Luke 24:36-53 (NIV) 36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence. 44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
1) Jesus was resurrected in the body, not just in the spirit.
You will be resurrected bodily too. Sickness, pain and disease will be put to an end for those who belong to Jesus (I Corinthians 15; Revelation 21:1-5).
2) Jesus died and rose in fulfillment of the Scripture.
God knows the end from the beginning, foresaw your sin, suffering and pain. In advance, He provided a solution for it in Jesus.
Isaiah 52-53 (NIV)
“The resurrection completes the inauguration of God's kingdom... It is the decisive event demonstrating that God's kingdom really has been launched on earth as it is in heaven."
"The message of Easter is that God's new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you're now invited to belong to it.”
― N.T. Wright
3) Repentance and forgiveness of sins are inextricably bound.
Make no doubt about it: SIN IS THE ISSUE THAT HAS BROKEN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH A HOLY GOD (Isaiah 59:1,2). Sin HAD TO BE PAID FOR by Jesus on the cross or will be paid for by the unrepentant (John 3:16-21).
4) There were original eyewitnesses to the resurrection (Acts 1:1-5).
5) Those who were called by God would be empowered and sent by the Holy Spirit to be continual witnesses (Acts 1:1-11).
6) Jesus was then and will forever be worshiped (Philippians 2:5-11).
7) Great joy would mark those that were added and lived as a part of His body, the church (Luke 24:50-53)
“...left to ourselves we lapse into a kind of collusion with entrophy, acquiescing in the general belief that things may be getting worse but that there's nothing much we can do about them. And we are wrong. Our task in the present...is to live as resurrection people in between Easter and the final day, with our Christian life, corporate and individual, in both worship and mission, as a sign of the first and a foretaste of the second.”
― N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
DON'T GET DETACHED AFTER EASTER SUNDAY! Remain in the joy of Christ's resurrection by staying connected to God and His local church!
Second City Church- Chicago Fire Sermon Series 2015