One Must Believe Jesus Rose from the Dead!

November 22 (Romans 10:9)
Several months back, the extremely liberal history channel ran a series of documentaries that claimed some archeologist in Israel found the actual grave of Jesus and his bones were still inside. Being the ignorant unlearned dupes these, so-called scientists are, they suggested they weren’t trying to undermine or even debate the person of Jesus Christ's diety, or, to in any way, suggest Christians were wrong about anything. Of course, their problem is they know nothing about absolute or eternal truth. God’s word makes it abundantly clear if one does not believe Jesus was raised from the dead, he cannot be saved. Paul says it another way in I Corinthians 15:2 when he wrote, “Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?" He continues to point out if Christ was not resurrected, our faith is worthless, we are of all men most to be pitied. And then, of course our verse in Romans 10 makes it clear one must believe Christ was raised from the dead to be saved.

I’m unsure how anything could be clearer. I do believe part of the problem comes from pagan practices the church has adopted like Easter Egg hunts. The Easter Bunny was the pagan symbol for the god of fertility. When the church demonstrates it is appropriate to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord by hunting eggs laid by a pagan god, we have a problem of epic proportion. Christmas is another problem altogether. I can't count the number of so-called believers in The Way who don't know Jesus wasn't born on December 25th. Originally a pagan holiday that Christians adopted, Christmas is filled with obsessions that have nothing to do with the birth of the Savior of the world. Our obsession with giving presents is staggering. I currently attend a church that is filled with pictures of Jesus. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why we think it is anything less than idolatry to hang pictures that are supposed to be of the man/God no one ever attempted to describe physically until about the 15th century.

The only thing scripture tells us about Him physically is that there was nothing physically attractive about him. It is absolute, unwavering, unbending, uncompromising, eternal truth we must believe. God the Father raised God the Son on the third day after He was crucified. He had flesh and bones, but there is no indication He had blood. He can, in this physical body, decompose and reappear enabling him to transcend time and space. He can go through solid objects and move to a locations thousands of miles away in the blink of an eye. He can change His appearance sufficiently that one can only identify Him if He gives him the ability to do that. I’m not sure how many of those traits we saints will have in eternity, but I can't wait to find out. When He returns, it will be as the mighty conquering Lion from the tribe of Judah, not as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. He will come with myriads of saints all riding on white horses. He will slay all his enemies instantly with the word that procedes from His mouth. They will all go directly to hell; they will not pass go, and they will definitely not collect two hundred dollars.

To avoid verbosity and straying from the topic at hand, I won’t speculate in this devotional the myriad of implications Jesus’ forty days teaching the disciples, and over five hundred others, after His resurrection have for us. I will close by suggesting we haven’t begun to understand the incredible lives we will be living in the kingdom of God when Jesus ushers in the new heavens and earth. I beseech each of you, if you aren’t anxiously awaiting His return, you might consider there is the possibility you haven’t yet become part of His kingdom. If that possibility exist, and I assure you it does, please correct it post haste. If I can be of any assistance to you, you can contact me by commenting below and leaving your contact information for me; or, send a message to me on Face Book. I will call you or meet with you personally and do my best to make the true gospel available to you directly from God’s indisputable word. And that’s His word for us today.