So, what if Jesus was not raised from the dead? What’s the big deal about the resurrection? Who cares? We are wasting our time with Christianity and the Bible if the resurrection is not true. Without the resurrection, we physically die and our bodies are eternally buried. Death wins. We are dirt and worm food. Our bodies become the byproduct of worm digestion…
Job 21:26 Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them.
The gospel is not a New Testament phenomenon as some critics would have us believe. How many times have we heard, “The God of the Old Testament is a mean, cruel killer!” God is not an oppressive ogre who wants to crush you with His thumb. He has always been merciful, gracious, and forgiving. Honestly, if God smashed us like a bug any time we screwed up…would there be any humanity left? The good news has always been there. His redemption for humanity was promised from the beginning of time in the Garden of Eden. God delivered the “good news” to Satan.
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.
Just in case anyone is wondering, the message of a sacrificial death for sin rings loud and clear in the Old Testament. The best example of the gospel in the Old Testament comes from the Prophet Isaiah about 700 years before Jesus Christ walked the earth. Look at the detail of these verses. It reads as a narrative of the events along with the accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Isaiah 53:3-12 He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.
This book the Bible, says His Son, Jesus Christ, is physically coming back in the clouds to get His people the church, at the resurrection and the rapture. Then, He will return later to establish His kingdom on earth.
And that is good news. Jesus is the Messiah, just believe it.
John 20:31 But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Write about what??? This is the original, urgent intent of Jude’s letter …our common salvation…
