The Resurrection of Christ

Basic Christian Doctrines 30

 

1.   Jesus Was Buried.

 

After He was crucified and died, Jesus was taken down from the Cross and buried in a borrowed tomb. He was not cremated (the Bible does not condone cremation), nor was He frozen, embalmed or destroyed. He was buried. This proves, among other things, that He really was dead. If, as some have suggested, Jesus merely fainted on the Cross, He would certainly have died when placed alone without medical attention in the tomb. He was put there hastily because the Sabbath was approaching, so there was no time for the women to use the burial spices. I Cor. 15:3 places great importance on the burial of Christ, as a sort of bridge between crucifixion and resurrection. Once in the tomb, a seal was placed on the stone covering it, not to be disturbed upon penalty of death. Armed guards watched it.

 

2.   Jesus Descended to the Underworld.

 

Where was Jesus before He arose? His body was in the tomb, but His spirit was in the spirit world. The Apostles Creed says, “He descended into Hell (or Hades)”. I Pet. 3:19 refers to this. He did not go and suffer in Hell, as some heretics have suggested. Rather, He went and made a proclamation of His victory over the forces of evil. He proclaimed the defeat and doom of the demons and sinners already in Hell. He did not preach the Gospel to them, for there is no second chance after death. Second, He then went to Paradise and comforted the spirits of saints there, and proclaimed His victory for them. See Luke 23:43. So, Jesus did not disappear or disintegrate into nothingness during that interval.

 

3.   Jesus Rose Physically from the Dead.

 

Jesus did not stay dead. Being the source of life, it was impossible for Him to stay dead (Acts 2:24). He is the Prince of Life. The whole Trinity was involved in raising Jesus: the Father (Heb. 13:20), the Spirit (Rom. 8:11) and Jesus Himself (John 10:18). It was a real physical body, too, not a ghost (Luke 24:39). It was tangible (John 20:27). It still had the scars of the nails and the spear. It was a real resurrection, not a resuscitation, metaphor, or mistake. Throughout the book of Acts, the early Christians boldly proclaimed that Jesus rose from the dead. The Resurrection is a cardinal, essential doctrine of the Christian faith.

 

4.   The Body of Jesus Was Glorified.

 

In one sense, the body of Jesus was the same. It was not less than physical.  It had the same finger prints and DNA code. But in another sense, it was different. It was more than physical.  It had new properties. For example, it could go through doors, de-materialize, disappear, travel great distances. In a moment, change appearance, etc. Each of the Four Gospels records instances of these. It was not only perfect and free from sin, as it had been before, but now was the door to a new kind of human existence. It was the bridge to the next world.

 

5.   God Vindicated Jesus.

 

Rom. 1:4 says that God declared Jesus to be the Son of God by the Resurrection. God proved that Jesus was who He said He was and vindicated Him. Everything Jesus said and did up to then hung on whether He would rise from the dead. It was a sort of gamble, as it were, so far as others were concerned. If He stayed dead, then He wasn't the Messiah; but if He rose, then He was. He was both victim and victor. God accepted the atonement, and showed it by raising Jesus again. Jesus triumphed over death and Satan. If He did not, Christianity is a fraud (I Cor. 15).

 

6.   Jesus Appeared to Many Witnesses.

Each of the Gospels record how Christ appeared to witnesses: the Apostles, the women who brought spices, (especially Mary Magdalene), the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, etc. We are not told if He appeared to His mother Mary, but this is probably true. Judas had already committed suicide, so He witnessed neither the death nor resurrection of Christ. In fact, Christ appeared only to His followers. This strengthened their faith. He did not appear to the Pharisees. He did, though, appear to James and His brethren, which converted them. He appeared to 500 people at one time. Paul was the last one to witness the resurrected Christ. Stephen, John and others had special visions of Jesus in glory, but we have no license to expect such visions today.  

 

7.   Jesus Was the Firstfruits of Resurrection.

 

God had raised others from the dead before Christ (Lazarus, Jairus' servant, the little girl, a few in the O.T.), but they later died. The point is that Christ was the first to be raised in a perfect body suitable for Heaven. I Cor. 15:20 says He is the “firstfruits”, or prototype of our future resurrection. We will be raised in the same kind of body He had. We will live because He lives. Nobody else has received this kind of  body yet. It will happen at the Rapture.

 

8.   Jesus Returned to Heaven.

 

After 40 days with His people,  Jesus returned to Heaven from where He came. This is what we call the Ascension. He ascended from where He had descended 33 years earlier (John 3:13, Eph. 4:9-10). This was to complete the Heavenward direction of the Resurrection. Acts 1 tells us that the Ascension was witnessed by the 11 Apostles, and that it was physical and visible, and occurred through a cloud. The Second Coming will be like this in reverse. I Tim. 3:16 says He was “received up in glory”. His humanity went up and is not with us, but His deity is everywhere. Thus, He gave the Great Commission of Matt 28, telling us to go every where because He will be with us everywhere, though He is also in Heaven. Enoch and Elijah ascended, but not in this same manner. The Catholic Church errs in saying that Mary also ascended.

 

9.   Jesus Was Crowned Lord of Lords.

 

Jesus had always been eternally God. But His humanity began at the Incarnation, and had always lived in humility. Now, the God-Man was glorified in His fullness. He was rewarded for His great work of coming down, dying, and rising. Phil. 2 is the great Bible passage on this wonderful theme. He was crowned as Lord in a special way. For one thing, He now sits on the throne with God the Father. Also, the Father has given all judgement to the  Son, the God-Man. This is part of the reward and honor bestowed upon Him at the Ascension. No doubt the angels in Heaven sung a new song of worship, as did the saints who were there. We too often overlook the significance of this great event.

 

10. Jesus Now Intercedes for Us in Heaven.

 

Between the Ascension and Second Coming, there is the Heavenly Session of Christ. He reigns, answers prayer, and mediates in all things between God and us. He is still the God-Man. He did not cease to be God at the Incarnation, and did not cease to be Man at the Ascension.  He is our Mediator, the only Mediator (1 Tim. 2:4-5). He always lives in Heaven to intercede for us at the bar of God (Heb. 7:25). He prays for us. We daily sin, so we need His daily intercession. He died once, lives forever. We have access to God now through Him (Eph. 2:18). Since there is but one such Mediator, we may not pray to anyone else. And we ought to regularly worship Him and pray to Him.