their faith and their future. By the resurrection o f Jesus, all Christians from that day to this are given a Divine Guarantee, of their Saviour, of their Salvation and of their Similar Resurrection. Notice how the New Testament bears out these great truths. I. THE GUARANTEE OF OUR SAVIOUR. " . . . declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrec tion from the dead” (Rom. 1:4). It is of supreme importance to the Trinity to present Jesus Christ the Son of God, as Saviour to a lost world. More important to the Father than keeping the planets in their courses is the reaching of one soul. There is joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repent- eth. Therefore all the resources of heaven are put to work to present Christ to men. The Spirit of God moved upon the prophets of old to predict with pre cision the details of the incarnation. Isaiah describes Christ’s substitu tionary death in such unmistakable manner that his words become the tool of nearly every soul winner. David writes in advance the very words that the Son of David-one day will utter on the cross. When the fulness of time arrives, the angel announces the coming royal birth to Mary. On the night of His birth, angels herald the good tidings to the shepherds on the hill side. God, who placed the stars in their places at His Word in creation, speaks again and places one more star in the heavens to guide the wise men to Bethlehem. At the baptism of Jesus, the heavens open and the voice of the Father is heard in testimony of His deity: “ This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). At the transfiguration, and again when certain Greeks seek Him, the voice again speaks from above declaring Christ’s Sonship. Signs multiply! The lame are made to walk; the deaf to hear; the blind to see. But, according to Jesus’
own testimony, the sign of signs was to be His victory over death. “ Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days ? But he spake of the temple of his body” (John 2:18-21). Do you see how Christ’s resurrec tion manifests His deity? It is not hard to accept the virgin birth if you believe in the resurrection. One is no more biologically impossible than the other. It is no trick to turn water to wine if one can turn death to life. Is it difficult to open eyes closed in blindness, to One who can open eyes closed in death? Truly the resurrection is the guar antee of our Saviour. He is all that He said He was. He is all that He was promised to be. II. THE GUARANTEE OF OUR SALVATION “ And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (I Cor. 15:17). There is something frightening about this verse! The “ ifs” of Paul’s argument send a chill to one’s spine. “ And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fall en asleep in Christ are perished.” Awful thought! No wonder he adds another “ if” in the 19th verse: “ I f in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” But enough of those unnerving negatives! Let us hear the trium phant truth! “ But now is Christ risen from the dead.” (V. 20.) Just as no resurrection means death and misery, so resurrection means life and sure salvation. My faith is not vain! Christ arose! I am not in my sins! Christ arose! Our hope in Christ is not only for this life, but for eternity, and we are of all men most blessed! The resur rection is the guarantee of our sal vation.
III. THE GUARANTEE OF OUR SIMILAR RESURRECTION. “ But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (I Cor. 15:20). Celebration of the resurrection of Christ ought to be more than an ex perience in looking back to that res urrection morning. It should also cause us to look forward to the Lord’s return, when every Christian will experience a similar resurrec tion. “ For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his com ing” (I Cor. 15:22, 23). The grave of a Christian is not a place of despair. It is a place of ex pectation! When Christ returns, the graves will open and the saints will rise in glorified bodies. John writes of that coming great day: “ Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him: for we shall see him as he is” (I John. 3 :2 ). One day I came around the corner of our house to find my young son in tears. He had stepped on a bee. Clutching his bare' foot, he was screaming at the top of his voice. Finally, looking through his tears, he said, “Daddy, that bee will never sting again. He has lost his stinger.” That is what happened at the cross one day. Death drove its sting er into the Son of God. But death could not hold Him. He stepped forth the Victor over death and the grave. My heart echoes Paul’s shout of vic tory: “ 0 death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory? . . . But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 15:55, 57). Let us rejoice in our Divine Saviour! Let us rest secure in our salvation! Let us look forward with anticipation to His return to give us resurrection bodies like His own. These are the rights and privileges of every Christian, guaranteed by God in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
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APRIL, 1965
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