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The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
When Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead He began a new creation, a new era that no one has ever experienced before. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Corinthians 15:22 NKJVChrist’s resurrection is the most important event that has ever taken place on this earth.
It provides all mankind with a way to escape death. His resurrection resulted in the founding of His church, His kingdom. “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” Colossians 1:13 NKJV You and I are born into the family of Adam and because of this we all suffer Adam’s fate. First we deal with the darkness of sin throughout our entire life and then we suffer death because all the ancestors of Adam die!
The next time you are at the mall or any place where there are a lot of people, I want you to look and observe those around you. Even though they walk and talk they are dead. They are dead in their trespasses and sins. I am certain that the basic idea of a zombie came from the Bible. Before we accepted Christ as our personal Savior, we were lost because we were of Adam’s seed.
But once we came to know the Lord we became new creatures in Christ. We are truly alive in Him. Praise Almighty God that He sacrificed His Son by sending Him down to earth to join our human family. He was crucified on the cross for our sins, placed in the grave, and on the third day He was resurrected from the dead. He has created a path for you and I to escape the darkness of sin and death. He has formed a new creation of life that last for all eternity for those who will simple believe that He is the Son of God.
The resurrection of JesusChrist was a physical bodily resurrection. You can’t compare this to a seed because it has a germ of life in it. Jesus was dead. His body had been beaten more than any man ever was, crucified, and thrust with a spear. The Roman soldiers who took Him down off the cross were experts at dealing with death. His body was embalmed, and laid in the sepulcherfor three days. There was no life inHim whatsoever!
He was not restored to life like Lazarus, or the son of Nain, or even the little girl who was raised from the dead. These experiences were resuscitations that was brought back to their original state only some time in the future to die again. Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead.
Changed from flesh and blood to flesh and bones never to die again! He came out of the grave with a glorified body. In 1 Timothy 6:15-16 we read, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. NKJV
We who believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ are a new creation. The old self has fallen away, and the new self brings forth eternal life. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God” Colossians 3:1. NKJV
The only problem we have while we are still on this earth is the old creation is still inside of us. We still sin on a daily basis. Our new creation has very little power. However, our old creation can be controlled with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through daily Bible study and prayer.
There are many examples in the Bible pointing to the resurrection of Christ. The ark of the covenant is one example of what Christ would do for us. Once a year the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and place a drop of blood between the cherubim's to cover the sin of mankind. Only the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ would remove the sin of man.
Another example is Abraham’s willingness to offer Isaac up to God as a burnt offering. Abraham came to the place where God had told him, and he built an altar. He placed wood on the altar, bound his son, and placed him on the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to sacrifice his son.
The Angel of the Lord stopped him. Abraham sacrificed a ram instead. I will never forget this Bible story because when I was a kid I could not understand why God would do such a thing. It had not dawned on me that this is what He would do for us with His only Son, Jesus.
In Hebrews 11:17-19 we read, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.” NKJV
Baptism is also an example of what Christ did for us. It symbolizes His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. It does not replace it. It symbolizes that we are putting away the old creature and living with a good conscience toward what Christ did for us. Having accepted Him as our King and Savior we are new creations of God as we come up out of the baptism water. If Jesus would have remained in the grave we would not be justified (just as if we have never sinned) by our faith. The water represents the Word of God
Seven hundred years before the death of Christ, David spoke of His resurrection. In Acts 2:22-32 we read, ‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One (Jesus) to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’
God’s Righteousness Through Faith: But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3:21-26 NKJV
Christ in Our Place: For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Romans 5:6-11 NKJV
Free from Indwelling Sin: There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me.
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4 NKJV
“… Death is swallowed up in victory.” O Death where is your sting? O hades where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:54-56 NKJV