Implications of Christ’s Resurrection
Romans 15:8-12 says: “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.”
Many don’t consider that Jesus’ resurrection proved the validity of the Old Testament. And yet when the Apostles of Christ preached His resurrection, they spoke of it as the fulfillment of the Scriptures which existed at that point- the Hebrew Bible or, as we know it, the Old Testament. The Apostle John speaks of Jesus as the Word made flesh in chapter one of His Gospel- the Word who was with God and was God at the beginning; the One who made all things. The truths in the Scriptures, including the Old Testament, reflect Jesus’ character since Jesus is the Word of God. The Old Testament Scriptures also testify of the Deliverer who would offer Himself to make an atonement for sin and offer redemption to man, thereby crushing the serpent’s head (the serpent deceiver who had seduced man into his service through sin). The Scriptures speak of this Deliverer as a King who would be descended from King David and reign forever on his throne in righteousness. The Father ultimately vindicated the Scriptures in their entirety in raising Jesus from the dead after He was crucified- the One who embodied the Scriptures, lived in perfect alignment with the Scriptures, upheld the Scriptures in His preaching, and who ultimately is the Saving King whom the Scriptures testify of constantly. Many want to disconnect Jesus Christ partially or totally from the Old Testament, yet not believing that the Old Testament is entirely true and inspired by the true God is logically a denial then that Jesus was raised from the dead- since that is the very context of how His resurrection was preached by the very ones who were eyewitnesses of His resurrection.
Think of Christ’s resurrection as the ultimate road sign warning people to exit the broad road of sin and enter the narrow, tribulated way of dying to the pleasures of sin and living to God under His righteous authority. It was man’s lawlessness and choice to embrace darkness which opposed Jesus Christ and crucified Him. We see at the cross the true nature of sin on display. We see that those who transgress God at heart actually commit treason against Him and pour out bitter hatred against His holy and righteous Government. This contempt of God in the choice to live one’s own way by embracing sin is the ultimate reason people go to hell beyond the acts of sin in and of themselves. The cross was when the Father allowed that bitter enmity of people against Him to be demonstrated in reality upon His Son. Sin was thus seen then for what it is in its essence. In Luke 22:53 Jesus said to His enemies who were about to deliver Him to be crucified, “When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
His resurrection above all validated the Scriptures themselves and His Ultimate Supreme Authority. This is how His Apostles, the very eyewitnesses of His resurrection, preached Him. And this is also the key thing which the “grace preachers”, the people who preach a false gospel by saying you just need to accept Christ’s death for your sins, do not tell people in their deceit and disregard of the whole counsel of God’s Word regarding the mercy which Jesus Christ offers. His resurrection vindicates His authority, demands that people repent of their sins and submit to that authority, and only offers man forgiveness of sins in the context of recognizing Him and obeying Him accordingly.
John 2:18-21: “Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things (Jesus had just forcefully cleansed the Temple, His Father’s house, at the Feast of Passover)? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.”
The resurrection proves that Jesus has the right to govern us by His Word, to tell us how to live, and to cleanse according to His definition of clean. No one can refuse that except to their own damnation.
Romans 1:1-5 (the introduction to the Book of Romans): “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name.”
Colossians 1:15-18: “Who (Jesus Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”
Acts 13:27-41 (in the middle of a sermon preached by the Apostle Paul at a synagogue): “For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead: And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses (the sacrifices of the Law of Moses cannot in themselves atone for sin- only the precious blood of Christ whom these sacrifices pointed to can). Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.”
Jesus lives and therefore He reigns. You’d better get in line with His reign if you want to be a partaker of His grace.
Acts 10:42-43: “And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”
The second Psalm, which was just referenced in the Acts 13 passage, demonstrates the resurrection of Christ. After He is opposed, after He is rejected, after He is apparently cast away- He YET reigns over all nations! Fall under Him, welcome His reign, and rejoice in the context of trembling at His Word in honor of His Supreme authority. There is no other proper context for rejoicing in Him, but rather only a fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour His adversaries (as Hebrews 10:28 speaks of).
Psalm 2: “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”
Since the powerful in the world are given such a strong exhortation to submit to God’s Christ, and since they face an absolutely certain fearful destruction if they refuse, how much more the rest of us? Christ’s resurrection carries a message of guaranteed judgment for those who will not repent and bring forth works fit for repentance according to the effect that Jonah’s preaching had upon the Ninevites. And Jesus even said this much directly in relation to His resurrection.
Matthew 12:38-41: “Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 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. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.”
Jesus, in His incarnation, said directly that people will be condemned by the Ninevites’ example on Judgment Day if they do not respond to His death and resurrection by repenting after the manner of the Ninevites.
Jonah 3:3-10: “So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”
Look at an Apostolic definition of repentance spoken to some who had evidently come into line therewith. 2 Corinthians 7:10-11a: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge!”
In line with everything that has been said in this message then, Jesus said after His resurrection in Luke 24:44-47: “These are the words which I spoke unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
The only proper basis then for glorying in Christ’s resurrection is in embracing death to sin with Him and submitting to God by falling under His Supreme authority. He lives to make intercession for these and to deliver them from sin’s guilt and power. These are empowered to faithfully walk according to God’s Word by His resurrection life (see especially Romans chapter 6). They know the joy of His resurrection practically. This joy can be tested and verified using God’s Word since those who authentically believe in Jesus Christ believe a Gospel which is rooted in the proven facts of God’s Word (those who separate Jesus Christ from the Old Testament are certainly in deep trouble here since the true Gospel is rooted in the Old Testament and its utter reliability).
Yet the devil seeks to give people joy in Jesus Christ when they are not dead to sin and submitted to His authority. One major way in which He accomplishes this is entertaining people and giving people pleasures on Christ’s resurrection day by mixing the celebration of the resurrection with a Pagan holiday (Easter). Easter is filled with practices and activities which (to say the least) have absolutely nothing to do with Jesus Christ. And it is tragically ironic that in vindicating the Hebrew Scriptures, and vindicating Himself as being the Messiah whom they testify of, Jesus’ resurrection actually confirmed that it is abominable to mix the God of the Bible’s worship with Pagan customs – the very thing which happens when professing Christians celebrate Easter (see Deuteronomy 12:28-32).
Christ’s resurrection also proves that the things foretold in His Word which have not yet happened surely will happen. It is a precursor of the blessedness which those whom He deems as having died to sin and lived to God through Him as His faithful subjects will experience when their bodies are raised. And it is also a guarantee of the unspeakable terror which those whom He deems as the enemies of His kingdom will face when their bodies are raised unto eternal damnation. His return to take to Himself His great power and reign over mankind is certain, we will each stand before Him in judgment, no one is going to crucify Him again, and those found in opposition to His righteous reign will get a lot worse than a crucifixion. You cannot avoid Him, and you cannot defeat Him. He reigns!
Daniel 12:2-3: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.”
Luke 12:58-59: “When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.”
Revelation 1:7-8: “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”
Aaron’s email is: [email protected]