Everything Turns on This Morning
Joseph rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed (Matthew 27:60). If the story ends there, Christ is not risen, and Paul says your faith is vain and you are still in your sins (1 Corinthians 15:17). Other religious founders died and stayed dead. Without a risen Saviour we would have one more dead teacher and no hope at all. But now is Christ risen from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20).
He did not rise and leave. Luke says He shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days (Acts 1:3). He met them, spoke with them, ate with them, and let them touch Him. This article walks through those days in order. The doctrine of His rising is in The Bodily Resurrection, and the case for it is in The Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Ask yourself one question as you read. On Friday these people ran, hid, and denied Him. Weeks later they stood up in the city that killed Him and said He was alive, and many paid for it with their lives. What happened? Something changed their minds, and nothing but the truth of it explains the change.
The time between the resurrection and the ascension, when Jesus appeared to His followers and spoke of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3).
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For Deeper Study
- A Harmony of the Gospels for Students of the Life of ChristAmazon A. T. RobertsonA Southern Baptist Greek scholar sets the four Gospels side by side, so you can read the Easter accounts in parallel for yourself.
- Easter Enigma: Are the Resurrection Accounts in Conflict?Amazon John WenhamAn Anglican scholar's detailed attempt to fit the accounts together. Helpful and careful, though we do not follow him on every point.
- The Reality of the ResurrectionAmazon Merrill C. TenneyAn evangelical New Testament scholar at Wheaton on the resurrection in Scripture and in the life of the believer.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Trials and the Cross
Though no fault was found in Him, Jesus was condemned by the council and by Pilate, was crucified, spoke seven times from the cross, and gave up His life in the place of sinners, finishing the work His Father gave Him.
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