April 2024 T4T Newsletter: Resurrection Verse Pack
It’s thrilling to know that the same question that plagued Job is the same question that has challenged all of humanity. In Job 9:2 he asked a question for the ages, and one that has indeed been asked over and over again and is the greatest question facing all of humanity.
“How can a man be in the right before God?” (Job 9:2)
Job is simply asking what must a person do in order to be in a right relationship with God. This is the most important question and one that each of us would do well to ponder. Interestingly, the world over, the mass of humanity has sought the answer to this question by looking inwardly. Such looking has led to every known human derived institution of religion known to man. Save one. Christianity.
And in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have had revealed to us by God Himself, the right answer to Job’s question. The answer of which is provided by God Himself.
In fact, God did provide Himself as the means by which a man or woman could be in a right relationship with Himself.
Jesus Christ, the God-man, being without sin, became sin by taking on Himself the sins of the world. And at the cross, He bore the wrath of God as the right punishment for those sins. The New Covenant was established and those for whom Jesus died in their place, could now live as forgiven sons and daughters of God.
This good news, this gospel message, is at the heart of God’s redemptive plan for the ages. And how we can know for certain that God’s gospel is on the solid, and can be trusted in, is anchored in the resurrection of Jesus. Because as the Apostle Paul said to the believers in Corinth, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17) The resurrection of Jesus Christ is without question, the validation and vindication of God’s eternal purpose. The Apostle Paul said that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was God’s “proof to all” people everywhere that Jesus, the very Son of God, was indeed Himself God in the flesh come redeem His very own.
And while that’s indeed good news, and the reason for the hope that all of God’s children possess, the hope of knowing we have the free forgiveness of sins and are thus made to be in a right relationship with God for all eternity because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. We also need to be ready to make a defense for this hope we possess to others when asked.
“But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.” 1 Peter 3:15
So let me encourage you to put together a ‘Resurrection Verse Pack’ so that you will indeed be “ready” when asked “to give an account for the hope that is in you.”
Jesus predicted His own resurrection:
Matthew 16:21
From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.
Matthew 17:22–23
22And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men;
23and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.
3. Matthew 20:18–19
18“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death,
19and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”
Luke 9:21–22
21But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone,
22saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”
Luke 18:32–33
32“For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon,
33and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again.”
In each of these verses Jesus foretold of His death, burial and resurrection. Now in the next set of verses, we have scriptural support for the fact that it happened just as Jesus foretold.
II. Post-resurrection verses
Luke 24:6–7
6“He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,
7saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”
Luke 24:45–48
45Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
46and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day,
47and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
48“You are witnesses of these things.
Acts 10:39–41
39“We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross.
40“God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible,
41not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.
1 Corinthians 15:3–5
3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
5and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
III. Verifiable Burial
Another scriptural support for the hope of the resurrection is a verifiable burial. All four gospels give independent accounts of Jesus’ proper burial at the hands of one Joseph of Arimathea.
Joseph was a “prominent member of the Council” who deliberated on what to do with Jesus. Joseph was a very well known person within Jerusalem and would not be the sort of person who would have been invented by the disciples if they were intending to make up a phony story about Jesus’ burial. This shows us that the disciples simply recorded the facts as they occurred.
Verses to support this:
Matthew 27:57
57When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
Mark 15:43 (NASB95)
43Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.
Luke 23:50–53 (NASB95)
50And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man
51(he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God;
52this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
53And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain.
John 19:38 (NASB95)
38After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body.
IV. Women Were the First Eyewitnesses
Another scriptural support for the hope of the resurrection is both simple and profound. The empty tomb of Jesus was first discovered by women. All four gospels affirm that the empty tomb was discovered first by women. Which, if the disciples of Jesus were trying to invent a plausible story, they would have never had women as the first witness at the empty tomb. In the first-century Jewish society, a woman’s testimony wasn’t even permissible in a court of law. In other words, a woman’s testimony would not have been regarded as truthful. So again, if the disciples wanted to deceive people into believing a fake resurrection story, they most certainly would not have had women first at the empty tomb. Instead, they would have had men there first. So again, there is biblical, historical, and logical evidence to support the accurate reporting of Jesus' resurrection. Another point here is the love of Jesus for women. We see all through the New Testament that women are esteemed and loved by our Lord.
Verses to support this:
Matthew 28:5–6
5The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.
6“He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.
Mark 16:6
6And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.
Luke 24:3–6
3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
5and as the women were terrified…the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead?
6“He is not here, but He has risen.
John 20:2
2So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
Now, for a few more historical facts that help support the resurrection story of Jesus are these:
V. The Disciples Willingly Died for Their Beliefs
“People will die for their religious beliefs if they sincerely believe they’re true, but a person won’t die for religious beliefs if they know absolutely their beliefs are false.” History shows us that Jesus’ disciples lived the rest of their lives in very difficult circumstances and ultimately became martyrs for their faith in Jesus. These men were in a unique position not only to believe Jesus rose from the dead, but to know with 100% certainty. Surely they didn’t die believing in a lie. Their martyrdoms are established historical facts.
VI. Changes to Key Jewish Social Structures
In Peter's earliest sermons, we see that several thousands of Jewish people were committing themselves to the faith of Jesus being their long awaited Messiah. In order for them to do this, it required a staggering change for them and their families within the social structures of their Jewish communities. Such changes could only be understood in light of their seeing and hearing of all that happened to Jesus, including of course His death, burial and resurrection.
All of these facts are without dispute and should enable us as disciples of Jesus Christ to be very bold in our witnessing to others about the reality that Jesus rose from the grave just like He said He would.
The testimony of Jesus Himself.
An indisputable burial.
The testimony of the women at the tomb.
The life transformation of His disciples.
Changes to Jewish social structures.
All five of these PROOFS give support to the reality of the hope we have in the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.