Reprint Compliments of Men At The Cross By Joe White

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1 Corinthians 15:3-8

3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

THE SPOTLIGHT OF TRUTH At one time or another, we've all seen a police helicopter whirring back and forth across a city sky, its spotlight probing the ground for some fleeing villain. It's rare, however, that one sees the hunted pinned down in a circle of light. Recently, one of my directors had that opportunity.

"I was coming home from church one night with my family," he tells me. "We had just entered an overpass, and below us the highway was dotted with traffic. Suddenly, my son shouts, 'Hey, Dad, look at that car down there. It looks like it's on stage.'

Sure enough, ahead of the other cars sped an old, black van-smack dab in the middle of a fluorescent halo. Above it, flying as low as possible, a police helicopter kept its search beam trained on its suspect. The light was so bright that every detail of the van stood out-the license number, the missing taillight, the rusty paint on the back, left quarter-panel-nothing was hidden from view. It truly was on stage. No doubt, they had their man."

In chapter fifteen of I Corinthians, Paul has his spotlight trained on the Resurrection. Just like the helicopter's search beam, the light of verses 3-8 shines so brightly that nobody can be mistaken about the identity of the man on stage. The man had a name, and His name was Christ Jesus. The man had a purpose, and his purpose was to die for our sins. The man was buried, and stayed in the grave for three days. The man was raised from the dead. Finally, the man appeared to many people after His resurrection, and in a specific order: first to Peter, then to His Twelve disciples, then to a congregation of five-hundred, then to James, then to the apostles, and finally to Paul. (*By the way, in our judicial system, it takes only two witnesses to convict a defendant. Paul had five hundred of them.)

In short, the resurrection is illuminated by facts. When we study it in light of Paul's evidence, we can arrive at only one conclusion: Jesus Christ is guilty of rising from the dead. Case dismissed.

QUESTIONS:
1. Without looking at the text, name four pieces of evidence that verify Christ's resurrection.
2. In twenty-five words, or less, describe how the resurrection gives you hope.

LIFELINE:
If you were the defendant in this case, you would be charged with trying to prove the resurrection was false. Divide up into two teams, defense and convicted. Play out how this trial might proceed based on Paul's writing in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.