Tag: resurrection

Seven Reasons to be Confident in the Resurrection of Jesus

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Defending the Faith, Imago Dei Class1 Comment

“Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised” (1 Corinthians 15:12-15).

 All of Christianity hinges upon the resurrection of Christ. Paul argues that if he has not been raised, we are still in our sins and are completely misrepresenting God. But if he has been raised, Paul argues in Acts 17:31, everything he said and did, including his perfect life and sacrificial death, is vindicated. Therefore, it is not a stretch to say that if we do not have confidence in the resurrection, we cannot have confidence in our salvation.

But Christ has been raised! We can and should be confident in his resurrection. Here are seven reasons why:

1. The Empty Tomb

    Jesus was buried in a known location. His tomb was owned by Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin. It was also guarded by Roman soldiers, who must have been told which tomb to guard and where it was. If the tomb was occupied, Jesus’ body could have been easily produced by the Roman guards or the Jews. Everyone who went there found the exact same thing- an empty tomb.

    2. The Soldiers’ Response

    Matthew reports that the guards immediately reported to the Jewish leaders. That’s interesting in and of itself. Why didn’t they go to Roman leaders? Because they would have been killed! The Jewish leaders paid the soldiers to spread the lie that Jesus’ disciples stole the body in the night. They told the guards, “if this [the empty tomb] comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble” (Matt 28:14). The soldiers’ lives were on the line. Yet they “took the money and did as they were told” (Matt 28:15).

    Here’s the question. Why would the Roman soldiers trust the Jewish leaders who promised to “satisfy”  the governor and keep them out of trouble? They didn’t have that much influence. And the soldiers knew that. But they had no other option. The tomb was empty. Their life was in danger. Their best bet was to take the money, spread the lie, and take their chances on the Jewish leader’s protection. They had no other option.

    3. The Early Claims

    Claims of Jesus’ resurrection began days after his death. Once again, if these claims were false, why did no one prove it? Critics will say that resurrection claims camemuch later, even decades after Jesus’ death, too far from his death to really prove such claims false. But 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 proves this such theories false. Paul writes,

    “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.”

    Many scholars believe that verses 3-5 are an early creed that dates immediately after Jesus’ death up to five years later. And Paul is quoting this creed in his letter written in the 50s, only two decades after Jesus’ death. So we can be confident that the claims regarding his resurrection did not arise later. They began as early as the day the women discovered the empty tomb.

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    How is Good Friday “Good?”

    On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

    Our church recently released an album entitled He Won’t Fail that features live recordings of our worship arts team performing some of our favorite worship songs of the past year. Each staff member wrote a devotional for each song. Below is my devotional for Sunday is Coming by Phil Whickam.

    And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. – Romans 8:28 NASB

    When we think of something that’s good, we don’t typically think of someone suffering or dying. Much less an innocent person unjustly suffering and dying. But that’s exactly what we do when we call the Friday before Easter “Good Friday.” What could possibly be good about that day?

    If we look at the circumstances of that Friday, they certainly do not appear to be good. The Son of God, the Eternal Word, the Creator Incarnate who healed the sick, raised the dead, and preached good news to the poor, hung on a Roman cross awaiting His death. He was scorned by His own people and abandoned by most of His disciples. Not good by any stretch of the imagination.

    But there’s more to the circumstances than what meets the eye. This was no ordinary Roman crucifixion. Jesus of Nazareth was unjustly condemned, but he was there willingly. “He let those soldiers take Him in, as His friend betrayed Him with a kiss. There before the mocking crowd, like a lamb to the slaughter didn’t make a sound. Then He carried that cross to Calvary.” Why? So he could “shed His blood to set us free!”

    The cross shows us that even in the most unjust evil, God is at work bringing about the greatest good. All of mankind was separated from God because of our sin, and our only hope of salvation was for the Perfect Lamb of God to come, live, and die for us. We could only be reconciled to God if Jesus absorbed the wrath of God and paid the wages of our sin, which is death. And He did exactly that. He breathed His last breath on the cross and bowed His head, “the Son of God and man was dead.”

    “But that wasn’t the end.” What wasn’t the end? Friday! A Sunday was coming- a day that was a part of the plan all along. When that Sunday came, the women went to the tomb and found a rolled away stone. They were greeted with a question, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” He’s alive!

    There’s the good! In fact, it’s the greatest good in all of human history. The Son of God died for our sins and rose from the dead to defeat sin and death forever! But here’s the lesson for us: without the death, there could be no resurrection. Without Friday, there could be no Sunday. Friday’s good cause Sunday’s coming.

    For all those who have trusted Christ, Jesus’ death and resurrection is a picture of how God works in our lives. God promises to work everything out for our good and His glory, including our pain and suffering. Even in all our Fridays, there is a Sunday coming. Jesus will return and we will obtain our resurrection bodies. On that day, we will see all the good that God has worked through our trials, and all the glory that it has brought Him. But until that day, “we watch and wait, like a bride for a groom, Oh church arise, He’s coming soon.”

    Prayer: Father, thank you for your promise that you will work all things for our good and your glory. We praise you for the perfect example of that promise that we see in your Son on Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Help us to look to Him and find strength to trust you in the midst of whatever we are going through, knowing that our Sunday is coming, too. Amen.

    A Children’s Easter Devotional Based on the Storyline of Scripture

    On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MiscellaneousLeave a comment

    Are you looking for a good Easter resource to use with your kids? I highly recommend to you a new free resource below from my friend Mark Shideler. It is a seven day study that reveals the storyline of Scripture and the meaning of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. It contains helpful summaries, discussion questions, and activities that reinforce each day’s theme.

    I want to share an excerpt with you. Consider how Mark describes the purpose of God’s Law (how often do you see that in a kid’s devotional?) in Week 2:

    Have you ever done something wrong? If we’re honest, we all have. But who decides whether something is “right” or “wrong”? God does! A long time ago, God gave the Israelites rules to keep if they wanted to show that they loved God. He called these rules His law. The law was for us, too (not just the Israelites). When we break God’s law today, we feel bad about it, and that feeling is called “guilt.” God’s law has A LOT of rules in it that are VERY hard to keep. In fact, it’s completely impossible for any person to keep all of God’s rules. That sounds pretty hopeless doesn’t it? But actually, that’s the whole point! See, God didn’t give the law so we would try to keep it and be perfect. He gave the law to show that we are all sinners who need a Savior. We have ALL broken God’s law, and our sin has to be punished. Breaking God’s law has consequences (just like breaking our government’s law does), and God has to judge sin because He always does what is right. One of sin’s consequences is that it keeps us from being friends with God because God is perfect. In fact, the Bible says our sin makes us God’s ENEMY! In order to be friends with God, we have to have our sins forgiven. Every time we sin or feel guilty, it should remind us that we need a Savior.

    Mark proceeds to show how Jesus is the Savior we need, who lives a perfect life on our behalf (thus fulfilling the law), yet dies to pay the debt of our sin (another lesson in which Mark helpfully describes what a debt is), and defeats our greatest enemies of sin, death, and Satan. This is how Jesus has enabled us to be friends with God (the way Mark describes redemption in kid-lingo!).

    This is an excellent resource that will not only bless children, but also their parents as they walk their kids through it! I will be using it with my kids, and I hope you do too!

    Click the link below to download the free resource:

    https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NtGFK88hVDgikDzR2g759pXwoUY3KBBM?fbclid=IwAR0G8lZrArw2Cl57CGlxGHOa2G-22zZdB2enlrHEN6pHh3SvUiSuVIVtKmE

    Jesus in the Old Testament: Isaiah 53:7 (Part One)

    On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Miscellaneous1 Comment

    “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. ” –Isaiah 55:7

    The book of Isaiah was written about 2700 years ago, an entire 700 years before Jesus walked the earth. Yet he writes about Jesus several times, identifying several specific aspects about his life and death that are perfectly fulfilled at the end of Jesus’ life. This is clear proof that God had preordained and planned the very events of the crucifixion that would cover the sins of the world!

    Verse 7 of Isaiah 53 says that Jesus didn’t open his mouth. What does this mean? Well, when Jesus was brought before Pilate, twice scripture tells us that he was accused by the high priests several times, and in Matt. 27:13 Pilate asks him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” And in verse 14 it says, “But he gave him no answer, so that the governor was greatly amazed.” In very good book I read this past month, Pontius Pilate, it describes how unusual this was that Jesus didn’t offer a defense against the accusations of the Pharisees. Those who weren’t guilty would emphatically declare their innocent, yet even those who were obviously guilty offered some type of argument or defense. Jesus didn’t need to argue back or defend himself, for he knew what was to come, and knew that a defense would only hurt his testimony, his humility, and his obedience to the Father. In that moment, we were on his mind, and he remained quiet to be obedient, fulfill what Isaiah wrote, and to humbly embrace the crucifixion sentence that was coming.

    This passage of Isaiah also describes Jesus like a “lamb that is led to the slaughter.” In ancient Judaism, the lamb was the most powerful sacrifices to atone for sin. We can clearly see this in the Passover in Egypt, when the Hebrews were required to sacrifice a lamb and paint its blood over their door so that they would be saved. When the angel of death came through Egypt to fulfill the final plague, those who had the lamb’s blood over their door were “passed over” and were saved from death. We must not think that this referring to Jesus as a lamb is a coincidence! In John 1:29 we read, “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John exclaimed this the first time that he saw Jesus, for he knew exactly who he was and exactly what he came to do. Likewise, Isaiah intentionally prophesies about Jesus, calling him a lamb. When we compare the use of the lamb to the passover story mentioned above, we can see an amazing parallel that relates directly to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for us. Those for whom Jesus died (believers) are covered by the blood of the cross, just like the Hebrews were covered by the blood of the actual lamb, and by this covering we are saved from spiritual death, just as they were saved from a physical death!

    It is through His death on the cross as God’s perfect sacrifice for sin and His resurrection three days later that we can now have eternal life if we believe in Him. The fact that God Himself has provided the offering (a perfect “lamb”) that atones for our sin is part of the glorious good news of the gospel that is so clearly declared in 1 Peter 1:18-21: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”

     

    The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! – See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Lamb-Of-God#sthash.0sFBM4vo.dpuf
    The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! – See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Lamb-Of-God#sthash.0sFBM4vo.dpuf “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!” John 1:29

    “You are altogether beautiful, my darling.” -God

    On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Miscellaneous3 Comments

    “You are altogether beautiful, my darling, And there is no blemish in you.” Song of Solomon 4:7

    “The greatest task of the believer is to seek out and try to discover how much God loves them.” -Paul Washer

    The hardest thing to believe is the way that our God loves us. He loves us with a pure and perfect love, and when he looks on us, he says, “You are altogether beautiful, my darling.” It is so hard to believe it, because our culture gives us such a shallow definition of love. But oh, this love, we have never seen anything like it! Think about it, the God who created ENTIRE UNIVERSE looks on US, and says, “You are beautiful, my darling.”

    Why does he view us as beautiful? Because Christ is beautiful! We are told that any good thing we do as an unbeliever is nothing but “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Picture yourself, before you come to Christ, standing, wearing nothing but filthy, dirty rags. You see, Jesus also wears a garment, it is a cloak of perfect righteousness, and it is utterly beautiful. When we lay everything at the cross and come to Jesus to save us from our sin, he strips us of our filthy rags, and he places HIS cloak of righteousness over us, and WE are made righteous. When God looks upon us, he doesn’t see the old, wicked, rebellious sinner. He sees his Son’s cloak of righteousness, his Son’s beauty, and he regards US as beautiful.

    We ought not to only say, “Christ died for us.” You see, Christ also lived for us! He stepped down from his heavenly throne and lived a perfect life, full of good works, filled with love, mercy, and grace! He lived this life so that by going to the cross and being crushed for our sin (Isaiah 53:5) God the Father’s wrath would be taken out on him, and that we, by believing in him, may be given his perfect obedience as our own. This is what the second part of the Song of Solomon verse is referring to when it says, “and there is no blemish in you.” ! How amazing is this! That when the God of the universe looks on us, he loves us and sees us as beautiful, because we have Christ’s perfect obedience and life laid over our own lives. He sees us as PERFECT! He sees no blemish in us! This is how he can love us so much and be so passionate about a relationship with us!

    God pursues his children. Constantly. He loves them so much! He is always calling them, “Come, come, come” and he makes sure that they will. This is why someone who says they were saved twenty something years ago by saying a prayer but have never grown, they have not come to love God’s people, and they have never encountered God, probably are misunderstanding salvation..and have not truly been saved…because God PURSUES his children! Oh, that you would not experience a life without the Father’s love! He desperately wants you to come to him and seek him and love him! When we focus our eyes on heaven, when look to Jesus, when we pray with a pure heart, his heart beats faster and faster. That’s how much he loves us, he PASSIONATELY desires you! Our God is such a lover. Our love for him, regardless of how small it may be, is cherished by him! Paul Washer says that,”Every time that we cut our eyes to heaven, it is as if the heart of deity beats faster!” Oh, how God loves his children coming to them in prayer!

    True religion is not trying to do better or doing the right thing, the real religion is, “He saved me, I want to know Him, I want to please Him, I want to love Him!” He loves us this much! This will drive the unconverted, falsely assured “Christian” to think that this gives him the license to sin, because he will simply be forgiven. Oh, how wrong he is! This truth of how much our God loves us will drive the converted, genuine Christian to say, “If he loves me this much, I want to be for him all that he wants me to be!,” which will ultimately cultivate obedience.

    If you are in Christ, God really does love you this much. He sees his only begotten Son, whom he so desperately loved, every time that he looks at you. His righteousness is yours. I plead with you to come to him! This love relationship is unlike any other you will ever experience on this earth. It is so hard for us to fathom because we have never seen anything like it. Come to Him, pray to Him, seek Him, love Him, cut your eyes to heaven and make His heart beat faster! He is longing to hear from YOU!