But so much time has passed, and the doubt in people continues to grow. So I ask the question: Can the dead live? Is there really more than this? Where did this idea of resurrection come from?
A couple of weeks ago I put a request on Twitter (and subsequently, because my accounts are linked, Facebook) for Old Testament references to resurrection. To be truthful, there aren't that many. There are a few stories of people being revived, once by Elijah (1 Kings 17:21-22), once by Elisha while he was alive (2 Kings 4:32-37), and after he died (2 Kings 13:20-21). There's also Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37).
Time for a song break- listen to Lecrae read the passage from Ezekiel in this song by Chris Tomlin:
"For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God"
Daniel 12:2-3 (Again, KJV): "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."
Also see Psalm 16:10, Isaiah 26:19. There's more mentions in the book of the Maccabees, but sonce that's in the Apocrypha, a lot of people don't see that.
This is why when Jesus came on the scene there was a division, and why a group known as the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. They used this division in belief to test Jesus' authority in his teaching in a hypothetical situation found in Matthew 22, Mark 12, and Luke 20. He immediately told them that they were in error, "because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God" (Matt 22:29, ESV). He goes on to explain that marriage does not exist in Heaven, and mentions how when God spoke to Moses he stated "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (v.32, KJV). Why this astonished the people is this reason: Jesus stated that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, though long dead, were ALIVE. With this in mind, it could be said that the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, found in Luke 16, is "based on actual events."
Speaking of Lazarus, or another Lazarus anyway, there's also the story in John 11. Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary, was dead, and had been for four days. This was full-blown death, beyond rigor mortis, decay would have started. Before Jesus brings Lazarus forth, he tells Martha "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die (11:25-26, KJV).
This is why we can have the hope that we have. The dead can, and do, live! This hope is in Jesus, not only because he brought about resurrection, but because of his resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15 explains it far better than I can, culminating in verse 20. Better yet, Jesus tells John in Revelation 1:18, " I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death" (KJV).
Do you need more proof than Jesus? Ever seen a defibrillator? Ever seen successful CPR? Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation? It happens. The dead live. But these things are temporary. What Jesus has done is a permanent fix to this problem.
It doesn't mean we don't have to deal with the pain of death here and now. We will feel the temporary sting of death of our loved ones and friends. It's part of the curse we're under living on this earth. But we will live beyond this place.
Resurrection is real. The dead live. You will live. The only questions is where your permanent residence will be after this Earth.
Questions? Comments? Leave them below...
No comments:
Post a Comment