“But now Christ is risen from the dead…” (I Corinthians 15:20a)
Think about it:
- Even Abraham and Job (both around 2000 B.C.) believed in a resurrection from the dead (Genesis 22:5; Job 19:25-27)….
- A thousand years earlier, King David predicted that Christ would not experience the corruption after death (Psalm 16:10)….
- Jesus raised Himself from the dead (John 10:17, 18)….
- The resurrection of Jesus was the central powerful message of the early church (Acts 2:32, 3:15, etc.)….
- There were more than 500 eye-witnesses who saw Him after His resurrection (I Corinthians 15:6)….
- If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, what hope is there that you will be resurrected? [Nowhere does the Bible teach annihilation or extinction]! (I Corinthians 15:17)….
- If the resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened historically, then other miracles (creation, for example) also happened (reality is reality, and that includes miracles)! If the resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened historically, then everything He predicted about the future will also literally and physically take place in space and time! For example, Acts 1:11 records, “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven (after His resurrection), will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Jesus will be coming back to earth in His resurrected body!
Are you ready to meet the resurrected Christ? You can choose to deny the reality of the facts of Christ’s resurrection, but not for too long! Revelation, the last Book of the Bible concludes, “I (Jesus Christ) am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen” (chapter 1:18)!
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