T r ie Resurrection ■
or esus Ckrist
Its Scriptural Necessity and Vital Importance to the Believer Address Delivered at Summer Conference By DR. FREDERIC W . FARR
ty. The authority of Christ as a teach er of supernatural truth rests upon His miracles and especially upon the mira cle of the resurrection. Upon this alone w may safely rest the proof that the Scriptures are the Word of God. It .carries with it irresistibly all the other miracles of the sacred narrative. When it is once established, all other Biblical miracles seem only its prelim inaries, accompaniments or conse quences. Peter declares in his Pentecostal sermon that God raised Christ from the dead, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. Acts 2:24. There are several reasons why it was not possible that the Saviour should be holden by the bonds of death. The first reason that may be men tioned is, that His resurrection was a Scriptural necessity. Five times in the first two chapters of the New Testament the phrase oc curs, “ that it might be fulfilled.” Among the last recorded words- of Jesus He says, “ These are the words which I spake unto you, while I. was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning Me.” Luke 24:44. A great part of Scripture consists of prophecy. Many of these prophecies have been fulfilled. Those that have not, surely will be. Prophecy is as sure as history. Is it not history indeed, written before hand by the finger of
HRISTIANITY is a historic religion founded on well- attested facts. Paul cata logues them in 1 Cor. 16:3- 8. miracles. Christianity dif fers from other religions in
All religions have their
this respect, it is accepted because of the miracles, while the miracles of other religions are accepted because of the religion. From the nature of the case, it is impossible to prove the vir gin birth of Christ but His resurrection from the dead -is one of the best au thenticated facts in the history of the world. All His claims, the office work of the Spirit/ the whole scheme of re demption, rest on the fact that He rose again from the dead. 1 Cor. 15:14-17. We get nothing directly from the in carnation. All direct spiritual benefits come to us from the death and resur- of the Saviour. The resurrection was the chief theme of the Apostles’ preach ing. The new life of the believer dates not from the cross but from the tomb. “ He was delivered for our offences, He was raised again for our justification.” The resurrection of Christ was at tested by the Roman soldiers, by the linen clothes, by the angels, by the testimony of those who saw Him after wards and by His own assertion before and after the event. It was wholly supernatural. We cannot explain or understand it with our present knowl edge. The miracles of' Christ are the corre lates of the incarnation. They are the proper insignia of His Deity and royal
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