The Fundamentals of the Faith (Part 7)

Jesus resurrection and ascension was corporal, (physical or bodily).

The historic death (by crucifixion) of Jesus of Nazareth (the God-man) is well documented, even apart from the Bible. He became dehydrated. Then He was tortured by being beaten with a rod. His beard was ripped out of His face. He was slapped with open hands and closed fists in the face, spit upon, mocked and taunted. He received a crown of thorns for a diadem and a reed for a scepter. He was whipped with the cat-o-nine tails receiving 39 lashes in all. He was forced to carry the Roman cross of His execution up the hill of Calvary. He was so physically weakened that another man was called along side to help Him. There He was stripped naked. Then His hands and feet were pierced through with Roman nails, attaching Him to the cross. He was then lifted up and hung from that cross, suspended between heaven and earth. After hours of slow suffocation He died. His side was then pierced through with a sword; water and blood gushed out. Many witnessed this, but what couldn't be seen was even worse.

He suffered the equivalence of eternal wrath and separation from God the Father. God allowed this to happen in a moment of time. In the eyes of God, Christ’s bloody death on the cross paid the price in full for our sin debt. The Bible says, “....without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22).

The fact that He truly died is substantiated by His burial. In those days burial was quite a process. Jesus was wrapped from head to toe with cloth and laid in a dark empty tomb that was sealed and guarded. No man could have lived in a tomb for three days without food, water, and air; much less could one have the strength to roll away a heavy tomb stone.

The Disciples came to see His body at first, but where was it?

The Jewish religious leaders could not produce His body.

The Romans could not produce His body.

His corporal (bodily) resurrection from the dead, and ascension into heaven was attested to by all who saw Him alive from the dead! It is a sign to all that He is who He claimed to be (i.e. God in the flesh), and it validated everything else He said and did forever.

This is not a fairy-tale.
“...if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” (1Cor. 15: 17)

This was not some kind of hallucination. He appeared to hundreds of people at the same time (see 1Cor.15).

It is a fact.

This was not a phantom apparition. He cooked and ate breakfast with His disciples (John 21:5-15). This included an exercise of all five of His senses. (See also John 20:27)

He is alive!
He is alive, and because He is alive, we too can live forever when we have a relationship with Him!

He ascended into heaven in the view of hundreds of people (cf. Acts1 w/ 1Cor. 15). Then He sent the Holy Spirit to permanently dwell in all those who trust in Him alone and His finished work on the cross. Jesus now reigns as the high priest of every believer. He, as such, is the one mediator between God and man (1Tim. 2:5) His resurrection and ascension are what sets biblical Christianity apart from any other religious system.

Buddha did not rise from the dead.

The bones of Mohammed are still in the grave.

Joseph Smith did not come out of the grave alive.

However, Jesus actually died and actually rose from the dead!

The Lord Jesus Christ is alive!

Do you believe this?

In contrast, Modernistic theologians and pastors teach that either Jesus didn’t really die, or that He didn’t really rise from the dead, or both. His ascension is reduced to the “idea” of Christ living on in our hearts and minds. In fact, many modernists (or liberals as they are sometimes referred to), deny and explain-away most (and many times all) of the miracles of the Bible. That is why this writer calls them “unbelieving preachers.” They are not believers in the historical Christian faith by any means.