1

The Message of the Gospel,

Part 6:
Why Jesus Rose From the
Dead
Selected Scriptures
April 23, 2004

Introduction

One of the most interesting things for my young teenage

mind years ago was throwing rocks in water. For most it
is just a fun thing to skip rocks (of which I believe I hold
a record between a close friend mine for the most skips
off a rock, totaling 27 skips). Many others love to find
the biggest rock and make the biggest splash possible.
That would have been my little brother when we were
kids.

But I was the weird one. I would analyze the size rock I
threw, and then attempt to mentally measure the width
of the indention it made into the surface of the water,
compare that to the height and width of the splash that
was made by it, and then count how many ripples
emanated from that rock. I was a master of observing
the obvious – the bigger the rock the more ripples it
would make. I would also measure how long it would
take for the first ripple to make it to the edge of the
pond or lake. Sometimes it would take several minutes,
if the lake or pond was large.

But out of those little exercises of the eye and mind

during those boring summer days, two things were for
sure when I would throw a palm-sized rock into a pond of
at least three or more acres. First, the ripples seemed to
continue to emanate from the place where the rock
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penetrated the water. Sure, they would eventually die
out, but it seemed like those ripples would just keep
forming for several minutes.

Second, no matter how long it took, that first ripple

always made it to the outer edges of the pond. That
ripple wasn’t always as big as it was when it was first
formed by the rock hitting the water. But even in its
smallest state, it still managed to make it to shore. This
is due primarily to a simple law of physics. A ripple,
whether made by a rock in the pond or else an epicenter
of an earthquake, will continue to make its way outward
until it finds a place of termination, or until it eventually
fades away to the naked eye.

You see the ripple would still be there, according to the

law of physics, even though I may not be able to see it
or feel it. The plain fact of the matter is that a cause
always has an effect. And the force of that water
entering the water actually drives and compels those
ripples to find their end. And no matter how small they
may shrink to as they approach the shoreline, they are
still there.

As I embark on this morning’s message about the

resurrection, I can’t help but think that the rock thrown
into the pond, or an earthquake, either one, best
symbolize the power of the resurrection. It was dropped
into the sea of humanity some two thousand years ago.
Better yet, the earthquake that moved that rolled away
that rock from the entrance to the tomb is still causing
spiritual ripple effects and aftershocks to this day. And it
will still continue to have ripple effects until it terminates
at the second coming of Christ, according to the
Scriptures.

I am speaking primarily of the ripple effects the

resurrection has caused on human lives since that time.
People continue to be saved. And even though there
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have been seasons of the church’s history where
salvation became a rare thing in churches, the law was
still at work – no matter how small the ripple, it was still
there and it will continue to move outward.

But I want you to consider also that there were other

ripple effects that were caused by the resurrection.
These could be considered as theological and practical
effects. They are not measured so much by how many
people are saved as they are measured by what the
word of God says was accomplished at the resurrection.
And this is what I want to measure for us this morning:
what ripple effects do the Scriptures say the resurrection
caused. Or better yet, what does the Bible say about
why Jesus rose from the dead. Just as His death
accomplished many things which we have already
discovered together, His resurrection did also. And so
we must turn again to the Scriptures to see what those
things are.

Transition

A couple of comments will do up front by way of

introducing these reasons why Jesus rose from the dead.
First, I want you to realize the inseparable nature of
these reasons. They are intricately connected, so that
any attempt to understand one necessarily leads you to
pursue an understanding of the others. Therefore, it is
hard to find a place to begin. That’s why there will be
little rhyme and reason to the order in which I’ve put
these reasons. We basically have to pick a point and
jump in head first. But you’ll see what I mean with
regard to how connected they are. It will sound on
several of these points as if I am repeating myself, and
that’s precisely because they are so inseparably
connected with each other.
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Second, I have, however, attempted to give these some
order. But because they are so interconnected, the only
way I thought it feasible to give them to you was by way
of what each writer of Scripture thought about the
resurrection. In other words, my ordering of these
reasons will be according to what Paul thought in each
book he wrote, and then according to what John thought,
and then the next writer, and so on. This is what is
called the practice of “Biblical Theology,” which is the
attempt to systematize a particular theological theme
according to each biblical writer.

Third, what these authors thought about the reasons for

the resurrection will form my basis. That is, these
reasons come from the specific texts that mention the
resurrection of Jesus Christ in connection with another
truth, principle or emphasis. A couple of these points
I’m about to give you will result in the need to
inductively reason from particular texts, though the
mention of the resurrection is absent but implied. And a
couple of texts require some reasoning outside of its
context yet with other contexts, and the need for that
will become evident to you as we unfold it. And while
you undoubtedly be able to think of several more
reasons why Christ rose from the dead, my desire is to
base those reasons in the text rather than a
philosophical notion. In the end, the reason I suggest
may be right, but if it isn’t from the text, it isn’t
important.

1. Paul’s Reasons for the Resurrection of Jesus

Christ

I choose Paul first for obvious reasons. He is the author

of the text we have been studying together for several
weeks. Therefore, it only makes sense to start with him
in our current text of 1 Corinthians 15, and then move
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on to other texts he wrote to discover other reasons for
the resurrection of Christ.

A. He rose again to conquer death (1

Corinthians 15:25-27).

Death is the inescapable result of sin, according to

Romans 6:23. If Jesus had only died and not rose again,
then it may be safe to say that He would have only
forgiven sin but not conquered its end. Yet in rising from
the dead, sin is forgiven, and its powerful end is
defeated too.

This is the argument of 1 Corinthians 15. The gospel is

that Christ died, was buried, and rose again according to
the Scriptures. And this resurrection has implications.
The first is that death has been conquered, as is made
plain in verses 25-27. Listen to Paul’s reasoning here.

“For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies

beneath his feet. And the last enemy to be destroyed is
death. For the Scriptures say, ‘God has given him
authority over all things’…”

The end result is exclaimed in verses 54-55:

“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is

your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Implications:

• For believers, this means two things.

o First, there is hope and peace and comfort
when we or a loved one are facing death. This is
the point Paul raises in 1 Thessalonians 4, where
he discusses the second coming of Christ and the
resurrection of the Christians who had already
died. In verse 13 he explained that a knowledge of
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the resurrection means that they would not be full
of sorrow like people who have no hope. The truth
is in verse 14: “Since we believe that Jesus died
and was raised to life again, we also believe that
when Jesus comes, God will bring with Jesus all the
Christians who have died.” This is the truth with
which we must follow the counsel in verse 18:
“Comfort and encourage each other with these
words.” There is hope and comfort and peace and
encouragement because there is a Christ who rose
from the dead.
o Second, there is also strength to live until death
with vigor and force. You can live with the truth of
Philippians 1:21 driving you. You already know
that Jesus Christ is your life, but dying is even
better! Why? Because you know that you will
then be with Christ personally, and then ultimately
physically when He raises your body to be with
Him. With the knowledge of the resurrection,
nothing can stop you or hold you back. There is
the freedom and willingness and desire to offer
your body as a living sacrifice to God, because if it
is killed or harmed in the process, it will be
resurrected and glorified to be made like Christ’s.

• For unbelievers, what stronger enticement is there to

come to Christ? Everyone fears death, especially
unbelievers. Why fear it anymore when it has been
conquered? Why fear it when you can get in on
eternal life?

B. He rose again to conquer sin and death (1

Corinthians 15:54-57).

Picking up where our last text left off, we move to 1

Corinthians 15:56 where Paul explains that “sin is the
sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its
power.” But, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
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dead means that both sin and death are conquered.
Paul went on to explain in verse 57, “How we thank God,
who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus
Christ our Lord!”

Again, if the wages of sin is death, and if Jesus paid

those wages, then in rising from the dead, the wages are
paid and will not have to paid again. God doesn’t play
double jeopardy. He will not charge us twice with the
same sin. You only pay for sin once. And if Jesus paid
for sin for you, then you don’t have to pay. And if Jesus
rose from the dead and conquered those consequences,
you won’t have to suffer those consequences either.

C. He rose again so that we would live for Him

rather than for ourselves (2 Corinthians
5:15).

Out of a struggle to maintain a godly understanding of

ministry in the minds of the Corinthians, Paul tries to
teach them that what matters in church ministry is not
whether or not it is spectacular, but whether or not it is
genuine and sincere in heart. Spectacularity in ministry
is about us rather than about God. But Christ died “so
that those who receive his new life will no longer live to
please themselves. Instead, they will live to please
Christ, who died and was raised for them.” Christ rose
again so that we would live for Him and not for
ourselves. This means that this local church ministry will
be about Him and not the spectacular nature of our
programs and ministries. As John the Baptist said in John
3:30, ‘He must become greater and greater, and I must
become less and less.” As my friend and musician Steve
Camp sings, “It’s not about us, it’s all about Him. It’s not
about my pain, my child within. It’s all about His glory.
It’s all about His grace. It’s all about the worship due His
holy Name.”
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D. He rose again to ensure our justification
(Romans 4:24-25)

If Jesus just died, then our sins would be forgiven, but we

wouldn’t be right with God. That’s hard to grasp, but it
seems to be the implication behind what Paul was saying
in Romans 4:25. “He was handed over to die because of
our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us
right with God.” Is it possible that one could happen and
the other could not? Is it possible that our sins could be
forgiven and yet we not find ourselves right with God as
a result? Perhaps that’s the quandary – it is unthinkable.
There’s no way Christ could not rise from the dead after
dying, because then our forgiveness would not be
complete and we would not be right with God.

Further Notes

E. He rose again to enable us to live a new life

(Romans 6:4-11)

A necessary result of the resurrection is that those who

are united with Him will live like Him. Paul wrote, “just
as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power
of the Father, now we also may live new lives” (v. 4). He
goes on to explain that “since we have been united with
him in his death, we will also be raised as he was.”
What does this resurrection mean except that “we are
no longer slaves to sin” in verse 6, and “we were set free
from the power of sin” in verse 7. According to verse 8,
the fact that He rose again means death has no more
hold on Him. And if it has no more hold on Him, it has no
more hold on those who are united in Him, that is,
believers. The sum of it all is found in verse 11. “So you
should consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live
for the glory of God through Christ Jesus.”
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F. He rose again to enable us to produce the

fruit of good works (Romans 7:4)

The law of God is something that (1) actually calls our

disobedience sin, (2) magnifies its presence in our lives,
and (3) arouses a desire to disobey even more. But
those who are united in Christ have died to the Law and
to its effects, because Christ died to sin. And this means
they also have risen with Him. The result is that instead
of finding ourselves aroused to more disobedience and
sin, we find ourselves aroused to do good works. Paul
writes, “The law no longer holds you in its power,
because you died to its power when you died with Christ
on the cross. And now you are united with the one who
was raised from the dead. As a result, you can produce
good fruit, that is, good deeds for God.” Only the
resurrection of Christ can actually sever the power sin
has on your heart, and in turn replace it with a power
that can cause you to be godly.

G. He rose again to plead with God our right

standing before Him now (Romans 8:33-34)

“Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his

own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us
right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us?
Will Jesus Christ? No, for he is the one who died for us
and was raised to live for us and is sitting at the place of
highest honor next to God, pleading for us.” In rising
from the dead, Jesus was able to secure our right
standing before God. Why so? Because Paul says He is
pleading for us at this very moment. How could He be
pleading for us if He were still in the tomb? And how
would God view us if Jesus were not there pleading for
us? He is able to plead for you before God the Father,
acting as a constant advocate on your behalf, so that the
Father will always and eternally view you in right
standing with Him, all because Jesus rose from the dead.
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He rose from the dead in order to do just this, just for
you.

H. He rose again to give the church spiritual

gifts and spiritual leadership so it can
mature to be like Jesus (Eph. 4:7-16).

The resurrection is crucial to the bestowal of spiritual

gifts. What are those? Those are the divine enabling
abilities that the Spirit of God gives to every Christian so
that we can serve God. In Ephesians chapter 4 it says
that…To each one of us…was given grace according to
the measure of Christ's gift (v. 7). And He gave us that
gift when He ascended on high, when He led captivity a
host of captives and gave gifts to men. Jesus, risen from
the dead, ascends to heaven, sends back spiritual gifts,
gifted men, so that we can serve God. That's all based
on His resurrection. If He doesn't rise...arise, He doesn't
ascend, He doesn't send gifts, nor the enabling Spirit.

John MacArthur, “The Resurrection: The Key to

Everything”

Further, these gifts are not only personal spiritual gifts,

but they are also spiritual leaders who are given to help
believers mature more and more to be like Jesus
Himself. They are stated in verse 11 to be pastors,
evangelists, teachers, apostles and prophets. Thus, if
Jesus had not risen from the dead, then we would not
have pastors and teachers and evangelists. We would
not have missionaries. This means we would all never
mature, but we would continue in our spiritual
immaturity looking less and less like Christ. So we are
able to mature today and grow up into Christ because
we have church leaders, and we have church leaders
because Jesus rose from the dead. If there was no
resurrection from the dead there would be no strong
church. But then again, perhaps that is why churches
are so immature and weak today. Perhaps it is because
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they have failed to properly understand this important
reason why Jesus rose from the dead. Or perhaps more
pointedly stated, perhaps the pastors and teachers and
evangelists and missionaries have all forgotten that they
were given to the church to help it mature and grow
strong because of the resurrection. It appears many
churches have forgotten the truth of the resurrection
then, doesn’t it?

I. He rose again so that He would have the first

place in all things (Colossians 1:18).

Paul’s reasoning in Colossians 1:18 is about as simple as

it gets. “He is the first of all who will rise from the dead,
so he is first in everything.” That pretty much sums it
up, doesn’t it? Because He rose from the dead, He is
first in everything. He has the preeminence in all things.
It goes back to His deity, which is what Paul is teaching
the Colossians about. Because He is God, He is the King
over all things. And He proved this kingship by rising
from the dead.

2. John’s Reasons for the Resurrection of Christ

from the dead.

A. He rose again to give us eternal life (John

11:25).

You should be no stranger to John 11. It is the passage

where Lazarus is raised from the dead, having been in
his grave one day longer than Jesus was in His own
tomb. I hope to write to you on this in the next journal,
for this has great significance. But for now, what is
before us is the truth that Jesus raised Lazarus from the
dead to teach about His own resurrection. And not just
that, He did it to teach the truth that He Himself was the
very essence of resurrection, because He Himself was
life! He said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and
the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die
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like everyone else, will live again.” He can give you and
I life after we die because He is the very essence of
resurrection, and the very essence of resurrection is, of
course, life. That life and resurrection, however, comes
only by believing in Him, as He Himself has stated. This
is a call to us all, and especially to those who have not
called on Him, to believe in Him if we really desire that
resurrection and life.

B. He rose again to ascend to heaven to

prepare a place for them to come (John 14:1-
4).

In John 14 Jesus promised to come back and get His

disciples and take them to heaven with Him. Yet, like
any other human being, Jesus couldn’t go to heaven to
prepare that place without first dying. Yet if He
remained in the tomb He couldn’t fulfill that promise to
come back and get them. So He had to rise from the
dead so He could go to heaven so He could come back
and get them.

C. He rose again to confirm His deity and prove

He was God (John 14:20).

“When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am

in my Father…” This is a statement again of His equality
with God, and thing that on several occasions as
reported in John’s gospel, almost got Jesus stoned. Yet
the resurrection from the dead undoubtedly proves He is
God. Is there any greater proof that one could
hypothetically offer to prove that He was God? This was,
as I showed you last week, the purpose behind His
answer to the people in John 2:19, when they asked Him
by what authority He cleaned out the temple. His
authority was based on His ability to give up His own life
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and then raise it up again, a claim made again in John
10:27-28. The fact that He can voluntarily give up His
spirit, as He did on the cross, and then turn around and
raise Himself up again is the greatest proof in all of
Scripture that He most assuredly was God.

D. He rose again to confirm the believer’s

relationship with Himself (John 14:20).

In the second half of that verse, we know that when

Jesus is raised to life again, the disciples would know
that, “you are in me, and I am in you.” This is a
reference to the abiding relationship of which He is
about to teach on in chapter 15. The abiding is a
metaphor of inseparable relationship. And yet this
confirmation of our relationship with Jesus Christ comes
only as a result of His rising from the dead. In other
words, if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, we would have
no assurance of our salvation.

E. He rose again so that He might ascend to

heaven and send the promised Holy Spirit
(John 14:16; 15:26; 16:5-7).

Speaking of assurance of salvation, we know from

Romans 8 that this comes by the Holy Spirit. Paul says
in verse 16, “His Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our
hearts and tells us that we are God’s children.” But this
work of the Holy Spirit was only made possible because
the Spirit was sent by the Son. And the Spirit couldn’t
have been sent if Jesus hadn’t have gone to heaven.
And He couldn’t have gone to heaven unless He had
risen from the dead.

In John 14, 15, and 16 Jesus promised to send His Holy

Spirit, the Comforter, the Helper to them. But He
expressly stated this in 16:7. “But it is actually best for
you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Counselor
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won’t come. If I do go away, he will come because I will
send him to you.” As I just explained, He had to rise
from the dead then in order to go away into heaven so
that He could send the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew that as a
human being He could not be each of the individually.
Yet He did know that the Spirit could do just this. In this
way, He is able to fulfill that promise to be with us
always to the end of the earth. Just think. If there had
been no resurrection, you would have no Holy Spirit, no
helper, no one to guide you into all truth, no comforter,
no one to remind you of what Jesus taught, and no one
to give you assurance of your salvation. Imagine a world
without the Spirit!

F. He rose again to be an advocate for us (1

John 2:1).

You’ll remember that just a few moments ago we

discovered in Paul’s thought that Jesus rose from the
dead to plead our righteous standing before the Father,
according to Romans 8. He is able to plead for you
before God the Father, acting as a constant advocate on
your behalf, so that the Father will always and eternally
view you in right standing with Him, all because Jesus
rose from the dead. He rose from the dead in order to
do just this, just for you. This is also what John wrote of
in 1 John 2:1 – “My dear children, I am writing this to you
so that you will not sin. But if you do sin, there is
someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus
Christ, the righteous one who pleases God completely.”

Optional: He rose again to grant us spiritual

power (Matt. 28:18; Acts 1:8; Eph. 1:15-20).

Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, "All power is given unto Me

in heaven and earth." Then in Acts 1:8 He says, "When
the Spirit comes I'm passing it to you and you now are
able to do exceeding, abundantly above all you can ask
or think according to the power that works in you." You
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have the power, Ephesians 1 says, that raised Jesus from
the dead working through you. Jesus Christ then sends
us power, the enabling power and authority of the Spirit
of God.
John MacArthur, “The Resurrection: The Key to
Everything”

Optional: He rose again to prove His innocence.

The wages of sin is death, as we said in Romans 6:23.

Yet Jesus had not sinned. Therefore, the wages could
not be death for Him. Therefore, He had to rise again to
prove that He was innocent and not worthy of death.
Remember, He was acting as our substitute. He became
sin for us, even though He never knew sin, as Isaiah put
it. And in becoming sin for us, this meant He had to
fulfill the demands of God’s law for sin, which was death,
of course. He did just that in His dying. But, when the
demands of God’s law were fulfilled, He was free to go.
And go He did by rising from the dead, thus proving He
was truly innocent, and thus leaving sin and its
consequences in the grave.

Conclusion

Our series over the past few weeks has been on the
message of the gospel. It is that message that God uses
to save us. And that message is, according to 1
Corinthians 15:3-4, Christ died according to the
Scriptures, He was buried, and He rose again on the
third day according to the Scriptures. This is the
message which you must believe. Romans 10:9-10
reiterates this fact. “For if you confess with your mouth
that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by
believing in your heart that you are made right with God,
and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are
saved.”

Believe is the operative
believe in the resurrection
to be made right with God.
Him, putting your life at
saved.
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key word here. You must
of Jesus Christ from the dead
This means you must trust in
His disposal, in order to be

In addition, you must confess your belief and trust in

order to be saved. But I want you to note that you a
person doesn’t have to know everything about the
resurrection which I’ve taught this morning. These
things are known by a study of the Scriptures which
contain the implications of the truth of Jesus’
resurrection. But in the very least, as Romans 10:9 says,
there is the necessity of a knowledge, belief, and
confession of the truth that Jesus is Lord and that He was
a man who died and yet has been raised from the dead.

It is this very thing – His resurrection from the dead –

that was the grounds for God’s proclaiming Him Lord.
Remember Peter’s proclamation in Acts 2:36? He
preached that through the resurrection God has made
Jesus both Lord and Christ. This means that in the very
least you must believe and confess that Jesus is 100%
God, for that is what believing in His Lordship necessarily
means.

It also means that you are believing and submitting to

His right to rule your life because of who He is. He has
been raised from the dead, which proves His deity,
which demands your worship. He has the right to
perform in your life the various results of His
resurrection which we have just discovered this morning.
You may not know them all yet, but you must be willing
to submit to His resurrection work in your life in order to
be saved.

So the question remains to be asked: have you really

believed in this Jesus Christ? Have you really put your
life at His disposal yet? Have you bowed to His Lordship
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as your King? Have you determined to trust Him with
your life no matter what the cost? Have you decided to
live for this resurrected Jesus? Have you committed
yourself to having this resurrected Jesus work His
resurrection power in you? If your answer is “yes” to
these questions, can you prove it? Have you proven it to
this local church, to your neighbors, to your family and
friends, and most of all to God? This is your challenge
today.