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The good news of our Resurrected King is the cornerstone of Christianity. If Jesus didn't rise, then our faith is futile...but if He did, our faith is so firm, that difficult days & even death cannot shipwreck our future hope.

Gospel means “GOOD NEWS” and here’s what that message is: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and He was raised on the third day. This same message could be found hundreds of years before in the Scriptures - meaning the Hebrew Scriptures - the Old Testament! (e.g. Peter quotes Ps 16:10 in Acts 2:25-31; see Hosea 6:2). 

This man would DIE because of the rebellion of the Jewish people. He would be assigned a grave with the wicked - dying with criminals & supposed to be buried with them…BUT…he was with a rich man at his death. 

• The New Testament explains how Jesus died between 2 thieves (Mt 27:38, Mk 15:28, Lk 23:32-33). 
• Before being buried with “the wicked”, Joseph - “a rich man” - asked the Roman procurator who had Jesus crucified, for permission to bury Jesus in his own brand new tomb instead (Mt 27:57–60). 

This doesn’t sound like it ends with death, but with continued life! This predicts not only the death of Jesus, but His resurrection, and redemption of many!

This is the Gospel message about Jesus, the Christ (aka Messiah), according to the Old Testament Scriptures. 

• Cephas (pr. K-fäs) is Simon Peter (Lk 24:34). Cephas is the Aramaic term for Greek “Peter”.  
• The 12 is referring to the apostles Jesus called (minus Judas the betrayer).
• 500 could be referring to others who saw & heard Jesus on the mountain in Galilee with the apostles (Mt 28:16-21). 
• James should be translated as “Jacob” (Greek Iakōbos) - most likely the half-brother of Jesus (Mt 13:55; Gal 1:19; 2:9; Ac 15:13; Jas 1:1; Jude 1) who becomes one of the elders in the Church of Jerusalem.
• Jesus appeared multiple times after that to all the apostles and others during the 40 days of His resurrection & ascension (Acts 1:3; Jn 21:1-14). 
• Paul tells his story multiple times in Acts (Acts 9:1-9; Ac 22:6–11; 26:12–18).

Paul, MVP of the other team, exchanging jerseys and joining the team he previously considered the arch rival. WHY? His answer? Jesus appeared to me. 

Paul is grateful for God’s grace given to him, knowing that he didn’t deserve it. And now, he doesn’t care who gets the credit, but only that people hear about Jesus, and that they believe the GOOD NEWS of Jesus! Some where walking away from what they had been taught, and this was a great concern to Paul. Some of them were even denying the future physical resurrection of those who had died.

Almost everyone in that day believed in life after death. 

• The Greek/Roman concept of life after death focused on a disembodied immortal soul, but not a physical resurrection of the dead. They viewed the spiritual as good and the physical as bad, so the idea of being shackled to a resurrected body was sickening to them.
• On the Jewish side, Pharisees believed in resurrection, but Sadducees did not (Mt 22:23; Acts 23:8)
• Those who follow the teachings of Jesus believe in a body/soul unity - like the resurrected Jesus (Jn 6:44; 11:25). 

We see this major philosophical difference between Christians & Romans when Paul shared the GOOD NEWS of Jesus with the people of Athens. When Paul told them about Jesus rising from the dead, some were intrigued and wanted to hear more but for others, “When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him.” (Acts 17:32).  

• The resurrected King is the foundation of our .
• If Jesus didn’t rise, then our faith...is in vain - empty - false. 

If people won’t rise from the dead in the future, then Jesus didn’t rise in the past. And if Jesus didn’t resurrect in the past, then the message of the apostles is a BIG FAT LIE!

The Christian message RISES or falls on this one claim, that Jesus of Nazareth physically rose from the dead!

If Jesus has not been raised, then we have NO FUTURE HOPE. What we do now means NOTHING in eternity.

Think about that for a moment: If Jesus has not been raised:

• Your faith is false - you’ve bought a lie.
• Those who we look forward to seeing loved ones in the heavenly kingdom…NOPE! It’s over.

And if that’s TRUE we might as well live by the motto, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor 15:32).

Adam’s sin impacted all of us - We are born with a sin nature that will reveal itself at a young age. Because of our sin, every person WILL die, unless Jesus returns first. 

Adam blatantly disobeyed God’s commands, the Lord Jesus perfectly OBEYED the commands of God the Father.

Jesus died, not because of His sin, but because of our sin. But Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep [Christian lingo for death]. The firstfruits were the first crops harvested, with a larger crop to follow. Just as Jesus physically rose from the dead, so will those who belong to Christ…at His coming. What a day that will be! Love ones be reunited and WE WILL SEE our Resurrected King - the one who gave His life for ours!

• Some think there is a 7 year gap between a secret coming and the second coming. (I don’t.)

1. Paul talks of the resurrection of those who belong to Christ (v23) 
2. which is then followed by His final victory over the enemies of God.

Paul borrows this language from the Scriptures of putting enemies under His feet like a footstool is from Ps 8:6 and Ps 110:1 - the favorite Old Testament chapter quoted by the New Testament writers - that God the Father would put all Jesus’ enemies under His feet. This is the “footstool” language as seen in this ancient carving of a victor’s enemy being placed under his feet as a footstool, just as Joshua had his leaders do to the kings who fought against the Hebrew people (Joshua 10:24).

• 1 Cor 15:24-25 also brings to mind the writing from Daniel 7:13-14 that Jesus quoted when standing on trial before His death (predicting that every people, nation, and language will serve Him and His kingdom will never end). This is further amplified by Paul in Phil 2:9-10 where he writes that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. 

One Final Enemy to Defeat Forever

Paul is also using cultural language to show what happens after Jesus defeats all His enemies. After the top military general squashed the Roman Emperor’s enemies, the general would return to Rome and demonstrate his submission to the Emperor, rather than claiming the glory for himself.  

discussionquestions

Take some time to discuss these questions with your family, friends, or group.

1. What challenged or encouraged you most from today’s teaching? You might need to look back in your notes to help explain your answer.
2. After considering the significance of the resurrection of Jesus, explain how you have researched or examined good reasons to trust the claims about the risen Jesus? (You can’t convince others if you aren’t first convinced.) If anyone from your group would like resources you might consider: “Evidence that Demands a Verdict” by Josh & Sean McDowell (see QR code —->).
3. Read 1 Cor 15:5-11. Discuss the significance of each of the multiple eyewitnesses who claimed to see the risen Jesus. Why are the claims of James and Paul so intriguing (James was formerly a skeptic - Mark 3:20-21)?
4. Read 1 Cor 15:12-23. What are the ramifications if Jesus DID NOT rise from the dead AND if Jesus DID rise?
5. What other questions has this teaching or discussion prompted for us to talk about?
6. Share prayer needs and pray for one another.