10 Reasons for the Resurrection! By Andrew Farley
Without the Resurrection, Christianity has absolutely NO sense at
all.
But, lo and behold, Christ has risen from the dead, indeed.
10. To Demonstrate God’s Power – This
is at #10 because we already know of God’s power speaking entire galaxies into
existence; we have seen God’s power parting the Red Sea, healing leprosy,
providing manna from heaven, etc… So we know that God is powerful. Christ
certainly had power in raising Lazarus from the dead.
9. To Fulfill Prophecy – We can look
at all sorts of documents in the Hebrew Bible and in the Old Testament, and we
can see that the prophets saw this coming. Isaiah 53, for example says that
Christ was the suffering servant who was pierced for our transgressions. Psalm
16:10 says that Christ will not be done away with in a tomb, that Christ will
not go through decay. Indeed, there were prophecies about the Cross, but there
were also prophecies about the Resurrection.
8. To Cure Our Fear Of Death – The
fear of death is pretty strong. The fear accompanying us saying that this is
all that there is just so huge. Hebrews 2 says that Christ shared in our
humanity so that He would free those who were in slavery to the fear of death
all of their lives. If we’re scared to die, we’re slaves to fear… once we were
slaves, but by Christ’s resurrection, we have been set free. The resurrection
indicates that we no longer have any reason to fear what lies beyond.
7. To Save Us – We say that the cross
saves us, but that only brought us to the grave. But it’s the resurrection of
Christ that brought us into grace. The cross does away with our old self, but it’s
the resurrection that gives us the new self. The cross is what pays for our
sins, but the resurrection deals with our selves. We have not been called
children of the cross, but children of the resurrection (Luke 20:36)!
Romans 5:10 says that we have been
reconciled by the death of Christ, and indeed, there is a bridge.. but that’s
only half of the story! That’s only one side of the coin. The verse goes on by
saying that we have been saved by His life. It is by the cross AND the
resurrection that we have been saved. His life saves us. His life has power
over death. His life has power when we couldn’t control our destiny and future.
Romans 4:25 says that Jesus Christ was
raised for our justification… but what is justification? We try to justify
ourselves for our actions, but when we justify ourselves before God, we have
only one name to mention, and that is Jesus Christ.
Didn’t Christ die for our
justification? No, He was also raised for our justification, meaning that God
doesn’t just look at us ‘as if’ we were justified, but He does see us as
justified through Christ! Christ has made us really right by His resurrection.
He caused us not just to be changed, but to be born again, made totally new,
through His resurrection.
6. To Raise Us Up As Born Of God –
Yes, we celebrate that Christ has been risen from the dead, but we also praise
God because as Christ was raised from the dead, so we have been raised as well!
We have been included in the resurrection. 1 John 3 says that we have been born
of God.
This means that as we have been born
with characteristics of our parents, to say that we have been born of God, we
bear characteristics of a living God! We have been made overcomers because we
were born of God. This isn’t just a symbolic truth, but it’s a truth that we possess
right here, right now!
5. To Give Us A Resurrection Heart –
God promised through Ezekiel (c36) that we will be given a new heart and a new
spirit. Romans 6:17 says we have been made obedient through the heart. By
grace, we have been made obedient. Part of our identity is that we have been
made obedient from the heart. Do not believe the sayings that we have a wicked
heart - That’s only what we USED TO have.
If you are in Christ, you have a new,
resurrection heart, an obedient heart.
4. To Bring In The New Way Of Grace –
Romans 7:4 says we died to the Law so that we could be joined to another, to
Him who was raised. The resurrection means that we are joined to a living
Savior. We are not joined to a dead teacher. We are not married to a dead
founder of a religion. We have been joined to a risen Christ.
This means that we have power over sin
and death. We don’t need the Law if we have the Spirit of Christ in us.
3. To Take Us Out Of Our Sins – Paul
told the Corinthians that without the resurrection, everything is vain,
useless, and that we would still be dead in our sins. We would be (1) dead and
(2) in our sins. Many people still think that they are still in their sins, but
we ought to know through this passage that by Christ’s resurrection, we have
been (1) made alive, and (2) taken out of our sins!
2. To Seat Us In Heaven With Christ –
Ephesians 2 says that Christ raised us up and seated us next to God. So we
should do away with singing and saying that we need to be close to God.. but by
Christ’s resurrection we have been placed as close to God as we could ever be –
So close in fact, that we cannot be taken away from His presence, no matter
what happens!
It’s not about punching in and
checking into God’s presence, but it’s about us being in God’s presence
forever, as Christ has been raised and now lives forever! We’re not getting any
closer to God because we are already one with Him, joined to Him not just now
but forever! When we were born again we have been placed close to God. It’s not
going to get any better than it already is.
1. Relationship with the Resurrected
Christ – It’s all about our relationship. God wants relationship. God wants us.
God doesn’t want us to do, do, do, He doesn’t want us to impress, He doesn’t
want us to try, HE WANTS US. That’s why He joined us to Himself – Christ gave
His life FOR us, then He gave His life TO us, infusing us with His life so we
could live in intimacy with Him as He lives His life THROUGH us.
It’s about union. It’s about being one
Spirit with Jesus. It’s about being connected. It’s about being plugged into
the resurrection life of Jesus Christ… forever.
Thank You, Jesus!
_________________________
jb.redeemed
email me at jibee@rocketmail.com.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you His Shalom. - Numbers 6:24-26