Paul
the apostle told the church members in Corinth how Jesus, “was
seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:”,
and in
chapter fifteen and verse six of First Corinthians, Paul told the
church members in Corinth how Jesus was, “seen
of above five hundred brethren at once”,
where we read:
After
that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once;
of
whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen
asleep.
The
verse begins, “After
that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once;”
Paul began
with the words, “after that” or
“thereupon, thereafter and then” “he
was seen”
which means “Jesus appeared, was looked at and beheld” “of
above”
which means “more than” “five
hundred”
or “the numeric value of five hundred” “brethren”
which refers to “fellow believers who are united to another by the
bond of affection” “at once” or
“at one time”. Jesus was seen by over “five
hundred” fellow
believers after His resurrection.
The
verse goes on to say, “of
whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen
asleep.” Paul
added the words, “of whom” or
“out of, by and for which” “the
greater part”
which means “the more part and many” “remain”
or “abide, continue to be present and endure” “unto
this present”
which refers to “just now or at this very time and moment”, “but”
which is a disassociation conjunction that means what is about to be
written takes precedence over what was just stated “some”
“certain ones” “are fallen
asleep”
which means “also and indeed have been put to sleep” or
physically died. Most of the “five
hundred”
people who saw Jesus after His resurrection were alive at the time of
Paul's writing, however, some of them had already gone to be with the
Lord through death.
When
we meditate upon these words from Paul, we see an even greater number
of witnesses to Jesus Christ's resurrection. Most of those people
were alive when Paul wrote these words, but alas, some were not.
Nonetheless, they too were witnesses to Jesus being alive again, and
as we consider this truth, let us also bear witness that Jesus Christ
is alive and willing to save all who will simply believe and trust in
Him.
Next
time Paul tells
the church members how Jesus,
“he was seen of James; then
of all the apostles”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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