THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION

The righteousness that I have comes from knowing Christ, the power of his resurrection, and the participation in his sufferings…  Philippians 3:10

The risen Savior was on this earth for 40 days and was seen by more than 500 people before He ascended into heaven. Many of these not only saw Him but heard Him speak. Paul did not actually see Jesus ascend into heaven, but even Paul in His disbelief came to believe.

Paul was a fanatical foe to anyone professing Jesus Christ as the risen Messiah. He was one of the many responsible for trying to annihilate the Christian faith, but on the road to Damascus, He encountered Christ. Paul was not one of the original disciples who had the privilege to have tutelage under Jesus, so there would be no reason for him to make up this story.

Paul’s life was changed forever because of the resurrected Christ. His mission now did a complete turnaround from killing Christians to building the Christian church. He did not gain any money or prestige from doing this; in fact, he suffered greatly because of his testimony.

If by no one else but Paul’s story, we could believe that there definitely was a resurrection. 1 Corinthians was written by Paul approximately 20 years after the resurrection. Chapter 15, verses 3-8 says, “I passed on to you as most important what I also received: Christ died for our sins in line with the scriptures, he was buried, and he rose on the third day in line with the scriptures. He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, and then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once—most of them are still alive to this day, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me, as if I were born at the wrong time."

It would be very difficult indeed to make up a story with over 500 witnesses. Even today in a court of law, 500 witnesses would be hard to dispute. Over 2000 years have passed since the resurrection of Christ, and the story remains unchanged.  The evidence can be found in the changed hearts of men. Paul professed of the power of the resurrection even though He did not witness it. Believe in the resurrection today and the power of it will change you forever.

Thank you Christ Jesus for Your resurrection. Because of You, we also will share in that resurrection. Amen.