The Resurrection

Because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead. 

And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, We will hear you again on this matter. 

Acts 17:31-32

The resurrection of Christ is one of the most significant elements of the faith. It is the key point in many discussions of the New Testament era. Paul wrote at great length in 1 Corinthians to prove that Christ had risen from the dead and to link His resurrection with His return. In our text, as he spoke with the Greek philosophers in Athens, he linked Christ’s resurrection with the last judgment. This was the turning point for the Greeks. When they heard of the resurrection, ‘some mocked, while others said, we will hear you again on this matter.’ The resurrection is so critical to the gospel that the apostles preferred to die rather than deny it. They had seen Christ in Person on numerous occasions after He had risen. They would not deny what they had seen and heard. We are as convinced as they. We have believed their witness statements. We continue to maintain that He rose from the dead and is coming again to raise others from the dead. We believe, as Paul asserts in our text, that He will judge the world. It is not a question of ‘if’,’ but ‘when.’ We live in the light of the return of Christ. As we continue to make much of Him, we must include the fact of His resurrection knowing that some will mock, and others will procrastinate.    

Our Glorious, Living God, 
we rejoice that Christ has risen from the dead. 
We praise You that He will come again, 
to raise us up. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning