Message summary: The resurrection of Christ was a vital New Testament doctrine and foundational to apostolic preaching. Today the resurrected Christ lives within believers by His transforming power. Does He live in your life? Is the truth of His resurrection merely familiar or is it foundational to your life?

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“He presented Himself alive to them after His suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:32). “But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55). “But God raised Him from the dead” (Acts 13:30).

This week we are examining resurrection truths from each of the five major sections of the New Testament. Yesterday we took a brief look at a familiar verse in Matthew concerning the first witness who declared “He is not here; He is risen, just as He said” concerning the risen Christ (Matthew 28:6).

The Book of Acts records the history of the early church following the resurrection of Christ. The prologue introduces the book with the following words, “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up, after He had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen. He presented Himself alive to them after His suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:1-3). The "first book" is the gospel of Luke. Theophilus is a name that means "lover of God". It may be used here in a literal sense identifying a person's name or it may be generically referring to all who love God.

Today we will look at several of the references to the resurrection in the book of Acts, the history of the early church. The early church was birthed out of the eyewitness experiences of the first disciples or apostles. These verses affirm the centrality of the resurrection of Christ.

There are three prominent preachers in the book of Acts:

1) Peter delivered the first sermon on the Day of Pentecost. He denied the Lord some 53 days earlier but now he stood up boldly proclaiming the Gospel of the resurrected Christ. While standing with the other eleven apostles (Acts 2:14) Peter stated, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:32). Being a witness to the resurrected Christ was a requirement concerning the apostle who would replace Judas (Acts 1:22). This demonstrates the centrality of Christ’s resurrection in apostolic preaching.

2) Stephen explained and defended the gospel in the longest sermon recorded in the book of Acts (7:2-53). He didn’t get to finish though. In boldly proclaiming the Gospel he got up to the point concerning Christ’s death when he was violently interrupted (see Acts 7:51-54). However he still testified to the risen Lord who appeared to him during the most intense and final testing of his life when he was being stoned: “full of the Holy Spirit, [Stephen] looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 'Look,' he said, 'I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God'" (v. 55,56). Jesus Christ was not dead in a tomb but alive, standing at the right hand of God.

3) Paul, formerly called Saul, witnessed the resurrected Christ in dramatic fashion at his conversion recorded in Acts 9. The risen Lord appeared to him. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he [Saul] said, “Who are you, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5,6). Paul of course went on to become an apostle and in his first recorded mission sermon preached concerning Christ, “But God raised Him from the dead” (Acts 13:30). Paul’s parting words to the Athenian philosophers was to declare that God had “fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man Whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

The resurrection of Christ was a vital New Testament doctrine and foundational to apostolic preaching. Today the resurrected Christ lives within believers by His transforming power. Does He live in your life? Is the truth of His resurrection merely familiar or is it foundational to your life?

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber