140427 Jesus, God’s Message

In all likelihood, the book of Hebrews was written before the year A.D. seventy. The many references to the temple in the letter indicate that it was standing at the time of the writing. This pretty much requires that the book was written before the destruction of the temple by the Roman Tenth Legion. I’m not as concerned about the history as I am about the truth that is taught here. We just spent a few weeks looking at the life of Christ on Earth now let’s look at some of the consequences of his coming to Earth.

Listen while I read Hebrews 1:1-4.  Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

It is easy to draw the inference from this passage that the writer was present when Jesus did some of his teaching. He says that God has spoken to “us” by his son. In the original language, Greek, the words “by his son” could be translated “in son”! In the same way that someone might say that they are speaking in English. In other words, I believe that Jesus’ actions and his teaching could be the language through which God has spoken. You see…

God spoke in many ways. Let’s look at what the Psalmist said in Psalm 19:1-3. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.

To look at the sky is to see evidence of the existence of God. We see his power, wisdom, and his beauty. To look at the majestic Milky Way is to observe a demonstration of the glory of God! Rains and fruitful seasons, food produced from the earth, and joy in people’s heart, all bear witness to the fact that our Creator is a God of mercy, love and joy. Even those who by their wickedness suppress the truth cannot avoid the evidences of God’s existence and nature in the created order. Listen while I read Romans 1:19-20.  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

The knowledge of God is common to all mankind. Even the atheists believe in God. Like the comedian Brad Stine said, “Dude, if you don’t believe God is real. How can he offend you?” He then goes on to say, “Who is more irrational, the guy who believes in a God he cannot see or the guy who is offended by a God he does not believe exists?” Then he adds, “You see beauty and you see the majesty of creation, for crying out loud, you see God in his handiwork.” I don’t know if you caught that but Brad Stine raises an important question. How can a person be offended by a being that he does not believe exists? God says in his word that people all over the world are without excuse because God has spoken through his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature to all people everywhere. And wherever there were people who respond to God…

God spoke by the prophets. The prophets were not all willing participants in God’s revelation. Let me show you two examples. Exodus 4:10-12 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” There are a lot of people who I wish were conscious of God being with their mouth. You wouldn’t be hearing their mother say, “Watch your mouth young fella!” Another example is found in Jeremiah 1:4-9. Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.” Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

Moses had spent forty years in the wilderness following sheep. He was rejected by his adoptive family in Egypt when he was at the peak of his powers and in order to save his life he went into the desert. Now, after all that time, God speaks to him from a burning bush and tells him to go to Pharaoh and demand that God’s people be released from their slavery. He didn’t say to God, “I’ll get back to you on that! After I think about it a little bit.” Moses said that he was not an eloquent speaker and would the Lord please send someone else.

In a different setting, Jeremiah had the same attitude. Jeremiah had the problem of seeing himself as a youth. He may have been 20-30 years old but he would see himself as not an elder. He wasn’t an eloquent speaker. He did not know how to speak in a public setting.

These two men, along with many, many others, demonstrate for us that whatever God calls you to do he will enable you to do. Both Moses and Jeremiah were powerfully used by God in the years after their call. I sometimes wonder if they ever looked back on the day of their call and thanked God for all that he has done for them and through them.

God spoke to mankind in many different ways through the prophets. But, we are told that in these last days…

God spoke by His Son. In order to inaugurate his ministry, Jesus was baptized by John. Soon after that.. well let Mark tell you about it. Listen while I read Mark 1:14-15. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

With John’s arrest, Jesus’ ministry began! The time was fulfilled and Jesus started telling people to repent and come to the kingdom. His every action and every word was a message from God. The son of God became the language of God to communicate to those who would believe in him about the very nature of God! Jesus was compassionate, caring and considerate. He treated all people the same. He spoke to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, pretty much the same way that he spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well. He treated the Canaanite woman whose daughter was sick with the same compassion as he treated Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, when his daughter was ill. God spoke wonders through his son Jesus who was…

The heir of all things. The writer of Hebrews quotes from Psalm 2:7-8. Let me read it for you. I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.

The Son, because of his obedience, is established as the heir of all things. He does not yet possess everything because the drama of redemption is not played out. We are promised, in the Bible, that people will stand before his throne in heaven from every family, and every tribe, and every nation on earth. In his temptations in the wilderness, Satan tried to get Jesus to worship him with the promise that he would give him the authority over the whole earth. Jesus replied that we may only worship God and no one else! Jesus knew that finally, when he had been fully obedient, he would have all authority given to him in heaven and on earth. He, who would be appointed the heir of all things, already was…

The Creator. One passage that supports this is Colossians 1:15-16. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

The Son had every right to the ownership of all things because he was the instrument through which the Father created the earth. We are told that in the beginning of the creation God said, “Let “Us” make man in our image…”. The God of heaven and earth was not consulting with the angels. He was speaking as the triune God; Father, Son, Holy Spirit! The Father and Son and Holy Spirit are all involved in the creation. In these last days God is speaking to the world in the person of the Son. The Son is the radiance of God. Jesus is the exact image of the Father. Jesus himself told Thomas, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.” Jesus Himself is…

The glory of God. Listen while I read John 1:14.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

God’s glory is the created brightness that surrounds God’s revelation of himself. God’s glory is something that belongs to him alone and is the appropriate outward expression of his own excellence. The Bible often speaks of God’s glory. David asks, “Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory!” (Psalm 24:10) When the angels appeared to the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth, the Bible says, “The glory of the Lord shone around them”. When Jesus met with Moses and Elijah, on the mount of transfiguration, we are told that his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. A bright cloud overshadowed Jesus and his disciples and they heard the voice of God. “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to him.” (Matthew 17:5)  Throughout the wilderness wanderings of the people of God the glory of God was with them in the form of a cloud by day and a column of fire by night. When Jesus came to earth he was, and is, the glory of God. When he returns to Earth he will come in the glory of his Father mounted on a white horse followed by the armies of heaven all mounted on white horses. Meanwhile, we look to Jesus as…

The imprint of God’s nature. Why doesn’t everyone see God? Paul answers that question in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6.  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the exact imprint of God’s nature and that is exactly what Satan does not want the world to see. Therefore, he works to blind the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the gospel of the glory of Christ. When Adam and Eve were created they were created in the image of God. Satan intervened with the temptation to eat the forbidden fruit. To some degree mankind still reflects the image of God but it was marred enough in the Fall of man that it cannot be readily seen. God has had to intervene in the person of Jesus Christ to give mankind any possibility of being restored to that image. Jesus is the heir of all things, Creator of the world, he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. Also, he is…

The “glue” of the universe. Hebrews tells us that, “he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” The apostle Paul uses a similar metaphor in Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Scientists tell us that 96% of the known universe cannot be seen. And they divide that unseen material between something they call “dark energy” and “dark matter”. Those scientists who have made this “discovery” readily admit that they do not know what it is. Of course, it is very hard to identify something you cannot see. It seems obvious to everyone that something is holding everything together. After all, the universe is not falling apart, but it does seem to be expanding! At the same time it seems impossible for nothing to hold everything together!

One scientific website gives us this information: Since dark matter is invisible to (the) human eye it can only be detected through its gravitational influence on its surroundings. Basically, it is really difficult for us to comprehend that 23 percent of known universe is made up of this mysterious dark matter (23% dark matter vs. just over 4% of visible matter with the rest being the mysterious dark energy) http://sciencefactsandarticles.blogspot.com/2010/03/interesting-facts-about-dark-matter.html

Well, I submit to you that God is what is holding everything together or more correctly “who” is holding everything together. Jesus is the glue of the universe!

In the past God spoke in many ways through the prophets and as the last days began God spoke in Son who is the heir of all things, Creator of the universe, and the glorious image of God. He is the glue and he is…

Our purifier. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus did not come into this world in order to save us and take us to heaven! His first coming was far more complex than that. In the book of Job, Eliphaz the Temanite asked the questions, “Can mortal man be in the right before God?” And, “Can a man be pure before his maker? (Job 4:17) Job, in a positive confession of faith answered his friend, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.” Jesus didn’t just come to save us! He came to redeem us and to purify us. On the cross of Calvary Jesus took our sins into his own body and put them to death. He made purification for our sins! He became sin though he had no sin of his own in order that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

In just a few words the book of Hebrews begins by telling us about Jesus who is far beyond our understanding. Jesus himself said he came that we might have life and have it abundantly. We need to join with the apostle Paul in saying that we desire to know him and the power of his resurrection. Jesus is the interpretation of God to those of us who live on earth. Everything we did not understand about God in the thousands of years between creation and the Christ is revealed to us in Jesus Christ. When we see him this clearly we bow our heads and bend our knees. I declare today that Jesus is my Lord! Is he yours? If not, today is the day of salvation this is an acceptable time to receive him as your Lord! Jesus is calling you home won’t you come today?

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

140420 The Purpose of the Resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is different from all “near death” or returning from the dead experiences known to man. Jesus himself called a widow’s son back from the dead and his friend Lazarus as well. These that have experienced a “resurrection” would all continue to age and eventually would die again. In Peter’s first sermon he stated without a doubt that, “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” Jesus’ resurrection did not result in him returning to a condition of aging only to die again. He was raised up to never be touched by death again.

Now, the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church to produce the evidence for the resurrection. And yet, he presents the case that the gospel he preached is essentially tied to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s strange to consider that there are those who think that somehow the gospel can be presented apart from the resurrection! Paul wants us to see that it is…

Of first importance — Christ died for our sins! 1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Some people are confused at the reference to “the tree”. Obviously, the tree referred to here is the Roman cross that Jesus was nailed to. Peter shows us that Jesus, having taken our sins into his own body, died to sin in order to live to righteousness. It is of first importance that Jesus, the Son of the living God, turned aside the Father’s wrath by dying for us. If that had not happened then the rest of the things that happened would mean nothing. He who had never known sin of any kind became sin for us so that we could be the righteousness of God in him. It is of first importance that he nailed our sins to the cross. And then…

He was buried. The rulers of the people that had organized three mock trials in order to convict him of blasphemy wanted to be certain that Jesus stayed in the grave. They knew that he had said that he would come back from the dead and they wanted to be sure that would not happen. So they placed a guard on the tomb to keep it sealed because they expected his disciples to try to steal his body. That is an amazing idea to me! The men who ran away at the first sign of armed opposition are now expected to be bold enough to hide his body and pretend that he had been raised from the dead! Peter was the leader of the group and he had denied Christ three times during the trials! Apparently the religious leaders were the only people that expected there to be any “resurrection”. The disciples certainly didn’t expect Christ to come back. They were hiding in an upper room. The women came to the tomb on the first Easter Sunday to finish the preparation of the body. They didn’t expect him to be gone from that tomb! Later, Paul could say…

On the third day he was raised again! Jesus had promised it would happen. Listen while I read from Matthew 12:38-40. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

It was of first importance that Christ died for our sins. After that he was buried and then on the third day he was raised again! Jesus himself had told them that’s what would happen. Why did they not believe him? Or is it simply that they did not understand? The religious leaders had come to Jesus to ask him to give them a sign. One of the popular ideas among the unbelievers was that Jesus was some kind of “magician” and he could perform tricks for their entertainment. During one of his trials King Herod Antipas had wanted Jesus to do a miracle for him. When he was approached by the religious leaders he called them an evil and adulterous generation who were looking for a sign. Then he told them what sign he would give them. He would give them the sign of Jonah! Now just in case you ever doubted the story of Jonah, take note that Jesus believed it was real! Using Jonah as his example Jesus said that he would be in the grave for three days and nights just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for that period of time. Not only was Jesus crucified for our sins, was buried and raised again on the third day…

He appeared to many eyewitnesses. Remember what Paul said in Vs’s 5-9? …that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

It is clear that Paul wanted the Corinthian church to know that there was plenty of contemporary evidence that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Obviously they trusted Peter, whom he called “Cephas”, Paul calls on the twelve as eyewitnesses to this resurrection. Then, he pointed to an event that is mentioned nowhere else. He appeared to more than five hundred witnesses at one time! Paul assured them that most of these five hundred were still alive. Then he pointed out that James, the brother of Jesus, saw him along with all the apostles! Then Paul said that last of all Jesus appeared to him on the Damascus Road when he was going to persecute the church. Because of his severe opposition to the church Paul considered himself to be the least of the apostles. This is evidence that…

He was recognizable, but different! Let’s look at the testimony of John found in John 20:14-16. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”  Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

Mary Magdalene had gone to the tomb of Jesus in the early morning hours. She saw that the tomb was open and so she looked inside where she saw two angels. They asked why she was crying and she answered that it was because someone had taken Jesus’ body. The angels were surprised because they knew that Jesus had told his disciples that he would be crucified, buried and raised again on the third day, at least three times. The last time she had seen Jesus his body was beaten until he was beyond recognition. In the hurried preparations for his burial she would have expected him to be washed but still very battered. The person she saw outside the tomb was not battered and bloody. All of this was very confusing to her! She asked this person where her Lord was. She recognized who he was only when he spoke her name.

Jesus was raised from the dead in the same body he was born with. However, there clearly was a difference! Today…

He has a physical body but, it is a “resurrection” body. We are too quick to condemn our human bodies. Remember Genesis 1:31? And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

At the end of the sixth day of creation God saw everything that he had made and it was very good. Adam’s body was absolutely perfect before he sinned. The “very good” creation included mankind. Had Adam and Eve not disobeyed God, I believe, they would have lived in their magnificent bodies forever! The moment they ate the forbidden fruit they died spiritually and began the process of dying physically. For that very reason God kept them away from the tree of life so that they would not live forever on this earth. Adam and Eve were given death as a gift so that they could go to paradise rather than live on this earth forever. God himself provided the sacrifice for them, symbolically in the animal skins he covered them with, and actually in Jesus Christ. Do I know that Adam and Eve are in heaven? No! But I believe it because, without a doubt, they believed in God and sacrificed to him. Above all people on earth they knew that God exists because they talked with him in the cool of the day for a period of time before they disobeyed him. Jesus’ physical resurrection body affirms the goodness of God’s original creation of man. Not as a mere spirit like the angels but as a creature with a physical body that was “very good”. We must never think that a spiritual existence is somehow superior.

Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried and raised again on the third day, again in accordance with the Scriptures. He appeared to many eyewitnesses and…

His resurrection gives us a living hope. Listen while I read 1 Peter 1:3-5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Peter praised God for causing us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is no doubt that Peter linked Jesus’ resurrection with our new birth. Jesus rose from the dead with a new quality of life. He now had a “resurrection life” in a human body and human spirit that were perfectly suited to fellowship and obedience to God for ever. (Grudem, Systematic Theology, p 614) in God’s eyes we also have that special quality of life. Jesus earned us a new life just like his! We still have our old bodies that are subject to disease and death. One day we will have our “resurrection body” to house our “resurrection life”! Our ultimate inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, securely kept in heaven for us. Nothing could be more secure! In Jesus Christ’s resurrection, we have a confidence that our God will raise us up with him! In fact, according to Ephesians 2 and Colossians 3, God thought of us as somehow being raised “with Christ” and in fact, “seated” with him in the heavenlies. Christ died for our sins, was buried, was raised again on the third day, and appeared before many witnesses. More than that…

His resurrection promises us freedom. Listen to what Paul wrote in Romans 8:1-2. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

When we come into this world we are subject to the law of sin and death! All have sinned and come short of the glory of God! That’s every one of us! And, the wages of sin is death! So we are born in trouble unless God acts on our behalf. God showed how much he loved us by coming to the earth in the person of Jesus Christ so that whoever believes in him would not have to perish but instead would have eternal life! This takes us out from under the law of sin and death and puts us under the law of the Spirit of life. So we can see that Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, promises us freedom from condemnation and…

His resurrection promises us an eternal body. Listen while I read Philippians 3:8-11. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Paul is clearly looking forward to a future time when he will know Christ and the power of his resurrection. This certainly doesn’t mean that Paul did not know Christ and salvation! He met him on the road to Damascus and spent many days in close fellowship with him. More than once Paul was visited by the risen Christ! Without a doubt he “knew him” but he did not know Christ as yet in the power of his resurrection. Paul knew that one day he (and we) will receive a resurrection body that is unimaginably superior to the body we now possess, Praise God!

In one of the last letters written by an apostle we find a remarkable statement. Listen while I read 1 John 3:2. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

One thing for certain. We will not be disembodied spirits floating around forever and ever! It is believed that the little letters of John were written when he was at, or about, a hundred years of age. Surely by that time he had begun to tire of this body that he lived in. It was revealed to him that we, who are now God’s children, will be changed because when he appears we he shall be like him. Just as Jesus has remained forever “the man Christ Jesus” we too will be recognizably human in eternity. We will have physical bodies like the bodies that Adam and Eve possessed when they were originally created and before they had sinned.

God saw all this happening before he created the earth. He knew that our original parents would sin and he knew that he would send his son, Jesus Christ, to bear our sins in his own body, be buried, and be raised from the dead on the third day. In the power of his resurrection he will give us new bodies so that we will live eternally with him free from sin. In the meantime…

His resurrection gives us power over sin. Listen while I read Romans 6:11-14. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:14 contains one of the greatest promises in Scripture. The resurrection of Jesus Christ, when applied to our lives, gives us a new power to gain more and more victory over the sin remaining in our lives. This last verse that I just read says without qualification, “sin will have no dominion over you”! Sometimes I have thought that will be impossible but God’s word says that it is true. The resurrection power that enables us to minister on behalf of the kingdom of God also enables us to gain victory over sin in our life. We have a new kind of freedom in Christ Jesus. We are free from condemnation because of the Spirit of life and we are, day by day, gaining victory over sin because of the power God has released in us through the resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.

This new power released on the disciples of Jesus is the power of the resurrection allowing them (and us) to be able to proclaim the gospel in miraculous ways. I wish I could explain all of this better. The Christian life is not just a collection of beliefs it is the power of God for salvation to those who believe.

The most important thing that Paul shares with us in this passage of Scripture is that Christ died for our sins. This was done, not according to some myth, but according to Scripture. Jesus was nailed to the cross and we were nailed with him. He became sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God in him. He was buried in the grave and left our sins there. When he was raised from the dead we were raised with him. His resurrection power gives us eternal life and enables us to walk in newness of life. When we come to the end of our physical life we are able to go to be with him and live eternally with a resurrection body. Do you know him today? If not, today is the day of salvation! Confess him as your Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead and you’ll be saved.

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.