Topic: Gospel
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. (I Corinthians 15:3-8 KJV)
Today, I would like to look at the resurrection of the dead. Most today’s preachers do not bring this subject any more. It is important for us that there is another life after we would be gone from this planet. You may hear that Jesus will come back to the earth to take us. But, we may be dead or live to experience the transformation of our bodies.
We would like to begin this topic with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Most of us have learned that Jesus died on Good Friday and resurrected on Easter Sunday. This teaching arrived from the Catholicism and not from the biblical aspect. In Matthew 12:39-41, Jesus gave His disciples a sign of Jonas as a key to His death and resurrection. He didn’t die on Friday evening, but Wednesday evening, and resurrected on Saturday evening to signify the Passover the lamb on the Sabbath (Saturday).
When Jesus resurrected, He first went to see Cephas and then twelve apostles. Greek word for Cephas is stone, which Jesus gave another name for Peter (Matthew 16:18). This does not mean Jesus put him over the church, which the Catholic Church takes this verse literally. We must understand we, those who believe in Jesus Christ, all are bodies of the church. The church is universal. In Old Testament, people had to go to the temple to worship God. But, after Jesus resurrected from the dead on the third day, we can worship God at anywhere and anytime. His resurrection signified our freedom from sins. He paid our debt of sins on the cross to demonstrate His love. We need to understand His death is not totally free, even though He freed us from sins. We have to follow Him daily and live for Him.
We cannot experience resurrection until we’d full understand what God has done for us.
Would you like to know Jesus Christ today? I’d like to recommend you to stop things what you are doing for moment and ask Him for forgiveness of your sins and invite Him to your life. If you are Christian and would like to re-vow your commitment to Him, it’s not too late for you to reunite with Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. God wants you to be in His kingdom and live with Him forever, but He cannot force you to be there. You have to choose to go either Heaven or Hell for eternality and there is no other way to spend eternality. Jesus paid your price for you to go Heaven by dying on the cross. Paul said in Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Now, you have choice which life you’d like to live from now to eternality. Hopefully, you have made right choice for your life.
