Classic Quotes from Classic Ministers

Classic Quotes from Classic Ministers

1 Corinthians 15:1-8

(1) Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, (2) by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. (3) For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (4) and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, (5) and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. (6) After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. (7) After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. (8) Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
New King James Version   

As he opens this chapter, Paul's clear purpose is to show that the hope God has placed before us is not based on men's guesses or possibilities, but on the testimony of many eyewitnesses then yet living when he wrote this in the AD 50s. Paul adds that he did not make up the gospel, but it was what he received from Christ, and what he received was exactly the same as what he had later been told by the apostles when he met with them in Jerusalem. Paul is presenting the resurrection of Christ as a historical fact.

We also have available to us the witness of the apostles' lives following the resurrection. Now, people just do not do the things the apostles did without believing what they saw with their own eyes with all their heart. Thus, in the first eight verses Paul reinforces what Peter says in II Peter 1:16-21, that there is plenty of strong evidence of the proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is not a figment of these men's imaginations. It really did occur, and God did not provide a mere two or three witnesses, but hundreds of them to the fact of the resurrection of the dead.

Paul establishes that our hope is resurrection into the Kingdom of God. However, we must take this hope one step farther if we want to make it a motivating force. The resurrection is, in one sense, merely a promised event given at a point in time. It does not occur merely because we believe it, or even because it has been promised. It occurs because of Who promised it. It occurs because there is a powerful Being of utmost integrity, who cannot lie and who will make it occur. This is where our hope must be, not in what He has promised, but rather Who has promised it. Is our faithin God? So must our hope be in God.

~John W. Ritenbaugh~

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This God is our God forever and ever! 

("Every Day!" Author unknown)

"This God is our God forever and ever! He will be our Guide even unto death!" Psalm 48:14

Those who have fled for refuge to the hope set before them in the gospel, all who are living a life of faith--are privileged to say of the Lord, "This God is our God forever and ever!"

Believers are privileged to say that the God who has all power in Heaven and earth, whose understanding is infinite, who is good, and who does good continually: "This God is our God forever and ever!" 

Believers are privileged to say the God of holiness, righteousness, and justice; the God of mercy, truth, and grace; the "just God and the Savior": "This God is our God forever and ever!" 

Believers are privileged to say the God whose name and whose nature is love, and who has manifested His love toward us in sending His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him: "This God is our God forever and ever!" 

Believers are privileged to say the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort; the Refuge of the oppressed, the Helper of the helpless, the Hope of the hopeless, and the Savior of the lost: "This God is our God forever and ever!" 

Believers are privileged to say the Source of every good and perfect gift; the promise-keeping God: "This God is our God"--and always will be; for He never leaves nor forsakes His redeemed people. "He will be our Guide even unto death," and our portion forever and ever!

"This God is the God we adore;
 Our faithful, unchangeable Friend;
 Whose love is as great as His power.
 And knows neither measure nor end!"