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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
September 6
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Today's Pathway:
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Having taught about the death and burial of Christ, Paul now focuses on his theme for this chapter: the resurrection. His first proof that Jesus rose from the dead is that the Scriptures said it would happen. There are several Old Testament passages that teach this truth. Psalm 16:10-11 reads,
"For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."
Peter mentions this passage in his message at Pentecost and shows that David was speaking of the Messiah (Acts 2:27-31). In Isaiah 53:10, following teaching about the offering of Christ as a sacrifice for sin, the prophet adds,
"He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand."
Job spoke these words in Job 19:25-27:
"For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another."
The Redeemer would stand on the earth in the later days, and Job would see Him face to face. This certainly requires the Redeemer to rise from the dead.
There are also two prophetic pictures of the Lord's resurrection given in the Old Testament. The first is the story of Jonah. Jonah 1:17 states,
"And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights".
Jesus Himself used this passage to prophesy His resurrection. He said,
"An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:39-40).
The second is the Feast of the Firstfruits. Leviticus 23 spells out the details of this feast. The Feast of the Firstfruits took place during the week-long Passover celebration (vs 4-8), on the first day after the Sabbath that occurred in the midst of the week (vs 9-11). So, there was the Passover, then the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Sabbath, then the Feast of the Firstfruits on the third day. And it was on the first day after the Sabbath that occurred in the midst of the Passover celebration that Jesus rose from the dead. Lest there be any question about the connection between these two things, Paul will write in I Corinthians 15:20-23
"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming."
In addition to Scriptural evidence, Paul gives the testimony of eyewitnesses. In verses 5-7 he lists numerous people who had seen the risen Christ during the forty days before His ascension. He does not include the names of the women that saw Him, not because he personally discounted them, but probably because at that time a woman's testimony was not considered reliable by many judicial authorities. He does mention "above five hundred brethren at once". Lee Strobel wrote,
"I went to a psychologist friend and said if 500 people claimed to see Jesus after he died, it was just a hallucination. He said hallucinations are an individual event. If 500 people have the same hallucination, that's a bigger miracle than the resurrection."
Paul points out that most of the people who have seen the risen Christ were still alive, and if asked they could give their own personal account.
There are other evidences of the resurrection of Christ that Paul does not mention here. Suffice it to say, the resurrection really happened, and it must be believed in order to accept the Gospel.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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