Compelling Love

Jesus declared in John 11:25 (NKJV), “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”  The resurrection of Jesus Christ is central to the Christian faith.  The Old Testament points to this event.  The New Testament attests to it and describes its promise and significance for our lives here and now.  Bruce A. Demarest writes in his book, “Jesus Christ: the God-Man”:

“At the heart  of the Christian faith is the claim that Jesus Christ on the third day rose from the dead and is alive forevermore.  The Apostles’ Creed confesses in simple words, ‘I believe in Jesus Christ … who … the third day rose from the dead.’”

“Before He returned to heaven, Jesus claimed that His death and resurrection were foretold in the Old Testament (Luke 24:25-27, 44-46).  The Apostle Paul also declared that Christ both died and rose again in direct fulfillment of prophetic Scripture (1 Cor. 15:4).”

Luke 24 (NKJV)
²⁵ Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” ²⁷ And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

⁴⁴ Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” ⁴⁵ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

 ⁴⁶ Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, ⁴⁷ and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ And you are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

1 Corinthians 15 (NKJV)¹ Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, ² by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

 ³ For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. ⁶ After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. ⁷ After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. ⁸ Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

“Job’s confession surely anticipated our Lord’s rising.  “I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last He will take His stand on the earth” (Job 19:25)  David, also, inspired by the Spirit, could say, “Thou wilt make known to me the path of life; in Thy presence is fullness of joy; in Thy right hand there are pleasures forever” (Psalm 16:11).  We know this prophecy was not totally fulfilled in David’s experience because Peter (Acts 2:25-28) and Paul (Acts 13:25-37) clearly testify that David was speaking of Christ who had yet to come.  (Bruce A. Demarest, “Jesus Christ: the God-Man”, Victor Books, 1978, p. 113-114)

[Note also Psalm 16:10: “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.”]

Isaiah prophesied that the Lord of Hosts would “swallow up death forever”:

Isaiah 25 (NKJV)
⁸ He will swallow up death forever,
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.

The resurrection of Jesus fits the picture prophesied by Hosea 6:2:

Hosea 6 (NKJV)
A Call to Repentance
6 Come, and let us return to the Lord;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
² After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.

Bruce Demarest continues:

As Barnes notes in his commentary, “The prophet expressly mentions two days, after which life would be given, and a third day, on which the resurrection should take place.  What else can this be than the two days in which the body of Christ lay in the tomb, and the third day, on which He rose again?”

 In the Gospels, Jesus rarely spoke of his impending death without mention of His resurrection three days later.  At the outset of His public ministry the Lord said to the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up” (John 2:19).  It was clear to John that Jesus spoke of His own body (John 2:21).  Later the Lord used the story of Jonah’s three days in the belly of a whale to foretell His own death and resurrection (Matt. 12:40).

 After Peter’s confession near Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:21) Jesus made specific predictions of His resurrection.  He made the point so often that even the chief priests and Pharisees got wind of it and told Pilate that Jesus claimed He would rise after three days (Matt. 27:63).  (ibid, p. 114-115)

Matthew 16  (NKJV)
Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection
²¹ From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

 Matthew 27 (NKJV)
Pilate Sets a Guard
⁶² On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, ⁶³ saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 

The Resurrection holds promise of eternal life for believers, and also empowers us here and now, as Bruce Demarest describes,

If Christ did not rise from the dead there would be no resurrection life in the Spirit.  Scripture makes the astounding claim that the believer, spiritually united with the risen Christ, participates in the reality and power of his Lord’s resurrection life (Rom. 6:4-5).  In a real sense God sees believers as risen with Christ (Col. 3:1) and seated in heavenly places in Him (Eph. 2:5-6).

A Scotsman was once asked if he ever expected to go to heaven.  His immediate reply was, “Why, mon, I live there!” He entered heaven before leaving this body because he possessed the reality of Christ’s resurrection life. (ibid, p. 117)

God wills that He be glorified through the reality of the risen Lord living powerfully in and through His blood-bought people.
(ibid, p. 122)

Romans 6:4-5 (NIV)
Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ
⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Colossians 3:1 (NIV)
¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Ephesians 2 (NIV)
⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, 6/24/2008, https://compellinglove.net/

Photo credits:
(1) https://weheartit.com/entry/173890152
(2) http://slideplayer.com/slide/3352707/
(3) http://www.dailylifeverse.com/posts/2012/09/job-19-25-
(4) https://www.jesuslovesyoutoday.org/bible_study_pictures_and_notes/hosea_4-7
(5) http://slideplayer.com/slide/3536959/
(6) http://meditationsbyapril.com/printables/romans-6-4/