Our Resurrection Hope
For Meditation
A few years ago I was studying the book of Acts and I noticed something that surprised me. Every time that one of the early apostles was preaching about or explaining the gospel to a group of people, they focused their message on the resurrection of Jesus. For example, in Pisidian Antioch, after Paul preached a long evangelistic sermon to a mostly Jewish audience, he culminated his sermon with these words: “We tell you the good news: what God promised our fathers, he has fulfilled for us, by raising up Jesus” (Acts 13:32-33). Sermon after sermon is like this. The reason this surprised me is because our modern presentations of the gospel are almost always focused on the cross of Jesus, and oftentimes do not even mention the resurrection at all. In fact, for many Christians today, we talk about the resurrection on Easter Sunday, but we don’t think about it a whole lot beyond that single day.
But for the early church, the resurrection was everything. It was the resurrection, not the crucifixion, that changed the minds and radically transformed the lives of the early disciples. Otherwise, the disciples on the road to Emmaus would have already been Christians! It was the risen Lord who changed them. The resurrection proclaimed the victory of the cross, vindicated Jesus as Lord, and was the inauguration of Jesus’ Kingdom advancing forward in the world. Biblical Christianity is a resurrection faith- without the resurrection, it is nothing.
In this series, we’ll be exploring the message implications of the resurrection of Jesus for everything. In a time of increasing despair, anxiety and hopelessness, the resurrection is a powerful message of hope for personal lives, for the world, and for future life.
In preparation for worship this week, read the story in Luke 24:13-35, and invite God to “open your eyes” to see the risen Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:1–8, 20–26
1 Now, brothers and sisters, 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 Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters 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.
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.