Why Did Jesus Have to Rise Again?

[Pastor Keith]

Why Did Jesus Have to Rise Again?
Part 2 of Easter Sermon Series that I am speaking about at our church.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures

Earlier I discussed the subject “Why did Jesus have to die”? I used the acrostic,

C-Conquest
R-Reconciliation
O-Offering
S-Satisfaction
S-Substitution

To give the scriptural reasons why Jesus had to die, and what the means for us. In summary, Jesus was our substitution, he died for our sins, and when we respond to this Gospel (Good News) by repenting (turning from) of our sins and trusting Jesus, by being baptized, we are forgiven and new life is possible.

But that is only part of the Good News, according to 1Corinthians 15:4, Jesus rose again on the third day, and his resurrection was according to the scriptures (plan of God).

Today, on Resurrection Sunday, we want to look at “Why Did Jesus Have to Rise again”? And what difference does that make in my life?

Again we will use an acrostic to help you remember why Jesus rose again.

R-Reveals God’s Purpose
I-It fulfills Scripture
S-Satisfies Proof
E-Experience the Power of God
N-New Life

The Resurrection of Jesus has profound implications:

Reveals God’s Purpose
Acts 2:22-25
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.

In our land, we have a lower courts, state courts, federal courts that our separated by districts, their laws and decisions are binding the districts where they have jurisdiction. Except when their decisions are appealed to a higher court or the highest court in the land where the decisions are final and there is no appeal.

That is what happened during the resurrection of Jesus. Sinful men, both Jews and Gentiles, thought they were doing the right thing crucifying Jesus, putting him to death. Their true and rightful King they rejected and put to death. In his resurrection God, reversed the decision by evil people and gave Jesus a just verdict by the resurrection. The resurrection was God’s approval or vindication of Jesus.

Just as signs, wonders and miracles were a vindication of the life of Jesus (Acts 2:22), the resurrection of Jesus was God’s approval of his death for our sins (Acts 2:24).

God had foreknowledge of Jesus’ death. God wasn’t wrong-footed by it. God’s purpose wasn’t thwarted by the schemes and treachery of evil people. All this happened ‘by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge’ (Acts 2: 23, NIV). God anticipated it. God used Jesus’ death to bring us forgiveness, his rejection to gain our acceptance.

The worst human beings can do is outflanked by God’s grace.

The resurrection of Jesus is the basis of the Christian’s confidence that God can bring good even out of evil. ‘We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him’ (Romans 8: 28, NIV). All things - even evil things - work together for the good of those who love God.

Illustration: The Life of Joseph (type of Christ)
•Both Joseph and Jesus were loved by their Father
•Sent to their brethren
•Both Rejected
•Falsely Accused
•Put in Prison
•Both Exalted after their Suffering
•Both offered Forgiveness
•Both became Saviors to their people

How do we know this? What’s the basis of our assurance that good triumphs over evil and God’s purpose wins out over human treachery? We know it because Jesus’ resurrection demonstrates that God can take the very worst that human beings can do - execute his beloved Son - and turn it to the good of humankind.

Like a master chess player God can salvage a winning move when his opponent has just cried ‘Checkmate’. The resurrection reveals God’s victory over evil.

Illustration:
As Vice President, George Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev’s widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev’s wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband’s chest. There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all showing that Good does triumph over Evil in the end.

It fulfills Scripture
Acts 2:25-28
‘ I foresaw the LORD always before my face,
For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad;
Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will make me full of joy in Your presence.

The reason we know that the death of Jesus didn’t take God by surprise was because it was predicted in the Bible. Many prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus’ death on the cross, when he was utterly helpless (eg. Psalm 22, Isaiah 53).

We know that the resurrection was God’s intended outcome because it too was predicted in Scripture prophecy. Peter quotes Psalm 16: 9-10: ‘My body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay’.
David was the author of this psalm.

But Peter says these words from Psalm 16 can’t refer to David, because David died, his body experienced corruption, and his tomb is still here in this city, Jerusalem (Acts 2: 29).
In one of his lighter moments, Benjamin Franklin penned his own epitaph. He didn’t profess to be a born-again Christian, but it seems he must have been influenced by the teaching of the resurrection of the body. Here’s what he wrote:

The Body of B. Franklin, Printer
Like the Cover of an old Book
Its contents torn out,
And stript of its Lettering and Guilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms,
But the Work shall not be wholly lost:
For it will, as he believ’d,
Appear once more
In a new & more perfect Edition,
Corrected and amended by the Author.

There’s an important truth here about the nature of the resurrection. The biblical understanding of resurrection involves incorruptibility. Jesus’ body unlike Ben Franklin’s body did not experience corruption or decay.

Jesus’ resurrection is not only the triumph of life over death. It is the triumph of life over corruption - decay, decadence, disintegration, decomposition. Life has conquered death. Death has been swallowed up in victory. Christ has been raise incorruptible.

But the good news is that because Jesus was raised from the dead, if we die in Christ Jesus, we will be raised incorruptible as well. He was the first fruits (beta test model) of a great resurrection of the Just.

Listen again to the Apostle Paul,
1 Corinthians 14:20-23
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
We live in a culture of un-kept promises, disappointment, and unmet expectations. Because of this God wanted undisputable evidence that he kept his promises regarding the resurrection of Jesus.


Continued:

[Pastor Keith]

Continued:

Satisfies Proof
Acts 17:30-31
30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
The resurrection satisfies proof in two regards. 1st God has Accepted Jesus’ work (justification) and 2nd providing Historical Proof through eyewitnesses that the work of salvation is completed.

The major reason why Jesus had to be raised is according to scripture is to prove that Jesus’ work on the cross was acceptable to God and that we are forgiven.
Romans 4:22-25
22 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

There are two major elements in historical proof, providing us with persuasive confirmation that an event actually happened: that there are credible witnesses and that it gives a coherent explanation of all the evidence, including negative evidence.

The evidence of eyewitnesses (2:32)
‘God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.’ The ‘we’ were Peter and the eleven apostles (Acts 2: 14).

The apostles were chosen to be witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 1: 22). ‘God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen - by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.’ (Acts 10: 40-41, NIV).

Twenty years later (according to 1 Corinthians 15: 6) Paul can still refer to eyewitnesses, including more than 500 believers, some of whom, he says, have already ‘fallen asleep’, but most of whom are ‘still living’.
To ‘fall asleep’ was how the early Christians referred to death. Because of Jesus’ resurrection, death is not a permanent state, annihilation; but a temporary state, like sleep, from which we’ll one day be woken up! So characteristic was this terminology among the early Christians that it became our name for a place of burial: a ‘cemetery’ or ‘sleeping place’.

Paul’s reference to those ‘still living’ implied that in his day there were still eyewitness whom you could talk to about it, people who met Jesus alive in the days after his death, people who could vouch for the reality of his resurrection.
The silence of detractors (2:29)
There is a powerful negative factor that corroborates the positive evidence of the eyewitnesses who saw Jesus alive: the inability of the opponents of the Christian movement to produce the body of Jesus. To falsify the early Christian preaching, all the religious and political authorities in Jerusalem had to do was produce Jesus’ dead body. No argument would have been necessary. He would have been dead and discredited. The Christian ship would have been scuttled before leaving harbor.

Peter invited such falsification when he said that King David’s burial place ‘is here to this day’ (Acts 2: 29): in Siloam, in the Kidron Valley, south of Jerusalem. Evidently Jesus’ body wasn’t there! The opponents of the Christian message, even those who’d crucified Jesus just fifty days earlier, couldn’t produce it. This would have been the quickest way to falsify the early Christian preaching. The silence of the Jews, said A. M. Fairburn, is just as significant as the speech of the Christians.

The last reason why Jesus rose again from the dead was so that we can experience POWER.

To Experience the Power of God
Acts 2:33
33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

Jesus said in the Gospel of John (14:16-18) that it was expedient that he go away, this was very disappointing to the disciples; they immediately began to experience the pain of loss. But Jesus said that if he would go, another, better one would come, someone who would not only be with them (they had felt the anointing) but would be in them.

He was referring to the Holy Spirit, besides the death of Jesus for our sins the coming of the Holy Spirit is God’s best gift to mankind. Because previously the Holy Spirit would come upon people anointing them, but would then leave when the work was done. But because of the New Covenant that Jesus instituted with his blood we have a continual access to the promised Holy Spirit. Calvary is only half of the Good News, the Cross/Tomb is empty and because of that we can experience the power of God.

The word power is used 57 times in the NT
Grk. word Dunamis=Dynamite, not fire cracker, or sparkler, but dynamite.

Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul.
Philippians 3:10
That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection

He also wanted the church to know their position and access to the power of the resurrection, his prayer for the Ephesians’ Believers.
….the exceeding greatness of the His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised Him from the dead….. (Ephesians 1:19-20)

These scriptures show that we can know the power of the Resurrection. The same great power that raised Christ from the dead, we have access to.

But like an appliance, you gotta plug into the electric wall plug, if not you will never take advantage of the power available to you.

New Life
This is transformation from the inside out, not reformation with its external controls. Christianity works from the inside of man outwardly. Religion and man’s ideas work on the outside through pressure.

2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if any is in Christ, he is new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new”.

Out with old in with the new
The difference between the new and old covenants is that in the old you had these laws and requirement but it provided no power to keep them. In the new covenant God took the same laws and wrote them on our hearts and there would be an internal source of power and grace to keep the laws that we couldn’t keep from outside pressure.

Religion versus Relationship
The goal of the Christian Life is not simply external obedience to the written commands of God. It is to obey from the heart (Romans 8:17; Eph.6:6) No one can obey God form the heart unless the commands of God are written on his heart. We do not have to be content with external obedience. We can hate what God hates and love what God loves.
Romans 8:11
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.
You don’t need an extreme makeover; you just need a new birth

This New Life is called being Born Again.
Benefits:

1.You can start over

2.Walk in newness of life

3.The new birth is Jesus living in you

4.You will be able to enter and see the kingdom like never before

5.New language

6.New identity

7.A new family

8.The best parts it’s free

If it’s so great, what stops people from using it, in reality its not the devil, it’s not other people, or circumstances, but procrastination.

Conclusion:
I showed you from the scriptures “Why Jesus had to Rise Again”, but during this Easter season, the greatest Witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, are men and women, young and old, that will testify that the power of the risen Christ has transformed their lives.

We know that Jesus is alive, not only because of the historical and biblical evidence, but also because He has miraculously changed and touched lives.


Sources Material:
NKJV Bible
Rob Yule
David Pawson
Rick Warren
Keith McCann

[Cindy]

So that WE can live, not in this world, but with HIM!!!!!!!!

[Sam]

Thanks, Keith, great message.

I wouldn't be surprised if it gets "borrowed" and shared with some others this weekend.

[Cindy]

Originally Posted by Sam

Thanks, Keith, great message.

I wouldn't be surprised if it gets "borrowed" and shared with some others this weekend.

[Praxeas]

hopefully I can read through it all later. But short answer, so he can "ever live to be our great high priest"

[Scott Hutchinson]

I can't add again to this.

[Pastor Keith]

Originally Posted by Sam

Thanks, Keith, great message.

I wouldn't be surprised if it gets "borrowed" and shared with some others this weekend.

My intention for sure, blessed to be a blessing!

I just finished the accompanying powerpoint for those that care to have it.

[Scott Hutchinson]

I would like a CD of this message.