If He Did Not Rise

 1 Corinthians 15:12-19           12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

 Jesus Christ is as far beyond all other religious leaders, as far as east is from west and light is from darkness.  And this is shown above all by the fact the He rose from the dead!  Confucius died, was buried, and stayed there.  Muhammed died, was buried, and stayed there.  Joseph Smith (the Mormon leader) died, was buried, and stayed there.  Even Moses died, was buried by God, and stayed in the grave.  Only Jesus Christ, son of Mary and Joseph, Son of God, died, was buried, but rose from the dead three days later. This fact has been shaded over by everyone who wants to discount the Messiah, but, as Paul so wonderfully proclaims to the Corinthian Christians, Jesus’ resurrection must be true, or we would have nothing.

 If Jesus did not rise, we would never know that He is truly the Son of God.  His resurrection is the capstone of every argument that He is, was, and always will be more than just a simple human.  His divine life, given for us on the cross, is too strong to allow death to claim it for eternity.  He has to rise to show His true divine nature.

 If Jesus did not rise, we would not have the certainty that our sins were forgiven.  Death is the final curse and punishment for all sin.  In giving His perfect life as a substitute for our sinful ones, Jesus has taken the full price of sin’s curses, up to and including death and the sufferings of hell.  Jesus waking out of the tomb shouts to all creation that death no longer has any hold on those given Jesus’ life, death, and forgiveness.  He has to rise for our salvation.

 If Jesus did not rise, we would never have any hope for our own resurrection.  Jesus is the author and perfecter, the originator and leader, of our lives here on earth and in heaven for eternity.  He taught and displayed to us all how to live under God’s will here in time, and His resurrection shows us what awaits us on the last day, when He will raise us up to live perfect lives with Him, the Father, and the Holy Spirit forever. He has to rise for our own eternity to be certain and sure.

 At this time, when it seems that we are closer and closer to the doors of death, with the evils of world lurking just behind each door, with wars and rumors of wars (societal, economic, and military), we need to uphold and celebrate Jesus’ resurrection more and more. For it is in His new life that we have hope and certainty. In His new life we have joy, peace, and comfort to face any threat, even death itself. It is in His resurrected life that we can shout along with Paul: (1 Cor. 15, again)

54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:  “Death is swallowed up in victory.”  55 “O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

 In His peace, 

Pastor Red   red1517@hotmail.com