RESURRECTION - being raised from the dead. Resurrection has three primary meanings in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible.

1.- Miraculous healing. - In the usage, resurrection refers to individuals who have been brought back to life (resuscitated) in this present world. Such raising were performed by Elijah on the Zarephath widow's son, - 1Kin. 17:20-24 - by Elisha on the Shunammite woman's son - 2Kin. 4:32-37 - and the dead man who touched Elisha's bones, - 2Kin. 13:21 - by Jesus on Jarius' daughter - Mark 5:41-43 - and Lazarus - John 11:43-44 - by Saint Peter on Dorcas, - Acts 9:40-41 - and by Saint Paul on Eutychus. - Acts 20:9-12 - In these raising there is no suggestion that the the person will not experience death.

2. - Our Lord Jesus Christ resurrection. - This resurrection is clearly linked with the overcoming of the powers of evil and death. Christ's resurrection is the basis for the doctrine of general resurrection. - 1Cor. 15:12-19 - a central doctrine of Christianity that affirms that God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. Without the resurrection, the apostle Paul declared, Christian preaching and belief are meaningless or useless. - 1Cor. 15:14 - The resurrection is the point at which God's intention for Jesus becomes clear -Rom. 1:4 - and believers are assured that Jesus is the Christ.

So significant is the resurrection of Jesus that without it there would be no Church or Christianity, and we would still be in our sins. - 1Cor. 15:17 - The appearances of Jesus are clearly at the heart of early Christian belief. The consistent witness of the New Testament is that in the appearances of Jesus something incredible happened. The two followers in Emmaus, upon realizing it was the risen Jesus, forgot their concern with the lateness of the hour and rushed back to Jerusalem to tell the others. - Luke 24:29-33 - The doubting Thomas uttered Christianity's greatest confession when he realized that the risen Christ was actually addressing him. - John 20:27 - Peter left his fishing nets for good when the risen Saviour asked him, "Do you love Me?" - John 21:15 - And at a later time - 1Cor. 15:8 - the persecutor Paul was transformed into a zealous missionary as the result of a special appearance by the risen Lord Jesus Christ. - Acts 9:1-22 -

When the New Testament writers speak of the resurrection of Jesus, they are bearing witness not to what God did for them but what God did to Jesus. Certainly, as a result of the resurrection of Jesus human lives were transformed. For Saint Paul this transformation of Christians is not only termed resurrection but salvation. "In Christ" is the expression which Saint Paul uses for the spiritual experience of the living Christ.

Finally, the resurrection of Jesus, His ascension - Acts 1:6-11 - His exaltation to the right hand of the Father, - Acts 2:33 - and the giving of the Holy Spirit - John 20:22 - are all to be seen as a single complex events and as closely integrated theologically. Together they represent the first-fruits of the new age.

3. - The hope of a general resurrection. - Many of the Greek philosophers, such as Plato, believed that an immortal soul inhabited a body and that at death the soul left its bodily prison and soared upward to the divine spirit. - Is. 14:9-11 - Ps. 49:15 - Job 19:26 - This expectation was the foundation upon which the Jewish ideas concerning the resurrection were built.

By the time of Jesus, two positions were firmly entrenched within Judaism. THE SADDUCEES, who were oriented to this world, rejected any belief in the resurrection. They believed that such an idea was irrelevant to this life and was not part of the revelation with God gave to Moses. - Mark 12:18-27 - Jesus condemned their understanding of Moses and Sacred Scriptures.

THE PHARISEES, in contrast, believed in the resurrection. - Acts 23:6 - The prophet Isaiah seems to express a view that the resurrection is for the faithful and the wicked may not arise. - Is. 26:10-19 - The Jewish loyalist of the apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees apparently agreed that for some there will be no resurrection to life. But prophet Daniel announced, "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to the everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt". - Dan. 12:2 -

The New Testament consistently teaches hope in the resurrection of the believer based upon the resurrection of Christ as the "firstborn from the dead". - 1Cor. 15:12-58 - Col. 1:18 - 1Thess. 4:14-18 - 1Peter 1:3-5 -

But not all who sought identification with the Christian church proclaimed a future resurrection. Some preached a spiritual awakening, or resurrection, that was already past. Such a view, adopted by Hymenaeus and Philetus and adopted by the later Gnostic heretics, was sternly condemned by Saint Paul. - 2Tim. 2:17-19 -

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -