THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He is risen! Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee.

-Luke 24:5,6

Did Jesus Christ really rise from the dead? This issue pitted two scholars against each other in a historic debate. The protagonist was Dr.Gaby Habermas, a renowned Christian Scholar whose special area of study has been the resurrection. The antagonist was Dr.Anthony Flew, one of the most influential philosophical atheists of our day.

Antony Flew began with a negative statement, saying that a resurrection couldn’t have happened, because it violates natural laws. His second presumption was that “the possibilities of error are enormous especially when the depositions are first recorded long after the alleged events.”

Habermas based his position upon twelve known facts, eleven of which are accepted by all critical scholars today regardless of their faith.

In refuting Antony Flew’s allegation that a considerable distance separated the written account from the alleged event, Habermas demonstrated that the account in 1 Corinthias 15 was an eyewitness account which became the first creed of the early Church.

In reading the transcript of the debate, I was surprised at the lack of precise information which flew demonstrated, saying things as “well it says somewhere that” or “I can’t remember where this is but somewhere the Bible says, “Gary Habermas won the debate.

THE CROSS

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

-1 Corinthians 15:3,4

Nothing is so central to Christianity as the crucifixion of Christ. All the Gospel writers – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – describe the crucifixion with great detail. The rest of the New Testament books interpret the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the very foundation and fabric of Christianity.

Two specialists, Drs. William Edwards and Floyd Hosmer, at the Mayo Clinic became seriously interested in the medical aspects of the crucifixion of Jesus. Their research was printed by the Journal of the American Medical Association. These specialists examined the account, concluding that death by crucifixion was the result of a combination of physical causes. “The actual cause of death by crucifixion,” says the article,” was multifactorial and varied somewhat with each case. But the most prominent causes probably were hypovolemic shock and exhaustion asphyxia.”

“The important feature,” says researchers,” may not be how Jesus died but rather whether he died. Clearly, the weight of historical and medical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead before the wound to His side was inflicted.”

The issue is a matter of historical accuracy. Did Jesus Christ die at the hands of Roman soldiers outside the city of Jerusalem on that day of infamy, or was the whole story a concocted nightmare of some ignorant, disappointed fishermen? The New Testament states the fact so clearly: “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4)

THE PLACE CALLED THE SKULL

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Luke 9:23

When Don Schnake, the owner of a Christian bookstore, learned that John Stott, a gifted evangelist, preacher, scholar and Christian statesman, had authored a book entitled, “The Cross of Christ,” he ordered a large supply. But the new book didn’t sell. Don finally cut the price by 50 percent. “I had to finally pack them up and send them back to the publisher.” Don said.

It seems people aren’t rejecting John Stott as much as they are rejecting an issue with which they don’t want to be confronted. Gilded with 14-karat gold and studded with diamonds or rubies, crossed have a ready market. But drape them with self-denial and self-abnegation and their popularity begins to dissipate.

Luke records Jesus’ conversation with the disciples: “Then He said to them: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). Jesus talked about this subject more than once because the word Luke use indicates repetition.

“The reason the world has not yet felt the full impact of the Gospel,” says Dennis Kenlaw, president of Asbury College, “Is because we, as Christ’s disciples, are willing to sacrifice anything but ourselves. Through His grace, we must take our hands off our lives and say, ‘Spend me as You will.”

The impact of the Cross is not that we must physically suffer for our sins. Jesus did that! But rather that we might push the self aside and let Christ live within our lives. The Lenten season isn’t enough. But rising each day and saying, “Lord, Jesus, I want You to be first in my life today. Take complete control and be Lord of all my life,” is.

AT ONE MENT

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God.”

-Isaiah 59:2

John Muir went to Alaska in 1879. While exploring glaciers, he met native Indians who had embraced Christianity before the gold rush. In his book Travels in Alaska, Muir explains how one tribe, the Stickeens, were able to understand the doctrine of atonement.

The Stickeen tribe and the Sitkas had been at war with each other. After fighting all summer in a desultory, squabbling way none of the women dared venture to the salmon streams or berry-fields to procure their winter food. Then one of the Sticken chiefs went into an open space between their fortified camps, and shouted that he wished to speak to the leader of Sitkas.

The Stickeen chief said that it was foolish for both tribes to continue warring. But the Sitka chief replied, “You say let us stop fighting. You have killed ten more of my tribe than we have killed of yours. Give us ten men to balance our blood-account; not til then, will we make peace and go home.”

“You know that I am worth ten common men and more. Take me and make peace,” replied the noble chief. He stepped forward and boldly stood before his enemy. He fell to the ground as bullets found their mark. Peace was established that chief literally gave himself a sacrifice for his people.”

When missionaries explained that Christ stepped forward and said, “I will pay the price of mankind’s separation from the Father. I will bear the burden of guilt and sin, “the Indians quickly understood. They replied, “Yes, your words are good. The Son of God, the Chief of chiefs, the Maker of all the world, must be worth more than all mankind put together.”

EITHER OR

“Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

-Psalm 119:105

An unfortunate divorce has taken place in the minds of a lot of people in recent years – the divorce of science and the Bible. Some, put their faith in science and fail to discover the God of the Bible. On the other hand, some hold to the teachings of the Bible and denounce science as perverting the truth.

If there is one God – then the God of the Bible must be the same God that the scientist encounters in his laboratory. God reveals His works in science and in His Word, the Bible. If you have made this business of science and the Bible a matter of ‘either/or,’ you have missed the entire point of each.

Is it possible that science has plumbed the depths of knowledge? Albert Einstein said that existent knowledge is like a grain of sand on the seashore, while the vast ocean of knowledge yet remains unexplored. If you could look out through the world’s most powerful telescope, could you explore all there is of space? You could fathom how many galaxies there are – but could God exist further, beyond your sight? If you admit that theoretically, God could exist beyond the most powerful telescope, you might be willing to accept the theoretical existence of God.

Then ask yourself, what governs the galaxies away out there? Who puts those laws into operation? Perhaps, you might like to look down the barrel of the most powerful microscope, then ask yourself, “Have I seen everything that exists?” When you realize you have not, then ask, “Could God exist in substance that my microscope will not magnify? Maybe you have been looking for God like a thief looks for a policeman. You have been hoping that there is none.

SUPERMAN

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.”

-Romans 12:3

Arthur W. Mandelko’s strange life recently came to an end in the film capital of the world – Hollywood. His death was almost as strange as the life that he led. Police detectives said that the small 24 year old man committed suicide in a refrigerator.

Mandelko delighted to play Superman at night.  Neighbors said that his fantasy life began at night when he would climb to the roof of his apartment in his Superman suit and jump from roof to roof.

There is a bit tragic pathos in the death of Athur Mandelko who lived a life of fantasy and dreams. Yet is there not something of Mandelko in the lives of perhaps most of us – who attempt to be something more than we really are?

The ancient Greeks wore masks to portray grief, hate, fear, joy. But what are the masks in the twentieth century? Many of our emotional and spiritual problems result from our wearing masks.

God tells us to take off the mask and play it straight. Paul wrote guidelines for living when he said, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.” (Romans 12:3)

He tells us that real beauty comes from within. A glowing personality comes from the depths of life – not from the surface without. Chances are you have not followed the fantasies of Arthur Mandelko the next time you play the big “hero.” While we are not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to, neither are we to sell ourselves short. Be yourself, for God knows exactly who you are.

THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”
-2 Corinthians 5:17

When I visited a certain home I was surprised to see a sign on the door: the notice read simply: LOVE SPOKEN HERE.

As I got acquainted with the young couple who lived there, I learned that the love had not always been the language they used. In fact, their home had come close to the brink of breaking up on more than one occasion.

It was then a friend invited them to attend an informal Bible Study. In their quest for reality, the young couple had tried about everything from psychology to Eastern religions. Skeptical at first, they began to discover that the language of the Bible is the language of love. Over a period of time they met the chief actor in the story of redemption, Jesus Christ. And when they invited Him into their lives, their lives and home were different. They discovered that what Paul wrote to the Corinthians had become a reality. “If any man be in Christ, he is  new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

By the way, what language do you speak in your home – the language of selfishness and greed or this magnificent language called love? Centuries ago, the Apostle John, writing to the same kind of world we have today, said: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). To his testimony we add the words of the brilliant theologian of the New Testament, the Apostle Paul. To those whose society worshipped the love goddess, Venus, Paul wrote, “God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us” (Romans 5:5).