"Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister (serve to bring up) questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith " (1Tim. 1:4)

Contemplating the Importance of Jesus' Resurrection - April 8, 2023 - Dr. David Antion

I texted my son today and said, three years ago, these days were the darkest days in my life. Up to then. There may be darker days ahead, I don't know.

But those were the darkest days in my life. Three years since my wife passed. A lot of people will say, what, do you know her? Did you meet her? Some of you knew her.

Many of you knew her, and you knew who she was. You know what her name was. You knew what she looked like, what she sounded like.

Okay? And I knew her for 60 years and eight months. Three years. When I think of three years where I arrived at Ambassador College in 1956, in August of 56, and three years later in August of 59, my wife and I were married.

During those three years, we did classes, dated, and learned to meet each other. But when I walked onto the campus in 1956, somebody would have said, do you know Molly Hammer? And I would have said, no, never heard of her. Never heard of her, don't know the name.

And so those three years we established our relationship, or getting together and knowing each other and forming a relationship and then getting married. And then I had her with me after marriage for 60 years and eight months. But I want you to think about this.

If you want to know where Molly Hammer is, you could look her up. You could find exactly the spot she's buried in. Mountain View Cemetery up in Altadena.

Pasadena, Altadena. At that border, you could find the exact same place. This is it.

And there's a gravestone. But I want you to think back in the times, 2000 years ago and more. Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher.

When I say apocalyptic, I mean apocalypse means revelation, right? He was an apocalypse. He spoke of what was going to happen, and almost all apocalyptic preachers spoke of what was going to happen and shortly coming. You'll see it in the Book of Revelation.

These things are coming about shortly, and God has something in it for us. What will shortly come to pass? Jesus was that.

But Jesus was not a citizen of the Roman Empire. He was a slave. He was a subject of the Roman Empire.

He didn't have citizens' rights. And back then, did they keep track of every slave? Did the Roman government have a city over here? Okay. Today, if you die, they know your name, where you're going to be buried, and whether you were cremated or whether you were buried or whether they know where you are.

Back then, they didn't. So you wouldn't know if a person just died. Anybody, I'm not talking about Jesus particularly, but if anybody person dies, what happens to them? I don't know.

There are no records. I don't think my dad would ever be able to find where his father or his ancestors were buried. In Syria, they didn't keep any records.

They didn't even know what day they were born. Half the time they didn't have a good calendar, they didn't know. So in foreign countries like that, lots of people, all kinds of things.

Can you imagine in China with mass graves or in Germany mass graves or how they were killed, people in Poland or something, and then plow them under? How do you find that name? How do you find out who this person is? Where they're just lost so many people lost. Just think about it for a minute.

A man died on the cross. He was taken down and buried. If Jesus had not been resurrected, if he had not first appeared unto Peter, then the twelve, and to the women like Mary Magdalene and Mary mother of Glofus, and this one and that one, if he had not appeared to these people, what would have happened? He would have been considered a very unusually gifted speaker or prophet.

He would have been recognized for his great wisdom and understanding of the law and the way he set it out, his reforms of trying to help people and not burden them overly greatly. And the fact that love characterized his basic preaching. He would have been recognized in that way, there's no doubt about that.

But what would have been written about him? If after three days nothing happened? If after ten days nothing happened? If after 20 days nothing happened, if after, God forbid, three years nothing happened, what would they have said? Well, Peter said it. I'm going fishing. I guess this is up.

Everything's gone, he's dead and I'm going to go fishing. And so Peter decided that's going to return to his childhood or his young youthful way of making a living. It wasn't getting rich, but it was a way of making a living.

And what would have happened to any stories? Would there have been a lot of stuff written about him? Probably not. He probably would have had some things written about him. We know of others who were earlier prophets or apocalyptic preachers.

Again, apocalyptic means revealing. For instance, the book of Revelation is called the Apocalypse. That's another name for it means peeling back and revealing, generally revealing prophecies and things that were generally unknown by the apocalyptic prophet.

So Jesus would have been considered a prophet and probably a wise man if they got any records of him. A little bit here and a little bit there. People who were in his lifetime said, oh yeah, he healed people, he cast out demons, he did this, he walked on the water, we saw it.

But whatever happened to him, he died. If Jesus had not been resurrected, and you know, not many people are resurrected. If Jesus had not been resurrected, what would have happened to his message? What would have happened to his disciples? In John twelve.

He resurrected. Lazarus. Remember, he called Lazarus out of the tomb and he raised him from the dead.

There weren't very many Elijah raised somebody. Elisha raised somebody. Jesus raised several.

Paul did, Peter did. But it was not a common occurrence to have somebody resurrected from the dead. I had no illusions when Molly died.

I did not think, okay, she's going to be resurrected in a day or two, I'll have her back. No, I thought I'll join her. My very first words to her as we put her in the grave, was, I have to come where you are.

I don't think you're going to come back to where I am. I have to come where you are. In the Book of Luke, chapter 24, beginning in verse two, they found the stone.

Here are these women. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, and when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus, so they were pretty sure they knew where. Now, Jesus, by himself, at his level of prosperity or whatever, he didn't have the kind of money that would be able to set aside a tomb, but he got one from whether it was Joseph Verimathia or whatever, and they put him in the tomb there.

They went to put his body in this tomb. And while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men then suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing. Now, we're supposed to understand that that means angels.

And this is Luke, chapter 24. Now, verse five. And as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, that is these angels.

Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has risen. Has risen. King James says is risen.

But it's past tense. It's a perfect past tense. He has risen.

Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee? The angels are calling their attention, saying that the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and on the third day rise again. Okay? Now, they went there on the third day, Sunday morning. He's not there.

He's not there. And they remembered when the angel called their attention, they remembered his words and returned from the tomb and reported all of these things to the eleven and to all the rest. The other people, these women who were there on that day, went back and reported, hey, these angels talked to us.

Now, they were, here are the women in verse ten. Here are the women. They were Mary Magdalene.

Now, I visited Magdalena. Magdalena was her town, the hometown of Mary Magdalene. Now, I have a big sign-up about Mary Magdalene.

There's not much said in the Bible about Mary Magdalene, but there have been many stories, many fictional stories. What was that? Jesus Christ Superstar and then this one in the last days of Jesus and all these things trying to put Mary Magdalene and Jesus together as some kind of a couple and all that she was a follower of Jesus, and no doubt about that. Now this is Luke 24, verse ten.

Now. When? Now. They were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James.

There are a lot of Marys in the New Testament. Mary is a very popular name, named for Miriam, Miriam the sister of Moses. And they were other women there being married, the mother of James.

Also, other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. So all these women went back to the apostles. But verse eleven, Luke 24.

But these words of the women appeared to the apostles as nonsense. I don't believe it. What are you telling about? Are you saying you went to the tomb? You went to the tomb where he was buried, and you're saying there were men in dazzling white clothing like angels? Are you telling us are angels? And what did they say to you? Oh, come on.

Are you sure you weren't? Did you get enough sleep last night? Or are you tossing and turning? Were you worried about something? Are you sure that you saw this? Come on. They seemed like nonsense. And they, the apostles, the eleven, would not believe them.

So that's how women were treated back then. Oh, you must be hysterical, you must be emotional. You don't know what you're talking about.

But these women saw, okay, and proclaimed, he's gone. And I'm going to tell you what they said. He's not here.

He's among the living. Why are you coming here to the grave? But just to be sure, Peter got up and he ran to the tomb. This is verse twelve, Luke 24, verse twelve.

Peter got up and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in, and he saw the linen wrappings only. And he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened. Now the body's not there, okay? Now Jesus told them over and over and over about the resurrection.

You remember time and again that the Son of man is supposed to suffer many things from the elders and be raised the third dead. That's Matthew 16, Matthew 17. And as they were coming down from the mountain of the Transfiguration, Jesus commanded them, saying, tell the vision to no one until the Son of man has risen from the dead.

That's Matthew 17, verse nine, Matthew 17, verses 22 and 23. And while they were gathered together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the Son of man is going to be delivered to the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day. And they were deeply grieved.

They were deeply grieved at this, because to think of death, it's such a hold. You don't come back from that. You don't come back from that.

They didn't think he was David never came back in Matthew 26. Then Jesus said to them, you will all fall away because of me. This night is written.

I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I have been raised, he's telling them Matthew 26, verse 32, after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee. So here Jesus is telling them, I'm going to be resurrected.

Now, they should have also known because they observed the annual festivals and they knew in Leviticus chapter 23 that there is a statement about the wavesheaf that was waved before God before the harvest at Pentecost could come. I want to read it to you, Luke. This is Leviticus chapter 23, beginning in verses nine through 14 when you come into the land.

This command looked forward to the time, of course, when the Israelites would raise the crops. That's what it says when you come into the land. And you read verses nine through 14, and it talks about taking this sheaf and waving it before God for approval that approved the harvest.

And what day did they waive that wave sheaf? It was waived on the morrow after the Sabbath. You read Leviticus 23, verse eleven. It's the morrow after the Sabbath.

It was the sheaf of the first fruits which were typical of Jesus. He's the first of the first fruits. One Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 20, says, that he is the first.

Christ has risen from the dead. And it says as the first fruits of those who slept, anybody who sleeps sleep is a metaphor for death sleeping in Jesus. On that day, the branch of the eternal will be beautiful and glorious.

This is Isaiah, chapter four, verses two and three. And the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy.

Everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. That's Isaiah four, verses two and three. So the branch was then presented to God, a virtuous sacrifice of himself.

He was the lamb of God. He was accepted by us. He was the character that God was looking for, and he then was the resurrected Christ.

They should have known there was going to be a resurrection by the very fact that we had a wave sheaf offering during the days of unleavened bread. And then you counted 50 days to the morrow after the 7th Sabbath, which then would take you to Sunday, seven weeks, 50 days. Now, the resurrection was very controversial during Jesus' time.

And it was controversial because the Sadducees, who were the ruling class, were in with Rome, they said, we'll keep track, we'll keep ruling over the people here and keep them from rioting. We don't want riots. We don't want people trying to overthrow the Roman Empire.

No, we will keep track and we decide what the law is going to be when the law is going to be, and how the law is going to be we'll do all that. Okay? So the Sadducees only believed in the first five books of the Old Testament. They rejected all the others.

They rejected the Book of Daniel. They rejected Isaiah. They rejected some of these things about the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 31, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel in those days.

I will write it in their hearts and so on. They rejected that. In fact, this Jesus, remember, went up against the Sadducees time and again.

One of the trick questions the Sadducees had for Jesus was whether there was a man that had seven brothers and married a wife, and died. And the next brother, who was the oldest, took her and then he died. And then the next brother took her, and then he died.

It's called the Leverett thing of marriage. You had to raise children for your brother, and they had to keep going. And finally, all seven of them died.

Okay? All seven of the brothers died, and the woman was still alive. She outlived all seven of the brothers. Now, the question the Sadducees had then in the resurrection, whose wife will she be? It was a trick question.

You're going to take over the resurrection. Well, which one of these brothers is going to have they all had her, so which one is going to have her in the resurrection? And Jesus said, you don't understand, number one, the power of God. You don't understand the Scriptures or the power of God.

And in the resurrection, they will not be given in marriage. They will be like the angels. There'll be spirit beings, and they will not be married or given in marriage.

So the Sadducees didn't like this, and they didn't like the disciples, although the Pharisees applauded, well, there is a resurrection. There are Pharisees who believed in the resurrection, but they didn't like somebody saying Jesus was resurrected. Nobody liked that.

And so when the apostles started saying, hey, this guy was resurrected, and we saw him, and we're willing to lay our lives down, that we saw him in the flesh or spirit, but he looks like flesh and blood. He looked like hath he ate with us. And they just could not believe people shut up.

They said that. The Sadducees said shut up. Stop it.

And the Pharisees wanted him stopped. But there was a controversy that's Pharisees and Sadducees the Sadducees eventually had Paul arrested. They arrested Paul.

Paul then came out and he said, well, there's no resurrection. We might as well go out, eat and drink and be merry because tomorrow we're going to die. And that's it.

There's nothing else for us. But then Paul says that Jesus appeared. Now, he doesn't mention he appeared to the women because they were discounted and they were put off.

But he appeared first untouched, meaning Peter, then to the Twelve, then to James, and then he was seen by 500 brethren, all at once, many of whom were alive to this day. Paul said, and finally, he appeared to me. He says to Paul, Paul, I'm the least of the apostles.

He appeared to me like one out-of-time order. Because I'm the least of the apostles. I'm not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church and I caused many people to blaspheme against Jesus.

Paul was arrested. He went into Jerusalem. He was arrested.

The Sadducees charged him with preaching this resurrection of the dead and turning people upside down and causing a lot of stir. So finally Paul says, I appeal. You're not going to get me.

Do you want Romans to arrest me? Okay. I am not going to go back to Jerusalem and be tried under the Sadducee. I'm not going to get a fair trial.

They will never let me have a fair trial. It'll be a kangaroo court, and I'll be put up for death. So Paul says, no, I'm a citizen.

Which Jesus was not. Do you see? I'm a citizen of Rome. I appeal to Caesar.

Now, when you appeal to Caesar, the most logical place for you to go was to a place called Caesarea Meratima. Ciceria Meratima was a place on the coast just up the way down the way from Japa. You remember, where Peter was.

And they had that. That was a city built in honor of Caesar Augustus. Octavian, his name was Octavian, but they called him Caesar Augustus, the worshipful one.

Aga. He's August. He's all worshipful.

Anyhow, so he went to Caesarea Maritima, right by the sea that was totally destroyed under the Romans during the Crusades and all that. But it's been excavated. You can see where the judgment hall was.

You could see where Paul must have stood somewhere in here. And where when he said, I want to go to Caesar, he would be leaving right from those shores by a ship that was going all the way over to Rome. I'm going to appeal to Caesar.

I have a right. So we see here. What happens is they have him under arrest.

He wants to go to Caesar. But the leading authorities, a guy by the name of Festus who was in charge of the centurions and those who were even higher than centurions, the Cohorts of the Roman army, he says, Well, I'd like to send him, but I don't have anything to say. I don't want to send somebody to Caesar and say, this man's appeal to you.

And then Caesar says, well, what's the problem? And I don't have anything to say. So I want to begin with we this wonderful, wonderful passage. If you haven't read this in a while, you ought to read it with me and get your Bible out.

Acts, chapter 25. I'm going to begin in verse 14. I'm reading all the way through chapter 626.

While they were spending many days there, Festus laid Paul's case before the king. Now. This is King Agrippa II.

There was King Agrippa I. These are grandsons or great-grandsons from Herod. They're Herods.

They're Herodians, but they were the great-grandsons. He laid Paul's case before the king, saying, there is a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix. Felix was the former governor.

And when I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. They wanted to have him killed. But I answered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before the accused meets his accusers face to face and has an opportunity to make the defense against the charges.

So after they had assembled here, I did not delay. But on the next day, I took my seat on the tribunal and ordered this man to be brought in before me when the accuser stood up and began bringing charges against him, not of such crimes as I was expecting. Here's fest to say I didn't know.

I thought he was going to be really a murderer or an insurrectionist. No. But they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man.

The whole thing is regarding this dead man. And Paul is talking about, this dead man is alive, this dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive. Well, this is now we're in chapter 25 and verse 20.

Being at a loss how to investigate such matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there stand trial on the matters. But when Paul appealed to be held in custody for the emperor's decision, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I could send him to Caesar. Then verse 22.

Then Agrippa said to Festus, I also would like to hear this guy myself tomorrow. And then the Festus said, So tomorrow you shall hear him. So in verse 23 so on the next day, when Agrippa came together with Bernice among great pomp, here comes King Agrippa II.

He's coming with great pomp. He enters the auditorium where Paul is going to give him and there we stood at the excavated auditorium in Caesarea Meratima accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city. The commanders.

These commanders were above the centurions. Okay, so who did you have you had Agrippa with Bernice. Now, who was Bernice? Bernice was Agrippa's sister.

There were lots of rumors in Rome, and a lot of people didn't like that he traveled with his sister. He stayed with his sister. He was in the same room with his sister.

He was always with his sister. And there were rumors that they were having incestuous relationships there. And in order to stop the rumors, Bernice ended up marrying a guy for a short time and then divorcing him and going back to her brother.

So they entered the auditorium with the commander. So here came Gripa Bernice amid great pomp and circumstance there, you might say. They entered the auditorium accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city of Caesarea.

These are people on the boards, people on the council, the city council, and so on. And they all came at the command of Festus. Okay, we're setting this up for you, Paul.

Then, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. Bring Paul in. Now, we're in chapter 25 of Acts, and verse 24, Festus said, King Agrippa, and all of you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man, about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that he ought not to live any longer.

But I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death. And since he himself appealed to the emperor, I decided to send him to the Emperor. Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord the Emperor.

I don't know what to write to Caesar. Therefore, I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I might have something to write. I don't know what to write.

I'm going to send him to Rome, or I don't know what to say about him. I need to send charges, for it seemed absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him. Chapter 26.

Now, in verse one, Agrippa said to Paul, now, here's the King grip of II. You are permitted to speak for yourself. So Paul is brought in.

The king says you're permitted to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched out his hand. Now that stretching out of the hand was more like acceptance.

Thank you. Thank you very much. And moving around to address everybody like I'm going to.

And he proceeded to make his defense. Verse two Acts 26. In regard to all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today.

I'm fortunate that I can speak in front of you, especially because you are an expert in all the customs and questions among the Jews. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently. Now, one of the things I know, a lot of church members, don't want to pay any attention to the news, or we don't want to know anything about our local people.

We don't want to know anything about politicians. We don't want to know anything about people in positions of power. But the apostle Paul did.

He knew what this guy did. He knew what this guy thought. And he knew this guy was an expert on the Jewish.

On the Jews. Now, he was not a Jew himself. He was a domain Edomite, and he was not a Jew, okay? But he was ruling over the Jews because of his father, Herod the Great, and so on.

And they just came down, inherited things. So then now here's Paul going I beg you to listen to me patiently. So then all Jews know my manner of life from my youth up which from the beginning was spent among my own nation, in my own nation.

And at Jerusalem. I was there. I studied in Jerusalem.

All the Jews know me. I went to school with a lot of them since they have known about me for a long time if they were willing to testify that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion. And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers, the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God day and night.

And for this hope, O King, I am being accused by the Jews. And then he says this why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead? Are you saying God can't do it? Why is that unbelievable that God could raise the dead? So then I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. I would have to do things hostile.

And this is just what I did in Jerusalem. Not only did I look up many of the saints and lock up many of the saints in prisons having received authority from the chief priests, but also so he worked for the chief priest. Let me go out and get them.

Let me go out and corral them. Let me go out and make them blasphemy. But also when they were being put to death, I cast my vote against them.

Yeah, kill them. Yeah, go ahead and kill them. And as I punish them often in all the synagogues anyone who professed Jesus as Christ or said he was Christian.

I tried to force them to blaspheme. And being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities. While so engaged I was on the journey to Damascus with the authority of the command of the chief priests.

At midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the ghost. In other words, it's hard for you to kick against thorns these big, long, pointed thorns like nails.

Hard for you to kick against pointed nails. And I said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said to me, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now, here's Paul's testimony.

First-person direct, I saw him. Then Jesus said, get up and stand on your feet for this. Purpose.

I have appeared to you to appoint you a minister and a witness, not only to the things you have seen but also the things which I will appear to you, rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you. Ego Apostolo, say I'm, apostle you to the Gentiles, to open up the eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to God, and they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sacrificed by faith in me. So verse 19.

This is Acts 26. So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision. That's what he told me to do.

I accepted it. But I kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem, and then throughout the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate for repentance or to repentance. For this reason, some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to put me to death.

So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both the small and great, stating nothing but what the prophets and Moses said was going to take place. Moses predicted a prophet like him. Moses said there would be this thing.

The prophets predicted a resurrection that Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of this resurrection from the dead, he would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. While Paul was saying this in his defense, festus all of a sudden just shouted out with a loud voice, Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving you mad.

That was a philosophy that people had back then, that you only had so much capacity in your mind. When you got to that capacity went crazy. But Paul said I am not out of my mind.

Most excellent, Festus, but I under words of sober truth, for the king knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. And then Paul addresses the king directly. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do.

Agrippa replied to Paul, in a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian, one of the great testimonies of all time. And Paul said I would wish to God that whether in a short time or a long time, not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am, except for these chains. And that's where I'll stop reading.

Paul testified to the resurrected Christ, and in One Corinthians, Paul writes this powerful, powerful thing. Now, if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some of among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? That's what they were fighting over, this thing.

The Sadducee said there is no resurrection, there is no resurrection. The Pharisees said, yes, there could be, but not this guy. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is useless. Your faith also is worthless. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God right up in front of God, that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise.

If the dead are not raised, we're saying we saw it, and we have to be false witnesses. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, and you are still in your sins.

Jesus died for our sins. But if he never came out of that tomb, he would have been just an unknown person. Nobody would have known about Him.

It would have been hard-pressed. Even today, it's hard-pressed to find out where was he buried. What was it? The church of the Gold of the Holy Sepulchre. Was it over here in the garden tomb? Was it over here in another place that James Taber might think he could have been buried? Was there someplace else he could have been buried? There are ossuaries there.

They're complete stone-encased bones. They're called ossuaries. There are bones.

They found one where the nail was driven right through the hand. So they now know that they could drive a nail right through the hand, and that would hold a man up. The ligaments of the hand would do it in excruciating pain.

So if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins. Then those who also have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

I don't want that. I am so happy that Paul was able to make this defense. I am so happy that Paul said I saw him, I heard him.

I am now preaching the resurrection of Jesus. And so did Peter on the first day. These men aren't drunk as you think.

They're preaching this, what we've seen and heard. We saw Jesus resurrected, and you crucified Him. And 3000 people were converted.

And then when he made another miracle, he again preached that there's only one name under heaven whereby men can be saved and healed, and 5000 more people were converted. These men saw it. These men believed it.

These men were willing to die for it. Paul was willing to die for it. Only he wanted to appeal to Caesar.

Yes. One Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 20. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

Do you know what hope that gives many of us who've lost our loved ones, children, sons, daughters, husbands, and wives? You know what hope that has given us. For since by man came death, by a man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ, all will be made alive.

And that's for people who are Gentiles. That's for atheists. That's for people who don't believe it.

That's for people who curse God's name. That's for people who make fun of Jesus as a bastard or whatever else they call them. That's for everybody.

But in Christ Jesus, all will be made alive. Thank you, Father, for that promise and that hope. What else do we have to cling to? Join me as we close with prayer today.

Heavenly Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who resurrected him from the dead, who made him alive forevermore. Father, we thank you for that promise, that hope of the resurrection. Without it, where would we be? To think we would never see or know or talk, to touch, or be with the people we have loved for so long, but just be incredible.

But you have allowed us to have this hope through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, through the witnesses of the entire New Testament, who wrote, who preached, who died for the witness that Jesus was resurrected and giving us hope forever. And we thank you now, in Jesus' name, for everything, for all that you've done for us and the hope of a resurrection and the future for ourselves and for those who sleep in Jesus today. You we give you praise, honor and glory as we glorify Your name, and we glorify our Lord, the living Jesus Christ.

In his name, we pray. Amen.