ABDIEL MINISTRIES

If Jesus Didn't Rise, None of This Matters

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Matthew 12:40 (KJV)

Jesus did not leave His resurrection as a vague hope; He named the sign in advance. Paul later delivered the gospel as a fixed historical claim: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. He named living eyewitnesses so the claim could be examined rather than accepted blindly. If Christ is not raised, preaching and faith are empty—but if He rose, everything changes.

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The Outline

  1. Jesus named His own resurrection in advance—the sign of Jonah, three days and three nights, promised before it happened (Matthew 12:40).

    Would I have believed a promise that specific, or would I have waited to see if He kept it?

  2. Paul delivers the gospel as a fixed, received fact—Christ died, was buried, and rose again the third day, all according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:1–4).

    Do I treat the gospel as something I feel, or something that actually happened?

  3. Paul names living eyewitnesses on purpose, including over five hundred people at once—a claim built to be checked, not believed blindly (1 Corinthians 15:5–8).

    Have I ever actually looked at the evidence, or just assumed there wasn't any?

  4. If Christ is not raised, Paul says preaching is vain, faith is vain, and we are yet in our sins—no hedge, no fallback plan (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17, 19).

    Am I building my life on a fact, or just a feeling I hope is true?

Discussion Questions

  1. Why does Paul anchor the whole gospel to one historical event instead of a feeling or a philosophy?
  2. Paul names specific living witnesses, including over 500 at once. Why does that detail matter?
  3. Read 1 Corinthians 15:14, 17, and 19 aloud. Why does Paul refuse to soften what's at stake if the resurrection isn't true?
  4. If someone asked you today, "how do you know Christianity is true?" — what would you actually say?
  5. Does your own faith rest more on evidence or on emotion? What would it look like to shore up the former?
Full Transcript

TODO-CONTENT: Full corrected transcript for Episode 2 from the production pipeline sidecar, with reverent capitalization reviewed. Full transcripts are not part of this website update.