Discovering Jesus – Chapter 11: The Resurrection of Jesus
11. The Resurrection of Jesus
Mankind has always hoped to defeat death. In every race and religion there has been a hope that the finality of death could be overthrown, the tomb broken, and the darkness that comes at the end of life’s struggle be reversed in a new dawning.
Christians believe that from a rock-cut tomb Jesus Christ rose from the dead and, because he has conquered death, he enables those who believe in him to also find life eternal.
There’s an old Jewish saying which says, ‘Everyone has two homes: the place where he now lives and Jerusalem.’ 1 Wherever they are every Easter Sunday morning Christians around the world remember the empty tomb in Jerusalem and rejoice in the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is the centrepoint of the gospel and our resurrection to eternal life through faith in him the centrepoint of New Testament faith.
When the stone was rolled away at the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus spoke of his own death and resurrection. Lazarus had been resuscitated to life only to die again. Jesus was to be resurrected by the power of God and brought to a new level of life. There would be no more death and his existing body would be physically transformed. Christian resurrection is not a reviving or a resuscitation; it is a recreation to a new order of life.
The German theologian, Karl Barth, once said in an interview:
We may believe in Christ only if we believe in his bodily resurrection. This is the content of the New Testament. We are always free to reject it, but not to modify it, or to pretend that the New Testament tells us something else. We may reject or refuse the message, but we may not change it. 2
What happened at the open tomb on the morning of the resurrection? The answer to that question, if faced honestly, can change your entire future.
What is ‘resurrection’?
The first written record concerning the resurrection of Jesus is found in a letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians who lived in the Greek city of Corinth. They were concerned about the resurrection of Jesus and how it related to Greek belief about the immortality of the soul.
(a) Jewish thought
The Jews believed in the resurrection of the body. In one of the last books written in Old Testament times, Job says:
How I wish that someone would remember my words and record them in a book! Or with a chisel carve my words in stone and write them so that they would last forever. But I know there is someone in heaven who will come at last to my defence. Even after my skin is eaten by disease, while still in this body I will see God. I will see him with my own eyes and will not be a stranger. 3
One of the books written between the Old and New Testaments, the Book of Enoch, indicates that at the end of the earth those who have died will be brought back to life; from the place of the dead will come all those who died in faith. No matter how disfigured or dismembered your body might have been, God would bring every trace of your body together again and you would be remade. Physically we may return ‘ashes to ashes and dust to dust’ 4 but God would bring us together so that we would be recognisable after death.
(b) Greek thought
By contrast, the Greeks despised the body, believing that it was only a shell that imprisoned people’s spirit. What was essential was that the spirit should be liberated from the body. Stoic philosophers stressed that physical appetite had to be disciplined – to allow the soul to be beautified and freed. After death, the shackles of our body would let loose our soul, which would continue on in immortality.
(c) Christian thought
Christians do not accept either the Jewish concept of bodily resurrection, nor the Greek philosophy of the immortality of the soul.
On the basis of the resurrection of Jesus, Paul taught that Christians will have a resurrected but glorified body and a soul which would be made immortal by faith. Our body would not be like our physical one, but one more suited for an everlasting spiritual life. On the other hand, our soul would not be immortal in the sense of drab nothingness. Rather we would be joined in harmony with God and those we have loved.
When we die, our body will return to dust, to the elements from which it came when God breathed into it the breath of life. But our spirit – our personality, soul or essential being – will return to God where, in a glorified body, we will live with Christ and those who through faith are obedient to him.
Paul explained it this way:
I passed on to you what I received, which is of the greatest importance, that Christ died for our sins, as written in the scriptures; that he was buried and that he was raised to life three days later, as written in the scriptures; that he appeared to Peter and then to all the twelve apostles. Then he appeared to more than five hundred of his followers at once, most of whom are still alive, although some have died. Then he appeared to James, and afterwards to all the apostles. Last of all he appeared also to me. 5
Although Paul was the first to write an account of the resurrection, other written records of the spoken testimony and witness of those who were at the garden tomb on the morning of the resurrection soon followed.
They all have a striking similarity: they told of the fact that Jesus had been raised from the dead, then gave some personal account of how the risen Jesus had come into their lives. The resurrection was both historical fact and personal experience.
Who witnessed the resurrection of Jesus?
The first to come to the tomb was a group of women. We know the name of several: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna and simply ‘some other women from Galilee’. 6
Mary Magdalene, on seeing the stone out of its place, ran anxiously to Peter and John, informing them that the body was missing. They both set off to the tomb, the young John beating Peter to the entrance. However Peter, with greater impetuosity, straightway went down into the tomb. There he saw the grave clothes and the cloth which had been wrapped around the head of Jesus lying separately. Both disciples had come expecting to search for a corpse. Instead they saw and believed. They went back to the upper room to report their findings to the other disciples who had gathered in fear and misery.
Mary stood crying outside the tomb when she was suddenly aware of someone standing behind her:
She thought he was the gardener, so she said to him, ‘If you took him away, sir, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned towards him and said…‘Teacher’. 7
That meeting of the resurrected Christ changed the life of Mary Magdalene even more than the time he forgave her of her adultery and called her to a new life of purity. Immediately, she also ran to the other disciples and told them that she had seen the Lord.
On that first Easter Day Jesus made five appearances. He spoke to the women, 8 to Peter, 9 to the two who were walking to Emmaus, 10 and to ten of the disciples in Jerusalem in the upper room. 11 Afterwards he was to appear once more to the disciples, this time with Thomas present, and on four other occasions to whole groups of believers – including one with more than five hundred persons present.
In the same upper room in Jerusalem, where Jesus had eaten bread and farewelled his disciples only three nights earlier, Jesus appeared to them again. On the day after the resurrection they had hidden here, fearful that they too would be executed. The doors were locked. They were despairing, downcast and defeated.
Suddenly, with a burst of radiant energy, Jesus entered the room and appeared before them:
It was late that Sunday evening, and the disciples were gathered together behind locked doors, because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities. Then Jesus came and stood among them. ‘Peace be with you,’ he said. After saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you.’ 12
Following this series of meetings with their resurrected Lord, those disciples were completely changed people.
We may point to the various physical evidences of the resurrection – the stone which was rolled away, the seal which was broken, the Roman guard that had fled – but one indisputable fact remains: frightened, cowardly men who had hidden behind locked doors out of fear for their lives were now charged with new energy. They lived their lives with such heroic, open witness that they defied the very men from whom they had hid, face-to-face accusing them of murdering Jesus and pronouncing that they were witnesses of his resurrection.
It was the turn of the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin to be cowardly. Given strict orders to keep silent and not to continue witnessing under pain of death, Peter and the other apostles said to them:
We must obey God, not men. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from death, after you had killed him by nailing him to a cross. God raised him to his right hand side as Leader and Saviour, to give the people of Israel the opportunity to repent and have their sins forgiven. We are witnesses to these things. 13
These Galilean fishermen, now empowered with the promised gift of the Holy Spirit who would bring to their memories everything Jesus had taught them, became the most intrepid band of disciples the world had ever seen. It was said by their enemies that those disciples turned the world upside down, preaching about a resurrected Messiah who could give life to those who believed in him.
At the same time as Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room, two others who had believed in Jesus were trudging their way back to Emmaus. Down the Jaffa Road, this village was the site of a colony of Roman soldiers, away from Jerusalem but close enough if they were needed to quell trouble. On that stony road two dispirited followers of Jesus were to witness a further appearance of the master. As they neared their home at sunset, a fellow traveller fell in step with them. They were down-hearted and sad. Jesus said to them, ‘What are you talking about to each other as you walk along?’
They stood still and one of them, named Cleopas, asked him,’ Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have been happening there these last few days?’
‘What things?’ he asked.
‘The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied. ‘This man was a prophet and was considered by God and by all the people to be powerful in everything he said and did. Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and he was crucified. And we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free…’
As they came near the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther; but they held him back, saying, ‘Stay with us; the day is almost over and it is getting dark.’ So he went in to eat with them, took the bread, and said the blessing; then he broke the bread and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, but he disappeared from their sight…
They got up at once and went back to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven disciples gathered together with the others and saying, ‘The Lord is risen indeed! He has appeared to Simon!’
The two of them explained what had happened on the road, and how they had recognised the Lord when he broke the bread. 14
Since that day, in a thousand villages and at countless tables where bread has been broken, people have felt their hearts strangely warmed and they have suddenly realised that they are in the presence of the risen Lord.
What does the resurrection mean?
(a) A sign of God’s love and acceptance
When we believe that Jesus has been raised from the dead there is, all of a sudden, an awareness of the meaning of the life and death of Jesus.
The resurrection shows that God has met our sin – that through the death of Jesus on the cross God himself has reached out to us despite our rebellion against him. God does not allow us to stay in a separated state. Instead, by raising Jesus from death, he has responded with love and acceptance. In spite of all that we may have done, God still loves us and calls us back to himself.
(b) An offer of forgiveness and eternal life
The resurrection of Jesus tells us that truth is stronger than lies, that love conquers hate and that life overcomes death.
The resurrection confirms that we have been accepted through the redemption offered by Jesus. He has been sacrificed for our sins; God has accepted that sacrifice and cleansed us from our wrong. When we trust him, we are ‘raised with Christ spiritually to live in the presence of God.
The resurrection of Jesus assures us that death is not the end, that its power has been broken, and that by faith we can live in a new relationship with God.
(c) A fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy
The early preachers were quick to grasp the significance of the resurrection. Peter described how it was a direct fulfilment of prophecy in the Old Testament. 15 Stephen showed how the whole of Israel’s history as a nation culminated in the person of Jesus, 16 while Paul declared:
I stand here giving my witness to all, to small and great alike. What I say is the very same thing which the prophets of Moses said was going to happen: that the Messiah must suffer and be the first one to rise from death, and to announce the light of salvation to the Jews and the Gentiles. 17
(d) A guarantee of our own resurrection
Some people have sought to prove the resurrection of Jesus by looking at the circumstantial evidence. Others have considered alternative explanations: his body had been stolen by the disciples or by the Roman guard. Jesus had merely swooned on the cross and was then unconscious for three days, the authorities had blundered in having his body removed. But all these arguments are secondary to the experience of the risen Christ in our own lives. We know Christ has risen because we have experienced his power.
From the very first instance Paul understood the centrality of the resurrection:
And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is a delusion and you are still lost in your sins. It would also mean that the believers in Christ who have died are lost. If our hope in Christ is good for this life only and no more, then we deserve more pity than anyone else in the world.
But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised. 18
The Christian Church could not have come into existence without the resurrection. It was founded on the preaching of the resurrection, among people who saw Jesus crucified and how could inspect for themselves Joseph’s tomb. The fact that we worship on a Sunday, and not the Jewish Sabbath or Saturday, is a consequence of our belief in the resurrection. 19
The early believers witnessed to their faith in the act of baptism. The very symbolism of dying, being buried (under the water) and being raised with Christ in newness of life was itself a testimony to their belief in the resurrection.
They also gave witness to their faith by the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This is no mournful wake for a slain Master, but a ‘eucharist’ or thanksgiving where in the bread and wine we encounter the presence of Jesus.
The final appearance
Along the shores of Galilee where he first came and called his disciples to leave their nets, Jesus made his final resurrection appearance to the disciples.
In the most natural of ways Peter had indicated that he was going to go back to Galilee to his old job of fishing, while he worked out what he should do in the future. The other disciples went with him:
As the sun was rising, Jesus stood at the water’s edge, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then he asked them, ‘Young men, haven’t you caught anything?’
‘Not a thing,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘Throw your net out on the right side of the boat, and you will catch some.’ So they threw the net out and could not pull it back in because they had caught so many fish.
The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Pete, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Peter heard that it was the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken his clothes off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples came to shore in the boat, pulling the net full of fish. They were not very far from land, about a hundred metres away. When they stepped ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there with some fish on it and some bread. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish you have caught.’ 20
There, with a shared breakfast of a loaf of bread and some fish, Jesus recommissioned them to love and follow him.
In the same way Jesus has come to people ever since. The disciples were now discovering the greatest truth of all. From now on there would be nowhere that they might go that he could not be with them. They would always have his presence. That experience of the living Christ has not been confined to first century Christians, but is shared by all those who know the friendship of Jesus. The promise that he would be with us always, wherever we are, has been the promise that has sustained generations of Christians in their personal faith. 21
Once David Livingstone, after returning from the most incredible hardship in Africa, said the following to some university students in Edinburgh:
Shall I tell you what supported me through all these years of exile among a people whose language I could not understand, and whose attitude towards me was always uncertain and often hostile? It was this: ‘Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.’ 22
The presence of Jesus, being ‘in Christ’, is the essential feature of Christianity. For the believer no other argument is needed for the resurrection and no other experience comes close to it.
Endnotes:
1. Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem
2. Quoted in Time Magazine, 20 April 1962
3. Job 19:23-27
4. Genesis 18:27
5. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
6. Luke 24:10 and Mark 16:1
7. John 20:15-16
8. Matthew 28:1; Luke 24:1
9. Luke 24:34
10. Luke 24:13-32
11. John 20:19-23
12. John 20:19-21
13. Acts 5:29-32
14. Luke 24:17-21, 28-31 and 33
15. Acts 2:14-36
16. Acts 7:2-53
17. Acts 26:22-23
18. 1 Corinthians 15:17-20
19. 1 Corinthians 16:2
20. John 21:4-10
21. Matthew 28:18-20
22. Matthew 28:20
For personal reading
Theme: He is risen!
Monday : The victor appears (1 Corinthians 15:1-9)
Tuesday : At the tomb (John 20:11-18)
Wednesday : Meeting on the Emmaus road (Luke 24:13-35)
Thursday : Closed doors (John 20:19-31)
Friday : A breakfast to remember (John 21:1-14)
Saturday : Resurrection preaching (Acts 2:29-42)
Sunday : A persecutor meets the risen Christ (Acts 9:1-19)
For group reading
Topic: The Resurrection of Jesus
1. The resurrection of Jesus is the unique feature of Christianity and the heart of Christian belief. Why?
2. Christians believe in more than the Greek philosophy of the immortality of the soul, or the Jewish belief in the resurrection of the body. What is the Christian belief of what happens to us after death?
3. How does the resurrection of Jesus affect our future?
4. Ultimately the physical evidences for the resurrection of Jesus are redundant because of one further evidence. What is that?
5. One promise of Jesus more than any other sustains Christians, no matter in what circumstances they have found themselves. What is that promise? How does it strengthen our faith?
6. When a person discovers Jesus everything takes on a new perspective and meaning. Have you made that discovery? If so, you might like to share that experience with other members of the group.