I am the Resurrection and the Life
My Story
My Grandfather was shot in the neck in France as a soldier in World War 1. He survived, came home to Pontiac, MI, took a job at the post office and raised six children. He gave me his pocket watch. I still have it.
But he gave me something better. Years before he had purchased a large school bell at an auction and mounted it on the roof of his large garage. The upstairs attic became a training center for young men. I still have his business card … “Attention, all Young Men” That group became a bible study which became a church. What a great gift for me as his grandchild.
My Dad was like his Dad. As a supervisor in a power company he looked and found opportunities to integrate God’s truth into the lives of those around him. When our youngest of four children was entering fourth grade, my parents moved to our area and became active in our church.
One year I showed the ten part film series by Dr. Francis Scheaffer entitled, “How Should We Then Live?” In this series Schaeffer used the word WORLDVIEW. My Dad had never heard this word and he asked me if I thought he had a worldview? I laughed and said, “Dad I never remember a time when you did not have a Biblical Worldview. You relate God’s Word all the time. He smiled and said, Oh!
Today we stand on the shoulders of great people who wrestled with everyday life and with the cultural issues of the day.
INTRODUCTION:
“Martha said to Jesus, “I know that (My brother Lazarus) will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live”
In Blade 3 as we open the DOOR we find a Good Shepherd looking at us. He turns and motions us to follow him. We follow him to a unique cemetery where all the graves are open and empty. We understand that he conquered death. The fear of death begins to fade away.
We enter into this great VICTORY over death because of our Lord’s death and resurrection. We follow The Good Shepherd who leads us into an understanding that HE is the Resurrection and the LIfe. The greatest event in the history of mankind is the resurrection.
Question # 1 – What passages explain the power of the Resurrection?
Answer:
Soon before our Lord’s Resurrection … he demonstrated his power over death by raising Lazarus from the dead, foreshadowing his own resurrection.
When he says “I am the Resurrection and the Life he claims authority over life and death, promising eternal life to those who believe in him.
When we ponder pain, death, and struggle we learn that the Resurrection changes everything.
The Old Testament
Job 19:25-27 “For I know that my redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!”
Daniel 12:2. “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
New Testament
Matthew 22:31-32: “And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
John 11:25-26: “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?'” The gospel of John is called the gospel of belief
1 Corinthians 15:20-22: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”
Question # 2 – Why is the resurrection the most important event in History?
Answer:
Victory Over Death: (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).
Eternal Life: (John 3:16).
Transformation: (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).
We can listen to many excellent messages on the Resurrection at Grace To You Just type the word Resurrection in the search section.
The Final Public Miracle – John 11:17–36
This is the final public miracle that Jesus did, at a very strategic time just prior to the Passover in a place called Bethany, two miles east of Jerusalem on the road from Jericho that was literally filled with pilgrims heading to the Passover. So everybody coming that way would have heard the story about Lazarus. It circulated through the whole city.
The raising of Lazarus strengthened, in a measure, the faith of the disciples. The resurrection of Lazarus gave a preview of the resurrection of Christ, which helped them to believe that it could happen because they had seen His resurrection power in the case of Lazarus.
The resurrection of Lazarus was an evidence of His deity. Jesus said to Lazarus’ sister, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Remember why the gospel of John was written. “It is written that you might believe and that you might receive eternal life.”
This is the greatest event in History.
Ecclesiastes 8:8 – “No man has authority to restrain the wind, so also no man has authority over the day of death.”
Job 18:14 – “When that day comes, man is torn from the security of his tent, and they march him off before the king of terrors.”
Job 14:1-2, – “Man who is born of woman is short-lived and full of turmoil. Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.”
Psalm 90 – “As for the days of our life, they contain 70 years or if due to strength 80 years, and yet their pride is but labor and sorrow for soon it is gone and we fly away.
1 Timothy 6 – “We brought nothing into the world so we cannot take anything out of it either.”
The Resurrection and competing Worldviews
Evolution teaches that we are protoplasm waiting to become manure. God says you will live forever in a resurrected bodily form, both in heaven and in hell.
John 5:28 “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and will come forth; those who did the good to a resurrection of life and those who committed the evil to a resurrection of damnation or judgment.”
Everybody will be raised from the dead. There will be a resurrection body for hell and a resurrection body for heaven. Death is not the end of anyone.
John 1 “The Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life.”
Life itself exists in Him.
Death is not the end. Death is a split second transition.
He is the source of everything that lives.
He is the resurrection and the life because He is life.
He has the power to create out of nothing, and
He has the power to raise the dead because He is life.
He is the Creator of life, and because He is the life,
He will raise all the dead and give them a body suited for their eternal dwelling.
He will be the judge.
Question # 3 – How are you like a shepherd?
If you do not believe that He is the resurrection and the life, you are without excuse. Why? He created everything that lives. You must believe He is the resurrection because He not only raised the dead, but He himself was raised from the dead; and because He lives, we live also.
“I am the resurrection and the life.” Not that I give resurrection or do resurrection. Not that I give life. I am the resurrection. I am the life. He who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?
The raising of Lazarus, divine power is on display.
Power that stops the progress of decay.
Power that reverses rigor mortis.
Power that pours new life into rotted organs
Power that creates a brand new body,
Power that takes sightless, decomposed eyes and gives new vision.
Paul wrote, “O grave, where is your victory? Grave, where is your sting?”
Christ stood as the conqueror of sin, death, and Satan. In Revelation 1:18 we see that he has the keys to death and Hades. And He unlocked it for Lazarus, and He will one day unlock it for every man, every woman.
The Gospel of John is the gospel of belief. Do you Believe?
This “Blade” pierces and divides everything. Hebrews 4:12 Jesus is the living WORD and the Bible is the written WORD. His-Story.
Summary: The Resurrection is …
The Foundation of Christian Faith
The Fulfillment of Prophecy
The Basis for Salvation
The Inspiration for Early Christians
The Foundation of Christian Practices
Worldview
The Resurrection impacts all areas that make up a person’s worldview.
Apologetics
(Reasons, Evidences, Answers that defend the Resurrection)
Numerous evidence point to the fidelity of the Resurrection.