He Has Risen

IOI CHRISTIAN MORNING MEAL

TOPIC: HE HAS RISEN

Matthew 28:6
The resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith – our faith is predicated on the belief that Jesus Christ not only died on the cross but that He rose from the dead

If it were not a reality, there would be no Christian faith

There are things I want you to meditate on today as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ

I. Jesus rose bodily from the grave

a. When the believers first came to Jesus’ tomb, His body was missing

i. It had not been stolen as the Jewish leaders asserted

1. This would have been impossible because of the guard set at the tomb by Pilate

2. Matthew 27 tells us that he placed a seal on the tomb and guards to protect it

3. There was no way the disciple’s who wouldn’t stand next to Jesus at His crucifixion would risk their lives simply to steal His dead body

ii. His body was not stolen, God had raised Him from the dead

b. It was not just Jesus’ influence, His Spirit or His energy that rose, but His actual glorified body

i. When Jesus met with His disciples after His resurrection, He met them in bodily form

ii. Many new-age religions and mysticisms try to say that Jesus did not rise bodily, but He rose only spiritually

iii. But listen to Jesus’ own words in Luke’s Gospel

iv. Luke 24:39 “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."”

c. Jesus rose from the grave as not just a Spirit, not just a force, not just an energy, but as a glorified body of flesh and bone

II. Jesus rose eternally from the grave

a. Jesus was not the first person to be resurrected from the dead

i. Elijah and Elisha saw people raised from the dead

ii. Paul raised the young man from the dead who fell out of a window

iii. Jesus also raised others from the dead Himself

1. Jairus’ daughter

2. The widow’s son at Nain

3. Lazarus at Bethany

b. What separates Christ’s resurrection is that all of these others eventually died again

i. He is called the ‘first fruit’ of the resurrection

ii. I Corinthians 15:20 “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

iii. This is not because He was the first to be raised, but because He was the first to be raised ‘eternally’

c. Jesus came forth from the grave, “alive forevermore”

III. Jesus rose victoriously from the grave

a. When Jesus walked out of that tomb death and the grave lost their sting

i. I Corinthians 15:55 “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"”

b. The Bibles says that He came forth from the grave with the keys of death and hell in His hands

i. Revelation 1:18 “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”

ii. The grave could not hold Him

iii. Death could not harm Him

iv. The stone could not darken the Light of the world

i. On Good Friday it seemed the message was "Christ defeated"

ii. But three days later we discover that the message had not been receive in full.

iii. The resurrection reverses what we initially thought and declares "Christ defeated the enemy”

LET US PRAY
IN JESUS NAME, THE DEATH OF JESUS WILL NOT BE INVAIN IN YOUR LIFE.

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Good Morning Friends