THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST (Luke 24:36-49)
INTRODUCTION:
For years the doctrine of the resurrection has been downplayed almost to the point where it was forgotten. The church believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ but did not understand why it was important to their faith. Easter morning messages often revolved around proving that the resurrection actually took place and showing the fallacies of the arguments against its actuality and historicity. Even I was guilty of this, but this morning I want to teach you the truth of the resurrection that is equal to the truth of the cross. Without this truth our faith is in vain, we need to understand why the resurrection was needed. We need to understand the doctrine of the resurrection as it is recorded for us in God’s Word. Lewis Sperry Chafer wrote, “The death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ are component parts of one stupendous divine undertaking. Had He not died, there would be no basis upon which those mighty realities which His resurrection provides might rest; and had He not been raised from the dead, there would be no fruition in His death—no Savior, no living embodiment of that which was purposed by His death. Both events are thus seen to be essential in the absolute sense, and that which is essential to such a degree is not with respect to its import properly to be compared with any other thing.”[1] The resurrection of Jesus Christ is like no other event in history and the fact that it took place ushers in a whole new aspect of God’s working with His creation that was not known in the Old Testament, but only foreshadowed and prophesied about. I cannot even hope to exhaust the doctrine of the resurrection this morning, but it is my hope to give you seven reasons for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the foundation of the doctrine of the resurrection. Before we begin let’s pray and ask that God would prepare and open our minds and hearts to His Word and the truth of the resurrection of His Son.
--PRAY--
--CHRIST IS RISEN--
(HE IS RISEN INDEED)
SCRIPTURE:
This morning we will be looking at many different Scriptures, but I would like to begin by reading one of the events that happened on the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Turn in your Bibles to Luke 24:36-49. Jesus had already appeared to the women and Mary Magdalene on the morning of His resurrection, our reading this morning is from the evening on the day of His resurrection. Please stand, if you are able, in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Luke 24:36-49,
“While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be to you.’ But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. And He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; and He took it and ate it before them. Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.’ ” (Luke 24:36–49, NASB95)[2]
SEVEN RESULTS OF THE RESURRECTION (Luke 24:44-47)
On the evening when Jesus appeared to the disciples, they had just heard another report from two disciples who had an encounter with the risen Lord as they walked home to Emmaus, which was a small town about 8 miles northwest of Jerusalem. The disciples were still talking about this report and the report they had received from the women that morning, when suddenly Jesus stood in their midst. Even though they had been told by multiple people that He was risen they were afraid at His appearance and Jesus had to prove that He was not a spirit, but the risen Lord with a body of flesh and bone.
Luke then says that the Lord Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the Old Testament Scriptures which taught that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day and He said because of this repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations. This is exactly what happened as the disciples began to preach the Gospel first in Jerusalem and then to the then known world. When they preached, taught, and wrote concerning the Gospel they gave reasons for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This morning I want to examine seven of the reasons given by the apostles for the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
CHRIST AROSE BECAUSE OF WHO HE IS (Acts 2:24)
Jesus rose from the dead because of who He is. In Acts 2 when Peter stands up to preach on the day of Pentecost to the crowd that had gathered when the disciples had received the Holy Spirit, he said in Acts 2:24, “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.” (Acts 2:24, NASB95)[3] Nothing in all of creation should seem more abnormal to us than the God-Man Jesus Christ entering the realms of death; the very One who is life, who described Himself as life and who apart from there is no life. The only answer the Bible gives to this seeming paradox is that in infinite love He died for others, the Just for the unjust that He might bring the unjust to God.
As we seek to understand this, we must understand something about human death. Again, Chafer wrote, “Death does not end the consciousness of the human soul and spirit. Death did not end the consciousness of Christ’s human soul and spirit, nor did it affect His Deity. Physical death is an experience of the body and only resurrection will restore its life again. Christ entered completely into the state of physical death and from it He came forth by an actual resurrection.”[4] When satisfaction had been reached on behalf of those for whom Christ died, there was no more reason for the deathless One, the One who was and is life, to remain in the realms of death. For this reason, Peter says that it was impossible for death to hold Him in its power. It was because of who He is that He arose from the dead.
CHRIST AROSE TO FULFILL THE DAVIDIC COVENANT (Acts 2:29-30)
The second reason I have for you for the resurrection of Jesus Christ was also given in that first message that Peter preached in Acts 2. Peter said in Acts 2:29-31, “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay.” (Acts 2:29–31, NASB95)[5] Peter is saying in these verses that Jesus Christ rose from the dead to fulfill the Davidic covenant. In 2 Samuel 7 God made a covenant with David that his throne would be an everlasting throne, that there would be an everlasting King to sit on that throne and He would rule over an everlasting kingdom.
This is the kingdom that Jesus and His disciples offered to the nation of Israel during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. This same kingdom was rejected by the nation when they rejected Jesus as their Messiah-King. This was in the providence of God so that redemption for sinners could be achieved and to assure that Jesus the Messiah would die for the sins of the world. Among the various reasons we will look at this morning for Christ’s resurrection, one of those reasons is He arose because of God’s covenant with David that the Messiah would sit on the throne of David forever. If the Lord Jesus Christ had not been raised from the dead, then God’s oath to David could never be fulfilled, thus God would have violated His covenant with David.
CHRIST AROSE TO BECOME THE SOURCE OF RESURRECTION LIFE (Colossians 3:1-4)
The life imparted to the Christian at salvation is the life of Christ in resurrection. This is shown throughout the New Testament as the Christian already being raised from the dead. Paul wrote in Colossians 3:1-4, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1–4, NASB95)[6] The believer is blessed with all the values of co-crucifixion, co-death, co-burial, and co-resurrection with Christ. These great realities are completely the believer’s as completely as they were Christ’s since He suffered and triumphed over them as the perfect Substitute for the one who believes. God views the believer as already raised and seated with His Son in the heavenly realms—as if it is an already done deal. Listen to Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:4-6, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” (Ephesians 2:4–6, NASB95)[7] Written in the past tense as if it has already taken place because we have the resurrection life of Jesus Christ in us.
CHRIST AROSE TO BE THE SOURCE OF RESURRECTION POWER (Ephesians 1:18-21)
Jesus arose to be the source of resurrection power, again Paul describes this for us in Ephesians 1:18-21 where in his prayer for the Ephesians he says, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” (Ephesians 1:18–21, NASB95)[8] Paul speaks of the surpassing greatness of God’s power and the working of the strength of His might that He used to raise Jesus Christ from the dead and in this context, he says that this same power is for us who believe. This incomparably great power of the resurrection is engaged on behalf of the believer; this power may be directed in various ways, but it is the portion of all who believe to fulfill the purposes of God in and through our lives. For this reason. the Lord Jesus Christ rose to be the source of resurrection power for the saints of God.
CHRIST ROSE TO BE HEAD OVER ALL THINGS FOR THE CHURCH (Ephesians 1:22-23)
In that same prayer in Ephesians 1 where Paul described that great power that God exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, Paul finished that prayer with these words in verses 22-23, “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:22–23, NASB95)[9] When the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ is combined with the church—those who have repented and believed in Him and have been raised with Him and seated with Him—into one entity the result is what is known as the New Creation. This New Creation of God is totally different from any existing group whether it be angels or men, and this New Creation which was a mystery in the Old Testament establishes the supreme purpose of God in this age. This New Creation could only result and can only stand on the fact that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. For this reason, He was raised and given authority above all else so that He could be the Head of the church, His body, this New Creation. Not only is He the head but also the sustainer of it. Without His resurrection there would be no church because it would have no Head.
CHRIST AROSE FOR OUR JUSTIFICATION (Romans 4:25)
Paul wrote in Romans 4:25, “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.” (Romans 4:25, NASB95)[10] Christ was raised to life on account of our justification according to this verse only. We know that Paul teaches in Romans chapters 3 and 5 that we are justified through the death and shed blood of Jesus Christ and not only through His resurrection. However, that justification would not have come to fruition without the resurrection.
Imputed righteousness or the righteousness credited to us because of Christ’s death as our perfect Substitute is described by Paul in this way in 2 Corinthians 5:21 where he wrote, “He [God] made Him [Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB95)[11] It is this imputed righteousness that is the reason or basis on which we have been justified. It is not based on our own merit, but solely on Christ’s righteousness which is credited to the believer on the sole basis of his union with the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ and so the believer’s justification does rest entirely on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Justification is made possible both by the death and shed blood of Jesus Christ and by His resurrection from the dead. Both His death and His resurrection are essential for justification.
CHRIST AROSE TO BE THE FIRST FRUITS (1 Corinthians 15:20-23)
The final reason I am giving you this morning is that the Lord Jesus Christ arose to be the First Fruits. In the Old Testament the first fruits were the first sheaf of grain that was harvested, and it was waved before the LORD as an offering anticipating or representing the rest of the harvest. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, part of our Scripture reading this morning, he wrote, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming,” (1 Corinthians 15:20–23, NASB95)[12] The risen Lord Jesus Christ is the First Fruits of what is to come. The Lord Jesus Christ raised to life in His glorified, resurrection body anticipates or represents in heaven what the rest of believing humanity will be like when we are caught up to heaven to be with the Lord forever. Philippians 3:20-21 tells us, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.” (Philippians 3:20–21, NASB95)[13] Once again, Lewis Sperry Chafer wrote, “Angels know the estate which will characterize each individual who comprises that unnumbered company which, having received their resurrection bodies, will throng the spacious vaults of heaven. The angels thus know before they appear what each believer will be like, having seen Christ who is to the hosts of heaven a preliminary demonstration of the glorious estate that awaits those who are Christ’s.”[14]
CONCLUSION:
This morning, in which we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we have looked at seven reasons for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. These seven reasons are the foundation of the doctrine of the resurrection; they point us to what we have been saved to. The cross and the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus saves us from the bondage of sin, saves us from the domination of Satan, saves us from condemnation and saves us from the judgment and wrath of God upon sin. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead saves us to eternal life, it saves us to the adoption as sons and daughters of God, and it saves us to bodily resurrection in which we will have glorified bodies like Christ. These seven reasons for the resurrection should cause us to be more fully aware of why Jesus Christ had to rise from the dead and this in turn should cause us to rejoice even more on this day that we commemorate His resurrection knowing what His resurrection means to us who are believers in Christ.
[1]Chafer, Lewis Sperry, Systematic Theology, Volume V – Christology. Dallas, TX : Dallas Seminary Press, 1948.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]Chafer, Lewis Sperry, Systematic Theology, Volume V – Christology. Dallas, TX : Dallas Seminary Press, 1948.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995. (Emphasis mine)
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995. (Additions mine)
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[14]Chafer, Lewis Sperry, Systematic Theology, Volume V – Christology. Dallas, TX : Dallas Seminary Press, 1948.