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NOTES

EASTER 2025
What If It’s True?
Carl Nichols

1 Corinthians 15:17
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

If the resurrection isn’t true, our faith is meaningless. But if it is true, then everything about life, death, and eternity is transformed.

Proof of the Resurrection:
1. Jesus’s Death and Burial

Isaiah 53:5
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities…

Agnostic Bart Ehrman:
“It is hard today to understand just how offensive the idea of a crucified messiah would have been to most first-century Jews...Since no one would have made up the idea of a crucified messiah, Jesus must really have existed, must really have raised messianic expectations, and must really have been crucified.”

2. The Empty Tomb

Matthew 28:6
(Angel at Jesus' tomb) “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”

Jewish New Testament scholar Geza Vermes:
“In the end, when every argument has been considered and weighed, the only conclusion acceptable to the historian must be that the opinions of the orthodox, the liberal sympathizer and the critical agnostic alike—and even perhaps of the disciples themselves—are simply interpretations of the one disconcerting fact: namely that the women who set out to pay their last respects to Jesus found to their consternation, not a body, but an empty tomb.”

3. The Belief of the Apostles

Acts 4:20
(Disciples Peter and John) “As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Muslim author Reza Aslan:
“One could simply...dismiss the resurrection as a lie, and declare belief in the risen Jesus to be the product of a deludable mind. However, there is this nagging fact to consider: one after another of those who claimed to have witnessed the risen Jesus went to their own gruesome deaths refusing to recant their testimony. That is not, in itself, unusual. Many zealous Jews died horribly for refusing to deny their beliefs. But these first followers of Jesus were not being asked to reject matters of faith based on events that took place centuries, if not millennia, before. They were being asked to deny something they themselves personally, directly encountered.”

4. The Conversion of Paul

Acts 9:4-5
He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

Because of the Resurrection:
1. We Can Know God’s Promises Are True

2 Corinthians 1:20
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.

2. We Can Know Our Sins Are Forgiven

1 Corinthians 15:17
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

3. We Can Know Death Is Defeated

1 Corinthians 15:20–22
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

4. We Can Know Jesus Is Coming Back

Acts 1:11
(Angels who appeared when Jesus ascended to heaven) “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

The resurrection is not just a historical event; it’s a personal invitation.