Some numbers were important in Scripture. The seventh day was to be holy, for God rested on the seventh day (Ex 20:8-11). “Forty” is important. The Flood (Gen 7:12). Moses on Mt. Sinai (Ex 24:18). The Israelites’ wandering in the wilderness (Num 14:33-34). First three kings. Jesus fasted for forty days (Matt 4:2).
God raised up Jesus on the third day.
Acts 10:39-43
Being an eyewitness was a part of the special role of an apostle. “You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Acts 1:21-22.
Jesus was killed by being hanged on a tree. Throughout His ministry, Jesus spoke about being killed on a cross. Matt 20: Jesus had to die in order to redeem us from sin. “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3). Jesus “Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Pet 2:24).
Acts 10:39-43
“He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 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. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time” (1 Cor 15:5-8).
Acts 10:39-43
Jesus is to be the judge of the living and the dead. God “has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom” (2 Tim 4:1).
Acts 10:39-43
Scripture teaches that the one who has faith in Jesus will be saved. “The scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe” (Gal 3:22). “By grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph 2:8).
God raised up Jesus on the third day.
God has power over death. “Him God raised up....” One day God will raise my lowly body. 1 Cor 15: “If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus” (1 Thess 4:14).
Jesus can be trusted. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus said that He would be raised on the third day. “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt 12:40). “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mk 8:31). Because God raised Jesus on the third day, we know that Jesus can be trusted.
I need to share my faith. Peter says that Jesus commanded the apostles to preach to the people. We have a serious obligation to preach to the people. “Go... and make disciples of all the nations” (Matt 28:19). “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily” (Col 1:28-29). Whom can you teach this week?
Jesus will judge the world. Everything we have done or will do will be brought into judgment. “God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil” (Eccl 12:14). “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor 5:10).
Jesus will forgive me of my sins. No matter what sins you have committed, God will forgive you. God can forgive you through faith. Why not respond out of faith and obey the Word of God? Jesus “became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Heb 5:9).