As I talked about in my last Blog, there is going to be a documentary on the
Discovery channel about some lost tombs, one of which they believe to be Jesus Christ’s, one they believe to be Mary’s, and one they believe to be the son of Jesus and Mary. This show is one of many events where people are trying to bring forth evidence that they hope will show that Jesus is not God in the flesh, and that Jesus was not resurrected.
Many do not believe in the resurrection. They think it is a fictional story. I mean, all people die, and once they are dead, they are dead. Right? So a story about someone dying, and then coming back to life has to be fictional. Doesn’t it?
Illus. You might remember the television show “The Twilight Zone.” Each week
the crisp voice of Rod Serling would come out and set-up the show. And his last words before the show started were always: “As we travel into another dimension known as….The Twilight Zone.” And each week the show would indeed take us into another dimension where things would happen that could never happen in our dimension. The events of the show were bizarre and wild, and led us into facing our fears. But the truth of the show is that it was not real; it didn’t happen.
That is what so many people believe about the resurrection. It wasn’t real; it didn’t happen. Something like that could never happen in our world. Death is final and cannot be changed once it happens. Even scripture affirms this:
Genesis 3:19- “You will have to work hard and to make the soil produce
anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed…”
Ecclesiastes 3:1- “There is a right time for everything: A time to be born and a time to die…”
Hebrews 9:27- “Everyone must die once, and after that be judged by God.”
So if scripture itself teaches this, then how could we believe that Jesus could have been raised from the dead?
To believe this would mean that we would have to go into a real twilight zone; a dimension apart from our own. And to do this, we need to follow the thinking, the teaching of Jesus Himself. Jesus Himself would talk often in ways that didn’t fit into the thinking of this dimension. Jesus often made statements that sounded other dimensional.
Let’s look at a few of them: (John 18:36)- Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
Jesus tried to tell people that earth was not where He came from and not
where He was going to stay. He had a mission, and after that mission He would return to His place; heaven.
Then in Luke 7:21-23, 21At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 23Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."
Now even though Jesus didn’t raise anyone from the dead in this passage,
He did start to speak about this possibility. Matthew 17:22-23, 22When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. 23They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." And the disciples were filled with grief.”
Here Jesus straight out gives the statement that He would be raised from death to life. The disciples were filled with grief because they did not believe it could be possible. Others I’m sure just scoffed at His statement. But Jesus is talking about accessing a power beyond this world; the power of God that can bring people back from death to life.
It is important to understand that Jesus’ death and resurrection make the difference, because when He died, so did our sin. And when He rose, so did our hope. When Jesus rose from the grave, your grave, and my grave, and the grave of everyone who believes was changed. It was no longer a final residence, but temporary housing. When we die, our permanent address will be heaven, and our permanent place will be in God’s glory. Share your thoughts on this (pastorchrislogan@yahoo.com)
