By David J. Stewart | December 2012
Acts 4:1-2, “And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”
There is an increasing disturbing trend in the world's churches to preach
salvation through Christ's death without any mention of the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead. Without Christ's resurrection there can be no
salvation. The Word of God defines the gospel as Christ's DEATH, BURIAL and
RESURRECTION...
1st Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” [emphasis added]
Even the vilest of heathens believe that a historical figure named Jesus lived and died; but they DON'T believe that Jesus miraculously raised up from THE DEAD.
Christ-rejecting Muslims who recognize Muhammad as their true prophet, and errantly think that Allah (who has no son) is God, DO believe that Jesus lived and died. Albeit, the Quran teaches in The Women, 4.157 that Jesus was kidnapped and someone else died on the cross. Clearly, Islam and Christianity are DIAMETRICALLY opposed.
Allah cannot be the God of the Bible, because according to the Quran Allah has no Son. The Quran (also called the Koran) clearly states in The Women 4.171 that God has NO son. In sharp contrast, we are told in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the underlying theme of Christianity, all centering around the blood sacrifice of the Lamb of God.
1st Peter 1:18-19, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
None of redemption could have been made possible if it weren't for the Lord's virgin birth (Matthew 1:23), sinless life (Hebrews 4:15), death (Romans 5:6), burial (John 19:38, 1st Corinthians 15:1-4), resurrection three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-4), His ascension into Heaven (Acts 1:9-11) and the application of Jesus' literal, physical, blood to the heavenly mercy seat (Hebrews 9:12,22-24). Christ raised up and ascended into Heaven with the shed blood, applying it to the mercy seat in the presence of the Father, obtaining eternal redemption for every human being; thus making salvation a free gift to those who receive the gospel as full-payment for there sins...
Hebrews 9:11-14, “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
Every Old Testament lamb that was killed and the blood applied to the mercy seat in the holy place was a shadow of things to come. Christ was the fulfillment of every slain lamb of the Old Testament, and just as the innocent lamb's blood had to be applied to the mercy seat, so also did Jesus' literal blood have to be applied to the mercy seat.
Hebrews 10:1,4 and 12, “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. ... For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. ... But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.”
To deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to deny the entire Bible and forfeit the free gift of forgiveness in Christ. For if Christ be dead, then how can He save anybody? If Jesus died, but didn't rise up from the dead, then He was only a mortal man and no more. In the demonic book titled, THE DAVINCI CODE, by Dan Brown (and the subsequent film by Ron Howard based upon the book), the Lord Jesus Christ is horribly blasphemed, portrayed merely as an extraordinary man who was not miraculously born of a virgin and didn't miraculously raise-up from the dead after being crucified and buried for three days.
The unsaved heathen world adamantly denies the virgin birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ (both of which require a divine, supernatural, miracle). Unbelieving wicked people are always attempting to explain away Christianity. It's not difficult to believe that a man named Jesus once lived, accomplished extraordinary things in His life and then died as all humanity does. However, to believe that Jesus is the virgin-born Son of God, the Godhead incarnate, God in the flesh requires faith. I have that faith as a Christian. I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God as Peter also confessed in Matthew 16:16, “And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Amen! I agree with Peter 100%!!! Jesus is the Christ, God in the flesh, the virgin-born Son of God, my Redeemer, Savior, King and Lord.
Christ had to be born of a virgin in order not to have a sin-nature. Jesus was God the Father's ONLY begotten Son (John 3:16). Literally, the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and she conceived without any physical contact with God. Sicko Mormons teach that God had sexual relations with Mary, and also that Jesus married three wives and had many children. No such heathendom is taught in the Bible. The Lord had to live a sinless life as the spotless Lamb of God (John 1:29), acceptable as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Christ's resurrection was absolutely necessary for redemption to be made possible, for Christ cannot save men if He is dead...
1st Corinthians 15:14-17, “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”
But thanks be to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit... CHRIST AROSE!!!
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." —John 3:16
