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Volume. XXV, No. 43 Christ is Risen from the Dead!Introduction
Jesus Christ is risen from the Dead! Upon that confession of faith is based all of our salva-tion. Because he has a risen, living Saviour, the child of God is justified. There is nothing that can condemn him. (Rom 8:1) Because Jesus Christ is risen, the child of God is raised to a new, spiritual life. (2 Cor 5:17) Because Jesus lives as the risen Lord, the child of God, too, shall be raised from the dead and his body shall be fashioned like unto His glorious body. The truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Christian faith and belief. (1 Cor 15:12-14) He or she who, by the grace of God, believes the resurrection of Jesus Christ believes the gospel. And believ-ing the gospel of Jesus Christ, he shall, with-out doubt, find eternal life therein! (Jn 17:1,2) Resurrection and Christ’s Deity We read in 1 Corinthians 15:3,4: “For I deliv-ered unto you first of all that which I also re-ceived, how that Christ died for our sins ac-cording to the scriptures. And that he was bur-ied, and that he rose again the third day ac-cording to the scriptures.” By this faith, faith in the crucified and risen Saviour, we are saved. Believing in the glorious truth of the resurrection, we are more than conquerors through Him who has died for us and is risen. But as unthinkable and horrible as it may sound to one possessing faith in the risen Lord, also this truth of the resurrection is de-nied by many. Men want novelties. Men do not want the clear and certain sounds of the gos-pel. Those certain sounds of the gospel are incarnate deity (that is, the Son of God made flesh), atoning death (that is, Jesus dying for His people — great is the mystery of godli-ness! (1 Tim 3:16)) and literal resurrection, Jesus Christ risen bodily from the dead. Modern man exalts his reason and his intellect above these sound truths and calls them all “myth” and reject the truth that Jesus is both fully God (Col 1:15) and fully Man (1 Tim 2:5). During the time of Paul, there were people who claimed to be Christians but denied the resurrection and deity of Jesus Christ. They professed to believe in Jesus, but denied His resurrection. Paul had to ask, in 1 Corinthians 15:12b, “how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?” There were those in Corinth who denied a physical resur-rection. In the church of Ephesus, Paul warns Timothy in 2 Tim 2:17,18 of a man called Hy-menaeus, and another, Alexander. Their word, he says to Timothy, “will eat as doth a canker, ... who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and over-throw the faith of some.” Already in Paul‟s day men tried to take away the resurrection, to deny its reality, to make it something mysti-cal. So, we are told, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was invented by the early church, so was Christ‟s deity at the council of Nicea in AD 325. But nothing can be further from the truth. There is no biblical or historical evidence which supports that their claims are true. Any-one who claims to be a Christian yet denies Jesus‟ resurrection and/or His deity is a repro-bate and an apostate. And, anyone who preaches such „gospel‟ Paul says, “let him be accursed.” (Gal 1:9) Make Your Election and Calling Sure Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 1:10 says, “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” What does Peter mean by „making our calling and election sure‟? Now, let me be very clear. If a person has departed from the truth of the real resur-rection of Jesus Christ or His deity, he was never saved in the first place. Apostle John warns, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (1 John 2:19) They might have been coming to church for prayer meetings, Bible studies and fellowship group meetings, but he was never saved. If one denies Christ‟s resurrection or His deity, he will have no part in the kingdom of God because his faith is vain. What saith the Scrip-ture? 1 Corinthians 15:17 says, “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen Jesus Christ is Risen from the Dead! asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” Why do I keep relating Christ‟s resurrection with His deity? Bear in mind that the Bible says that Christ was risen from the dead by His own power! John 11:25 says, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Jesus also explicitly says that “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Who will raise him that be-lieves up at the last day? Jesus said He would! It is interesting that elsewhere the Bi-ble also says that it is God who raised the dead (1Cor 15:15-20; Acts 2:24, 17:31; Rom 6:4-8, 8:11; 2Cor 4:14; Phi 3:10-11; 1Th 4:14). Any honest student of the Scripture cannot but conclude that Jesus is God Himself and can-not be just a man or a super angelic being as the cults suggest. Is there any room for compromise? Shall we negotiate today on the truth of the resurrection and His Deity of Jesus Christ from the dead? Shall we, perhaps, discuss the im-pact on Christianity if certain concessions are made on this truth? Shall we do that? God forbid! The Word of God is clear. A dead Sav-iour, a Saviour who is not risen by His own divine power, is no Saviour. If Christ did not arise by His own divine power, then the gospel is a hoax. The preaching of the gospel is a lie! And, besides, it is useless. But God de-clares with all of His power and sover-eignty: “Now is Christ risen from the dead.” (1 Cor 15:20). The cult groups are quick to find common ground with Bible believ-ing Christians saying, “the most important thing is that we all believe in the same God.” I would argue that the god of the Christian cult who denies Jesus‟ deity is a totally different god! Therefore, with a holy jealousy and with uncompromising insistence, we declare today, on His behalf, “Christ is risen from the dead.” He is the divine and eternal Son of God! 2 Timothy 2:8 says, “Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel.” Acts 4:33 says, “And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.” Our faith is sure because Jesus is risen from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus Christ declares to us that we are justified. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a declaration made by God to the child of God saying, “You are righteous, you are no more in your sins, you are no longer guilty before God.” When God raised His Son, and God did that, then God made a declaration of the righteousness of His people in the work of Jesus Christ! Conclusion: Do you believe these things? Do you know His resurrection and His deity by faith? Have you found them in the Holy Scriptures? Is this your faith? That is always the question that is left when the gospel of the risen Lord is preached: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: Believest thou this?” (John 11:26) Believing that Jesus is risen from the dead also means accepting His deity. If you do not believe both, if you are so proud as to re-ject it and so conceited as to ignore it, and if you say simply, “Well, I don‟t see why I must believe that Jesus is God, I just believe that He died for me sins and that‟s enough” — if that is your response, then the only thing that is in your life is fear, a fearful reckoning when the Lord, the risen Lord Jesus Christ, whose eyes are as flames of fire and whose feet are as shining brass, will stand before you in death and you will be „judged‟ and be cast into hell because you do not believe what Jesus has said of Himself: “ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” (John 8:24). But all who, by the grace of God, place their trust in the risen Saviour to-day, who, by His grace, believe this gospel, the word to you from the risen Lord is: “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen.” (Matt. 28:5,6). We believe that by grace and by faith! And, believing, we have eternal life in His blessed name, Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God! Amen. Ps Weng |
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