Evidences of Christ’s resurrection (1)

“He was raised on the third day.” 1 Corinthians 15:4 NIV

Trust the fact that Jesus rose from the dead! Here are two evidences of it: (1) The Lord’s Day. For thousands of years, the Hebrew people had maintained their Sabbath doctrine. Then later, a group of early Christians who were Jews changed the day of worship from the seventh day to the first day! What could account for their deserting a tradition to which they had held so steadfastly? The resurrection of Christ, which happened on the first day of the week, His appearance to the disciples on the first day of the week, and the outpouring of His Spirit on the church on the first day of the week. So on the first day of the week, the disciples met to worship Him (see 1 Corinthians 16:2). (2) The celebration of Easter. This took the place of the Jewish festival of the Passover. So why did the Jews, who regarded the Passover to be the most important event in the history of their nation, forsake it in favour of the celebration of Easter, which was the most important festival among Christians? The salutation was, “Christ is risen!” The reply was, “Christ is risen indeed!” What fact, other than that of the resurrection, can explain the reality of the Easter celebration, which we can trace all the way back to the era of the early church? Paul wrote, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day…After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 6 NIV).

The Word for You Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from Celebration Enterprises, Inc. Copyright © 2024