To Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone believing in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.

— Acts 10:43

When they had carried out all that was written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.

— Acts 13:29

23 Now the words “it was credited to him” were written not only for Abraham,

24 but also for us, to whom righteousness will be credited—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

25 He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.

— Romans 4:23-25

4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

5 and that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve.

6 After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, …

7 Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

8 And last of all He appeared to me [Paul] also, as to one of untimely birth.

— 1 Corinthians 15:4-8

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace and mercy to you from Jesus Christ.

Christ died on our behalf in order to save us from the penalty we deserved for our sins. By suffering death for us, Christ saved us from having to face the death penalty ourselves and being separated from God for all eternity. There are two very important verifications of Christ’s death. Firstly, Christ died according to the Scriptures. Christ’s death was a prophetic event that happened exactly as the Old Testament foretold. Secondly, Christ died and was buried. The burial of Christ provides enduring proof of His death. The living are not buried; only the dead are buried.

The crucified and buried Christ was raised on the third day. The resurrection of Christ is an integral part of the gospel message that must be believed for a person to be saved from the penalty of sin. The resurrection validated Christ’s victory over both sin and death. It is detailed prophecies fulfilled. The resurrected Christ appeared to and was witnessed by Cephas, Jesus’s TWELVE disciples, more than 500 brothers at one time, all other disciples, Jesus’s half brother Jame, and lastly Paul. Christ’s resurrection is an undeniably objective and historical event that justifies the believers of Christ.