Good morning and a blessed Thursday morning to you.

I'd like to talk with you today about the purpose of the resurrection, and the purpose of the appearances of the resurrected Christ. 

So let's start in 1 Corinthians the 15^th chapter. 

Apostle Paul writing on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit records this… 

12Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. 15We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. 19If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Scripture reveals to us here the importance of the resurrection, because if Christ did not come out of the tomb then our proclamation is in vain. We're misrepresenting God, our faith is feudal and we're still in our sins. And those that have died in Christ have perished. The fact that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead… it's that divine message that the sacrifice for sin had been accepted. Our faith just absolutely crumbles. It would crumble if Christ did not come out of the tomb. That’s the purpose of the resurrection. 

Well what about the purpose of the resurrection appearances we see in Holy Scripture?  There are 10 distinct post-resurrection appearances of our Lord, to no less than 500 people. So what was the purpose of them?

The Gospel of John the 20th chapter helps us in that regard.

John 20:30-31

30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

The resurrection appearances were for the purpose that we might believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. The facts just overwhelm me. The evidence is overwhelming of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Eyewitnesses to this account… 

2 Peter 1:16   

16For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.

John in chapter one, speaking of Christ….

John 1:14

14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. 

The purpose of the resurrection and the purpose of the appearances of the resurrected Christ is good news indeed. 

Gracious Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for this time in your Word. Your Word is truth. Gracious Father, we give you thanks that you are a God indeed who keeps his promises. We give you thanks for the cross and the empty tomb of our Lord. We give you thanks that our sins have been atoned for… that the tomb is empty and the sacrifice has been accepted. We give you thanks for the purpose of the resurrection, and we give you thanks for all of the resurrection appearances. We give you thanks for those 40 days that you appeared as the risen Lord Jesus Christ to at least 500 people. And so, with this overwhelming evidence we stand in confidence. We stand in confidence that Jesus Christ is crucified and risen. We praise your holy and blessed name. In Jesus’ strong and holy name we pray. Amen.

May God bless you this week.  Encourage someone.

Pastor Eibel