Setting the scene

Were you there—when He rose up from the grave?

4 Key Points About the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus | Index | 2. The women

1. Setting the scene

1 Corinthians 15:1–11

1 Corinthians 1:1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

Also refer to—Matthew 28:1–20; Mark 15:40–47; 16:1–20^[1]See the final comments in this chapter about Mark’s Gospel; Luke 24:1–53; John 20:1–31; 21:1–25; Acts 26:1–23

 

<a>The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus ‘of first importance’

A vital short statement in the New Testament defining the gospel (the ‘good news’) is 1 Corinthians 15:3–4. It sets the scene for Part 2 of this book on meeting first-hand witnesses who met Jesus Christ after He died on the cross and rose again. He died there bearing our sins and the punishment for them that we deserve. Christ’s cross is literally ‘crucial’ to Christianity. The word ‘crucial’ comes from the Latin word ‘crux’ which means ‘cross.’ Collins English Dictionary defines ‘crucial’ as ‘involving a final or supremely important decision or event.’ When Jesus, fully God and fully Man, was nailed to that cruel cross as a sinless and perfect offering for us, the whole of God the Father’s wrath on sin fell on His Son in my place. That is why I was forgiven, when I repented from my sins and put all my trust in Jesus. When He shed His blood on the cross it was the ‘final event’ of paying for guilty sinners’ sins, as Jesus cried out in triumph ‘It is finished’ (‘completed’ or ‘accomplished.’)

Along with Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, His sacrifice on the cross was the ‘supremely important event’ of history. If Jesus had not died and risen again—which He did exactly as He often said that He would—there could be no forgiveness for anyone, no restoration to God, no eternal life, and no hope or certainty of spending eternity with God in Heaven. That is why the apostle Paul, who met the risen Jesus dramatically on the Damascus road, insisted in 1 Corinthians 15, that it is ‘of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.’

Make it crystal clear

That is why everyone who shares the good news with others must make it crystal clear both that Christ died for guilty sinners and rose again, and also why Jesus died and rose again. The crucial teaching of the cross and the resurrection must feature as the ‘final [and] supremely important events.’ Both are ‘crucial.’ To trust in Jesus is also the ‘supremely important decision’ to make in life. Whenever someone hears and understands that he is cut off from holy God because of his sin for which he will be punished, and that Jesus loves him and died in his place for him on the cross to take his penalty for all his sins of thought, word, deed, motive and omission, he has a ‘crucial’ decision to make. As God the Holy Spirit convicts him of his guilt and shows him his need to turn in repentant prayer to Christ, once crucified and now risen from the dead, he will realise that his decision to turn from sin and trust Jesus is, by far, the most ‘supremely important decision or event’ in his life, too.

If Jesus had stayed dead, the ‘whole deal’ of forgiveness would have been impossible! The resurrection without the cross could save no one. The cross without the resurrection would be a complete failure. If you are able, read Day One’s The Resurrection: The unopened gift, it frankly and openly shows how the Christian message would have crumbled to nothing if Christ had stayed dead.

Consider the results that would have followed a ‘failed’ resurrection:

• Christ becomes incredible—He said He would rise again.
• Jesus’ death on the cross becomes a calamity. God the Father showed He accepted Jesus’ death on the cross for sinners by raising Him from the tomb. No rising from the dead would mean no acceptance.
• Jesus becomes either the deceiver or the deceived: not God the Son.
• Freedom from judgment for our sins becomes impossible: if Jesus died and did not rise, then He cannot be the eternal Judge. Thus, He can neither acquit us nor be qualified to successfully bear our judgment on the cross. Neither can He judge sinners for their sins eternally. Of course, that encourages some to deny the resurrection of Jesus: they do not like to think they have to face the holy and eternal judge. They think that to accept the resurrection is rather like a turkey voting for Christmas!
• Death becomes dominant. By rising from death, Jesus conquered death. If he did not rise again, death conquered Him: He then becomes the big failure.
• Faith becomes futile. Why trust a failure at all, let alone for eternity?
• A failed and dead Christ cannot return in power, glory and triumph. So there is no second coming.
• There can be no Heaven to spend with a ‘Saviour’ who stays dead.
• Christianity becomes just one of many similar religions. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus, our ‘Emmanuel—God with us’, makes Christianity unique. Religion tries to go up to go to God and fails—Jesus came down, died, rose and ascended to Heaven and succeeds in getting us there. No religious leader ever could or did that! Only Jesus saves.
• Jesus cannot live in and change my heart now, as my living Saviour, as the Bible says He does if I am ‘born again.’ A dead Saviour cannot live in my heart or be received by faith.

So, it is vital to be sure that His resurrection did happen and was well witnessed. He did rise and His resurrection is well witnessed! In this book we meet people recorded in Scripture as meeting the risen Saviour: there were others, but here are good, reliable, first-hand, corroborated witnesses acceptable in any properly constituted Law Court, anywhere.

You can read about the people who met the risen Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament passages already mentioned.

Here are the people we will meet:

In 1 Corinthians 15: Peter, the disciples (several times), 500 people at one time, James, all the Apostles and Saul (who became Paul) on the Damascus Road.

In Matthew 28: Mary Magdalene, the ‘other Mary,’ other women who were there, and the eleven disciples.

In Mark 15—16: Mary Magdalene, Mary (James’ mother), Salome, the two travellers in the country and the eleven disciples again.

In Luke 24: the same women with the spices (including Joanna and other unnamed women), the two Emmaus Road disciples, Simon, and the disciples without ‘doubting’ Thomas.

In John 20—21: Mary Magdalene, the disciples first without Thomas, then with Thomas, then the disciples often, and the breakfast on the beach with some of the fishermen disciples—including Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, and two others.

In Acts 26: Saul who became Paul.

As with most events in New Testament times, the four Gospel writers rarely write identical accounts, but what they say is never contradictory, when it is read in context. Like reporters at a football match who all cover the goals scored, these writers all cover the major issue—Jesus Christ died and is risen! At different places, in different circumstances, with varying numbers of people, for varying periods of time, these witnesses give good corroborated evidence that the One who died to save us, now lives to be our Saviour and to give us eternal life. We will begin to meet them in the next chapter.

Please read 1 Corinthians 1:1–11 now and then work your way through the accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. As you do, ask yourself, ‘Did Christ die for me?’ and ‘Do I know He is living in me as my Lord and Saviour?’

See the footnote on page 169 of Day One book, ‘Mark Time’ chapter 52 re Mark 16:9–20. Briefly, some versions of the Bible omit these verses, some mark them as optional. The reason they give is that the oldest manuscripts of Mark’s gospel do not include them. They are, however, found in most reliable manuscripts and the early church fathers quoted them in letters that predate the earliest known manuscripts. Which manuscript did they get them from? Evidently, an older one they had but we do not. I regard these verses as God’s word and what they teach is also fully consistent with the rest of the Bible.