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Both the historical record of the early church in Acts and the letters of Paul place the emphasis from Easter on the Resurrection of Christ. They do mention the death of Jesus on the cross and his burial but we as Christian believers are to look at the other side of the cross! Speaking of resurrection from the dead, Paul writes “And if Christ hasn’t been made to live, your faith is a hollow shell and you’re still a bunch of sinners” (I Corinthians 15:14 Cotton Patch Version).

He is Risen (Creativa)Maybe you’d prefer the Message Bible paraphrase, “And face it — if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors.” Regardless of which translation or paraphrase you read, without the resurrection of Christ there is no Christian life and “we are of all men most miserable” (verse 19 KJV)!

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached the first public sermon of the Christian church. After recounting the life and death of Jesus (Acts 2:23), he proclaimed that “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (verse 24 ESV). “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses… Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (verses 32, 36). About three thousand people were added to the church that day! Preach it, brother!

Then in the next chapter we have the record of Peter and John going up to the temple to pray probably a few days later, and the lame man was healed. Peter didn’t miss the opportunity to again preach to the people. On this occasion the priests were “greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead” (Acts 4:2). Peter and John were arrested and got to spend the night in custody, but in the meantime “many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand” (verse 4). Another great result from proclaiming the resurrection of Christ!

After being released, they organised a prayer meeting with all the believers. Then “they continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (verse 31). “And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all” (verse 33).

In Acts 10, Peter was led of God to go to Joppa and the house of Simon the tanner. He was still preaching the resurrection of Jesus: “God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead” (verses 40-42).

The meeting was made up of mainly non-Jewish people, and “while Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word” (verse 44). The Jews who accompanied Peter were surprised that those of other nations received the Holy Spirit.

Years later, on Paul’s first missionary journey, Paul was preaching the resurrection of Jesus in the Jewish synagogue in a town named Antioch in Pisidia. “But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people… And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way…” (Acts 13:30,31,34) and proceeded to quote from the Psalms.

Then on Paul’s second missionary journey, in Athens the people said of Paul, “‘He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities’–because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 17:18). “Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, ‘We will hear you again about this'” (verse 32).

A good preacher will pray before a service, “Dear Lord, feed my mind with worthwhile stuff, and nudge me hard when I’ve said enough” — and I’ve just been nudged! I’ll leave it to you to read the whole of I Corinthians chapter 15. “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (verses 3,4), and then follow Paul’s revelation of the believers’ personal resurrection. — Peter Wade.