If Jesus Rose from the Dead, then (#29) It Was the Great Confirmation

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Scripture tells us Jesus was,

declared to be the Son of God… by His resurrection from the dead.” Romans 1:4

The Holy Spirit, through Paul, tells us that it was the resurrection that “declared” Jesus to be the Son of God. Not that He wasn’t from all eternity, but this was the moment that God affirmed it to the world. 

It was the Great Confirmation. 

Louis Berkhof stated that the resurrection was, “… the Father’s seal on the completed work of Christ, the public declaration of its acceptance[1].”

When Jesus rose from the dead, it not only confirmed that He was the Son of God, but it confirmed that everything the Scripture said about Him and all of His words were true.

When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. John 2:22

Without the empty tomb, everything that Jesus had done would have come to nothing. No records would have been written, no letters penned, no Christianity formed. At most, there might have been some obscure note in some obscure historical parchment about a guy who supposedly did some peculiar things: healings, exorcisms and such. But that would be it… the supreme historical footnote.

But the tomb was empty. The grave clothes were left undisturbed. Jesus did appear to over 500 people. He talked with them and ate with them. They touched Him.

John Locke offers this perspective: 

Our Saviour’s resurrection… is truly of great importance in Christianity; so great that His being or not being the Messiah stands or falls with it: so that these two important articles are inseparable and in effect make one. For since that time, believe one and you believe both; deny one of them, and you can believe neither[2].

And this is the heart of it, is it not? If Jesus rose from the dead then we are compelled to believe all of it. Not only the miracles that He performed, but every audacious thing that He said: 

  • That He existed before Abraham (John 8:58).
  • That Abraham rejoiced to see His day (John 8:56).
  • That Moses wrote about Him (John 5:46).
  • That all the Scriptures point to Him (John 5:39).
  • That He is the only one who knows God (Matthew 11:27).
  • That God personally sent Him to earth (John 8:42).
  • That the only way to God is through Him (John 14:6).
  • That He is the only way (John 14:6).
  • That He is the only truth (John 14:6).
  • That if you believe in Him, though you die, you will live (John 11:25-26).
  • That He was sinless (John 18:23).
  • That He will judge the world (John 5:22).
  • That if you keep His words, you will build your life upon the rock and nothing will ever wash you away; if you reject His words, your life will be built upon sand and it will all eventually collapse (Matthew 7:24-27).

The resurrection is not only the Kairos moment, it is the Kairos event. It is the great confirmation that Jesus was everything that He said He was and that when He spoke, it had been the very word of God, for He was and is God.

This is why the resurrection was ever present in the thoughts of the early believers and was always a key element in their testimony of Him. As it should be today.

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[1] L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 349

[2] J. McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Vol I, p. 183

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If Jesus Rose from the Dead, then (#1) the Seal Was Broken
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10
If Jesus Rose from the Dead, then... (#0)
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