Can I Believe in Resurrection? - 1 Corinthians 15 - 17

Do you believe there is a God in heaven and that he is the one and only Jehovah God? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God? Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins? Do you accept the Bible as the true and infallible word of God? If your answer to any of the above questions is NO, then there is no way you will be able to fully believe in resurrection. If your answer is YES, then there is no way to disbelieve in the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day and that the open grave is your door to heaven.

I hope you are not a doubter, but if you are then you may be startled by my intensity in this pronouncement that if Jesus Christ did not die on the cross; and if Jesus Christ did not arise from his death and burial—then the bible is a hoax and there is no hope for man kind. No man can truthfully believe and say that there is not a higher power because God created man with a built in instinct that causes him to believe and worship something that is in existence above him. Columbus found that Indians in America who did not have access to any source of spiritual knowledge were very religious, and worshipped what they believed to be a higher power. Christian missionaries have found the same condition existed among all heathen tribes.

There are many examples in the bible, and made known through secular history, that prove that uneducated man who does not know and/or accept the one true God, will make or select his own deity. The golden calf at Mt. Sinai is a good example; the Indian Totem-pole, the sex goddesses of the Egyptians that contaminated the Jerusalem Temple, the sun, moon and stars have all served as idols of worship. Who or what do you serve?

If you believe the bible, then you know that God created man and gave him a helpmate with instructions to inhabit the earth. When God finished his creation He declared that all was good. There was no sin and all were the children of God, created by him and endowed with a free will. Sin entered a perfect space [the garden] and man chose to ignore God’s instructions and disobeyed him. Man’s free choice to sin disrupted God’s plan for his children [family] and he had to devise a plan by which they could return to Him.

God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to earth to complete the plan of return for all who will believe in Him. Jesus lived here among us for thirty plus years and devised the plan of salvation. He taught his followers the plan and told them that he would shed his blood and die on the cross, and that he would be resurrected and would ascend into heaven where he would prepare a place for those who would believe and accept him as their Lord. He explained that his resurrection would show the way that we, all believers, too would die and be resurrected and meet him in glory.

In Corinthians, Paul has been busy answering questions that believers in the new church were having trouble believing. He had found that some of them were denying [or maybe were just not able to understand] the possibility of the resurrection. Just as we, they had no visible evidence and did not realize that we must accept the total plan of salvation by faith. Simple faith. I did not see Christ die—but thousands of witnesses did and I believe what they have told me. I did not see him coming forth from the grave but hundreds did see him after he was resurrected [500 at one time 15:6], and I believe them. Simple faith. Paul says that “these are truths according to the scriptures” One of my questions today was, do you believe the bible is truth? You can not know the truth unless and until you believe God’s word to be the truth.

Verse 12 tells us that Christ was raised from the dead, and if this is true why is it that you can not believe that there is resurrection from the dead? If there is no resurrection then we must conclude that Christ did not rise from the dead. If Christ was not resurrected from the dead our faith is useless and we are still in our sins. Only by God’s grace [free gift] and our simple faith is there any hope for the future.

Then Paul refers back Genesis and the first Adam. In verse 20 he says “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man” whose name is Jesus Christ. In Adam all died, so in Christ all will be made alive.

There are so many beautiful things to know about the results of the resurrection and little time or space to explain here, but I suggest you read about the resurrection body in the last part of chapter 15: 35 and on. He compares the body with a seed. Plant corn and stalks grow; plant an acorn and a tree grows, and the emphasis is that we will be planted [buried] a corrupted body but will arise [be resurrected] imperishable. We will be planted a natural body and arise as a spiritual body. The first Adam was a living being the last Adam [Christ] was a living spirit. Believers are Christians [Christ like] and therefore just like Christ—a living being and a spirit.

Paul explains that when Christ returns there will still be people living at the time and they will not die, but will be changed in a moment and become spiritual bodies. These living spirits will be caught up or carried up into the heavens along with all who sleep [all who have been buried] and we will share heaven with God, the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holly Spirit.

It seems odd to me that the last problem that Paul addresses in his letter to Corinthians is about money. As I have said before, we do not have the letter that the church wrote to Paul, so we do not know all of the problems they were concerned about, but one of them must have been money. Maybe they were reluctant to give offerings to the Jews in Jerusalem. If so, we do not know for sure the reason for their reluctance to give to the Jews. Anyway, his instructions to the church were to save up their tithes and offerings so they would have a gift for those who were living in Jerusalem and were in financial need. Paul remembered that the LOVE OF MONEY was the root of all evil and he is reminding them that they are to love their brothers in Christ more than they love their wealth. This true love for souls can be proven by placing your love for souls above love for your self.

NOTE: The White River Journal and The Sun Times are giving their space and time to publish this lesson for their readers. Please call or write them and let them know they are appreciated. God bless you real good.