Jesus' Deity, Death, and Bodily Resurrection Are Special; Key Doctrines series

 I’ll share some other things from that online course later. For now, though, let me close by emphasizing that another way to look at it is this. Every other religion, philosophy, etc., is about man trying to reach up to God, to go up to God through good works. But, none of us can reach God on our own. Salvation is about God coming down to our level, dying to take the punishment for our sin and rising from the dead. And, the way to get to Heaven is Jesus – He is the way, the truth, and the life.

That way is available for everyone, though. He wants everyone to come to Him. Those who don’t understand need to be shown through love. I’m not saying God will lead one of you to be a missionary to them, but you might know Muslims in your own city. You probably won’t lead a Muslim to Jesus right away, not unless they are *really* ready. But, I’ve given you something you can say right away.

You can offer to share something to help clear up a misconception. Muslims love learning and sharing stories, as well as giving and receiving gifts. Most Muslims will gladly accept if you offer to help, just in case there is misunderstanding, to clear up the confusion about what we mean by Sonship. You will have planted a seed, and who knows where that might lead. (You can also direct them to Godlife.com/Gospel or Gotquestions.org, though the former promises much faster replies.)

That is the way to build bridges. Help them, in love, understand what the Bible says – no matter who they are. I haven’t even gotten into the Jewish people, who don’t grasp that the Old Testament points to Jesus, Isaiah 53 is a help there, too. But, that’s for another time. For now, Dwight Billingsley is a great missionary in Dearborne whose ministry might be able to help, if you feel the need to refer someone, also.

We saw the importance of the Virgin Birth as a key to Biblical doctrine. We showed how to explain to Muslims – or anyone – Sonship doesn’t mean physical relations. The Holy Spirit came over Mary like a shadow; she let God do it. Sonship means Jesus has every quality of God because He is God in flesh; fully man and fully God.

That last is why we’ll show these together. He had to be fully man to die on the cross for our sins. He had to be fully God to rise from the dead.

That one part – “for our sins” - is vital, too. Note 1 Cor. 15:3-4 – it’s s special part of the Gospel. Why? It helps us make it persons when we see His death was for us. He died once for all – He shouted “tetelestai” on the cross, meaning “it is finished.” Everything that needed to be done had been done to redeem us.

What makes His death and resurrection special, compared to others?

1. Historical records. Jesus’ death and rising from the dead can be placed in a specific date and time, with specific people. There were “mystery gods” which were false gods in other religions, but they aren’t histgorical events.

2. Christ died to redeem man from sin, *if*if any mystery religion has death it is to redeem from fate. Sin is our own free will rebellion against God. “By one man sin entered the world, and death by sin….”(Rom. 5:12) 

3. Christ’s death and resurrection was a victory, the others treat their gods’ deaths as defeats. Christ went to the cross of His own will, out of love for you and I.

Christ not only redeemed us, He justifies us. That is totally foreign to other religions. It means He declares us righteous before God Himself. It’s not our righteousness, though. When you trust Jesus Christ to save you from your sin, yhou have Christ’s righteousness of Jesus we have imputed (credited) to you.  

5. The idea of death and resurrection were, in fact, conceived after Christ’s resurrection in the mystery religions.

And you thought it was only “we can’t reach up to Heaven, so Jesus came down to us” that makes following Jesus unique to all other regligions. 😊

There are lots of terms (like imputed) that might still be a little hard for you. So, let me give an illustration. Thanks to Brian Croft, a contributor at biblestudytools.com, for it – you can find other good helps on that site, too. 

Activity – The Great Exchange:

Have a child take something old and dirty – a usted tissue, a dirty napkin, whatever. In your hand, take a shiny coin or something valuable. Ave the child give you the dirty uobject while you give them the shiny, valuable object.

The messy object was exchanged for the nice one. In the same way, when you trust Jesus as your Saviour, you give Jesus your past, present, and future sin. In return, He gives you His perfection. Wehen God looks at a saved person, He sees Jesus’ perfect life. Now, it’s still you holding onto that, so we still sin in this life, but the Holy Spirit works in us to convict us of sin so we can forsake it and live Godly lives.