GOD’S WORD FOR MAY 1 ~ ~ Luke 24:23 ~ ~ “When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.”
Another day, another gift for the bride to open from her beloved!!!!
Another benefit of the Resurrection is that it proves the gospel message true. It proves that salvation is a FACT.
The fact that Jesus is alive today means that He is able to save today. This was a major argument of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, where he explains how the whole Christian gospel depends on the resurrection of Jesus:
Romans 1:4 Amp “ and [as to His divine nature] according to the Spirit of holiness was openly designated to be the Son of God with power [in a triumphant and miraculous way] by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”
1Peter 1:3 Amp “ Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant and boundless mercy has caused us to be born again [that is, to be reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose] to an ever-living hope and confident assurance through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
The resurrection is not only a fundamental part of the gospel, but it is the glue that holds every part of the gospel together. Without it, Christians believe in vain and live without hope. But since Christ has risen from the grave, we have hope of forgiveness, justification, and eternal life in Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:14; 17-19 ~ ~ “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain…and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
That’s why it’s a major target for satan’s deceptions. If he can disprove the resurrection, then he can say that Jesus was just another low-life riff raff pretending to be someone big.
But no one has ever answered the questions that believers pose to them. No one has ever found the body. I’m sure the entire temple workers were out looking for a long time. I’m sure the entire fraternity of high priests were barking orders to search every inch of every area and FIND IT! But they never did.
He also appeared, talked to, walked with, and ate with hundreds of people before His return to heaven.
So, satan had to wait until a few generations came and went, and the event was blurred with time.
One way he does it is by trying to discredit the Genesis account of the six day creation. If he can get the church to use their eraser on just a few things in God’s Word, he can put a question mark on the entire Book! The sad thing is that in many churches, he is succeeding. It’s called “theistic evolution”, and it is a hideous blasphemy which is tearing the church apart and causing millions to question, if not reject the entire word. If one thing is believed false, how can they trust the rest?
Wait—there’s another gift in the box—-Resurrection proves that Jesus is the Son of God.
Jesus’ unique claims about Himself wouldn’t matter if He remained in the grave. In fact He’d be like the millions who went before Him and the millions who came after. But Jesus Christ DID rise from the dead and His resurrection proves His unique status as the Son of God.
(Romans 1:4)”…[Christ] was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.”
He claimed to be the Son of God, and His Resurrection proved it. God created the entire infinite universe with His Words in six literal days. Every living thing from microscopic to huge, and He is with each one.
Let’s just talk about one thing—the sun. He spoke it into existence with three words, yet there is more power generated by the sun in ONE SECOND than the earth can use in 30 million years!!!!
And there are countless stars larger than our sun!!!
That’s just one thing—–He created every living thing, including, of course, us, and He certainly can remake our bodies again with no effort at all, just like He did for Jesus!!! In fact, we will have the same type of body as Jesus has now, after the Resurrection.
Jesus said this, which proves both that He is the Son of God, and proves our resurrection:
John 6:39 ~ ~ “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.”
The founders of all other religions eventually died and stayed dead. Jesus is the only one Who rose again, and there is no doubt about it. Between the physical proof, and the hundreds of people who saw Him alive, it simply cannot be disproved.
Besides this, all His apostles except John, were martyred in horrible ways. No one would go through that for a hoax.
Since then there have been millions of martyrs who would rather lose their lives than denounce the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Once you get to know Him through His Word, and the Holy Spirit, you will know why they wouldn’t give Him up!!!
