South Woods Baptist Church

But God Raised Him Up Again

Acts 2:22-36

March 27, 2005

The resurrection of Jesus Christ tends to make many religious and not-so-religious people squirm or even angry. Consider what the resurrection implies: Jesus Christ, the Son of God was indeed crucified, and then in three days was bodily resurrected; that puts Him in a unique category among all humanity (He must be who He claims to be-God Incarnate); that also demands response to His call for repentance and faith. If the bodily resurrection is true then everything that Jesus Christ and His followers claimed concerning Him has validity. The gospel message is then, the most important truth for every person. The certainty of the resurrection, therefore, will not let men ignore or slide by their need for faith in Christ. 

So, in response to the Christian evidence of Christ's resurrection, religious unbelievers make different claims. Bishop John S. Spong explained, "Jesus...was... placed into a common grave, and covered over...a very short time only some unmarked bones remained. Even the bones were gone before too long. Nature rather efficiently reclaims its own resources." And in another statement, "A deceased man did not walk out of his grave physically alive three days after his execution by crucifixion" [quoted from Resurrection: Myth or Reality? p. 241, http://www.religioustolerance.org.resurrec.htm].  Members of the Jesus Seminar explained it like this: "Jesus lived on in the hearts of followers old and new, but he did not physically rise from the dead. Taken down from the cross, his body was probably buried in a shallow grave-and may have been eaten by dogs"  [quoted by Russell Watson, "A Lesser Child of God," Newsweek, April 4, 1994, pgs. 49-54].

I think that kind of explanation would satisfy another man that stated he was brought up learning the Apostles' Creed but rejected it in favor of his own. He considers the Christian teaching concerning Jesus Christ, salvation, and eternity to be foolish. Here is the way he views life as one rejecting Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead in his parody on the Apostle's Creed:

I believe that all deities are idols of the mind,

That blood sacrifices to them are an abomination,

That dogmas are an obstacle to enlightenment.

I believe in the plurality of worlds,

But know of none that can compare with ours

In its abundance of life.

Of a kind that has arisen,

Through countless changes and catastrophes,

Out of the primal waters of the Earth,

I acknowledge that I am of this world,

Though a brief sojourner in it.

I spring from it and pass back into it.

I recognise that my existence,

Both sentient [capable of feeling or perception; conscious] body and sapient  [wise] mind,

 Is possible only as being-in-the-world.

Capable of mimesis [imitation], metaphor and music,

Of reason and responsibility,

I believe that I am neither fated nor predestined,

But am able to live for possibilities

And move intentionally toward a horizon that is open.

[Paul Monk, "The Bible and the Risen Ape," http://www.austhink.org/monk/risen_ape.htm]

So how do we address such scoffers of our day? I think that we need to take a good prompting by Peter's sermon at Pentecost.

Though certainly living in a different world and timeframe, as Peter stood on the Day of Pentecost to preach the first gospel sermon of the Church, he knew that the great sticking point on declaring Christ would be His death and resurrection. Instead of skirting the issue or evading it with clever jargon, Peter plunges right into the heart of his subject, declaring the authenticity of Christ in His deity and humanity, and the necessity of His death and resurrection. He culminates his sermon with the declaration of Jesus Christ as "both Lord and Christ." His hearers had to respond-and they did! The same reality faces each of us on this Resurrection Sunday.

Dare we attempt to explain away the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Many continue to do so; at the heart of their explanations is defiant rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord and Christ. It is not the lack of historically credible evidence that brings such denial. Instead, it is ultimately a failure to acknowledge and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord of all and the one before whom all must give an account of our lives. God raised Jesus Christ from the dead therefore all of us must bow to Him as Lord. Do you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead? Let us consider the centrality of Christ's resurrection in the gospel message.

I. Cross and resurrection: accident, scuttled mission, or divine plan?

Peter calls his hearers to attention: "Men of  Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know." All of the miraculous works of Christ, the stories that these people had heard and some had personally witnessed, all of them authenticated Jesus Christ as God's Son in their midst. But they had put Him to death! How would they deal with this?

1. God's testimony

Peter begins with the sovereign work of God: "This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death." Now he will prove in the next few verses that this Man was more than a mere man, that He is God Himself - the Messiah. But for the moment, Peter pulls back the veil over the events that had recently transpired in Jerusalem and explains what God was doing in their midst. He explains that the cross, as horrible as it was and as big an injustice as it was, came right on schedule in the plan of God.

"Delivered" appears only here in the New Testament. It refers to one handed over to his enemies. What a picture! God the Father handed His own Son over to His enemies in order to redeem those enemies from the curse of sin!

It is vital for us to understand that everything happened according to divine design. Peter says that it happened by "by the predetermined plan... of God." The word he uses means "to mark off by boundaries or to determine beforehand." We get our English word horizon from this Greek verb. This verb is a perfect passive verb, emphasizing its state of completion as an act of God. God's "plan" (or counsel or will) was set in motion before creation. The fall of man in the Garden did not cause the Godhead to scurry for another plan. The failure of the nation of Israel to obey the Mosaic covenant did not put the eternal Council into panic. God decreed before the worlds were founded to redeem sinners through the atoning sacrifice of the Son. The cross was no accident or scuttled mission!

He intensifies this by adding that Christ's death came "by the... foreknowledge of God." Here we find a clear picture of what foreknowledge means when referring to God's foreknowledge. Foreknowledge has been wrongly described as God looking ahead into the future, seeing what would take place, and then deciding some action on the basis of what He saw. There are several things wrong with this view. One, God has no future. God was, is, and ever shall be! He revealed Himself to Moses, as the One Who is eternally present, "I AM THAT I AM." So to think that God has to look ahead as if He is bound by time limits, denies His omniscience. A second problem is that if God can act only after determining what others will do in the future implies that He is not sovereign. The claim of divine sovereignty means that God has all power and He exercises His power to the fullest in every way. His power is not limited by man's actions nor is sovereignty the result of man's cooperation. The exercise of His will and His power cannot be determined by what man does or else God will be held hostage to the power of man. A third problem is that the Greek word, which we translate as "foreknowledge," carries with it the idea of action not merely mental comprehension. It is a word of action implying that God's decrees sustain all that transpires in history. Martyn Lloyd-Jones puts it forcefully, "God sent His Son into this world to bear the guilt of our sins. God punished our sins in His Son. It was God who contrived the cross" [Authentic Christianity-Studies in the Book of Acts, vol. 1, 44].

Now, stop and gaze upon this for a moment. Consider that God could have done other than what He did. He could have decided against creation. Or He could have created another version of humanity so that we were not moral creatures. Or He could have created man, allowed him to fall, and then justly destroyed mankind along with the universe. But He didn't! He decreed before the foundation of the world to save His people through the redemptive work of His own Son, whom He would deliver over to humanity for the suffering of death. This leaves all of mankind morally and judicially responsible to Almighty God.

2. David's testimony

Peter quotes David speaking as God's prophet concerning what he had to say of Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead. Psalm 16:8-11 expresses the Psalmist's hope for eternity that is made certain by the resurrection of the Messiah:

I saw the Lord always in my presence; for He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; moreover my flesh also will live in hope; because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence."

David's confidence and joy was not in his deeds but in the certainty of life after death because God would not allow His Son "to undergo decay" in the grave. Charles Spurgeon expressed it well in his exposition of Psalm 16.

Among the departed and disembodied Jesus was not left; he had believed in the resurrection, and he received it on the confidence, "neither wilt though suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." Into the outer prison of the grave his body might go, but into the inner prison of corruption he could not enter. He who in soul and body was pre-eminently God's "Holy One," was loosed from the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. This is noble encouragement to all the saints; die they must, but rise they shall, and though in their case they shall see corruption, yet they shall rise to everlasting life. Christ's resurrection is the cause, the earnest, the guarantee, and the emblem of the rising of all his people [The Treasure of David, vol. 1, 197].

3. Apostolic testimony

The apostles added their own testimony to the certainty of Christ's resurrection. "This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses." Not only did the apostles believe the resurrection, having personally seen the risen Christ, but they also were willing to lay down their lives for the veracity of this gospel claim. Consider that each of the disciples, with the exception of John, died as martyrs because of their belief in Jesus Christ raised from the dead. John spent the last years of his life exiled on the Isle of Patmos because he believed the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Do you believe the testimony of the Father, of David as God's prophet, and the apostles? Do you believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead?

II. Cross and resurrection: unnecessary tragedy or eternally necessary?

Have you thought of how shocking it must have been to the crowd gathered at Pentecost to learn that the very one they jeered and mocked and consented to be crucified, this very one is the Lord and Christ? No wonder, once Peter ended his sermon with the declaration of Christ as Lord, adding, "this Jesus whom you crucified," "they were pierced to the heart!" They had not crucified an enemy of society or an evil man. They had crucified the Lord of glory. Lloyd-Jones adds, "This unintelligent mob crucified Him, and they thought that was the end. But they did not know that even as they were hammering in the nails, they were carrying out God's will" [45]. The wondrous love and mercy of God flowed through the wounds of Calvary. Yet, in spite of such love, people still scoff at the story of Jesus Christ.

1. Skeptics have their say

For a moment, let us consider the mind of the skeptic. He looks at the Christian gospel and thinks it to be silly-a vapid, sentimental, sappy make-believe story. The idea of someone being dead for three days, and then rising from the dead, just cannot be. Talk of resurrection appears unintelligent. Why, any person of reasonable intelligence would acknowledge the impossibility of someone rising from the dead! Everything that the Christian teaches and believes depends upon Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead.

For this reason, various theories emerged through the centuries to discount the apostolic witness to the resurrection of Christ. Some claimed that Christ's disciples stole His body and only made outlandish claims of resurrection. Others insist that He did not actually die on the cross, that He only swooned or fainted, and was secretly whisked away so that He could appear to be alive again. Still others think that the whole story is fabricated - a clever ruse to fool unsuspecting and overly emotional people. But not the skeptic!

Where the skeptic begins his error is his failure to acknowledge that God created him. His long-held belief in evolution has twisted and distorted his ability to think rationally. Since he does not believe in God the creator he sees no need for the Incarnation of God's Son and certainly no need for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because his life is anchored on an evolutionary foundation, he spends his energy trying to disprove the teaching of the Bible.

To the skeptic I would say, this God that you doubt exists took your sin and eternal need into mind as He sent His Son by a predetermined plan, to be "nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death." His death was intentional so that He might satisfy the judgment of God against you; it was a death in your place before the wrath of God. "But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death" through Jesus Christ. This may seem far-fetched to you but consider, God raised up His Son "since it was impossible for Him to be held in [death's] power." The thing that all men fear, even skeptics, is death. Jesus Christ has taken the sting out of death; He has robbed death of its fearful power forever for all that will trust in Him. And so, my skeptic friend, I give to you Jesus Christ-Son of God, crucified and risen from the dead. What will you do with Him?

2. God has the final word

The Jews knew the passage that stated, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree." Paul took up this same thought in Galatians 3:13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree'." They had difficulty understanding how Jesus could be the Messiah yet be one who was cursed by dying on a cross. They were still frozen with the idea that somehow they could redeem themselves through adherence to the law. But anything less than a perfect adherence to the law was unacceptable. To keep the whole law yet offend it in just one point made one guilty of breaking the whole law (James 2:10).

This is why it is so important to see that the death of Christ is no accident. Christ became a curse for us, that is, He endured the judgment, which we deserve due to our sin. He took our offense and bore it before the wrath of His Father. He took upon Him the weight of our guilt and satisfied all of the justice of God. His bloody death atoned for our sins. While the Jewish religious leaders thought they were getting rid of a pesky messianic charlatan, God was satisfying His justice through Christ so that He might give life to His enemies. "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" (Isa. 53:6).

And how do we know that it is all true? "God raised Him up again!" That is why Easter Sunday remains special in the hearts of believers worldwide. And I would add, that is why thoughts and joy because of Christ's resurrection are not limited to Easter Sunday for believers! "The resurrection is the crowning proof that God accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ" [John MacArthur, MacArthur's NT Commentary: Acts, 64]. No wonder the theme of Christ's resurrection dominates the rest of the book of Acts. It affirms that God has the final word when it comes to sin, death, and eternity. He does not leave us to our own devices or leave us to eternal ruin due to the folly of our sin. He put His own Son to death by the hands of godless men-the Holy One for unholy men-and then raised Him up again to show that Christ had satisfied the divine penalty for our sin. Christ's resurrection declares that we are accepted by God, given eternal hope, and adopted as His own through faith in His Son.

III. Cross and resurrection: ignore it or embrace it?

Once that message of the death and resurrection settled in on Peter's audience, they were wounded in the depths of their consciences. How could they have stood against God's Son? We join in their shame because there is a sense that all of us as sinners participated in the death of Christ. I recall seeing an interview last year with Mel Gibson about his movie, The Passion of the Christ. He described how he insisted on taking part in one particular scene. The hand that took the nail and drove it into Jesus Christ was Mel Gibson's hand. He expressed his own guilt for Christ's death. While that is certainly true, we must see, that though we are guilty of Christ's death due to our sin, Christ bore the guilt of our sin in the eternal plan of God. God demonstrated His satisfaction by raising Jesus from the dead. Just like the Jews gathered at Pentecost, we face a crisis in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We can choose to ignore Christ's death and resurrection, or we can embrace it as the ground of our salvation.

1. Certainty declared

How did the heavenly Father respond to the death and resurrection of His Son? "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ - this Jesus whom you crucified." Lord and Christ, Sovereign and Savior, King and Redeemer - God has exalted His Son as the Lord before whom all answer and the Christ to whom all may flee for forgiveness. The Christian gospel is a triumphant story. Millions of our brothers and sisters have been slaughtered through the years, and even in our own day, because we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. Nothing that man does can separate us from Him - not even death!

The Jews had an elevated view of David, so Peter utilizes three Messianic Psalms (16, 110, 132) to drive home the point that Jesus Christ is Lord. He describes the death and burial of Christ, and then the promise of the resurrection as pointed out in Psalm 110. Then Peter points to the exaltation of Christ that He is Lord.

The Jews knew what he was saying. He was not simply calling Jesus something akin to a mighty religious figure or a great military leader. He used the unmistakable term, "Lord," to identify Jesus Christ as the Messiah who is God Himself. To make a claim like that would be heretical and ludicrous if it were not true. And it was the truth of this statement that brought conviction to the hearts of this Jewish audience.

We must see that we are not dealing with a vague message at this point. The Gospel of Jesus Christ calls for nothing short of our absolute devotion and surrender to Him as Lord!

2. Response called for

If this message is true, if Jesus Christ raised from the dead is "Lord and Christ," then none of us can ignore the claims of the gospel without eternal consequences. Peter's audience began to repeatedly ask, "Brethren, what shall we do?" What do you do when you recognize that Jesus Christ is Lord?

First, you repent - turning from your sin and rebellion against God. Turn from your unbelief and self-centered ways. You turn from living life your way and turn to God in Christ. That's exercising faith, trust, reliance upon Jesus Christ as your Lord, Redeemer, Savior, and King.

Then, having repented and trusted in Jesus Christ, you declare publicly your faith through baptism. That's what Peter told his first century audience to do. That is the New Testament pattern for all that believe in Jesus Christ. "So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls."

Conclusion

What is your response to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? This is not simply an Easter Sunday issue; it is something that we face every time that we hear the gospel, every time that we read the Scripture, or hear a Christian's testimony, or read a gospel booklet. "But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power." Will you follow the crucified, resurrected, and exalted Jesus Christ as Lord?