus identified Himself as the “Son of Man” so gloriously presented in chapter seven of Daniel, and then publicly proclaimed His resurrection, thus resting His entire credibility on the certainty of His rising from the dead.
If Christ did not rise, then God’s holy wrath against sin has not been satisfied, or as the Bible says, propitiated for believers. If that were true then there would be no ransom for sinners. And if there is no ransom, then no one could hope to stand in the holy Presence of God. If Jesus had remained under the power of death, then how could He could possibly deliver believers from the power of death?
If Christ did not rise from the dead, then faith would have no object, nothing to take hold of. Our faith would be groundless and empty because faith, in and of itself can save no one unless there is a hope in which to place faith. And that hope is the hope of life eternal which will come as a result of our own resurrection from the grave. That hope is the hope of our present justification, our ongoing renewal and our future glorification in and through the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross, which we take hold of by faith.
If Christ did not rise from the dead, then the message given by those who are preachers of the gospel would be empty of any meaning, void of truth, and totally without power. All the sermons ever preached would be just so much moralizing, and that has no ability to save anyone.
But... Christ did rise again bodily from the grave and He now sits at the right hand of God the Father until all His enemies are made into His footstool. And Christ was “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4).
You see, Christ came in the flesh, sharing in our humanity, so that “through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage... in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation (satisfaction) for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:14-15,17). Christ’s resurrection demonstrated for all to see that God the Father was satisfied with the worth of God the Son’s sacrificial death on behalf of all who believe.
Christ’s resurrection, therefore, has guaranteed that His death on the cross is a sure ransom for sinners such that “whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:15).
And the resurrection of Jesus Christ insures the power of the message given by the preacher of “Jesus Christ and Him crucified “ (I Corinthians 2:2). This message of salvation through Jesus Christ on the basis of His finished work on the cross is validated by Jesus Christ’s powerful rising again bodily from the grave.
Believers, let this wondrous truth of the bodily, historical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead fill your heart with; wonder at such a marvelous condescending mercy; affection for Jesus Christ’s suffering for you and; assurance of your future hope of eternal life. For if you have been buried with Christ by faith in His sacrifice for your sin on the cross, then “you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:12-14).
Let the historical reality of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave be your joy today!