The Truth About The Christ (continued from www.truthaboutthechrist.com/thetruthaboutthechrist/death.html)
The Resurrection of Christ
On the resurrection of Christ ,
the basic doctrine is
again best examined from Dr. Cambron's Bible Doctrines
book.
It is given in the block quote below: [block
quote of
Dr. Cambron's Bible
Doctrines
(Zondervan) 101-109, (TheCambronInstitute.org) 78-84.]
Cambron's
V. THE RESURRECTION
OF CHRIST
A.
The Importance of the Resurrection.
In
the Bible there are several accounts of people having been brought
back to life. These people, however, were not resurrected, but
restored, for they died again. But our Lord was resurrected, having
died once and for all and having been raised from the dead. He now
liveth and abideth forever.
His
death was necessary, because He was made sin for us.
1.
Its
Place in Scripture. There
are thirteen or fourteen references in the New Testament concerning
the ordinance of baptism, and even fewer Scriptures referring to the
Lord’s Supper. However, the fact of His resurrection is
mentioned
over one hundred times.
2.
Its
Part in Apostolic Testimony. “With
great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus: and great grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:33). See
also
Acts 2:32; 17:18; 23:6.
3.
Its
Prominence in the Gospel. If
Christ be not risen there is no Gospel. “Moreover, brethren,
I
declare unto you the gospel which I have preached unto you, which
also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are
saved if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye
believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I
also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures” (I Cor. 15:1-4).
4.
Its Preeminence in Salvation (I
Cor. 15:12-20).
a.
First Proposition. “Now
if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among
you that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (verse 12).
b.
Second
Proposition. “But
if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not
risen”
(verse 13). If we are not to be raised from the dead, then Christ is
not risen.
c.
Third
Proposition. “And
if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is
also vain” (verse 14). If Christ is not risen, Christianity
is a
sham.
d.
Fourth
Proposition. “Yea, and
we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God
that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the
dead rise not” (verse 15). If Christ be not raised, every
evangelical preacher is a fraud.
e.
Fifth
Proposition. “For
if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not
raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (verses
16 and
17). If He be not risen, He is still dead, and therefore cannot
redeem us. The penalty paid for any crime is not fully paid until the
one for whom it was paid is free. As long as Christ was in the tomb,
the penalty for our sins was not paid; but His resurrection shows
that the penalty has
been
paid. And, remember, this Scripture was written to those who were not
in their sins.
f.
Sixth
Proposition. “Then
they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished” 78
(verse
18). In other words, they have all gone like the beasts of the field,
if Christ did not rise from the dead.
g.
Seventh
Proposition. “If
in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most
miserable” (verse 19). If all of our hope is staked upon the
resurrection of Christ, and if He has not risen, then we are of all
men most to be pitied. We have done nothing else to secure salvation,
and if our Saviour be not risen, we have no Saviour. We had better
look into some other religion.
h.
Eighth
Proposition. “But
now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them
that slept” (verse 20). Praise the Lord, He
is risen! He is alive! We
are saved by a living Redeemer. We, of all men, are the only sinners
who are saved.
B.
The Meaning of the Resurrection.
By
the resurrection we mean the bodily
resurrection,
not the spiritual resurrection.
1.
Provision
of the Tomb. Guards
were placed there to guarantee against the removal of His body, not
His Spirit. “So they went, and made the sepulchre sure,
sealing the
stone, and setting a watch” (Matt. 27:66).
2.
Recognition
of the Disciples. “Then
saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and
reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not
faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My
Lord and my God” (John 20:27, 28).
3.
Testimony
of the Apostles. “This
Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses” (Acts
2:32).
4.
A Testimony of the Lord Himself. “He
began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and
be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and
be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31).
5.
The
Announcement of Our Transformation. “Our
conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself”
(Phil.
3:20,21).
C.
The Unscriptural Theories Concerning the Resurrection.
1.
The
Unburied Body Theory. By
this statement unbelievers maintain that the tomb was never filled,
that the two thieves, and Christ, were thrust out upon the trash
heap.
However,
this is refuted
by the Jew’s own law: “If a man have committed a
sin worthy of
death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree; his body
shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt surely bury
him the same day; for he that is hanged is accursed of God; that thou
defile not thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an
inheritance” (Deut. 21:22, 23). 79
2.
The
Unemptied Grave Theory. Those
that hold to this say that He is still there. Surely common sense
would refute this argument, for if Christ had not arisen, the Devil
would have caused His body to have been found sometime during the
last two thousand years.
3.
The
Removal
Theory. This
is that theory which proposes that Joseph moved the body out of the
tomb. Of this argument we ask, “If he removed the body, why
didn’t
he also remove the clothing?” All will have to admit that if
Joseph
did
remove
the body, it would have had to be done in secret. If done in secret,
why wasn’t the stone rolled back against the door? 4. The
Mistaken Woman Theory. This
theory contends that the woman misunderstood what the man in the
sepulchre had said. We refute this contention by saying that the Word
does not so declare it,
and
the Word is the only authority and witness we have.
5.
The
Deliberate Deception Theory.
This
supposition clings to the idea that Christ did not die at all, but
rather that He fainted on the cross and was revived by the cool air
of the tomb. If this be the case, where did He go? Surely, as He was
an object of interest to the entire populace, He would have been
recognized and openly accepted or rejected.
6.
The
Fraud
Theory. This
states that the apostles plainly lied and deceived those that heard
them. However, all of the apostles, except John, met a
martyr’s
death. Why? Because of their devotion to Christ and His resurrection.
Would they have sacrificed their lives for a lie? Of course not!
7.
The
Self-Deception Theory. In
other words, this speculation declares that the apostles had an
illusion; that is, they thought that He arose from the dead, and kept
on thinking it,
until
after a while they believed it.
We
know, from human experience, that delusions soon fade away, and we
awaken to reality. The apostles could not have deceived themselves
very long.
8.
The
Hallucination Theory. This
idea supposes that they thought they had actually seen the
resurrected Saviour, when it was merely a hallucination caused by
nerves and excitement. Can you imagine Peter becoming delirious, and
Thomas hysterical? 9. The
Recollection
Theory. This
view sees the hysterical apostles fleeing to Samaria, and while alone
in this place, they began to think that Jesus is still with them.
That is where we get the idea that He arose from the dead. The
Scriptures, nevertheless, declare that they remained in Jerusalem
behind closed doors until He revealed Himself to them.
10.
The
Misunderstood Theory. This
reasoning admits that the Saviour died, but states that the apostles
preached the resurrection of His Spirit, and not His body. However,
people took it wrong. The word “resurrection” is
never connected
with the spirit, but rather with the body, for the spirit never dies.
80
11.
The
Spiritual Vision Theory. This
supposition maintains that the apostles actually saw something. What
they saw was a lying vision, not the Lord. The Devil had fooled them.
But, if there was anything the Devil did not want them to believe, it
was the resurrection of Christ, whether, a lying vision or the actual
thing. Christ Himself dispels this argument by declaring, after His
resurrection, that “a spirit does not have flesh and
bones.”
12.
The
Twins Theory. Those
who offer this suggestion say that Christ had a twin, and that three
days after He had been crucified and buried, His twin showed himself,
declaring that he was Christ risen from the dead. We ask,
“Where
was this twin hidden for thirty-three years?”
D.
The Proofs of the Resurrection.
1.
The
Empty Tomb. The
Gospels declare that the people held two views concerning his
resurrection. One group, consisting of unbelievers, said that someone
stole His body; the other group contended that He was raised by
Divine Power. The empty tomb proves the latter. A Roman watch,
composed of sixty men with four groups of fifteen each, were
stationed to watch the tomb. Each group guarded the tomb for a
six-hour period. The watch was ordered to guard the tomb against the
theft of the body of Christ. Now the enemy did not wish to steal the
body; they wanted it buried. We know that the apostles did not steal
it, as
they were afraid. Even at His crucifixion they fled. The soldiers
were paid by the unbelievers to bear false testimony. Is it not
peculiar that the Jewish priests did not prosecute the soldiers, if
the body had actually been stolen? Had the disciples stolen the body,
would not the priests have hounded them until they admitted such a
deed? Why did they not do something?
Simply
because they did not believe the story.
A
new
tomb: there
was but one body in it,
and
there is no question as to who rose from the dead when the tomb
became empty. It was carved out of the rock —
solid rock
behind, above, below, and on the side. There were no other entrances.
2.
The
Undisturbed Grave Clothes. In
the Orient the bodies
of the dead are wound with grave clothes, from the neck down to the
feet, in a manner similar to that used on Egyptian mummies. The head
is wrapped with a napkin. When this wrapping was duly done, the body
was stretched out on a ledge. When Peter came in to examine the grave
clothes, he saw that they were undisturbed —
the body
of Christ had shot through the grave clothes without bursting a
single thread. Peter discovered that the grave clothes were
unmolested; the clothes appeared as though they were still wrapped
around the body —
but there
was no body.
As
for the tomb, the door was not opened to let Christ out —
He was
already
out!
He came out of the tomb just as He had come out of the grave clothes.
Yes, He was out of the tomb long before the stone was rolled away.
The soldiers had been guarding a sealed, empty tomb for nearly twelve
hours. 81
3.
The
Appearances of Christ. In
I Corinthians 15:1-11 we have recorded the number of witnesses who
actually saw the Lord, the risen Saviour. This number does not
include the women. The highest number of witnesses required to
establish the truth in America is seven: one for murder; two for
treason; three for a will; and seven for an oral will. The number of
witnesses recorded in the Word is over five hundred. Certainly,
according to the accepted jurisprudence, there is sufficient evidence
that He arose from the dead.
4.
The
Character of Christ. No
greater proof is needed in contending for His resurrection than His
character. To think that such a shameful end would come to Him who
was the Perfect One! Surely, God in His justice would not have
allowed the only man without sin to remain in the tomb.
5.
The
New Testament. The
twenty-seven books composing the New Testament are the effect;
the
cause
is
a
risen Christ. Without Christ’s resurrection, there would not
have
been any New Testament. The death of Christ had sorely depressed the
disciples. Their faith was shattered. If Christ had not appeared unto
them, they would never have written about Him. The story of His life
grew out of His resurrection.
6.
The
Apostles’ Church. The
apostles began preaching at Jerusalem only seven weeks after the
crucifixion. Right there in Jerusalem, where Jesus had been crucified
and buried, the apostles declared Christ to have risen from the dead.
If Christ had not risen, the enemies could have produced the body,
for they had crucified Him. The silence of the Jews was as much proof
of His resurrection as the writings of the disciples.
7.
The
Transformed Disciples. The
resurrection brought about a transformation of the disciples. Before,
they had seen Christ die, and thus their faith was shattered. Two of
them said, “We hoped that it was he who should redeem
Israel”
(Luke 24:21, R.V.) Sad words —
no hope.
All faith was now dead. They were meeting together behind closed
doors, frightened, afraid for their lives, when the Lord appeared. It
was hard to convince them of His resurrection, even though He
actually appeared before them. But when they were convinced, nothing
could
ever change them.
How
about doubting Thomas? He was not present at Christ’s first
appearance before the disciples, and, therefore, he doubted. I am
glad that Thomas doubted, for now I am relieved of doubt. His
unbelief was removed at the second appearance of the Saviour;
consequently, all of our doubts concerning the resurrection should be
removed.
8.
The
Conversion of Saul. The
Church never had a greater enemy than Saul of Tarsus. He was a
well-known individual in Judaism, belonging to the sect known as the
Pharisees, who believed in the future resurrection of the dead, but
certainly not in the resurrection of Jesus. What changed this
terrible persecutor of the Church into the mighty preacher of Christ?
The
resurrection of Christ! From
the day on the road to Damascus, he never doubted the resurrection.
He suffered at the hands of his own countrymen and in the courts of
the foreigner because of his belief in Christ’s resurrection.
82
9.
Christian
Experience. Since
we have been born again hope has been placed in our hearts: that our
sins have been taken away and that our own resurrection is assured.
This hope could only be guaranteed by a risen Saviour. We are not
saved from our sins by a living mother, nor by a dead Jew, but by a
Living Lord.
10.
The
Gospel Record. The
Gospels were written or dictated by witnesses, “chosen before
of
God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from
the dead” (Acts 10:41b). In reading the Gospels, we notice
the
little details, words and phrases, which prove to us how natural and
how true to life the accounts are.
E.
The
Result of the Resurrection.
1.
In
Relation to Christ Himself.
a.
It
Was the Seal of His Father’s Acceptance. In
other words, Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient and accepted
by God.
“It is God’s ‘amen’ to His
Son’s ‘it is finished.’”
b.
It
Was the Mark of His Divine Sonship. Christ
was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to
the
spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom.
1:4).
On being nailed to the cross, He was accursed of God. God would not
let His Son remain accursed; therefore God raised him from the dead.
c.
It
Was the Demonstration of His Victory.
(1)
Over
the Devil. If
only the Devil could have kept Him in the grave, complete victory
would have been Satan’s. However, Christ arose from the dead,
guaranteeing salvation for every believing soul. The believer is
commanded to put on the whole armour of God in order to withstand the
wiles of the Devil. One piece of that armour is the helmet of
Salvation.
(2)
Over
Death. “Yet
a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me:
because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I
am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:19,
20). See
also II Timothy 1:10.
d.
It
Was the Illustration of Incorruptibility. God’s
purpose and grace “is now made manifest by the appearing of
our
Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life
and immortality [incorruptibility] to light through the
gospel” (II
Tim. 1:10).
2.
In
Relation to the Believer.
a.
Proves
His Justification. “Jesus
our Lord .
. . was
delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our
justification” (Rom. 4:24, 25).
b.
Illustrates
His Power. Paul
prayed that God might give the Ephesians “the spirit of
wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of him .
. . that
ye may know .
. . what
is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe,
according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in
Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own
right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:17, 18,19, 20).
c.
Provides
a High Priest. “He
is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb.
7:25).
See also Romans 8:34; Hebrews 3:1; 7:22.
d.
Begets
a Living Hope. “Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to
his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the
83 resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you” (I Peter 1:3,4).
e.
Guarantees
Our Resurrection. “He
which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and
shall present us with you” (II Cor. 4:14). See also I
Corinthians
15:22; I Thessalonians 4:14.
3.
In
Relation to the World.
a.
Gives
Evidence of His Truth. All
that he spake is substantiated by His resurrection, for God would not
have raised a liar from the dead and declare Him to be His Son. His
act proved His favor.
b.
Gives
Evidence of Universal Resurrection. “As
in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”
(I Cor.
15:22).
c.
Gives
Evidence of World Judgment. “He hath
appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath
given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the
dead” (Acts 17:31).
[This ends the
block quote of Dr. Cambron. Dr. Cambron's book, Bible
Doctrines
will, with the permission of the Cambron Institute,
be given in block quotes throughout this effort. The book is readily
available through http://www.thecambroninstitute.org,
and it forms the foundational basis for much of this Systematic
Theology.]
The
Ascension and Enthronement of Christ
www.truthaboutthechrist.com/thetruthaboutthechrist/ascension.html
This Series' Table of
Contents