He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him before everyone by raising Him from the dead.
Acts 17:31 The Message
As we conclude the reason to believe in Jesus we go back again to Paul’s talk in Athens.
He has given two reasons why he believes we should give attention to Jesus Christ in that Jesus is the starting point of Creation. Jesus is the starting point of Mankind and finally, Jesus is the starting point of Resurrection
The verse above makes it abundantly clear as far as the Bible is concerned Jesus Christ did die and was resurrected. In fact, this is the message of the New Testament.
God, following his prearranged plan, allowed the Roman government to crucify Jesus. Then God released him from the horrors of death and brought him back to life again, for death could not keep this Jesus within its grip.
To a lot of Paul’s audience that day the idea of resurrection from the dead was ridiculous because they believed that death was a release of the soul from the prison of the body.
This idea, known as dualism, was derived from the teachings of the Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato. It held that everything physical is evil and everything spiritual is good and that it makes no difference what one does with one’s body so long as the spirit is good. Tragically, the Athenians’ adherence to this philosophy blinded them to the truth of the gospel.
So when his audience heard Paul talk about the resurrection from the dead some of them laughed outright, but others said, “We should like to hear you speak again on this subject.”
Do you know why they mocked? Because Platonism denied the resurrection of the dead. That was one of the marks of Platonism. It denied the physical resurrection. Paul believed in the physical resurrection from the dead. So when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, that is why some mocked.
What about you? Where do you stand in the resurrection of Jesus Christ?
As far as we know Paul never spoke there again, but there is some evidence a few did take hold of the message, but yes the majority just passed it off.
Does it help to believe in no resurrection so you might think no judgment thus denying our opening paragraph? To me, I believe the paragraph below.
He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him before everyone by raising Him from the dead.”
I believe the judgment referred to here will take place when Christ physically returns to earth. The positive assurance that this will take place is found in the fact that God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead. There are only two divisions of humankind: those who believe in the resurrection and those who don’t
I hope you give this serious consideration for you see whatever virus is around both in the present and the future you can be assured that although its power is sadly taking human life in reality death is not the end.
Remember our Christian beliefs arise in all three ways.
- We believe what we are being told.
- We believe by what we can see for ourselves based on clear evidence.
- We believe as a result of strong feelings within ourselves, emotionally rather than rationally.
The reason I believe is:
- Jesus is the starting point of Creation
- Jesus is the starting point of Mankind
- Jesus is the starting point of Resurrection
Stay safe and Blessed