Monday, April 25, 2016
1 Corinthians 15:1-2 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you--unless you believed in vain.
THESE ARE THE FACTS!
There are very few people who would dispute the fact that Jesus Christ lived, taught, and died in Palestine. Even the Jewish historian Josephus writes of the death of Jesus of Nazareth. There were soldiers who witnessed Jesus' death. Governor Pilate called for their commander and "asked him if He had been dead for some time" (Mark 15:44). We are told that Joseph of Aramathea and Nicodemus, a believing Pharisee, laid Jesus body in a new tomb after having prepared it for burial. Furthermore, we find that, "The women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid" (Luke 23:55).
The facts from both secular and biblical references, show that, "Christ died...and...was buried..." What unbelievers do dispute, is the purpose and the result. of that death. If I dispute the fact that the earth is round, that doesn't change the fact that it is. Unbelievers can dispute all they like, it doesn't change the fact: As Jesus Himself pointed out many times, He, "...came to give His life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). To appreciate fully the death of Jesus, we must understand the reason He suffered and died, which reason is, as Paul notes, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures."
The proof that He died for our sins? God's Word says so, then offers up a guarantee of that fact: "...he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:4).
These are the facts, and these facts guarantee the forgiveness of sins and life eternal through faith in Christ Jesus.
