Theme: He arose from the dead to fulfil the Scriptures
Text: 1 Cor. 15:3-4
The Scriptures contain God’s authoritative words and are therefore also known as the “Word of God”. Jesus relied on them totally and used them to overcome temptations and point to the truth. He often referred to them with the words “It is written”. When John the Baptist in captivity began to doubt the truth about Jesus being the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask Him whether He was the One or whether they should expect another. Jesus answered by pointing to the effects His ministry had on the people. “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”. Jesus Christ, in effect, was referring John the Baptist directly to the scriptures. He of all people knew the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the Messiah and all that Jesus was doing fulfilled that prophecy in its entirety. The good news was being preached and those held hostage by the devil were being set free. In celebrating Youth Sunday the chosen text should teach us to also pay attention to the testimony of the Scriptures. The message of this text is not only important but demands an urgent response from those who hear it as it decides our eternal destiny. This is the gospel message, the good news. It consists of three simple, definite facts: first, Christ died for our sins; second, He was buried; third, He rose again the third day. The first and most authoritative of all testimonies to the truth of these facts is not the testimony of the men and women who were eyewitnesses of Christ’s death and resurrection but the testimony of the Scriptures. They had prophetically foreshown hundreds of years before they actually took place how Jesus Christ would die, be buried and rise from the dead. He arose from the dead to fulfil the Scriptures.
The Scriptures reveal God’s purpose for creating man. He was created in the image and likeness of God to exercise authority and dominion on earth and absolutely nothing was left outside his rule. God also created man in His image and likeness to have fellowship with him. God is Spirit and man can only worship God in Spirit and in truth. Man’s authority and dominion on earth, however, was only possible when he maintained the image and likeness of God – when he remained spiritually alive. It was a necessary requirement. When Adam and Eve sinned it affected their whole person and they died spiritually. They were no longer the people they were supposed to be and therefore could no longer function the way they were supposed to function. God does not change His mind and did not change His mind about the authority and dominion He had given to man. This has always legally belonged to man and his descendants even though they could no longer exercise it because they were now spiritually dead. Satan, the one responsible for man’s sinful state, had entered the world illegally. As a thief he stole the authority that God had legally given to man and began to exercise it illegally. The good news, however, is that what Satan took illegally God has restored legally? To do this He had to send His Son Jesus Christ to earth as a man to legally exercise man’s God given authority. As a man Christ overcame Satan, paid the penalty for sin and restored to man what Satan had illegally stolen so that men and women could fulfil God’s divine will and purpose. This plan was fully and graphically described in Scripture and fulfilled to the smallest detail. It was clearly evident in the way the High Priest approached the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and in the Temple. As he entered the tabernacle’s outer court, he first offered a sacrifice at the brazen altar. He then cleansed himself at the laver before entering the Holy place and finally the Holy of Holies. The sacrifice and cleansing are the first steps to the presence of God and point to Christ and His work of atonement. The sacrifice of animals in the tabernacle could not take away sin and had to be repeated again and again but Jesus, as God, offered the perfect sacrifice – His own blood and then sat down at the right hand of the Father signifying that no other sacrifice ever needed to be made again. God, through Christ, has paid man’s penalty for sin and restored fallen man so that he could exercise his God given authority and fulfil God’s divine will and purpose. The price has been paid but to benefit from Christ’s provision we must accept His sacrifice on our behalf and confess Him as Saviour and Lord.
God’s remedy for sin is the shedding of blood for without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sin. The Scriptures reveal in great detail what it cost Christ to pay the penalty for our sin and restore to us God’s given authority and dominion on earth. It cost Christ the shedding of His blood - His life. He died in our place to pay the penalty for our sin according to the Scriptures, He was buried and He was raised again the third day. Christ shed His blood to overcome sin, Satan and death. But it is only when we believe the truth of the Gospel and call upon the name of the Lord that we are justified and experience God’s forgiveness and salvation.
Jesus Christ was God’s plan to save the world. His death, burial and resurrection was the only way to fulfil this plan that was laid out long before Jesus Christ fulfilled it exactly according to the Scriptures. Some of these prophecies were in the form of religious celebrations and sacrifices. What took place when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement was actually an enactment of how Christ would shed His blood to make it possible for man to once more have unlimited access to the presence of God. According to Leviticus 16:14 “He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his fingers on the mercy seat seven times”. Jesus fulfilled this exactly at His death when His blood was sprinkled seven times after the Old Testament pattern. Only this time it was once and for all time and never needed to be repeated again. The first sprinkling of His blood began in the Garden of Gethsemane where His sweat became blood. It happened as He wrestled in agony to make Himself available to God. It is worth noting that sin entered the world while Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, and Christ began sprinkling His blood in the garden of Gethsemane. In the Garden of Eden man cried out my will be done and not yours whereas in Gethsemane Jesus cried out “Your will be done and not mine”. The final sprinkling of Christ’s blood took place on Calvary after His death when one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear. Between these two events Christ blood was sprinkled another five times as prophesied in the scriptures. According to Micah 5:1b “They would strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek”. According to Isaiah 50:6 “He would give His back to those who would strike Him, and His cheek to those who would pluck out His beard”. He would sprinkle His blood when a crown of thorns was placed on His head and according to the Psalmist in Psalm 22 when His hands and feet were pierced with nails. In that sevenfold shedding of His blood, Christ’s body was emptied of blood. The Scriptures also pointed to the resurrection of Christ in Psalm 16:8-11, in the experience of Jonah and in the ceremony of presenting the first fruits of the harvest to the Lord. This ceremony took place on the day following the Sabbath after Passover, that is, on a Sunday and was a picture of Christ rising from the dead, also on a Sunday, with some of the saints who had died as the first fruits of a new Creation. The evidence of Scripture is so overwhelming that it leaves us no option but to believe and accept the facts of the gospel. This is the only way to eternal life and you need to be sure you have this life if you want to spend eternity with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Just as Jesus rose from the dead to a new life so believing the gospel restores and ushers us into this new life. Christ died for us and in our place so that when He died we died with Him and His resurrection guarantees our new life. We have been united not only in His death but also in His resurrection “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection” Romans 6:5. This gives us the assurance that we have that power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead now living in us. God has restored us and made us spiritually alive so that we would be able to fulfil His divine will and purpose. When something is restored in the Scriptures, it is always increased, multiplied or improved so that its latter state is significantly better than its original state. Today we actually have more than Adam had and we are better equipped to live the life of Christ and continue His mission of preaching the good news and setting the captives free.
Our experiences confirm that God is able to give life to the dead. Every born again believer can testify to this fact because this was what happened when he or she responded to the gospel. God’s restoration is also evident in many other areas that affect our lives. It is evident in the YPG as they celebrate their 19th anniversary and their rejuvenation after the split in the Church that threatened to destroy them. With barely a few members left they have held firmly to the vision for the YPG and relied on God to restore and rejuvenate them. God’s purposes may be delayed but they will always be fulfilled in His time, in His way and in His power. Today we are all witnesses of the life giving potential that exists in the YPG. We see a very vibrant group growing in numbers and in spiritual maturity. We hear them praising and worshipping the Lord on Wednesday evenings and we are seeing them becoming more involved and spearheading many activities in the Church. Indeed we need to support them as they use their youthful vigour and exuberance to reach out to the many people who have not yet heard the good news. I am sure the YPG has many plans and expectations for the rest of the year and for the coming years. But since it is God who has rejuvenated you and brought you to this stage to fulfil His divine will and purpose let His plans and expectations direct you and see it as being more important than your own. Like our Lord your prayer should be “Let your will be done and not ours”. We can only experience the life of Christ and grow to spiritual maturity after we have been born again. We cannot hope to grow spiritually if we have not yet been born and the only way to be born again is to believe and accept the good news that Jesus Christ died was buried and rose again from the dead the third day.
Hearing and believing the gospel and calling on the name of the Lord is God’s path to salvation and restoration. This is only possible because Christ has paid the penalty for sin with His life. And because Christ is alive believing in Him leads to a remarkable change in the lives of many people for the better. Hundreds of millions of people from all backgrounds, nationalities, and professions who have believed the good news testify that Christ has given them a new and improved life as members of His body. And as members of His body we become sons and daughters. Many people, however, often confuse being members of His body with being members of a Church. Members of Churches often decide for themselves when to come to Church. They come when they feel like it or when an event is being celebrated. Members of His body who are sons and daughters, however, come to Church not because they feel like it but because it is their home and they love to come home. They come because they value fellowship with the family and see the house of God as an inheritance the Father has left them. Jesus Christ wants us all to be restored to God’s image and likeness and to have eternal life and belong to His body. You can have this life today and experience God’s forgiveness, peace and lasting joy. All that you need to do is to believe the good news and call upon the name of the Lord. Let each of us be sure of his or her salvation today and give praise and glory to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!
