TLJC IS RISEN

Matt 28:6;

The Christian Church annually celebrates the resurrection of Jesus on what is popularly called Easter.

The English word “Easter” is an eighth-century Saxon word for the Eastra, the goddess of spring, in whose honor sacrifices were offered around the time of Passover each year. Eastra is the Saxon word for the Chaldean goddess Astarte who was worshipped as the “queen of heaven.”

There is no celebration of the resurrection of TLJC recorded in the Bible. Jewish Christians in the first century linked it with the Passover which was celebrated on 14 Nisan regardless of the day of the week on which it fell.

However Gentile Christians in the first century celebrated the resurrection event on what became known as Easter Sunday. Col 2:16;

A system for celebrating the resurrection on a specific day was determined by the Council of Nicea in AD 325. where it was ruled that Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurred following the vernal equinox.

The vernal or spring equinox occurs on or about March 21, consequently the celebration of Easter can occur anywhere between March 22 and April 25.

In the early 1600s, a British translator who was translating the King James Version of the book of Acts decided to use the word Easter in the mistranslation of πάσχα pascha in Acts 12:4. which is properly translated "passover" in most other translations.

The Passover. A festival that God gave the Isrealites is, celebrated on the 14th of month Nisan (which means the Abib). This was followed immediately by the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the 15th to 21st.

Over time, the two festivals were merged into one single event called "the Passover"

The Passover was instituted by God at the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. On 10 Nisan, every head of household chose a lamb without spot or blemish as a sacrifice. Exod 12:3; On the evening of 14 Nisan they killed the animal Exod 12:6; A branch of hyssop was dipped into the lamb’s blood and applied to the two doorposts and lintel of the house where the Passover was to be eaten. Exod 12:22-23;

The meal was eaten that night. The Isrealites were instructed to have their loins girded, shoes on their feet, and staff in hand ready to march out of Egypt on a moment’s notice Exod 12:11;

This festival was mandated to be observed by Israel on every 14 Nisan followed by the observance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Lev 23:4-8;

It was observed as a type for the Person and work of Christ on the cross. The lamb without spot or blemish pictured the impeccability of Christ which qualified Him to become our substitute.

The lamb which was sacrificed was totally innocent of any offense as was Christ. Yet this innocent creature died so that the first born of Israel might be passed over and spared when destroyer angel killed all of the firstborn in Egypt.

In Romans 8:29 the TLJC is refered to by Paul as the “firstborn of many brethren.”

Because of the sacrifice of Christ, those who believe in Him are spared eternal death and instead are transferred immediately at physical death into the presence of the Lord in heaven. John 3:16; John 11:26; Phil 1:23;

The offering of the sacrificial lamb at the original Passover is a type for the offering of our Lord on the cross.

The Person and work of TLJC is uniquely tied to the Passover lamb by John the Baptist when he refers to him as the " Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" John 1:29b

TLJC was the Lamb of God and He did indeed take away the sin of the world with His work on the cross. 1John 2:2;

Paul sums up John’s analogy in: 1Cor5:7b For Christ our Passover has also been sacrificed"

Our Lord understood His mission as part of the PPOG for his life and prophesied of his death and resurrection on the first Passover of His public ministry three years before it would occur. John 2:19;-22;

He spoke of it as his ministry progressed: Matthew 16:21; and John 10:17-18;

Today we will examine our Lord's laying down of his life and his taking it up again which is what the Easter observance celebrates.

We recognize that our salvation was bought by the sacrificial, substitutionary, spiritual death of our TLJC. Only after this judgment was over and fellowship with the Father restored did our Lord conclude that His work was both completed and propitiatory.

He proclaimed the fact with the one word assertion from the cross in: John 19:30 - When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished (Tetelestai ).”

Tetelestai is the perfect passive indicative of the verb: τελέω, teleo - which means “to bring to an end” , to complete, to finish to, or to perfect:

The Perfect Tense indicates completed action, and refers to a present state that is the result of a past action.

The Passive Voice: Jesus Christ received this past completed action by being imputed our sins and being judged as a substitute for them.

The Indicative: Mood Declares it to a statement of historical, biblical, and theological fact.

A more precise translation of John 19:30 , which accounts for the Perfect tense in the Greek would read :

Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said," It is finished in the past with the result that it stands finished forever.” ...

Salvation has always been available to any individual of any dispensation who expresses faith alone in Christ alone.

Abraham is the model for Old Testament believers: Gen 15:6;

The thief on the cross is the model for believers in the DUHC. Luke 23:42-43

Salvation remains the same in the Church Age: faith alone in Christ alone, as expressed precisely by Paul in: Acts 16:31;

Once our salvation was secured, our Lord’s mission on earth in his unglorified humanity was completed. He must now exit this unglorified physical life so that He can go to prepare a place for us: John 14:1-3

In order to accomplish the next set of objectives TLJLC must have a body that has capacity to transcend space and time and exist in the third heaven’s environment of eternal life. Therefore, he must experience physical death before He can be equipped with a resurrection body, suitable for his next mission as part of the PPOG for his life.

Jesus Christ is the first fruits of resurrection: 1 Cor 15:20-23;

"His coming", is the rapture or resurrection of the Church, when all believers of the Church Age will receive a resurrection body just like his. 1John 3:2 ;

In order for our Lord to be resurrected and become the first fruits of our resurrection and the prototype for our resurrection body, He had to die a physical death. The Holy Spirit provides three different perspectives of our Lord’s physical death through the writers of the four Gospels.

Matthew 27:50 - Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up [aφίημι, aphiemi) his spirit [ human spirit ]

Mark 15:37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and breathed out [ ἐξέπνευσεν ekpneō ]

Luke 23:46 And Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commit My spirit”: and having said this, He breathed out [ ™ἐξέπνευσεν ekpneō ]

John 19:30 Therefore when Jesus, had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished”: and He bowed His head, and gave up [ παραδίδωμι , paradidōmi ] his spirit.

These four writers use three different Greek words to describe our Lord’s physical death:

Matthew uses the aorist active indicative of the verb ( aφίημι,, aphiēmi - ) which means to release; to let go”

It means to release something from a legal relationship; such as an office, an obligation, or a debt.

Our Lord’s human spirit was under legal contract to fulfill the PPOG for his life by providing for the salvation of the human race. Once that obligation was finished, Christ, from His volition, was free to release His human spirit.

This, in effect, was an announcement of “mission accomplished.”

Mark and Luke use the aorist active indicative of the verb ( ἐξέπνευσεν ekpneō ) which means “To breath out; to expire”

Behind this word is the idea that at physical death the vital force leaves the body in the breath. This verb is associated with the noun (πνεῦμα , pneuma ) which is translated “spirit.”

John uses the aorist active indicative of the verb ( παραδίδωμι , paradidōmi - “To give over; to commit; to consign”

Paradidomi means to voluntarily entrust or give something to another. Christ, from an act of His own volition, entrusted or gave His human spirit over to the Father.

To give something that you have requires a volitional decision. This verb used by John emphasizes the fact that TLJC was not subject to physical death.

Nothing man could have done to Him could have brought about His death. Our Lord was void of any of the requirements for death: He had no genetically formed old sin nature. He was not imputed Adam’s original sin. He never committed any personal sins.

Christ was total perfection in body, soul, and spirit therefore He was never subject to physical death. The only way Christ could die physically was from an act of His own volition.

Our Lord’s vicarious sacrifice for us on the cross was also an act of supreme volition. He did not have to stay on the cross and endure the punishment for our sins. Christ could have dismissed His spirit anytime he chose.

But we know from Hebrews 12:2b that “for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Since physical death was a voluntary act by TLJC, it is obvious that He did not choose to give up His spirit until He had completed the mission he had been given of dying spiritually for the sins of all mankind.

We can conclude that his mission was accomplished while He was still physically alive. That mission was to become identified with our sins in His own body as a substitute for us. He became a curse so we might be justified before God through faith in Him.

The spiritual death of Jesus paid for our sins. He did not dismiss His spirit until that work was done. When this work was done, He offered up His human spirit to the custody of the Father.

A word that can be used to describe the Lord’s transfer of His human spirit from His physical body into the third heaven is “consign.” which means To give over to another’s care; to give, transfer, or deliver into the hands or control of another.

After this, his body was laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea John 19:38-42;

Three days and three nights would pass before the world would know if God was satisfied with the work of Christ on the cross.

The historical proof that Jesus is the Christ occurred at the resurrection.

The spiritual death of Christ is of no benefit without the resurrection.

If Anyone who witnessed the crucifixion had understood what we know today as a result of New Testament doctrine, they would have anxiously awaited the passing of the three days and three nights in anticipation of the resurrection.

According to the Lord’s own prophecy they should have expected the resurrection after 72 hours had elapsed following His burial—just before sundown on the afternoon of Wednesday 14 Nisan that year. Matt 12:40 This means that anytime after sunset the following Saturday evening the resurrection could occur.

Traditional Christianity has the crucifixion occurring on Friday afternoon and the burial occurring at about 6:00 that night with the resurrection occurring before sunrise Sunday. Assuming it occurred at 6:00AM Sunday morning but this only accounts for 36 hours, only half the amount prophesied by our Lord.

In addition to the fulfillment of prophecy why is it important that it be the 72 hours our Lord indicated?

Many cultures do not believe the spirit leaves the body immediately. Bronze-Age Greeks believed that the spirit remained in the body until the body began to decay. The Aztecs believed that the spirit remained in or around the body for four days. Fifth century BC Greek historian Herodotus relates in his writings that the Greeks never embalmed a corpse until after three days.

According to the Mosaic Law a person who was defiled by means of contact with a corpse was to purify himself on the third day Num 19:11-12;

Many ancient cultures believed that the spirit could revitalize the body anytime within a three day period. After three days, the general belief was that the spirit would not return.

If the Father had resurrected Jesus after only 36 hours an assumption could have been that Jesus was never really dead.

Our Lord’s resuscitation of Lazarus from the dead gives us a clear indication of what the Jewish view on this subject happened to be in the first century.John 11:38-39;

This event occurred about three weeks before the crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Its details were fresh in the minds of all who knew about it. The miracle of raising Lazarus was designed to demonstrate that only through divine intervention can the power of death be overcome.

We see the miracle of the resurrection occurring after our Lord’s body had been sealed for three days and three nights in the tomb.

The fact tthat Jesus Christ died physically, was buried for three days and three nights in the tomb, and then rose again is the central doctrine of Christian theology and faith and the basis for our "so great salvation" by grace through faith alone in TLJC alone.

Paul includes the resurrection as an integral part of the Gospel in. 1Cor 15:3-4;

In this same passage, Paul uses a debater’s technique to demonstrate that those believers who deny the resurrection make him and his fellow apostles false witnesses and if this is true then their entire faith is in vain: 1Cor 15:12--20;

If one accepts the contention that some in the church at Corinth made, that there is no resurrection, then even Christ is not resurrected and as a result our faith is in vain, the testimony of the New Testament apostles is false, we are still in our sins, those who have preceded us in death have perished, and we are of all men most to be pitied. This leads Paul to his sarcastic conclusion in: 1Cor 15:32b - If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

We do not believe as did some of the church at Corinth that there is no resurrection of the dead.

We believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

We believe He endured substitutionary spiritual death on the cross in payment for our sins.

We believe that when He died physically that He voluntarily exhaled his human spirit into the presence of the Father and His soul into the care of the Holy Spirit.

We believe His body was buried and remained in the tomb for 72 hours before the reunion of His human spirit and soul occurred with His body.

We believe that this resulted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

We believe that He remained on this earth for 40 more days and that He was observed by many who knew Him according to the Scriptures:

To Mary Magdalene at the tomb in John 20:11-18.

To Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, outside the tomb in Matthew 28:1, 8-10.

To Cleopas and his fellow disciple on the Emmaus road in Luke 24:13-32.

To Peter in Luke 24:34.

To ten disciples (minus Thomas) on the evening following the resurrection in John 20:19-25.

To eleven disciples, including Thomas, one week later in John 20:26-31.

To seven of the apostles plus over 500 believers at the Sea of Tiberias in John 21:1-2.

To James, the Lord’s half brother, as described by Paul in. 1Cor 15:7;

To the eleven apostles in Matthew 28:16-20.

And His final appearance with the eleven apostles on Mount Olivet just before the ascension in Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:3-12.

Luke confirms the validity of these post-resurrection appearances in his introduction to the book of Acts: Acts 1:1-3;

And we believe the testimony of the angel at the tomb to Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, in: Matt 28:6a - “He is not here, for He has risen.”

With these testimonies from the Scriptures we are able to sing with enduring confidence and eternal gratitude the words of Robert Lowrey:

UP FROM THE GRAVE HE AROSE

WITH A MIGHTY TRIUMPH O’ER HIS FOES;

HE AROSE A VICTOR FROM THE DARK DOMAIN,

AND HE LIVES FOREVER WITH HIS SAINTS TO REIGN.

HE AROSE! HE AROSE!

HALLELUJAH! CHRIST AROSE!



He is Risen