Blog 8 – July 3, 2017
The Importance of the Resurrection
When I first started writing these blogs, I wanted to write them in the essence of being seen by people surfing the web for Biblical teachings but with little Biblical knowledge. In other words, they could be a witnessing format. The number of Biblical topics is limitless.
I’ve just come from a Bible Camp in New York State this past week and there was much that inspired me. The theme of the Camp was ‘The Walk of Believing,’ and somehow through all the wonderful teachings that I heard, my mind is coming to the resurrection.
Why is that? Jesus Christ did many wonderful things during the course of his ministry. He always did the Father’s Will and He had to believe to the uttermost to do the Father’s Will which was ultimately to give up His life on a tree for mankind’s salvation. This took incredible believing; I use the word ‘incredible’ as a figure of speech because it was far beyond what anybody else has been able to do. Mankind was in dire need of a savior: that was why it was necessary for him to be the complete savior. We will look into this further.
Colossians 2:9,10 tells us ‘For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality and power.’ (KJV) This could not be so if Jesus Christ was not a complete savior! And what makes Colossians 2:9,10 available is the resurrection, complemented by the Ascension and the Day of Pentecost.
If God had not raised Jesus Christ from the dead, God’s plan of salvation and redemption for all of mankind would not have been complete. The modern Church often loses the significance of the Resurrection by emphasizing Jesus’ death on the cross.. They know he got up, but lose the importance of that in trying to make Him God!
One might say, ‘what’s the big deal with the Resurrection?’ In Matthew 17:22,23 ‘…Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again…’ Jesus was speaking of himself. He knew he would be raised from the dead and he understood that the importance of the resurrection lay in the necessity of his believing to lay his life down.
In Romans 6:4 ‘Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.’ (KJV) The Resurrection brought newness of life to Jesus Christ and, because of that, we are encouraged to walk in the newness of that spiritual life that we received when we made him lord in our life and believed that God raised him from the dead.
Understanding this is so important that even the path to being born again is partly determined by the resurrection. In Romans 10:9 ‘That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’ (KJV) The word, ‘saved,’ means to be made completely whole: mentally, spiritually and physically. Certain people throughout history have been temporarily raised from the dead: however, Jesus Christ is the only one in the history of mankind to be raised from the dead permanently! And he is now seated at the right hand of God. Ephesians 1:20
These spiritual realities could not be available without obedience, which is active believing in God’s rightly-divided Word. The walk of believing is the walk of obedience to God’s Word. We would not be able to do what we do today if Jesus Christ had not obeyed and fulfilled the law and the things His Father told him to do.
It’s very easy to bypass the importance of obedience to God. People try to casually please God in their imaginations in all forms and ways. However, Hebrews 11:6 tells us, ‘But without faith ( believing) it is impossible to please him (God): for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.’ So there you have it, in case you were wondering how to please God.
So these are some thoughts I took away from that wonderful Family Camp in Huguenot, NY last week. Out of all that, it came back to the resurrection for me; and that was inspired by the importance of obedience to God; inspired by ‘The Walk of Believing.’ …And all of this still continues to inspire me to have funglimpses. Thanks for reading! Will Grove