The Resurrection of the
Messiah
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was not simply a
revival of Jesus’ physical body. The
Lord Jesus is called “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor.
15:20 NKJV) and “the firstborn from the dead” (Rev. 1:5 NKJV). He was the first to rise from the dead (Acts
26:23). Indeed, Jesus Himself is our
Incarnate Representative. The bodily
resurrection of Christ Jesus made us to be spiritually alive (Rom. 6:4; Eph.
2:6). Jesus’ resurrection assures His
people of their bodily resurrection at the last day. Jesus’ resurrected body is glorious and
deathless (Phil. 3:21; Heb. 7:16, 24).
Jesus Christ lives in and through His glorified body. He will do this for all eternality. Christians who are alive when Jesus Christ
comes back at His Second Coming will undergo an equivalent transformation (1
Cor. 15:50-54). Christians who have died
will be transformed. At and after the
last resurrection, Christians will never die again. The ground of Christianity is the actual
Resurrected Christ. The resurrection of
Jesus is indisputable proof. Jesus Himself
accomplished victory over death. After
He bore the sins of His people that were applied to Him, He lives and has ascended
on high and seats on the right hand of God the Father. He is the sinless, risen, ascended and
enthroned One. He is the eternal Son of
God with divine power from the Spirit of holiness (Rom. 1:4). After the resurrection of Jesus, He
gloriously ascended; He reigns. The New
Testament gives information concerning the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
John in John 10:17-18 states:
Therefore My Father loves Me,
because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of
Myself. I have power to lay it down, and
I have power to take it again. This
command I have received from My Father. (NKJV).
The Father loves the Son. The Son loves the Father. The Son voluntarily lays down His life and
takes His life back up again. The Son
demonstrates His distinctive judgment of willingly giving His life for His
sheep. The Son demonstrates His own
certain prediction of His resurrection (v. 17, “…I lay down My life that I may
take it again”). He alone lays down His
life (v. 18, “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself”). The Son has power to give His life for His
chosen. Jesus Himself died to save. The
Son has power to take it up again, that is, His resurrection. The Son received this commend from His Holy
Father (the only Holy Father) in
heaven.
Jesus spoke of Himself as divine. His adversaries understood His meaning (John
10:33). Solely the divine Jesus could
freely die and freely rise. Jesus
explicitly shows He is divine. He alone
is the Author and Giver of life as Jesus said of Himself.
The Triune Work in the
Resurrection of Christ
Let us consider the Triune
work of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were involved in the action of
the resurrection of Jesus. The Father
had power, the Son had power and the Holy Spirit had power to rise up Jesus
Christ to accomplish the Father’s will in Jesus by His Glorious Spirit.
God’s power accomplishes
resurrection: “Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she
be? For they all had her.” Jesus answered and said to them, “You are
mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matt. 22:28-29
NKJV).
The resurrection of Christ is
distinctive from others because He rose by His own power. He is the very author of resurrection. But this does not deny the Trinitarian work
of Christ’s resurrection. Christ
accomplished His resurrection: “No one
takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.
I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father”
(John 10:18 NKJV).
The Spirit of Christ
accomplished resurrection: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the
dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to
your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom. 8:11 cf. 1 Cor.
6:14 NKJV).
The Holy Trinity was active in the very resurrection
of Jesus Christ. The resurrection of
Jesus is in essence a Trinitarian accomplishment. The work of redemption and creation is a
Trinitarian achievement. It
demonstrates the unity of the Sacred Trinity in their essential being. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one in
their unity and being. There are three
distinct persons Who accomplished the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Trinitarian work of Jesus’ resurrection
demonstrates the distinction of the three persons. It shows the personality and work of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The
Son accomplishes the will of His Blessed Father by His Holy Spirit. The Son verifies His death as genuinely acceptable
to His Father. The atonement is
authentic for the payment for the penalty of sin. The resurrection is accomplished for His
elect’s justification.
The Word of Life
John in 1 John 1:1-4 states:
That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have
looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life--the life
was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that
eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us--that which
we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship
with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus
Christ. And these things we write to you
that your joy may be full. (NKJV).
The crux of the message of
Christianity is the very proclamation of the gospel of the Risen Christ for
eternal life in the Incarnate Word of life.
The opening of this verse echoes, “In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1 NKJV). Jesus Christ is the Word of life. He was heard, seen and handled. John defends the actuality of the humanity of
Jesus. Jesus was and always will remain
the Incarnate Logos (John 1:14). The self-existence of Jesus Himself speaks to
the reality of His blessed divinity. The
Son’s fellowship and friendship with His Father is provided to His chosen
people. The believer in Christ has joy
because of the Word of life. He died but
He rose again.
The Bodily Risen Son
Luke in Luke 24:36-43 declares:
Now as they said these things,
Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to
you.” But they were terrified and
frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that is it I
Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit
does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” When He had said this, He showed them His
hands and His feet. But while they still
did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish
and some honeycomb. And He too it and ate in their presence. (NKJV).
He did not rise from the dead
as a spirit. Jesus asks why His
followers are troubled. He rebukes their
unbelief. Christ told His followers to
touch Him and see He is not a spirit.
His hands and feet had nail marks.
His feet bore the wounds of the crucifixion on the cross. He asks for food and ate in the presence of
His followers. Thus, Jesus made it a necessity that He had a glorified
body. Jesus refutes the presumption that
He is a spirit. He is flesh of very flesh and bone of very bone. Jesus Himself tells His disciples what body
He possesses: (v. 39 “…Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and
bone as you see I have”). Jesus
explicitly references, observation of His true resurrected self. Jesus showed His disciples His wounded hands
and His wounded feet. He demonstrated
His injuries from the cross at Calvary. He has a glorious and triumphant resurrected
body. Jesus asked, (v. 41 “…Have you any food here?”). The disciples gave Him broiled fish and
honeycomb; He had the capacity to eat food.
Jesus ate in the presence of His disciples. These were the very witnesses of the Word of
life. Jesus spoke to His disciples about
the fulfillment of Scripture (Luke 24:44-45).
Jesus speaks about all things that needed to be fulfilled.
My Lord and My God
John in John 20:24-29 records:
Now Thomas, called the Twin,
one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 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.” And after eight days His
disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood
in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”
Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands;
and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord
and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas.
Because you have seen Me, you have believed.
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. (NKJV).
When Jesus came amongst the
disciples, Thomas was not with them. The
disciples of the Risen Christ told Thomas (v. 25, “…We have seen the
Lord.”).
Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and
said, “Peace to you!” Jesus spoke and
said to them, “Peace to you!” Jesus appeared
in the locked room of His disciples.
Jesus is omnipresent; He is everywhere; He appeared where His friends
were. Jesus is omnipotent; He had
infinite power to appear. Jesus is
omniscient; He had infinite knowledge to know Thomas’ request. Thus, Jesus is Almighty God in human flesh
(the Second Person of the Trinity).
Thomas needed to see, and
place his finger into the nail prints, and His pierced side. After Jesus showed Himself, Thomas
believed. Thomas would not believe
unless He saw and examined the Risen Incarnate Lord.
Thomas referred to Jesus as his Lord and his
God. This means Jesus is divine. This plainly and entirely excludes teachings
from traditions of men and doctrines of demons.
For anyone to say Jesus is not the God-man, the very Incarnate King, distinct
from the Father and the Spirit, flies in the face of the actuality of
scriptural precedence. The person who
denies this really denies the divine integrity of Scripture, for it clearly
teaches the reality of the divine Son of Man.
Jesus is not the spirit-brother of Lucifer. He is not a highly exalted angel. He is not a god. He is not merely a man who was a great
prophet. Rather, He was and is, and
always shall be the Eternal Incarnate Self-Existent One. Will you be like Thomas who proclaimed Jesus
as his Lord and God? Thomas believed
Jesus rose from the dead based upon his sight of Him. Because of belief in Jesus of those who have
not seen Him; this blessing is upon God’s people. The purpose of the Gospel of John is belief
(John 20:31). The belief
of Thomas is the desired result.
He believed the Risen
Christ. The faith of Thomas was based on
his eyes (he saw Christ), his ears
(he heard Christ) and he touched
Jesus (he felt Christ). Thomas shows, Jesus is fully Lord and fully
God. Jesus accepts the proclamation of
Thomas. He does not rebuke Thomas.
Rather, He acknowledges the statement of Thomas regarding His divinity.
Raised Up on the Third Day
Luke in Acts 10:40-41 states:
Him God raised up on the third
day, and showed Him openly, not to all people, but to witnesses chosen before
by God, even to us who ate and drank
with Him after He arose from the dead.
And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is
He who was ordained by God to be
Judge of the living and the dead. To Him
all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will
receive remission of sins. (NKJV).
The Father raised up the Son
on the third day. The Father displayed
Jesus openly. The Father chose the
people Who Jesus was seen by. It pleased
His Blessed Father to reveal Jesus to His chosen. The disciples ate and drank with Jesus “after
He arose from the dead.” Jesus Himself
commanded His disciples to preach. His
followers would testify of Jesus. Jesus
is ordained the Incarnate Judge. Jesus
is the Supreme Judge because human beings are moral creatures. When He judges He will judge justly and
righteously. God the Father ordained His
Son to be Judge. No human creature will
have their own made-man argument to place against Him to enter into His
kingdom. Made-man traditions seek to
enter His kingdom in a way His Word has not prescribed or supported. The mouths of His enemies will be shut,
merely by His divine presence. Jesus is
the Judge of all mankind, and He is the Divine Defense Attorney for His beloved
people. He will acquit His redeemed
people because they will be found to be in Him.
He will damn His enemies because they will not be found in Him. For His people, it will be a joyous day, but
for His enemies it will be a day of horror and dread. Scripture supports salvation exclusively
through Jesus (Acts 4:12); forgiveness of sin is guaranteed by His acceptable
propitiation; confirmed by His glorious resurrection and restoration of His
glory established His ascendancy, accessible of those who invoke His blessed
name and His heavenly ministry as intercessor for His chosen people.
The Lord’s Day
Some people dispute that Sunday is the day of worship
for Christians. Historic Christianity
always has taught that Sunday as the Sabbath.
The New Testament speaks of the Lord ’s Day. The Lord’s day is the day of Jesus’
resurrection. Therefore this principle
of Sabbath is established because of the Creation and the apostles. We rejoice in the resurrection of Christ on
this day and hope of rest in heaven.
Heaven is the Sabbath rest.[i]
Christ Died For Our Sins
Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
states:
For I delivered to you first
of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the
twelve. 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. After that
He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born of due time.
(NKJV).
The Incarnate Messiah “died
for our sins.” Jesus died for a
particular people (i.e., our). In
accordance with the Scripture Jesus died for their sins. In accordance with Scripture Jesus was buried
and rose again. Cephas and the twelve
saw the Risen Christ. He was “seen by
over five hundred at once.” The people
of the five hundred witnesses still remained alive, but “some have fallen
asleep.” After His appearance to Peter,
the twelve disciples and the five hundred people, Jesus was “seen” by James and
by Paul. This passage by Paul is early in
origin and proves the credibility, reliability and trustworthy of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Church Fathers On 1
Corinthians 15:4
Chrysostom wrote concerning 1
Corinthians 15:4:
This serves to confirm that
Christ died a genuine human death and points us once more to the Scriptures for
proof. Nowhere does Scripture mean the
death of sin, when it makes mention of our Lord’s death, but only the death of
the body, and a burial and resurrection of that same body. [ii]
Ambrosiaster wrote concerning
the five hundred witnesses:
This is not recorded in the
Gospels, but Paul knew it independently of them.[iii]
Cyril of Jerusalem wrote
concerning the witnesses of the resurrection:
He appeared to Cephas; and
after that to the twelve.” So if you
disbelieve one witness, you have twelve witnesses. “Then he was seen by more than five hundred
people at once”—if they disbelieve the twelve, then listen to five
hundred. “After that he was seen by
James,” his own brother and the first overseer of this [Jerusalem] diocese. Since so noteworthy a bishop was privileged
to see the risen Christ, along with other disciples, do not disbelieve. But you may say that his brother was a biased
witness. So then he continues: “He was seen by me.” But who am I?
I am Paul, his enemy! “I was
formerly a persecutor” but now preach the good news of the resurrection.[iv]
Chrysostom wrote concerning
Jesus’ appearance to James:
This must be James, the Lord’s
brother, whom he ordained as the first bishop of Jerusalem. The apostle mentioned here would include the
seventy and others besides the Twelve.[v]
Acts and the Resurrection
After the resurrection the disciples of Jesus Christ
began teaching, preaching and proclaiming the extraordinary fact of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. This
occurred shortly after the resurrection event took place. Peter preached the resurrection of Christ at
Pentecost without hesitation (Acts 2:32). He started to gain great courage and strength
since the resurrection of Christ. It was
the formation of the Christian Church.
Peter gave a sermon to the crowd of different languages. Peter himself spoke fifty days after the
resurrection of Jesus. The message was
clear despite the numerous languages represented (Acts 2:11). The proclamation of the gospel of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ is apparent.
It indicates His followers boldly proclaimed the Risen Christ as the
tomb of Jesus Christ was vacant. The
Christian fellowship demonstrates the substantiation of the resurrection of
Jesus. The ground of the Christian faith
is the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Christian fellowship thrived in the same place where the murder of Jesus
occurred.
His followers sought nothing to gain of this
world. They were men of whom the world
was not worthy. The followers of Jesus
abided by the commandments of God. They
did not seek to create another religion purely for popularity sake. The disciples of Christ encountered much suffering. With the exception of John, the apostles
endured deaths of martyrdom. The
eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ truthfully proclaimed the
gospel of the resurrection. Such was no
lie but motivated from pure grace and truth.
The apostles had unmovable determination, unwavering faithfulness and
commitment to Christ the Risen King! The
apostles knew and believed the truth because of God’s work alone. God opened their eyes to seek to preach His
truth, He opened their ears to listen for His voice in His Word, and He opened
their mouths to testify of His truth! God used His people as a means to
accomplish His will. They stood
unwavering for truth, unqualified diligence, unconditional commitment and
unashamed service for their Risen Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ.
Mary Magdalene
The first witness of Christ was a woman
(John20:1-18). Her name was Mary
Magdalene. Women’s testimonies were practically meaningless especially if their
beliefs superseded the chief priests and Pharisees. The beliefs of Christianity were in violation
of the present governing religion. If they
were going to fake the bodily resurrection of Jesus, they choose the wrong
initial witness; for the first witness was a woman. Why would they design their first witness to
be a woman? Women were generally not promoted by law to speak in public. It was considered an embarrassment concerning
the presence of women. Paul’s choice to
exclude Mary Magdalene magnifies her witness in favor of the resurrection of
Jesus. Chrysostom speaks of the Gospel
accounts of Jesus appearing first to Mary (Mark 16:9). He notes Paul mentioning solely the men who
Jesus appeared to.[vi] Combining
Paul’s description of who Jesus appeared to, and the witness of a woman further confirms the reality of God’s Word
and the truth of Jesus’ resurrection.
Paul focused upon a truthful evangelistic proclamation of the exposure
of men who saw Jesus Christ Risen. The
exclusion of Mary Magdalene does not support any sort of demeaning of women
from Holy Writ. The eyewitness testimony
of Jesus Christ establishes the actuality of Christian doctrine, namely the
bodily resurrection of Jesus.
The appearances to Mary and the other appearances of
Christ remain a consistent truth. It is
unlikely the apostles would agree to the testimony of Mary unless they saw the
empty tomb. They themselves didn’t
understand fully that Christ would rise from the dead. Only after they saw for themselves the same
tomb Christ’s body was laid in, was, indeed, empty, they believed. Does a lie support truth? Does God’s truth divine need amendment? Of course not! They themselves did not understand Scripture
that Jesus had to rise from the dead. It
was only until after Mary came to them that Peter and John traveled to the
tomb. They saw it and entered it. John arrived first. He looked in and hesitated. He was the younger of the apostles. Peter went forward and entered the empty
tomb. John followed and believed.
The seal of Rome on the tomb was established
as a sign or symbol of the presence of the Romans. The purpose of this sign was to protect the
tomb. It was under Roman authority. The
huge rock covered the tomb of Jesus. It
was great in size. It would have taken
more than fishermen to move among the presence of Roman soldiers. If the sign were disturbed it would
constitute an immediate crime against Rome. If a person broke the seal, they were
responsible and answerable to the governor.
The apostles were not equally capable to face Roman guards in combat.
Rather, there was a great earthquake. The angel of the Lord came from heaven. He rolled back the huge stone from the door
of the tomb. His countenance was like
lightning. He garments were white as
show. The angel sparked fear in the
Roman soldiers, and became like dead men.
The soldiers went to the chief priests and explained what happened. The chief priests made a story out of deceit
(Matt. 28:2-4; 11-15). The job of the
Roman guards who watched the tomb of Jesus was performed in duty. They were soldiers of Rome who they owed their
loyalty. If a Roman guard experienced
any threat he surely would have noted this.
It would have undoubtedly appeared in the Roman record. But no such record does exist that confirms
the apostles overtaking the Roman guards.
The Roman guards said they fell asleep.
They knew the ultimate penalty was death. They entrusted themselves to the help of the
chief priests with no other choice.
The God of The Old and New
Interestingly the New
Testament speaks of the raising of many saints, “and the graves were opened;
and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out
of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared
to many” (Matt. 27:52-53 NKJV).
Certainly the saints of old had the same benefits of Jesus’ atonement
and the resurrection applied to them as it is to us. The saints of the Old Testament look toward
the atoning death of Christ, whereas the saints of the New Testament look back
at His victorious death. The God of the
Old is the God of the New. The saints of
old were saved as the saints are now saved.
Conclusion
At the surface of this
presentation it has been established that internal evidence of the New
Testament supports the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ “…who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because
of our justification” (Rom. 4:25). Insofar we ought to consider other internal
evidence of the New Testament. To this
we now turn.
[i] RC Sproul.
Essentials Truths of the Christian Faith (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishing, Inc, 1992), 239.
[ii] Gerald Bray, ed., Ancient Christian
Commentary On Scripture New Testament VII, 1-2 Corinthians (Downers Grove,
Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1999),
149-150.
[iii] Bray, 150.
[iv] Bray, 150.
[v] Bray, 150.
[vi] Bray, 150.
