Preaching The
Resurrection
Acts
The physical, bodily
resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is an indisputable fact of
history. No honest man can question it. Our Lord appeared at least ten times to
a whole multitude of witnesses after his resurrection. First, he appeared to
Mary Magdalene (Mk. 16:9-11; John 20:14-18), second, to the disciples on the
road to Emmaus (Mk. 16:12, Lk. 24:13-32), third, to Simon Peter (Lk. 24:33-34;
I Cor. 15:5), fourth, to the eleven apostles when Thomas was absent (Lk.
24:36-43; John 20:19-25), fifth, to the eleven again when Thomas was present
(Mk. 16:14; John 20:27-29), sixth, to the women who had first visited the empty
tomb (Matt. 28:9-10), seventh, to all the apostles and more than five hundred
brethren at one time in one place (Matt. 28:16-20; I Cor. 15:6), eighth, to the
disciples fishing on the lake at Galilee (John 21:1-24), ninth, to James his
brother (I Cor. 15:7, and, tenth, to all the apostles assembled at Jerusalem
(Lk. 24:44-49; Acts 1:4-8; I Cor. 15:7).
By these many
infallible proofs our Lord showed himself to be alive after he was crucified,
buried, and risen as our Substitute. But merely to say
that Jesus Christ arose from the dead, or even that he arose according to the
scriptures, is not gospel preaching. Many will insist on these facts who do not know or preach the gospel. The facts must be
known. But facts are not good news. The good news we preach, the gospel we
proclaim is "how" that Christ rose again the third day according to
the scriptures.
To preach the
resurrection is to preach THE RESURRECTION OF GOD'S ELECT REPRESENTIVELY WITH
CHRIST. When Christ arose from the dead, we arose with him, freed from all the
guilt of sin (Eph. 2:5-7). We preach the resurrection when we preach THE
RESURRECTION OF GOD'S ELECT SPIRITUALLY BY CHRIST (John
Don Fortner