TEEN TREE 
OF LIFE
The Resurrection Factor - Part 4
May 15, 2022
Before you begin, ask yourself a very important question: Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins? If you answered yes, you will need to be sure that you are filled with The Holy Spirit. How do you do this? You name your sins to God The Father in His Son’s Name. This is called Rebound. As a Christian, you must rebound any time you sin. This is taught in 1 JOH 1:9: If we confess [name] our sins [directly to God], He [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if you have never believed that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins, all you have to do is say to yourself that you believe in Him and you are saved! The Bible verse which teaches us this is ACTS 16:31: “Believe on The Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
There are false religions that teach reincarnation where the soul is seen as immortal and the only thing that becomes perishable is the body. In reincarnation, when a person dies, the soul becomes transmigrated into a new baby (human or animal) to live again. The term transmigration implies the passing of a soul from one body to another after death. Those who promote reincarnation may claim that they have died and have now returned, but there is no proof. But as we’ve learned over these past four weeks, there is ample proof of The Lord Jesus Christ’s Resurrection by the testimony of first-hand witnesses and the radical changes in their lives following it. Reincarnation and resurrection are mutually exclusive. Either the soul transmigrates through a series of bodies or the soul only has one physical body which will be resurrected. It cannot be both. The Lord Jesus Christ’s Resurrection is proof that reincarnation is an utter falsehood.
There is an additional series of events connected to The Lord Jesus Christ’s Resurrection that sets Him apart from any other prophet or religious leader regardless of their religion. This is taught in several Biblical accounts of people who were raised from the dead through a prophet, an apostle or by Jesus Christ, Himself. To clarify, those who were raised from the dead became alive again but eventually died again. We’ll see further on that this was not true with respect to Jesus Christ and His Resurrection.
Elijah raised the son of the widow of Zarephath: Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” (1 KINGS 17:17-23 New International Reader’s Version)
Elisha raised the Shunammite’s son: When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.” She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out. (2 Kings 4:32-37 New International Reader’s Version)
Peter raised Tabitha in ACTS 9:37-40 (New International Reader’s Version): About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!” Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.
And Paul raised Eutychus as we see in ACTS 20:9-12 (New International Reader’s Version): Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.
Other similar incidents include The Lord Jesus Christ raising the widow’s son in LUK 7:12-15; and Jairus’ daughter in LUK 8:49-50; and Lazarus who had been dead for four days JOH 11.
MAT 27:50-53 (New International Reader’s Version) records that many bodies of saints who had fallen asleep were raised after Jesus’ Resurrection and came out of their tombs to be seen in Jerusalem by many: After Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, he died. At that moment the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook. The rocks split. Tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs. After Jesus was raised from the dead, they went into the holy city. There they appeared to many people. These saints as well as Lazarus were verifiably dead when they were raised from the dead and so this cannot be explained away as a resuscitation.
Jesus not only raised other people from the dead but He also raised Himself just as He said He would in JOH 2:19-21 (New International Reader’s Version): Jesus answered them, “When you destroy this temple, I will raise it up again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken 46 years to build this temple. Are you going to raise it up in three days?” But the temple Jesus had spoken about was his body. In JOH 10:17–18 (New International Reader’s Version), He talks further about His Resurrection: “The reason my Father loves me is that I give up my life. But I will take it back again. No one takes it from me. I give it up myself. I have the authority to give it up. And I have the authority to take it back again. I received this command from my Father.”
The Lord Jesus Christ was verifiably dead as proven by the blood and water that flowed out when the soldier thrust his spear into His side. He had been dead long enough that platelets and plasma had already separated because His Heart was no longer pumping it around keeping it mixed. He was a dead man that raised Himself from the dead by The Power of The Holy Spirit.
Unlike everyone else that had been raised from the dead, Jesus Christ didn’t die again. He walked the earth for forty days and was seen by many – first, Mary, then the two on the road to Emmaus (which included Peter), then the twelve in the Upper Room (less Judas), then to more than 500 in Galilee at the same time, then James, then all the apostles again. Then again when the apostles watched Him physically ascended from the Mount of Olives to Heaven: After Jesus said this, he was taken up to heaven. The apostles watched until a cloud hid him from their sight. While he was going up, they kept on looking at the sky. Suddenly two men dressed in white clothing stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking at the sky? Jesus has been taken away from you into heaven. But he will come back in the same way you saw him go.” (ACTS 1:9-11 New International Reader’s Version) But in the meantime, He is preparing a place for those that belong to Him as we’re taught in one of the most comforting verses in the bible: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe in me also. There are many rooms in my Father’s house. If this were not true, would I have told you that I am going there? Would I have told you that I would prepare a place for you there?” (JOH 14:1-2 New International Reader’s Version)
There’s even more comfort for believers in knowing that He sits at The Right Hand of The Father as High Priest interceding for us. Jesus Christ is alive forevermore as He tells us in REV 1:18 (New International Reader’s Version): “I am the Living One. I was dead. But now look! I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys to Death and Hell.” And one day, He will return to take those who have placed their faith in Him to be with Him forever: “If I go and do that, I will come back. And I will take you to be with me. Then you will also be where I am.” (JOHN 14:3 New International Reader’s Version) The Resurrection of Jesus Christ sets Him apart from every other person who has ever lived. His Resurrection sets true Christianity apart from every other religion.