When Christ comes what will happen? No one had risen when Christ rose from the dead. Death could not hold Christ. He was sinless and so death couldnāt hold him. Jesus vanquished death. He continues to do so today. In the process he created a door called resurrection. āJesus said to her, āI am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.ā (John 11:25) This fact and the teaching of it in the church caused great problems in the Jewish religionāand it causes great problems today. Many canāt believe that a person could be resurrected from the dead. Yet, whenever Paul preached, he preached the resurrection. Over and over and over Jesus spoke to his disciples about rising again from the dead. And it stands today as a vital part of our faith as Paul says in 1 Corinthians:Ā
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to youāunless you believed in vain.Ā
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that HeĀ rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.Ā
For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.Ā
Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise upāif in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. (1 Corinthians 15:1-19)Ā
Paul uses strong language that tell us how important the resurrection of Christ is to our faith. Here are the verses again:
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.Ā
For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! (1 Corinthians 15:14-17)Ā