Christ Risen and Salvation!
The story of Jesus Christ is well described in Scripture. It takes four books: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to provide the most pertinent details. They have become the Gospel, the Good News of Christ Risen. In the Old Testament it was prophesied that Christ would come as a Sacrificial Lamb to die for our sins. Calvary was where that prophesy came true; a place then known as Golgotha; the Place of the Skull. The descriptions of Christ’s torture and death, as stark as they are, fail to convey the true horror of what He endured for us.
THE PROPHESY by ISAIAH
“Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground; He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: And we hid as it were out faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: Yet we did not esteem stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. And we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter. For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people he was stricken.” Isaiah 53:1-8 NIV Written at least 700 years before Christ appeared.
DETAILS OF SUFFERING IN PSALM 22
All of Psalm 22 previews Christ suffering as well as His triumph over death and future Glory. Here are a few excerpts about His suffering:
Psalm 22:6-8, 15-18 “But I am a worm, not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by people. Everyone who sees me mocks me; they sneer and shake their heads: “He relies on the Lord; let him save him; let the Lord rescue him, since he takes pleasure in him.
My strength is dried up like baked clay; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You put me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evil doers has closed in on me; they pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones; people look and stare at me. They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.”
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Matthew 27:27-29 “Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence and gathered the whole company around him. They stripped him and put him in a scarlet robe. They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and placed a staff in his right hand. And they knelt before him and mocked him, “Hail the King of the Jews!” Then they spat on him, took the staff and kept hitting him on the head. After they mocked him, they stripped him of the robe, put his clothes on him and led him away to be crucified.”
After he was nailed to the cross:
Matthew 27:39-43 “Those who passed by were yelling insults at him shaking their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the son of God, come down off the cross.!” In the same way the chief priests, with the scribes and elders mocked him and said, “He saved others but cannot save himself? He is the King of Israel! Let him come down from the cross, we will believe in him. He trusts God; let God rescue him now - if he takes pleasure in him! For he said, I am the son of God!”
Prophecies being fulfilled as Christ hung there dying. And yet there was more, much more to come!
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CHRIST DIES
Mark 15:33-37 KJV “And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why hast though forsaken me?” And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behjold he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let him alone; let us see whether Elias will take him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.”
CHRIST IS BURIED THEN RISEN
Again, Isaiah prophesies regarding Jesus.
Isaiah 53:9 NIV “He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with rich in his death, though he has done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth.” It should be noted that Christ died between two thieves and a rich man would bury him (Jews often counted rich people as wicked also).
Matthew 27:57-61 KJV “When even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also Jesus disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. then Pilate commanded the body be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre.”
Christ falsely charged, beaten, crucified and now buried according to prophesy we see what follows.
“Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other one at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.”
“He is not here but is risen! Remember how he spoke to you when he was still with you in Galilee, saying, “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified and the third day rise again.” And then they remembered his words. At this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. “Woman,’ he said, “why are you crying? Who is it that you look after?” thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said unto her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni” (which means Teacher). Mary Magdelene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!”
One the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After that he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
John 20:11 NIV, Luke 24:6-7 NIV
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WHAT DO YOU NEED?
Few, if any, truly understand prophesy even when they are witnessing it. It is in the completion of the prophesied event that it becomes fact and then can be more understandable. One can have a sense of impending prophetic events and can believe in the future completion of that event. Frequently though an event as it occurs interferes with some presupposition of how and when it should happen. That is part of why the Jewish religious leadership had such troubling issues with Jesus of Nazareth. They truly expected a warrior like David to save them. They would not accept the fact that a suffering servant, a sacrifice in the shape of a man had come to save them. It was counter to their reasoning. They leaned on their own understanding and not that of God. And to have Him claim to be equal to God drove them insane. Christ and his ministry, life, death and resurrection fulfilled a minimum of three hundred prophesies in the Old Testament. They either did not understand the premise of the prophesies regarding their Savior or plainly rejected anything that did not fit their presuppositions. The odds against that kind of success are beyond any belief. Yet, for those who believe it is clear what happened.
Nevertheless, many either did not recognize Him or refused to accept what He arrived to do. You have 2,000 + years of investigation and retelling of the gift God gave us in and through his Son. The events of Calvary changed the entire world. There was nothing like it before and nothing like it since. The numbers of people who truly accepted him is cannot be calculated it is so vast. Yet it is small when compared to the number of those who reject him. How much evidence do you need to be a believer? He lives in documented accounts of the times He lived in, there were hundreds of witnesses, men and women went to their deaths and did not deny Him. What facts or rational would make you believe? It is God that draws us, not facts… “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up op the last day.” John 6:44
Steven Scott in his book “The Greatest Words Ever Spoken” (page 12) relates this; that for only 48 of the prophesies about Jesus to become true would be a chance of 1 in 10 to the 157th power (that is a number with 157 zeros in it) “No occurrence in history or physical science has been verified with a higher degree of statistical certainty than the fact that Jesus is exactly who he claims to be…” This was impossible without God!
If you are a believer, then you have the most precious gift known. If you are not a believer, I would submit this challenge to you; pray to God to reveal himself and his Son. Yes, demand it! Be bold and speak with God and seek the truth. He will answer you! You have everything to lose if you do not. At the same time, you have everything to gain if you do for you will be answered; I believe that with all that is within me. God pursues you and the only way to gain Him is to seek His face and embrace his risen Son as your Savior. He is calling you via the Holy Spirit right now.
Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.”
2 Chronicles 15:2b “The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.”
Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost.”
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“And I am telling you that we saw Him. He is Risen!”
THE WITNESSES
Major events often get retold and the more important they are the retelling grows in frequency and fervor. Certainly, the event at Calvary and the subsequent rising of Christ from being dead needed witnesses to make it believable. Here are examples of just that, witnesses, a lot of them!
In the retelling of the Crucifixion, we have many examples of the details from eyewitnesses revealed in the four Gospels and the Book of Acts. Let us now find the accounts of people seeing Jesus after he was risen from the dead.
We have already discussed Mary Magdlene at the tomb. And we reviewed what Jesus thought of the Disciples failing to believe an eyewitness. They could not fathom Christ rising from the dead. Let’s go to other Scriptural accounts of witnesses. And as we go through this process keep in mind how many eyewitnesses would we need to “win” at a hearing or in court?
Matthew 28:8-9 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary at the tomb; “So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell his disciples the news. Just then Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ They came up, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.” Jesus revealed himself to women first.
Luke 24:13-15 “Now that same day two of them were on their way to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. together they were discussing everything that had taken place. And while they were discussing and arguing, Jesus himself came near and to walk along with them. But they were prevented from recognizing him.” The verses go on to tell how Jesus ended up eating with them and then they recognized him. Alive and well at dinner!
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 “I passed on to you as most important what I also received, 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 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. Last of all, as one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.” Paul is recounting what is common knowledge among the brethren.
Luke 20:27-28 The disciple Thomas had doubted the resurrection demanding proof. After Christ appeared in a locked room to the disciples he spoke. “Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger in here and look at me hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be faithless, but believe.’ Thomas responded to him, ‘My Lord and my God!”
That is more than two witnesses of coyrse. There is no account found that has any of the Apostles denying the Risen Christ. If we are to believe the miracles of Christ, why would we turn from the truth of Christ Risen?
And there you have Calvary and the rest of it. This synopsis is the highlights of the story of Christ Risen. It all belongs together, even in this shortened form.
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PRAYER POINT - PRAYING and LISTENING TO GOD
God Is our Refuge
“God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. Therefore, we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the seas, though it’s water roars and foams and the mountains quake with its turmoil.” Psalm 46:2-3 CSB Refuge, helper, strength … all positive and encouraging to any believer. Take time in your daily living to trust what God has told you in this Psalm and what follows:
Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with a jubilant cry. For the Lord, the Most High, is awe inspiring, a great King over the whole earth.” Psalm 47:1-2 CSB
We have trusted God and His Son for our salvation and everything that follows; sanctification, being justified and having the Holy Spirit within us as helper and so much more. Yet how many of us fail to engage God and Jesus in conversation or fail to praise and worship as we should. No fear, no weakness is authorized by God. He tells us repeatedly to not fear. Do not let today’s distractions and concerns hold you back. Be encouraged! Pray!
“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12:32 NKJV
