Week 71: Knowing God - His Resurrection

Romans 4:25

25 who [Jesus] was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

The Bible tells us that Christ was delivered up for our sins and raised from the dead for our justification. We are aware by now why Jesus died for our sins, but what is  the significance of God raising Him from the dead?

In the Old covenant, the priests come to the tabernacle and offer the blood of bulls and goats as sacrifice for the atonement of their sins. However, according to the Leviticus law, such offerings has to be carried out regularly.

Jesus, being our sacrificial Lamb, did the atoning work at the cross. His sacrifice is to cover our sins, just like the atonement work in Old testament. However, such work is only done once (Rom 6:9 "...9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. "). Jesus need not have to die again and again for our sins. He did it once and for all. The Bible says Jesus died on the cross once and for all remove the sins (past,present and future) in our lives. Amen!

Why is it that Jesus death, being offered once only at the cross, can remove our past, present and future sins? The answer is in His resurrection. His resurrection justified us forever! Amen! In the Old testament, none of the animals' sacrifice were resurrected! Therefore,  there was a need for the people to continually offer sacrifice to atone their sins from time to time.

Praise be to our Lord, The verse clearly says that His resurrection is the evidence that we are justified before God forever! Amen! Because of that, we should not be sin-conscious anymore. This was what happen in the Old covenant. Every time, the people of God  came to the tabernacle, they were reminded of their sins and the need to offer the sacrifice  before God. The problem with this is it made the people of God sin-conscious and not righteous-conscious.

Hebrews 10:1-4

10 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

Let's use an illustration to help us understand the significance of Jesus’ resurrection.

Let’s say that you are living in a foreign country. One day, you happen to break a major rule of the land. You appeal to the king for mercy. but he cannot bend the rule for you. However, the king allow you to find a substitute to take your punishment.

Supposingly, you find a willing substitute. He goes to prison on your behalf. Now, how or when will you know that your crime has been fully paid for? When will you be able to rest easy regarding your crime? It is when you see your substitute walking free again! When you see him out of prison, you will know that the sentence has been fully served. You will know that you are now justified and no one can bring a charge against you for your old crime. You will no longer be afraid of the king to come after you because you know that the one who was punished in your place had served his term and is set free.

Likewise, Jesus, our substitute, paid the debt we could not pay. On the cross, He bore the sins of our entire lives! God put it all on Jesus and then He punished Jesus for every single one of those sins until He was fully satisfied. And because He was so pleased with what Jesus had done, He raised Him from the dead.

Today, Jesus’ tomb remains empty. He is not there for He has risen! His resurrection and empty tomb will forever be our assurance that we have been fully justified. We no longer have to be afraid of God judging us for our sins. His justice is on our side today! Amen! Hallelujah!

Having sin consciousness  put us in bondage. It put us in condemnation every time we come before God. When Jesus told the fishermen to cast their net, Peter said they had toiled all night and caught no fish. Nevertheless, they did according to what Jesus said. When Peter realized it was great catch with boat-sinking load of fishes. He immediately kneel down and said "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man." Peter was conscious of Jesus's holiness, yet at the same time, he was sin-conscious.

But, this is not what our God want us to focus on. God wants us to be Christ-conscious. This means that when we have missed the mark, God wants us to be conscious that in Christ, we have forgiveness of sins through His blood. God wants us to be conscious that Christ was wounded and bruised for our sins, and that the chastisement for our peace was upon Him. (Isaiah 53:5)

When we are Christ-conscious, we will have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1) We will know that we are the righteousness of God in Christ because He who knew no sin was made sin for us. (2 Corinthians 5:21) He took  our sins and in divine exchange at the cross, now we have His righteousness. Hallelujah! What a deal!

So when we fall, don’t be conscious of our failure and feel bad or condemned. Instead, be conscious of who we are in Christ, pick ourselves up, dust-off and continue our walk with God! Only when we think and behave in such manner, we are truly honoring the finished work of Christ. Amen!

In this coming Easter, let us be mindful that we are righteous in the sight of our God solely because Jesus is risen from the dead. His perfect work on the cross removes the barrier between us and our God. And because the sin barrier is removed, we can't help it but to be in positioned to receive God's goodness, God's blessings and God's unmerited favor in our lives! Amen! Hallelujah!