by David J. Stewart | February
2014
Acts
4:1-2, “And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of
the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, Being grieved that they taught
the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”
There is an increasing disturbing trend in the world's churches to preach
salvation through Christ's death without any mention of the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead. Without Christ's resurrection there can be no
salvation. The Word of God defines the gospel as Christ's DEATH, BURIAL and
RESURRECTION...
1st Corinthians 15:1-4,
“Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the
gospel which I preached
unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also
ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have
believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also
received, how that
Christ died for our
sins
according to the scriptures; And that
he was buried,
and that he
rose again the third day
according to the scriptures.” [emphasis added]
Even the vilest of heathens believe
that a historical figure named Jesus lived and died; but they DON'T believe
that Jesus miraculously raised up from THE DEAD.
Christ ROSE for our justification.
The resurrection is the force of the Gospel. It is the fence between us and
misery. It is the guardian that keeps our faith from vanity. For 52-weeks we
imprison the great truth of the death of Christ upon the cross, but then grant
visiting hours one day a year at Easter. Ladies and gentleman, we ought to
include the resurrection every time we mention Christ's death on the cross.
JESUS IS RISEN!!! The resurrection of Christ is as important to your salvation
as is the cross of Calvary! The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the
overpowering news that the Lord is risen and is the hope of the world.
A dead virgin born Savior is no
Savior at all. If Calvary is the last chapter in the book, then our faith is
dead in vain. He who only gazes at Calvary is living on the wrong side of the
cross. Instead of wearing a crucifix, Catholics ought to have an empty tomb.
Of course, crucifixes are unbiblical and no Christian should wear them. Christ
is not on the cross, He is risen!
Why Is The Resurrection So
Important?
Jesus died as the living Lamb to pay
for our sins, but then He had to rise from the dead, ascend into Heaven, and
as our High Priest sprinkle (Hebrews 12:24) His literal, liquid, physical,
precious, blood to the Mercy Seat in the Holy Place (Hebrews 9:12) in the
presence of the Father (Hebrews 9:24). Folks who don't believe in the blood of
Christ are going straight to Hell. Christ had to rise, because only the High
Priest can enter into the Holy Place with the blood. Christ died on the cross
as our Savior, and then He ascended into Heaven as our High Priest.
Christ became our SIN, went
to Calvary as our LAMB, rose and ascended into Heaven to sprinkle His
blood on the Mercy Seat as our HIGH PRIEST, and is now seated at the
right hand of God as our attorney (advocate), our INTERCESSOR. Hebrews
7:25, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them.” If Christ is not risen, then we have no High Priest
or Intercessor Who pleads. Rejoice oh Christian that Jesus lives!!! But also
rejoice why Christ arose! Jesus arose because I need two things: a
SAVIOR and a HIGH PRIEST! No High Priest means no Savior, and no salvation!
We've got to have a High Priest
(Who arose, ascended and appeared before God in the Holy Place with His own
blood - Hebrews 9:12,22-24), and we've got to have an Intercessor at
the Father's right-hand who pleads for us (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 4:15-16). The
blood of Jesus is a constant reminder of God's justice being satisfied. Man
cannot commune with a holy God, so we need a Mediator (intercessor), the
God-man (1st Timothy 2:5). Man communicates with the human part of Jesus; but
the deity part of Christ communicates with God the Father. Thus, Christ is the
only way to God the Father. Jesus is the only Mediator and High Priest.
Only The High Priest Could Enter
Into The Holy Place
Christ died as the Lamb of God, but
He arose as our High Priest. Jesus ascended into Heaven with the literal,
liquid, physical, precious, blood which was shed from his hands, feet, side,
brow and torn body, and SPRINKLED (Hebrews 12:24) that blood upon the Mercy
Seat to appease the wrath of the Father against sin, satisfying the justice of
God, making redemption available to all men who want it. JESUS PAID IT ALL!!!
Christ is the Savior of all men (1st Timothy 4:10), but you can only be saved
if you believe on Christ. 1st Timothy 4:10, “For therefore we both
labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God,
who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.”
The cross is essential for
salvation, which includes all that was necessary to validate Christ's
sacrifice. None of redemption could have been
made possible if it weren't for the Lord's virgin birth (Matthew 1:23),
sinless life (Hebrews 4:15), death (Romans 5:6), burial (John 19:38, 1st
Corinthians 15:1-4), resurrection three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-4),
His ascension into Heaven (Acts 1:9-11) and the application of Jesus' literal,
physical, liquid, blood to the heavenly mercy seat (Hebrews 9:12,22-24). Christ raised
up and ascended into Heaven with the shed blood, applying it to the mercy seat
in the presence of the Father, obtaining eternal redemption for every human
being; thus making salvation a free gift to those who receive the gospel as
full-payment for there sins...
Hebrews 9:11-14, “But
Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and
more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this
building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but
by his own blood he
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. For if the blood of
bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
Every Old Testament lamb that was
killed and the blood applied to the mercy seat in the holy place was a shadow
of things to come. Christ was the fulfillment of every slain lamb of the Old
Testament, and just as the innocent lamb's blood had to be applied to the
mercy seat, so also did Jesus' literal blood have to be applied to the mercy
seat.
Hebrews 10:1,4 and 12,
“For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image
of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by
year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. ... For it is not
possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. ...
But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the
right hand of God.”
The Resurrection Is Essential To
Salvation
To deny the resurrection of Jesus
Christ is to deny the entire Bible and forfeit the free gift of forgiveness in
Christ. For if Christ be dead, then how can He save anybody? If Jesus died,
but didn't rise up from the dead, then He was only a mortal man and no more.
In the demonic book titled, THE DAVINCI CODE, by Dan Brown (and
the subsequent film by Ron Howard based upon the book), the Lord Jesus Christ
is horribly blasphemed, portrayed merely as an extraordinary man who was not
miraculously born of a virgin and didn't miraculously raise-up from the dead
after being crucified and buried for three days.
Christ-rejecting Muslims who
recognize Muhammad as their true prophet, and errantly think that Allah (who
has no son) is God, DO believe that Jesus lived and died. Albeit, the Quran
teaches in
The Women, 4.157 that Jesus was kidnapped and someone else died on
the cross. Clearly, Islam and Christianity are DIAMETRICALLY opposed.
Allah cannot be the God of the
Bible, because according to the Quran Allah has no Son. The Quran (also called
the Koran) clearly states in
The Women 4.171 that God has NO son. In sharp contrast, we are
told in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.” The death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the underlying theme of Christianity, all centering around the blood
sacrifice of the Lamb of God. 1st Peter 1:18-19, “Forasmuch as ye know that
ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your
vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
lamb without blemish and without spot.”
The unsaved heathen world adamantly
denies the virgin birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ (both of which
require a divine, supernatural, miracle). Unbelieving wicked people are always
attempting to explain away Christianity. It's not difficult to believe that a
man named Jesus once lived, accomplished extraordinary things in His life and
then died as all humanity does. However, to believe that Jesus is the
virgin-born Son of God, the Godhead incarnate, God in the flesh requires
faith. I have that faith as a Christian. I believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of the living God as Peter also confessed in Matthew 16:16, “And
Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God.” Amen! I agree with Peter
100%!!! Jesus is the Christ, God in the flesh, the virgin-born Son of God, my
Redeemer, Savior, King and Lord.
Christ had to be born of a virgin in
order not to have a sin-nature. Jesus was God the Father's ONLY begotten Son
(John 3:16). Literally, the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and she conceived
without any physical contact with God. Sicko Mormons teach that God had sexual
relations with Mary, and also that Jesus married three wives and had many
children. No such heathendom is taught in the Bible. The Lord had to live a
sinless life as the spotless Lamb of God (John 1:29), acceptable as a
sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Christ's resurrection was absolutely
necessary for redemption to be made possible, for Christ cannot save men if He
is dead...
1st Corinthians 15:14-17,
“And if
Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain,
and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God;
because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised
not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is
not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are
yet in your sins.”
But thanks be to God the Father, God
the Son and God the Holy Spirit... CHRIST AROSE!!!
"For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life." —John 3:16
