RISEN LORD JESUS –CENTRE OF OUR FAITH.  1 Cor 15.

    Paul preached the good news of the gospel of our Lord Jesus, which the Corinthian christians willingly received, and in which they stood their ground. ( v1)  The gospel must be announced for it is God, the Father’s, great news to a lost world.   While Paul initiated the process, the believers opened their hearts to receive this glorious message.

    ‘You are saved, also, by this preaching, if you hold fast the word which I reached to you- unless you believed in vain.’ ( v2 )  Paul said in his Roman letter, ‘that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.’ Marvellous how the telling of the good news created a living faith in the hearts of the hearers.

    The great preachers of past generations have truly presented the majestic news of the gospel.  Crowds flocked to hear C,H. Spurgeon in his London tabernacle.  Jonathan Edwards and A.B.Simpson drew numbers to hear the great truths of the gospel.   

D.L. Moody reached the American and English nations with faithful telling of the word of God.  In our day Billy Graham has reached millions, who responded as he opened the word of God. While Luis Pulau reached Spanish peoples with the same great message.

Paul warned that ‘some may believe in vain’, pointing to a lack of true faith.  

    Paul only passed on what he had received. He could not hold back the life-giving news of such a saviour. Nor should we! Then followed the foundation of  our Christian faith,’ Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. ‘( v3 ) This is not the news of a salvation by our works,’ for only the death of God’s Son can atone for our damning sins, and remove the condemnation.  Modern man welcomes news of his worthy life and good works, whereas Scripture clearly points to the cross of Christ for our eternal salvation.

    The good news must agree with the bible, for it says,’ He died according to the Scriptures.’ Here is confirmation that the death of God’s Son was latent on every page of Old as well as New Testaments.  Abraham offered his only son ( through Sarah ) on  mount Moriah as a type of Lord Jesus’ death, so that His actual crucifixion will confirm such types of Christ as this.  When Joseph was thrown down the well to die, prior to his being sold as a slave, he exemplified the Lord’s death at the hands of his own people.  The Passover Lamb must be without blemish and spot, fulfilled in our beloved Lord.

    Paul continued, ‘that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. ‘(v4)  The burial and rising again of the Lord are intertwined in the gospels.  Joseph of Arimathea laid the body of Christ to rest in his new tomb.  The temple guard sealed it with a massive stone and legal sealing.  The women came.  Peter and John ran to the place where His body lay.  Two angels supported the women. An earthquake rocked the entire scene. The burial of Christ is important.  Some followers of the prophet falsely claim that ‘He did not die’.  The Scriptures assert that He did.    God decreed that everything that died must be buried – His Son included.

    The Scripture joyfully proclaimed ‘ that on the third day He rose again.’ ( v 4 ) It told  in simple language the greatest truth that the world had heard.  The deepest longing of the human heart was satisfied in His resurrection.  On my first visit to a graveyard in Java, I was asked to speak as the Australian doctor ‘. ‘Lord, what do I say’ was the urgent entreaty of my heart.  My Indonesian was still primitive, when a journalist offered to turn the language. God directed my gaze to a farmer planting his rice shoots.  I began, ‘Jesus Christ said, ‘except the corn of rice fall into the gound and die it abides alone.  But if it die, it brings forth much fruit.’  Here was an ideal illustration of the resurrection of Christ from the grain of rice.  Many newly heard that exciting news.

    Paul listed many of the people who saw the King of glory after He had risen from the dead. ‘After that, He was seen of Cephas ( that is Peter ), then by the twelve.’ ( v4)

Peter must be heard, for the once dissenting disciple became the great preacher on the day of  Pentecost.  Peter could never be silenced that He had seen the triumphant Lord.

    ‘Then ( seen)by the twelve’ refers to the disciples who now numbered eleven , after  Judas’ defection. They were still referred to as ‘the twelve’ until another was chosen to take the traitors’ place.  The gospel writers gave prominence to the meeting of the risen Son of God with ‘the twelve’ and the astonishing effect of those meetings.  Remember how Thomas rejected the resurrection of Christ with ‘Except I  see in His hand the print ( the usual scar after crucifixion nails had been driven in) and put my finger in the print of the nails,, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’ ( John 20:25 )

    A delightful sequel was ‘And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and the skeptical Thomas with them, when Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, ‘peace be to you.’ Then he electrified the disciples as He turned 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.’ ( v27).  Thomas needed no more proof that His Lord had risen from the dead.  Neither did the other followers.  No wonder that they went out to reach a world that needed the triumphant Saviour.

We need an injection of that absolute certainty that He is alive – for evermore!

    The invisible , risen Lord had overheard every word that the doubting Thomas had spoken.  From that moment they must guard every thought and every spoken word.

In the pre-cross days, Christ had limited Himself to the immediate presence of the hearer. For the risen Lord there were no physical limitations. ‘I am with you always.’

    The following verse tells of a vast number ‘ ( more than 500 actually ) at once who saw the Lord, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but many have fallen asleep (that is,  in death). (v6) ‘ No one challenged this truth during the life span of these spectators. .  They were energetically irresistible.  No delusion, nor deception, nor hallucination would silence the powerful conviction of 500 plus followers of the risen One.  I would love to have  heard them vigourously, unrestrainedly silence the unbelievers. ‘We were there. We saw Him. He spoke to us.’ We shall meet in heaven.

    The Old Testament was full of types ( or pictures ) of the resurrection of God’s dear Son. Jonah was one.  He was recovered from the ocean, presumably dead, raised to life , and sustained in ‘the belly of the great fish.‘ How he preached. A portrait of the Christ.

    Abraham returned from Mount Moriah with Isaac, whom he had intended to sacrifice as God had commanded.  However, the Lord spared Abraham this great sacrifice, providing the ram as a substitute.  He returned, accounting that God had raised him from the dead. ( Genesis 22)  Christ became our Substitute; whom the Father raised from the dead.

   Prime Minister, Daniel, was another delightful illustration, when he had been falsely accused of  lost loyalty because of his unbroken prayer life.  He was tumbled overnight into the lions’ den, presumably to be torn to pieces.  However,  his protecting God closed the mouths of the lions, freeing him on the morning to be called out alive from the lair of the king of the jungle.  This was a type of our Lord Jesus’ glorious rising from the dead.

    As if that were not all, ‘after that He was seen by James, the Lord’s half-brother, then by all the apostles.’ ( v7) They became the defenders of the faith, powerful preachers.

‘Then last of all, He was seen by me also, as of one born out of due time. ( v8)  Paul described his new birth as ‘of one born from an abortion.’Ill-formed, unseasonable.

    Do you know Him…and the power of His resurrection?