His Hands

Part 5 in a series on Jesus’ Body

What a wonderful thing it is to consider Jesus’ hands!

With His hands Jesus healed the sick (Luke 4:40). With His hands He blessed the children (Mark 10:16). And with His hands He washed His disciples’ feet (John 13:5). And, oh, let us “sing for joy at the works of [His] hands” (Psalm 92:4)! And let us remember that Jesus is still healing the sick, and blessing children, and serving His people even today! And let us imitate the hands of Jesus by using our hands to serve one another (John 13:14)!

And then there is this wonderful account of the use of one of Jesus’ hands, in Matthew 14:28-31 (emphasis added):

Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

What a strong and merciful hand that was! And praise God that, still today, Jesus reaches out to His people in our doubts and, with great strength and mercy, keeps us from drowning by them!

Then, of course, we must never forget that Jesus’ hands were “pierced through for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5) … “that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Do you believe in Him? Have you trusted in the Savior whose hands were pierced for sinners?

Note also that, in His resurrected body, those hands carried “the imprint of the nails” – such that His disciples were certain that the One whom they encountered in those days after Golgotha was none other than the Lord Jesus Himself, risen from the dead (John 20:19-29)!

Oh, the marvelous hands of our Lord Jesus! Let us love those hands! And let us love Him whose hands they are!

"Arise!"

So said Jesus to a young man in the seventh chapter of Luke: “Young man, I say to you, arise!” But the most interesting thing about Jesus’ hearer, in this instance, is not that he is young, but that he is dead! Indeed, it is his funeral day. His widowed mother is there, walking along with the coffin. The funeral procession inches along to the graveside. And there is the young man, to whom Jesus spoke, being carried along by his pall-bearers. And what sort of person interrupts such a procession? What sort of person comes from the outside and stops a funeral party on the way to the graveside? What sort of person, indeed, not only interrupts a grieving funeral party, but actually begins speaking to the corpse, and expecting lifeless ears to hear? This had better work! The dead man had better be able to hear, and to arise, or the whole thing is going to be incredibly embarrassing … and quite impertinent, and hurtful to the grieving company.

But, of course, the voice is that of Jesus! And so it does work! The dead young man does indeed hear the Master’s voice; and he does indeed sit up in his coffin! Praise God! Praise the Son of God whose voice is so powerful, He can make even the dead to hear!

You’re probably familiar with the story. So familiar, in fact, that we know that it is inevitable that the dead man will hear Jesus’ voice and respond to it. That’s what happens in the New Testament, right? But does it occur to you to apply this same logic to that person in your family, or your workplace, or among your friends … that person who is spiritually dead, and seems like the last person on earth who would actually listen to the word of Christ, and heed it?

The reason why such people seem so unlikely to respond is because they are, indeed, dead! Dead to God. Dead to spiritual realities. Dead to the life that is in the Son. And so of course he or she is uninterested in your gospel, and in your Savior, and in coming to church with you. He or she really is, spiritually, dead! And, perceiving that to be so, we may sometimes hold out very little hope that they will ever listen, or that they will ever believe. And we are right in ascertaining their deadness to our message! But let us not forget that the voice of Jesus is so powerful that, whenever He chooses, He can speak to dead ears (and hearts, and minds) and cause them to hear, and to arise! As it was with the young man being carried by the pallbearers in the ancient city of Nain, so it is with young and old in your city, and in your family. Yes, they really are spiritually dead! But that is no impediment if Jesus deems that they should hear His voice and live! So keep giving them His word! Keep speaking to them His gospel! Keep warning them of their sin, and of hell. And keep attempting to woo them to the Savior, and to His heaven. Time may come when He will interrupt their slow march to an eternal grave, and bid them arise from the dead … to the rejoicing of mothers, friends, and the crowds round about!

Christ’s Resurrection … and Ours

Here is one of the great blessings of Christianity: “newness of life” (Romans 6:4). A Christian is a person who has been changed; made new; “born again” the Bible calls it. He has been given a new heart of love toward God and man. Her eyes have been opened to God, and to His Son, and to His truth. His mind has been changed about sin, and about righteousness, and about the remedy for our fallenness. Her life has taken on a whole new dimension, and direction, and set of desires. He or she has become a new person, spiritually and morally! Christianity brings “newness of life”!

And all of this newness ties back to that first Easter morning! We who are united to Jesus have “newness of life” because Jesus Himself has “newness of life”! “As Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Our new life is bound up in His new life! Our resurrection (spiritually and morally, in the new birth) is tied to His resurrection. He is our trailblazer … such that, because He died for our sins, we die to them, too; and such that, just as He rose from the dead, “we too might walk in newness of life” (emphasis mine).

Do you want to be a new person – spiritually and morally – today?  Such a change comes to those who are united to Christ!  "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17).  May that happen for some of us, even today!

Or, if you have been made new in Christ, do you want to "walk", all the more, in that “newness of life”? Well then the resurrection of Jesus is good news! For, if you belong to Him; if you are united to Him, then you are new, and you may walk in that newness, too (Romans 6:4). You don’t have to keep sinning in the same old ways, with no recourse! 

But then let me ask you, also: Do you want, at the end of this age, to have a new body and to walk with new physical life in a new and perfected planet earth? This, too, is tied back to that first Easter morning! Christ is called “the first fruits” of the bodily resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20). And if there is a first fruits, then there will also be other fruits as well, reaped from the earth where they were once buried like seeds. So that, first of all, Christ is risen, bodily, from the dead … and then His people are also given new, bodily, life as well!

And all of this makes Easter, and the fact of Christ’s resurrection, very personal, does it not? Or resurrection – both morally and spiritually (in the new birth), and physically (when Christ comes again) – are inextricably tied to the empty tomb, and to the literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus on that first Easter Sunday morning! And that is reason, among others, to celebrate this Easter Sunday (and every Sunday) the risen Savior!

Reputations as Well as Bodies

“There will be a resurrection of reputations as well as of bodies”

C.H. Spurgeon

Isn’t that good to hear? Yes, it is true that, as followers of Christ – who was hated, plotted against, falsely accused, and crucified – so we, too, must “through may tribulations … enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). And it is also true that, among these “many tribulations,” it may be that we (both as individuals, and as the larger body of Christ) are sometimes unjustly thought ill of, looked down upon, maligned, belittled, misrepresented, and even falsely accused and scandalized. There is a real devil. And he delights to tear down the reputations of God's people – whether for their faith, or by attempting to discredit their faith. But in the judgment day; in “the great assize” as Spurgeon called it (preaching on 2 Corinthians 5:10), “there will be a resurrection of reputations as well as of bodies.” “A resurrection of reputations as well as of bodies!”

In that day, we who have been called prudish, or even bigoted, because of our stand for biblical morality, will be maligned no more (at least not outside of the gates of hell!). We who have been criticized for ‘sticking our noses in other people’s business’ because of our attempts to protect the unborn, will hear God’s “well done, good and faithful slave.” We who have been called narrow for simply taking Jesus at His word when He claims to be the only way to the Father, will be found to have been attempting to love our neighbors, not exclude them! And any of God’s people, against whom the devil has used human voices and false accusations to run a smear campaign, will be smeared no more. For as Spurgeon reminds us (quoting Jesus in Matthew 13:43): “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” It won’t be seen, in that day, that we were perfect (for we aren’t [yet!]). But it will be seen that Christ made a difference in our lives, and that we were not what the world said of us, but what God made of us! “There will be a resurrection of reputations as well as of bodies.”

And what that means is that, though we don’t want our reputations to be unjustly torn down (any more than we want our bodies to deteriorate), it’s not the end of the world if and when it happens – whether to the individual Christian, or to the church at large. That’s not a permit, of course, for us to throw our reputations away ourselves, by ill behavior (any more than we are licensed to abuse our bodies!). But it is to say that, if people unfairly malign, misrepresent, and falsely accuse you, you are not ruined forever! Even if you go to the grave with undue discredit and criticism looming over your life; or even if the church should dwell under an unjust cloud of criticism and misrepresentation from now until kingdom come, this disrepute will not last forever. For Jesus is coming again to consummate His work of redemption! And in that day, “there will be a resurrection of reputations as well as of bodies.”

The Feasibility of the Resurretion

"Can men make ... [eye]glasses out of ashes ... And cannot the great Creator, who made all things of nothing, raise man's body, after it is reduced into the dust?"

Thomas Boston
Human Nature in Its Fourfold State

10 Reasons Jesus Rose from the Dead

Here's your annual reminder ...

Jesus died the most excruciating of deaths – hanging on a cross, suffocating to death as His dangling body gasped for every breath. And He did it for us sinners – to save us from our sins! But, of course, that was not the end of the story. No! On the third day, this same Jesus rose from the dead. Really! He bodily, physically rose from the grave where He lay, and now He reigns forever at the right hand of God! And that resurrection, while being a happy ending to Jesus’ life on this earth, was surely far more than just a happy ending. His resurrection unleashed so many of the blessings that come to God’s believing people … blessings we would not possess were Jesus not literally, bodily resurrected.

So, I say, the resurrection is not just the Bible’s version of ‘they all lived happily ever after.’ It’s a vital fact of history, and serves as the fountainhead for so much of what Christians hold most dear. Think it out with me. The resurrection of Jesus ...

1. Reminds us that Jesus really was dead. He did not merely appear dead. He literally, physically died ... therefore we are surely forgiven!

2. Proves that Jesus really was who He said He was (Romans 1.4). Not just a great religious leader; not merely a great teacher … but the very Son of God! There have been many great men. But they are all dead, proving themselves mere mortals. Jesus, however, is alive and well, demonstrating Himself to be the very Son of God!

3. Proves that the cross worked (Romans 4.25). Remember why Jesus died? So that sin might be forgiven and death (which results from sin) might be finally defeated. But, had Jesus not risen, how could we be sure that death had been defeated? And if we’re not sure death has been defeated, how can we be sure that sin (which causes death) had really been forgiven? Thank God we do not have to long ponder those questions – for Jesus is risen indeed! See also 1 Cor. 15.17.

4. Proves that the Scripture is accurate (1 Cor. 15.3-4). The Old Testament prophesied the resurrection 700 years in advance (see Isaiah 53.10). The New Testament confirms it. The Bible is, therefore, not a book of fairy tales and false prophecies … but an amazing collection of absolute truth! See also Luke 18.31-33.

5. Proves that God is all powerful (2 Cor. 13.4a). Nothing is more irreversible than death. But God reversed it!

6. Reminds us that Christ has triumphed over the devil (Ephesians 1.20-21). Just when the devil thought he'd won, Jesus rose and held a victory parade in enemy streets!

7. Ensures that we, too, will someday rise from the dead (1 Cor. 15.23). We are one with Christ. What happens to Him happens to us ... including bodily resurrection. See also 1 Thess. 4.14, 2 Cor. 4.14, 1 Cor. 6.14.

8. Ensures that we have new life here and now (Romans 6.4-6). Christ has new life. Someday we will too. But even now, we have been given new hearts and new starts … because of the resurrection.

9. Ensures that Jesus can continue ministering to us. Because He is alive, He can intercede for us (Romans 8.34, Hebrews 7.25). Because He is alive, He can save us (Acts 3.26). Because He is alive, and appeared to Paul in Acts 9, we have all the various books we have been quoted from above (Paul's letters). Thank God we do not worship a dead Savior, but one who ever lives, and can still help us!

10. Gives us a reason to celebrate on Easter Sunday … and every Lord’s Day. The reason Christians worship and take their Sabbath rest on Sunday (as opposed to the Old Testament Saturday) is because Sunday is the greatest day of all … the day Christ rose from the dead!

So there you have it. Ten reasons to fall down and worship this (and every) Sunday!

Jesus is Still Alive!

Another Easter has come and gone. And now we wait 51 more weeks before returning, once more, to what is often called ‘the most important Sunday of the year.’

I understand why people think of Easter in that way – ‘the most important Sunday of the year’. It is, after all, the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, without which there would be no Christianity! That is what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15.14. “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.” So it’s no wonder Christians everywhere make a big deal out of Easter. The whole of Christianity rests on the fact of what happened on that glorious Sunday so long ago! And so it is right that we hail that day with glad songs, and special services, and a particular focus on the emptiness of the tomb!

And yet, in all our particular emphasis on this particular Sunday, we run the risk of doing exactly the opposite of what we intend. That is, if we leave our resurrection celebrations primarily to Easter Sunday, we miss 51 other opportunities for remembering that Christ is risen indeed. That’s right! According to the New Testament way of doing things, there are actually 52 Easter Sundays every year. That is to say that, while we have no evidence that New Testament Christians had a special resurrection celebration on a particular Sunday each spring, we have ample evidence that they celebrated the risen Jesus every Sunday of the year!

As you read the New Testament, it becomes fairly clear that the apostles and their contemporaries began observing their sabbaths, no longer on Saturdays, but on the first day of the week (see 1 Corinthians 16.2 and Acts 20.7), which they began calling “the Lord’s Day” (Revelation 1.10). That was a major departure from Old Testament Judaism – worshipping on Sunday rather than Saturday! But why would the early Christians have made such a radical change? Almost certainly because it was on the first day of the week (Sunday) that Christ had risen from the dead! Sunday was (and is) “the Lord’s Day” because it was the day on which Jesus conquered death once and for all!

So what am I saying? The early Christians celebrated Jesus’ resurrection, not just once a year, but every single Sunday! And we should too!

That is not to say there is anything wrong with having a special celebration on what we call Easter Sunday. In fact, there is at least one unparalleled benefit to this national festival – we get more visitors in church on Easter Sunday morning than on any other day of the year! So I am grateful for Easter Sunday! And yet I want to remind you that Jesus is still alive and well, even now that Easter Sunday is past! The resurrection is just as glorious a fact today as it was this past Sunday! Men and women ought to stream into church on April 15 the same way they did on April 8. And we ought to be just as eager to invite friends this Sunday (and every Sunday) as we were last week!

Every Sunday Jesus deserves our best efforts and our maximum praise! Every Sunday He is risen and reigning! Every Sunday is a resurrection day! Let us, therefore, give our best efforts to make sure that we live like it is so!

Ten Reasons Jesus Rose from the Dead

Jesus died the most excruciating of deaths – hanging on a cross, suffocating to death as His dangling body gasped for every breath. And He did it for us sinners – to save us from our sins! But, of course, that was not the end of the story. No! On the third day, this same Jesus rose from the dead. Really! He bodily, physically rose from the grave where He lay, and now He reigns forever at the right hand of God! And that resurrection, while being a happy ending to Jesus’ life on this earth, was surely far more than just a happy ending. His resurrection unleashed so many of the blessings that come to God’s believing people … blessings we would not possess were Jesus not literally, bodily resurrected.

So, I say, the resurrection is not just the Bible’s version of ‘they all lived happily ever after.’ It’s a vital fact of history, and serves as the fountainhead for so much of what Christians hold most dear. Think it out with me. The resurrection of Jesus ...

1. Reminds us that Jesus really was dead. He did not merely appear dead. He literally, physically died ... therefore we are surely forgiven!

2. Proves that Jesus really was who He said He was (Romans 1.4). Not just a great religious leader; not merely a great teacher … but the very Son of God! There have been many great men. But they are all dead, proving themselves mere mortals. Jesus, however, is alive and well, demonstrating Himself to be the very Son of God!

3. Proves that the cross worked (Romans 4.25). Remember why Jesus died? So that sin might be forgiven and death (which results from sin) might be finally defeated. But, had Jesus not risen, how could we be sure that death had been defeated? And if we’re not sure death has been defeated, how can we be sure that sin (which causes death) had really been forgiven? Thank God we do not have to long ponder those questions – for Jesus is risen indeed! See also 1 Cor. 15.17.

4. Proves that the Scripture is accurate (1 Cor. 15.3-4). The Old Testament prophesied the resurrection 700 years in advance (see Isaiah 53.10). The New Testament confirms it. The Bible is, therefore, not a book of fairy tales and false prophecies … but an amazing collection of absolute truth! See also Luke 18.31-33.

5. Proves that God is all powerful (2 Cor. 13.4a). Nothing is more irreversible than death. But God reversed it!

6. Reminds us that Christ has triumphed over the devil (Ephesians 1.20-21). Just when the devil thought he'd won, Jesus rose and held a victory parade in enemy streets!

7. Ensures that we, too, will someday rise from the dead (1 Cor. 15.23). We are one with Christ. What happens to Him happens to us ... including bodily resurrection. See also 1 Thess. 4.14, 2 Cor. 4.14, 1 Cor. 6.14.

8. Ensures that we have new life here and now (Romans 6.4-6). Christ has new life. Someday we will too. But even now, we have been given new hearts and new starts … because of the resurrection.

9. Ensures that Jesus can continue ministering to us. Because He is alive, He can intercede for us (Romans 8.34, Hebrews 7.25). Because He is alive, He can save us (Acts 3.26). Because He is alive, and appeared to Paul in Acts 9, we have all the various books we have been quoted from above (Paul's letters). Thank God we do not worship a dead Savior, but one who ever lives, and can still help us!

10. Gives us a reason to celebrate on Easter Sunday … and every Lord’s Day. The reason Christians worship and take their Sabbath rest on Sunday (as opposed to the Old Testament Saturday) is because Sunday is the greatest day of all … the day Christ rose from the dead!

So there you have it. Ten reasons to fall down and worship this (and every) Sunday!

Nine Reasons Jesus Rose from the Dead

Since we were saying that the resurrection isn't merely a happy ending to the gospel story, but has real, practical, theological reasons behind it ... let me list nine of those reasons:

The resurrection of Jesus ...

1. Reminds us that Jesus really was dead. He did not merely appear dead. He really, physically died ... securing our forgiveness.

2. Proves that Jesus really was who He said He was (Romans 1.4). Not a great religious leader. Not merely a great teacher. There have been many of those. They are dead. He is not.

3. Proves that the cross worked (Romans 4.25). Remember why Jesus died? So we could be forgiven and live after death. But, had Jesus not risen, how could we be sure that God accepted the sacrifice? If Jesus Himself had not lived after death, how could we be sure His death actually worked? See also 1 Cor. 15.17.

4. Proves that the Scripture is accurate (1 Cor. 15.3-4). The OT prophesied it 700 years in advance (see Isaiah 53.10). The NT confirms it. The Bible is true. See also Luke 18.31-33.

5. Proves that God is all powerful (2 Cor. 13.4a). Nothing is more irreversible than death. But God reversed it.

6. Reminds us that Christ has triumphed over the devil (Ephesians 1.20-21). Just when the devil thought he'd won, Jesus rose and held a victory parade in enemy streets!

7. Ensures that we, too, will someday rise from the dead (1 Cor. 15.23). We are one with Christ. What happens to Him happens to us ... including bodily resurrection. See also 1 Thess. 4.14, 2 Cor. 4.14, 1 Cor. 6.14.

8. Ensures that we have new life here and now (Romans 6.4-6). Christ has new life. Someday we will too. But even now, we have been given new hearts and new starts.

9. Ensures that Jesus can continue ministering to us. Because He is alive, He can intercede for us (Romans 8.34, Hebrews 7.25). Because He is alive, He can save us (Acts 3.26). Because He is alive, and appeared to Paul in Acts 9, we have all the various books we have been quoted from above (Paul's letters).

So there you have it. Nine reasons to fall down and worship this (and every) Sunday.