1 Corinthians 15:13-14
Paul on the Importance of the Resurrection
13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
Galatians 1:11-24
Paul Meets Peter and James
11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.
18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days.19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.
21 Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they praised God because of me.
2 Peter 3:14-16
Peter Writing About Paul's Epistles
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
Acts 1:1-11
Jesus Appeared for Forty Days After His Resurrection, then Taken Up Into Heaven
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “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.”
John 10:10
Jesus Came to Earth so We Would Live Life More Abundantly
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Matthew 28:16-20
The Great Commission
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Peter and Paul and James knew each other...In Paul's letter to the Galatians he writes about visiting with Cephas or Peter and Jesus' brother James...These three would have shared their thoughts, ideas, and what they knew about Jesus with each other...James, Jesus' brother would have known a lot about His brother and what He could do (and not do, if that was even possible)...Peter was an original disciple, and would hear Jesus utter the greatest words ever spoken on earth, and seen many, if not all of His miracles...
So, when Paul writes about the importance of Jesus resurrection, he would have had gotten some (and maybe a lot) of his background and facts from James and Peter...Paul says that if Jesus was not raised then faith is futile...He is tying our faith in Jesus and in God to the resurrection of Jesus...Paul writes that if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Jesus was raised...And if Jesus has not been raised our faith is useless...These are powerful words...It is very clear to Paul that the resurrection is a key, if not the key to believing in Jesus, and in life after death -and basically in heaven...After all, if a Father would not raise His Son from death and take Him into heaven, why would He raise me?...The resurrection is the most important historical fact in the history of humanity...And Paul makes this clear in his first letter to the Corinthians in chapter fifteen...
After Jesus was raised, He visited off and on with His disciples for forty days...Then He ascended into heaven...When He left them if was Peter, Paul, James, and the other disciples and apostles who were to spread the good news about Him...They were the ones who were to share that He had been raised from the dead...They were the ones to tell others about Him, His teachings, and this great resurrection story...It was a time to tell others that there is a heaven and when we die we will get to see Jesus and His Father...But it was also a time for the outcasts and downtrodden and the lesser ones in life to be raised up in their Spirits today by Peter, James, and Paul and the other apostles...To live in the here and now and understand that we all have a purpose in life...To teach this hope that Jesus brings everyone...Jesus came for us and taught these eternal things, so that we all might live and be raised in our hopes for not only tomorrow's heaven, but also for today...