Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries |
The Resurrection of Christ makes a number of doctrines possible.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
MAT 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations”
Resurrection is a part of the Gospel, 1CO 15:1-4.
The Gospel includes the spiritual death of Christ bearing the sins of the world, His physical death, and His resurrection.
Paul would also state that without the resurrection our faith would be in vain, 1CO 15:12-17.
The resurrection of Christ is part of His strategic victory of the angelic conflict, 1CO 15:20-25.
In the death of the believer, the body is asleep waiting for resurrection. The soul never sleeps. We have an interim body while waiting in heaven for our resurrection body.
1. Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ it is impossible for Christ to be glorified. Jesus Christ has to have a human body for His glorification.
The glorification of Christ depends upon His resurrection, His ascension as a man, and His being seated at the right hand of the Father as a man.
2. The Church Age depends upon the glorification of Christ -
JOH 7:39 “The Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified.”
JOH 16:7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”
3. We cannot be justified if there is no resurrection for the resurrection is the completion of our justification,ROM 4:25.
ROM 4:25 He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.
2CO 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Justification means vindication, and God sees me in Christ and He sees that I have His righteousness, and He declares me vindicated.
4. Without resurrection there is no priesthood.
If Jesus Christ is going to be a priest forever, and God cannot lie, then He must have a human body forever. That human body forever is a resurrection body. HEB 7:4,5,14, 28; 10:5,10-14.
HEB 7:28 For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.
1PE 2:5 You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
5. Without resurrection there is no mediatorship. Whoever is the mediator between God and man must be equal with God and equal with man. Jesus Christ is God, therefore equal with God; Jesus Christ is man, therefore equal with man, and Jesus Christ is the mediator because He is the God-Man.
A mediator has to be alive to mediate the covenant, and we are under the new covenant which is the principle of salvation. Jesus Christ mediates it and He is the only one qualified to do it because He is man and He is God in one person forever.
6. Without resurrection there is no fulfillment of the Davidic covenant,
2SA 7:8-16; PSA 89:20-37. The Davidic covenant says David will have a son who will reign forever.
As the apostles each faced the executioner did any of them say, “Hold it, hold it, it was all a lie!”
Would you trust a man whose head is on the block and whose executioner’s axe is raised high above his head ready to strike a fatal blow, and who says in his last breath, “I saw Him. He’s alive. He sits right now at the right hand of God. He died for your sins. And if you believe on Him now, you will receive His righteousness, you will be justified and vindicated forever, and you will enter heaven with Him for eternity. If you believe, I’ll see you there. Goodbye.”
The resurrected Christ provides the means by which every believer possesses the very power of God - HS is given; a priesthood is established; mystery doctrine is written; confidence through justification; our Mediator at the right hand of God.
On Sunday morning the stone in front of Christ’s tomb was found to be already rolled away and the tomb was empty, even though it was guarded by priests and Roman soldiers. Mary didn’t recognize Jesus by seeing Him, but she recognized Him by hearing Him. This morning you are hearing Him and you too may also recognize Him.
1. A Theophany is an appearance of Christ prior to the First Advent and can be as an animate person or inanimate thing.
2. A Christophany is an appearance of Christ after His bodily resurrection. There have been nineteen appearances of Christ in resurrection body.
Every appearance of Christ in the form of a Christophany was for the purpose of encouraging His people to press on despite their failure, doubts, fears, and weaknesses.
MAR 16:7 “But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He said to you.’”
The Lord always deals with our fears, flaws, and failures one on one in privacy, and always with amazing grace.
Peter would teach in the temple with courage and confidence in the same place that only a month or so before he had denied that he even knew the Lord.
We don’t see Him but we hear Him and while He is seated at the right hand of God as a man, our man, our Head, our High Priest, our Husband, our Mediator, our Lord and Savior; we have the courage to face life head-on in tranquility of mind, character of thought, and love of heart.