Happy Easter
Posted on Friday, April 06th 2012 at 11:13 am
There has always been controversy over "who killed" Christ. Those that hate the Jewish people have often tried to say that the Jews killed Jesus. The Nazi's mislead most of the German people in this way. The "German Church" actually cut out the old testament from the Bible because it was "too Jewish". They also didn't like the suffering Messiah and the crucifixion because it showed weakness. This is false teaching and is not supported by scripture. In John 10:8 Jesus said this:
"No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."
The Jewish leadership and the Roman soldiers committed the act of crucifixion, but Jesus was bearing the sin of all humanity when he laid down his life. That is why it is Good Friday. If he wouldn't have died for our sins, then we would have to bear our sins ourselves. What could we do to make up for our sin? Good works? Do we somehow keep a ledger, and what if God's ledger is different than ours? So Jesus death on the cross was to bear our sin. And as it says in John 10:8 He had the authority to take it up again, or rise from the dead.
That is where Romans 10:9 comes in:
"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Salvation comes through confessing that Jesus is Lord (Master) of our life and believing in the resurrection. If Jesus didn't rise from the grave, we have no hope of eternal life. Simon Greenleaf was a Jewish lawyer that was one of the principle founders of Harvard Law school. His book on evidence is used to this day. He sought to disprove the resurrection, but came to the conclusion that the witnesses were reliable and that the resurrection did indeed happen. He then gave his life to Jesus Christ. His book "Testimony of the Evangelists" was a foundational work for apologetics (defense of the faith).
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