Isaiah 8:18,19 - Should not a people inquire of their God?

8:18

Isaiah declares that he stands before the Lord, with the children that God has given him, and that they are “signs and symbols in Israel”. They were signs from the Lord. This refers back to what God said to Ahaz (Is 7:10). All of us are chosen by God, and we are signs and symbols of the Lord to our generation. We need to see ourselves as belonging to God, and being His witnesses in the world.

8:19

Israel had turned to all sorts of false gods, and following practices explicitly forbidden in the Bible, such as consulting mediums and spiritists, consulting the dead.  Isaiah points out the foolishness of this. Who is it better to consult, the living God, or dead spirits? Israel was meant to be a nation who lived under God. The church is meant to be the body of Christ, following Christ and living according to His ways. Yet so often the church chooses to follow the wisdom of the world. This is a very foolish thing to do.

Mark 6:14-16 - Elijah has been raised?

6:14

There were several Herods about during the New Testament period, the most infamous being the one in power at the time of Jesus’ birth and who ordered the killing of the babies (Matt 2:16), there is Herod Agrippa who was struck dead by an angel and eaten by worms (Acts 12), and this Herod. They were all ones who kowtowed to the Roman Empire. This one, as we will learn in the succeeding verse, had had John the Baptist killed. He had the power to do this, but he could not avoid the guilt that went with it. So when Jesus started becoming famous he was worried that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead.

6:15,16

There were all sorts of ideas about who Jesus was. John the Baptist raised from the dead was one suggestion. Elijah was another. Of course, John the Baptist was a prophet in the mould of Elijah. Others said Jesus was like one of the Old Testament prophets. Herod was convinced He was John the Baptist raised from the dead. When we sin we cannot escape guilt, no matter how hard we try to suppress the truth, and this distorts our thinking. Repentance is the only way to set our minds at rest and to recover our balance. We should also note that people generally haven’t got a clue what is going on.

Isaiah 8:14-17 - I will put my trust in Him

8:14,15

If we do fear the Lord, instead of fearing what the world fears, we will find Him to be a holy place. The Lord will be a place of goodness. He will also be a place of common sense and rationality, while the world continues in its madness.  The Lord is different from the world. As we will read (a long time in the future!) in chapter 55, His ways are not our ways, and they are higher than our ways. To be with the Lord is the best place to be. But for the people of Israel and Judah, and Jerusalem, He would be a stumbling block, a trap and a snare. This should not be. If they had trusted in the Lord He would have been a refuge, a place of safety, but because they rebelled He would be their enemy. We need to make sure we trust in the Lord. Israel’s failure to trust in the Lord would result in many of the falling, and this is what indeed did happen.

8:16,17

Isaiah is told to “bind up the testimony”. Judah would refuse to pay any heed to God’s words, but they would be preserved for a later time as proof that God had warned the nation of what would happen, so that a future generation would choose a better way. Isaiah knows that God is hiding His face from Israel. His reaction is not to go off in a huff, but to wait patiently for the Lord, to put his trust in Him. So often today we want to bend God’s ways to fit our ideas of how things should be. This is a very foolish approach to take. Far better to submit our thoughts and emotions to Him.

Mark 6:10-13 - They cast out many demons

6:10,11

Hospitality was a big thing in the world of the time, this is somewhat at contrast to our society where privacy is highly valued. So it would be common for a travelling Jew to be offered hospitality. Once this happened they were to stay there, taking it as a sign of acceptance, and then preach the gospel in that place. But if a place would not accept them, then they were not to continue bashing their heads against brick wall, but to leave the place. Shaking the dust of their feet was a sign against that place, that they had refused to accept God’s word, and so would take the consequences. We need to understand that some people will accept the word gladly, others will refuse to accept it. And it is not always our fault if someone refuses to listen! It could be because of their hardness of heart.

6:12

Now remember that at the start of this section we are told that Jesus gave them authority to cast out unclean spirits. Now we are told that they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. We need to understand that the healing and casting out of demons was not the main thing, and at the same time that it was an essential part of the mission. The healing and casting out of demons demonstrates the authority that the gospel has, and the setting free that comes from the gospel, but the call to repentance is at the heart of the gospel proclamation.

6:13

They preached repentance, and they also cast out many demons. They anointed many who were sick with oil and healed them. So the disciples used anointing with oil in their healing of people. We speak of healing ministries, but in the Bible we find that preaching the gospel and healing people are all of a piece. They are not separate entities.

Isaiah 8:12,13 - Do not fear what they fear

8:12

Especially in times of crisis, there is all sorts of talk. For the past two years or so there has been all sorts of talk in the UK about Brexit (UK leaving the European Union). People come up with all sorts of theories and ideas, ideas about how things can go wrong, all sorts of conspiracies. Isaiah is told not to listen to this talk, not to go along with it, and not to fear what the people fear. In any age we need to be careful that we do not get caught up in the hysteria of the times.

8:13

Instead of fearing what the people fear, Isaiah is to fear God, and so are we. He is the one we are to regard as holy. And fear here means fear, as the “He is the one you are to dread” implies. The people feared Aram and Ephraim, and would later fear Assyria. The wrong fear leads to bad decisions. They feared that it was Aram, Ephraim and Assyria that could do most harm to their lives. They were wrong, and when we fear other things we are wrong. It is the Lord who can do most harm to our lives (Matt 10:28)! But we are not just to fear Him, we are to regard Him as holy. The Lord is different, He is totally good.

Mark 6:7-9 - He gave them authority

6:7

Jesus then called the twelve to Himself and sent them out in pairs. It was normal for messengers to go in pairs. On reason was so that two witnesses were needed to establish a fact, and the other reason was one of safety. Jesus gave them authority over unclean spirits. So His disciples had the authority to cast out demons. Matthew also tells them that He gave them authority “to heal every disease and affliction” (Matt 10:1). So they had authority to do the very things that Jesus was doing. There can be arguments over the place of healings and miracles today, but this verse shows quite clearly that it is possible for God to give men and women the same power that Jesus had in these matters, or pretty much the same power, but we should also note that it was Jesus who gave them this authority.

6:8,9

As well as being used to help with walking, a staff could also be used to fend off robbers, snakes and other animals. They were to travel simply, not opulently. There are some well known “evangelists” who would do well to take a similar message to heart! We are to bring the gospel of the kingdom of God to the world, the most important and powerful message ever heard, but we are not to big ourselves up in anyway, or get full of any self-importance.

Isaiah 8:9-11 - Prepare for battle!

8:9,10

There is a rallying cry in these two verses, closing with the declaration that “God is with us”, or Immanuel. But this is not a cry for Judah, Isaiah is putting these words in the mouth of the Assyrians! The other nations are to prepare for battle for an onslaught is coming, and they would be crushed. We cannot put God in a box. We also need to beware of talk about God being a God of peace. In one sense He is, but He is also a judge, and when nations persist in abject disobedience to God there comes a point where judgement is unleashed.

8:11

The Lord now speaks to Isaiah directly. The prophet has a very hard job, for the prophet will almost always be going against the tide. Churches which have chosen to swim with the tide of society on sexual morals really are making a big mistake, and are acting against God. This can only spell trouble in the long run. So the hand of God is on Isaiah warning him not to follow the way of the people. It is not easy to go against the tide, and humanly speaking most of us are not up to it. We need o be strengthened by the Lord. May He put His strong hand upon us, and may we listen to Him and learn from Him.

Mark 6:5,6 - He went about teaching

6:5

Now this is an interesting verse. First, let’s look at the last bit, “except heal a few sick people”. If you or I healed a few sick people at church next Sunday we would be delighted and there would be talk of miracles and revival! In Jesus case it says, “He could do no mighty work”. The second point of interest is the level of dependence upon the people’s faith, or in this case the lack of faith. Well, note that the verse doesn’t actually say anything about the lack of faith of the people, certainly not the lack of faith in healing. It is a general refusal to listen to Jesus. Matt 13:58 says “He did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief”. The unbelief is a general unbelief, and Matthew says He did not, rather that He could not.  So what are we to make of this? Well, we assume that mighty works means miracles and signs. One could say that the real mighty work is changing people’s hearts. So possibly the mighty works are not the miracles as such.

6:6

Jesus marvelled because of their unbelief. The unbelief was unbelief in who He was. He had given them plenty of evidence. The evidence of the miracles, the evidence of the teaching. It wasn’t that they did not recognise Him as the Son of God, as Jesus said to Peter later on, only the Father can reveal this to us (Matt 16:17), but it should have been obvious that He was more than Joseph’s son. So what was Jesus marvelling at? The effect that sin has in blinding us to the blindingly obvious. Jesus went about the villages teaching, yet more emphasis on teaching!

Isaiah 8:5-8 - The Lord will bring against them mighty flood waters

8:5-7

The people had had a choice. They could have trusted in the Lord, that is what the “gently flowing waters of Shiloah” means. Instead they had given weight to Rezin and Remaliah (Aram and Ephraim). So the mighty waters of Assyria would come and overwhelm them. It can seem so hard to trust in the Lord at times. Everything about our nature reacts against it. We want something we can see and touch, so our natural inclinations are to to put our trust in a person or a thing, rather than in the Lord. We need to learn to trust in the Lord Himself, for this is the only path to true trust and peace.

8:8

The waters of Assyria would reach right up to the neck of Judah. In practice this meant they reached the walls of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was saved by miraculous intervention. Verse 8 closes with “Immanuel!”, which seems rather strange given that we are talking about disaster here. Perhaps it means that they had a choice of “God with us”. If they had trusted in the Lord He would have been with them as a protector and provider, but since they rejected Him He would still be with them, but it would be as their judge, as their enemy.

Mark 6:3,4 - A prophet and honour

6:3

But the amazement and admiration of Jesus was not the only reaction. There was also a reaction of “who does He think He is?” He was a carpenter. It seems that Joseph was dead by now. Joseph was a carpenter and Jesus had probably worked in Joseph’s business. They knew who His mother was, who His brothers and sisters were. They thought they knew who He was, and someone from that background should not get above their station.

6:4

Jesus then explains the situation. One would normally expect support from one’s family and neighbours, so why doesn’t a prophet get this support? Because when one is getting local support it is as one coming from that community, reflecting the values and culture of that community. When a prophet comes he is bringing something from outside, from God, and that something will challenge some of the values and culture of that community. And when that prophet is from that same community there is resentment that he is bringing that challenge. When the prophet goes elsewhere there can be more of a willingness to listen to what he says.

Isaiah 8:1-4 - Take a large scroll

8:1-4

Earlier in chapter 7 God had spoken of a sign being given, a child being born. Isaiah is to take a large scroll, this was to perform the role of a roadside advertising hoarding. The words Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz means “Quick to plunder, swift to spoil”. People have a great reluctance to accept that disaster is coming, we use all sorts of rationalisation to reason why it won’t actually happen. God is making it as clear as possible that disaster is on its way. And Isaiah has two witnesses to attest to the declaration. Judah would never be able to claim that she “never knew”, God gave her ample warning of what was coming.

The prophetess is Isaiah’s wife. She gave birth to a son, and he was given the name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. As a small aside, this demonstrates that we get condensed versions of things in Scripture, as there is clearly at least a nine month period covered by this verse! The Damascus and Samaria that Judah so feared would shortly become nothing at all.

Mark 6:1,2 - What is this wisdom?

6:1

Jesus now moves to another area of the country, going back to His hometown of Nazareth. The disciples followed Him. It is clear throughout the gospels that Jesus is very much His “own man”. Actually, of course, He was God’s man, living in obedience, trust and love towards the Father. However, he was definitely not controlled by the disciples. Indeed, in John 2:24 it says clearly that Jesus did not entrust Himself to any man, for He knew what was in the heart of man. If ever we think we are in control of Jesus, if we think it is “our church” and not “Christ’s church” we can be sure that we are going in the wrong direction and have lost our bearings.

6:2

Here we get more emphasis on the fact that Jesus was a great teacher. As noted before, although Mark gives relatively little of Jesus’ teaching, again and again he highlights the quality of Jesus’ teaching, and its centrality to His mission. The people who heard him were astonished. He taught with far greater wisdom than anyone else they had ever heard. Moreover, He did mighty works with His hands, this is a reference to the miracle that He did.

Isaiah 7:18-25 - Whistling for flies

7:18

This verse refers to Egypt and Assyria. Israel had a very bad habit of looking to Egypt for help, and this always proved disastrous, and did so during the Assyrian and Babylonian crises. Assyria was the dominant nation at the time and would lead the onslaught. The most frightening aspect of this for Judah is that it is the Lord who calls upon Assyria to attack.

7:19,20

In the previous verse God talked about flies and bees, we now learn why He used this metaphor. They would get everywhere, there would be no escape. When there is impending disaster it is human nature to work out the ways in which we can either avoid the disaster altogether, or at least mitigate the effects. There would be no possibility of doing this. The reference to shaving probably has a twofold meaning. First, shaving off someone's hair was looked on as demeaning, and Sennacherib wrote of “I cut off their beards”, it was a sign of his utter domination. A second meaning could be that the attack would be so close to destroying Judah, but would fail at the last, which is what actually happened, as we shall read about in Isaiah 36-39.

7:21-25

The description of the poverty in the land continues. The description itself means little to us, and not that much to the commentators either as far as I can tell. None seemed to have anything much to say about a “young cow and two goats”.  Anyway, verse 23 makes it clear that things would not be good! The land would effectively become bandit country.

Mark 5:38-43 - The child is not dead

5:38,39

In the middle east people get much more emotional about death than we do in the west, at least outwardly. There were even professional mourners. So when Jesus went into the room there was a great commotion, with people wailing loudly. Jesus questioned them, asking why all the commotion. He also told them why there was no need for all the noise, for the girl was not dead. When Jesus gets involved in a situation all previous assumptions go out of the window.

5:40,41

The mourners thought Jesus was mad and just laughed at Him. Jesus took charge of the situation, turning the mourners out, so only the girl’s parents and the three disciples were left. We need to get used to the world saying “it won’t work”. We also need to not be intimidated by the world. Jesus the spoke to the girl, and Mark gives the words in Aramaic, and the Greek translation. Jesus told the girl to get up.

5:42,43

The girl immediately got up. As the mourners had all been utterly convinced that she was dead she must have been either actually dead, or at best in a severe coma. The healing Jesus brought was immediate and complete. Mark mentions that she was twelve years old. It doesn’t seem clear why this was mentioned, though twelve was the minimum age at which a girl could marry under Jewish custom, and it was thought to be a particular tragedy if someone died before that age. Jesus told the parents not to tell anyone. This seems rather odd, as people would know the state the girl was in before Jesus went in, and that she was now fully alive.

Isaiah 7:15-17 - He will bring the king of Assyria

7:15,16

The “curds and honey” here has nothing to do with a “a land flowing with milk and honey”. The latter refers to prosperity, but the former is referring to a time when only the most basic food is available. This would be the result of the coming Assyrian invasion devastating the agricultural production. The reference to the boy reaching an age of knowing right from wrong (presumably about twelve years old), puts a time frame on this.

Ahaz feared Ephraim and Aram, but God tells him that before long these two nations will be devastated, and this happened in 732 BC. Ahaz did have something to fear, there was a situation that desperately needed attention, but it was not what Ahaz thought it was. He needed to fear the Lord, and the situation that needed urgent attention was Judah’s apostasy.

7:17

For just as Assyria would soon attack Ephraim and Aram, Judah would be next on the hit list. And this would be a more fearsome attack than anything Judah had experienced before. We need to be careful what we fear, and to make sure it is the Lord that we fear above all else. We can also be a bit squeamish at times about talking about the fear of the Lord, usually qualifying it as a “reverent fear”, or some such phrase. There is a good motive in doing this, but we should bear in mind that fear means fear! And look at the contexts where the Bible, including Jesus, speak of fear. Fear is something that we all know about, and when we fear something we do so because we believe it can do us serious harm, and so we take action and make decisions in our lives to mitigate that risk. The Bible tells us quite clearly that the one we need to fear above all else is the Lord. He has more capacity to do us harm than anything or anyone else. To put it bluntly we need to keep on the right side of God (which we do by having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ), if we do this then we are far more likely to make rational and righteous decisions in life.

Mark 5:36,37 - Do not fear, only believe

5:36

Jesus overheard what they said and He knew full well what the synagogue ruler would be thinking, so He told him not to fear, only believe. People’s assessment of a situation can be very unreliable. Either they can just make a wrong assessment. Eg there are polls that ask people whether they think there is a god or not. Now this can be useful in terms of assessing the belief state of the nation, but in determining whether or not there is a god it is totally irrelevant. Or they can make their assessment neglecting the reality if God, as was done here.

5:37

Jesus went into the room, taking only Peter, James and John. These three seem to have been singled out for special attention by Jesus, to be given deeper insight into who He was and what He did. Today, Jesus will give different people different insights, and insights into different aspects of His mission. None of us can know everything, or do everything. So we should not be jealous of those whom God uses in a different way to us, nor should we be proud about the ways in which God works in our lives. Whatever way God chooses to work in our lives, we should respond with humility, faith and love, and humbly share the good things that God gives to us with others.

Isaiah 7:13,14 - The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son

7:13

Ahaz is reminded that he represents the whole house of David. His attitude is consistent with that of all of Judah. Ahaz and Judah wearied men, surrounding nations were fed up with them, perhaps like many EU nations are fed up with Britain!? But worse than that, they wearied God as well. They needed to turn to God, and God was urging them to do so, and prepared to go to any lengths to get them to do so. That was why He urged Ahaz to seek a sign.

7:14

So the Lord would give them a sign, whether they wanted one or not! There is great debate about whether the word translated here means virgin or not, and the debate occurs because of the virgin birth of Jesus. The Hebrew word translated virgin does normally refer to an unmarried woman who would be a virgin. However, in one sense the debate is utterly pointless and demonstrates a misunderstanding of prophecy. Many prophecies, especially messianic ones, have an immediate, or near-future, fulfilment, and a much later the fulfilment. The immediate fulfilment foreshadows the later one. So a son would be born. However, the use of virgin in relation to the immediate virgin just means the woman was not married yet. So there was no “virgin birth” in Isaiah’s day. When Jesus came there was a virgin birth (or more properly, perhaps, a virgin conception). Immanuel means “God with us”.

Now let’s look at what is going on here. Ahaz, representing Judah, is refusing to live by faith, refusing to have much if anything to do with God. He is denying God’s existence or relevance. Even so, God will send a sign that He is indeed with them, whether they like it or not. The world as a whole denies God’s existence or relevance, especially in the West. We can be sure that at some point God will intervene, and demonstrate His existence and relevance!

Mark 5:33-35 - Go in peace

5:33,34

The woman knew it was her and she came to Jesus in fear and trembling. Given all her past she probably thought she was in trouble. The years of rejection had probably built her a deep fear and insecurity. Yet she knelt before Jesus and told Him everything. Jesus then tells her that her faith has made her well. Far from being condemned for touching Jesus or coming to Him, she is commended by Jesus. She is also told that her faith has made her well. She would not be used to being praised. It is also significant that Jesus calls her daughter, He is saying that she is a full member of God’s kingdom, God’s family, no longer someone who cannot partake of the worship of God. “Be healed”. Why does Jesus say this, she has just been healed? Jesus is just affirming that she is healed, what has happened is of God and it is good.

5:35

Let us remember that while all this is going on Jairus is still waiting for his daughter to be healed, and the situation is getting more and more desperate. One can imagine how he is feeling. Then someone from his house came saying that his daughter is dead, and there was no point in bothering Jesus anymore.

Easter Day 3 - He's Alive

Easter Day 3 - He’s Alive!

This is the third and final of my three Easter posts. The other two can be found here:

Easter Day 1 - Such Love

Easter Day 2 - Victory Through Suffering

On this day the world of the disciples was turned upside down. The women went to the tomb in order to anoint Jesus’ body with spices, as was the custom. But when they went there they found that the heavy stone that sealed the tomb had been rolled away and the tomb was empty. They were met by an angel who told them that Jesus “is not here, He has risen!” (Mark 16:6). Then Peter and John went to the tomb, and they too found it was empty (John 20:1-10). At that point all they had was an empty tomb. Things were not what they expected, but they had not yet seen the risen Christ.

Then there were various instances of Jesus appearing to groups of the disciples. To the women, to the disciples in locked rooms, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, to the disciples by the shore. Then Jesus ascended to heaven, promising to return. But He was not leaving us alone, He would send the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. Moreover, there was work to be done, the work of making Christ known to the world. There is a purpose to our lives, a purpose and meaning that is found only in Christ.

Because of what happened on that cross two thousand years ago I am free to live, I am free to love. I am free to give because He gave all for me.

One day I will die, but I know that day is not the end, but only the end of the beginning. I will live and reign with Him forever. And I can live now, not for myself, but for Him and for those whom He calls me to love. Sometimes this will involve a great cost, but if we share in His sufferings we will also share in His victory. His victory won through suffering.

If you already know Jesus, then may He open your hearts and minds all the more to the victory of Easter. Maybe you don’t know Jesus yet. May be you only have an empty tomb. You know somethings up, but cannot understand what. May be it means nothing at all. If that is you, can I encourage you to ask God to make Himself real to you. Jesus is the hope of my life, the reason for my life, He is my everything. May He be your everything too.

A Beautiful Exchange

Mark 5:30-32 - Who touched my garments?

5:30

The woman may have acted furtively, but Jesus knew that power had gone out of Him. Now this raises the interesting question of whether Jesus healed the woman because He is God, or as a man living in complete obedience to God. In favour of the latter view is the fact that Jesus at times gave His disciples the power to heal, and He expected and wanted people to believe that God would heal. So I would say that the clear Scriptural evidence is that some healings occurred because Jesus was a man perfectly under God’s authority. However, that does not necessarily mean that all healings were a result of this. The reference here to power going out of Jesus could mean that this is an instance of Jesus healing as God. Against this is that this seems to have happened without any conscious action on Jesus’ part, whereas in other healings it was a conscious act on His part. It could be that here the power of God flowed through Jesus.

5:31,32

Whatever the case, the disciples thought Jesus was mad. How on earth could He expect to know who had touched Him when so many people were milling around Him? But Jesus wanted to know. The woman had been healed of her physical condition, but the condition had also had an effect on her as a person, living for twelve years in a state of disgrace, not able to fully join in the religious life of the community, being someone others would be wary of even touching, and being reminded of this daily. She could feel rejected by men and by God. This needed to be dealt with.

Easter Special - Galatians

As an "Easter Special" my book, "Living by Revelation, Faith and Promise - A Walk Through Paul's Letter to the Galatians" is available at a reduced price on Amazon.

It is available 

Amazon UK at £1.99

Amazon France at € 2.99

Amazon Germany at  € 2.99

Amazon Canada at $3.46

Amazon Brazil at R$ 10,15

Amazon India at 179.0

Amazon US at $2.59

You may well have seen my notes on Galatians on my blog. Obviously the theology in the book is the same, the book is not a mere amalgamation of these notes. It is written as a book, with a clear theme.

I am also working on a book on Ephesians, though it is likely to be towards the end of the year before that is ready.

Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you find it helpful.

Easter Day 2 - Victory Through Suffering

Easter Day 2 - Victory Through Suffering

This is the second of three Easter meditations. The first one can be found here:

Easter Day 1 - Such Love

The Saturday is a strange day in the Easter story. At the time nothing much happened, for it was the Sabbath. The previous day was literally an excruciating day, and then a day of numbness, of seeming nothingness. What had happened? It all seemed like the end, what had begun with such hope had ended in tragedy and disaster. And now the disciples, men and women, were left to pick up the pieces.

But that was not what had happened. It is true that the Friday was day of utter humiliation and suffering. The Romans devised crucifixion to be as humiliating and painful a death as possible. It was meant as a warning to all “this is what will happen to you if you dare defy the Roman Empire”. But that is not all that the cross was. It was an act of authority! It was an act of power! Read what Paul writes:

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Col 2:13-15, NIV)

On the cross Jesus exerted His kingly authority and defeated sin, death and the devil. He did this not despite the suffering, but through the suffering. He paid the price in full for my sin and sinfulness, and your sin and sinfulness. Some people object to this concept, I do not understand such people at all. My sin is so serious, something needed to be done about it. If Jesus has not paid the price for my sin, not taken upon Himself the punishment, the penalty, I deserve, then I am an enormous trouble. I am lost without hope. But He has paid it, so I am free!

He defeated death. If I die before Jesus returns, then when He does return I will be raised from the dead, I will be given a new body, a resurrection body. I will reign with Him forever!

He defeated the devil. The devil no longer has any hold over me. I do not mean any cheap, superficial victory. The devil still has teeth, still causes much suffering and trouble. But James 4:7 says “resist the devil and he will flee”. We may face much opposition, but if we stand firm it is the devil who will flee. In Eph 6:11 Paul urges us to “stand against the schemes of the devil”, and in Rev 12:11 it says of the devil “who leads the whole world astray”, that “They triumphed over him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony”.

Jesus won this victory through the suffering, not despite the suffering. And we see this pattern repeated throughout history and the world. The kingdom of God grows when God’s people are prepared to pay a price. Today there are many Christians in the world who daily face persecution, but “they do not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (Rev 12:11, end). They continue to love Jesus and to rejoice in Him.

If we are at a Saturday stage in our lives, wondering what has happened, thinking it has all gone wrong, may we meditate upon the victory of the cross, achieved through suffering. Tomorrow the victory that has already been won will be realised, will burst into life.

Evidence for the resurrection - a short note

Evidence for the Resurrection

A Primer

I first published this a couple if years ago, but it is always good to be reminded that the resurrection is not make-believe, but an event supported by much evidence. I have also added a wee bit to the original publication.

This is just a very brief primer on the evidence for the resurrection. There are many sources on the internet, eg on Desiring God and books which go into things in much more detail, and it is important for us to know that while ultimately it is by faith that we know that Christ is risen, this belief is actually supported by the evidence. So here is a brief summary of the main points.

Positive Evidence

1. The gospels themselves and the New Testament letters. The New Testament letters were out within a relatively short time-frame of the events of Easter. The evidence for the reliability of the New Testament documents is overwhelming when compared with other events of similar antiquity.
2. The empty tomb. If Jesus had not risen, then the easiest thing for the religious or civic authorities to do would have been to simply point to the tomb where He was buried, but they could not do this because the only tomb they had was an empty one.
3. The church. How would the church have got started and grown without the resurrection?
4. Personal encounters with the risen Christ. If Christ was not risen, how is it millions of people, myself included, claim to know Christ?

Negative Evidence - Countering the arguments against the resurrection

None of the arguments against the resurrection stand up to scrutiny. Here are several examples.

1. The disciples made it up

If this was true then why didn't the authorities just point to the tomb where Jesus was buried?

If they had made it up would they have been prepared to die for a lie?

2. The disciples moved the body

Surely the body would have been found at some point? And again, why would they do it, and why would they be prepared to die for their faith?

3. They had hallucinations

There were multiple appearances to different people in different circumstances. This makes hallucinations a totally implausible explanation. And again there is the question, why didn’t the authorities point to the tomb?

4. Jesus never actually died on the cross.

Muslims believe something like this. Sometimes it is referred to as the “swoon theory” saying that Jesus merely swooned and was revived by the cool of the tomb. This is perhaps the most ridiculous suggestion. Jesus was severely beaten before the cross itself, He could not even carry His own cross.

The Romans were experts at two things, building roads and killing people.

Even if Jesus had not died, which is most implausible, what state would He have been in even if the “cool of the tomb” had revived Him? And how did the stone get moved?

5. The disciples were gullible and would believe anything

The gospel records clearly show that the disciples were not gullible, and had no expectation of Jesus being raised from the dead, even though Jesus told them He would be. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus had been told by the women and Peter that the tomb was empty, yet they still did not believe that Jesus was alive until He appeared to them.

6. The women went to the wrong tomb

The very fact that women were the first witnesses to the resurrection is remarkable enough in itself. In the culture of the day if this had been a made-up story it is almost certain that they would have had men, presumably one or more of the apostles, as the first witnesses. But instead we find women as the first witnesses. In Mark 15:47 it states quite clearly that the women knew where the tomb was, and they knew that a stone had been rolled across it to seal the tomb (15:46; 16:3). So they knew exactly where they were going and what to expect.

The long and the short of it is that it is perfectly reasonable to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. It is a unique and an amazing event, but it is also one whose veracity is supported by the evidence.

My belief that Jesus rose from the dead has no problems with the evidence, whereas, those who deny the resurrection have enormous problems with the evidence.

We can confidently rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!