Tag: resurrection

The blood, the resurrection, and the courage to face anything

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JEFF TURNER

Every doctrine that gives the Christian faith its shape and substance, every promise that anchors the believer’s heart through suffering and uncertainty, every reason we have to approach God with confidence rather than terror, all of it flows from a single source: the redemption purchased by the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Remove that from the centre of Christian teaching and the consequences are total. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. Without forgiveness, there is no restored relationship with God. Without that relationship, the hope we speak of is borrowed language with no corresponding reality. And without genuine hope, human existence is reduced to what it always threatens to become without the gospel: a long, purposeless journey toward a door that opens onto nothing.

But because the blood was shed, because Calvary is real, because Jesus Christ rose bodily from the grave and demonstrated that death itself could not hold him, everything changes. The Christian does not stand on wishful thinking.

The blood and the resurrection together produce something in the believing heart that nothing else can: the quiet, unshakeable confidence that we are held.

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 8:11

The Meaning of the Resurrection

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AMY TURNER

The Christian faith stands on the truth of Jesus rising from the dead. Without the resurrection, the message of the gospel would have no foundation, and faith would be empty. Christianity is not only a way of thinking, nor is Jesus remembered simply as a wise teacher. Believers confess him as the eternal Son of God who entered the world, took on human life, suffered, and died to bring forgiveness for sin.

Jesus himself promised that if his body was destroyed, he would bring it back to life in three days. No other person has ever broken the power of death in this way. His resurrection is not just a part of the story; it is the very core.

The statement is trustworthy: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;

2 Timothy 2:11

The Promise of Resurrection Life

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AMY TURNER

In his letter to the Colossians, Paul describes Jesus as the beginning and the first to rise from the dead in a way that gives Him first place in all things. The Bible shows that other people were brought back to life, such as Lazarus, but their return was temporary. They would face death again.

Jesus, however, was raised in a different way. His resurrection was not only a return to life but a transformation. He was given a body filled with glory and strength, a body that will last forever. Scripture calls Him the first fruit from among the dead. This means He is the beginning of something greater that is promised to all who belong to Him.

When Jesus rose, He showed what lies ahead for those who trust in Him. As He was raised with a body fit for eternity, so one day His people will share in that same kind of life. The resurrection of Christ is both a victory over death and a promise of what is to come.

But the fact is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

1 Corinthians 15:20

Hope Found in the Risen Christ

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AMY TURNER

John 20:13 tells of a moment when Mary Magdalene, heartbroken, stood outside Jesus’ empty tomb. When angels asked why she was crying, she explained her sorrow, believing someone had taken Jesus’ body. Earlier that morning, several women had come to the tomb, only to find the stone moved. Mary ran to tell Peter and John, while others remained behind.

In her grief, Mary could not recognise what was happening. Even when Jesus stood before her, she thought he was a gardener. It wasn’t until he spoke her name that she realised it was him. Sorrow had clouded her vision, keeping her from seeing what was right before her.

Many experience times when pain and worry hide the truth from them. But the resurrection reminds us that death and fear no longer hold the final word.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 Peter 1:3

Mark Bishop tells the story of Lazarus with inspired songwriting

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SPECIAL CROSSROADS MUSIC

Southern Gospel music favorite Mark Bishop is so widely acclaimed for his singing that it’s easy to overlook the depth of his songwriting. Yet as his new Sonlite Records single, “Now Lazarus Can Sing” shows, he’s a conscientious and inspired craftsman whose unique way of looking at things has led to powerful affirmations of faith and salvation.

“I was watching the news as someone was being ushered through a bunch of shouting reporters, trying to get information from him,” Bishop recalls. “His people led him to a waiting car where he jumped in, and they took off. My songwriter brain kicked in, and for some reason I began to wonder about the story of Lazarus and the questions people would have lined up for hours to ask him.

“He had seen it. And he was standing right here in front of them. How could you not ask him what it was like? I’m sure what he saw was beyond description.”

Mark Bishop shares the story behind how he wrote “Now Lazarus Can Sing.”
With these thoughts in mind, Bishop has created a compelling vehicle that, in a profoundly Biblical way, embodies — by illuminating through down-to-earth dialogue rather than proclaiming in grand turns of speech — the miraculous story of Lazarus:

Have you seen Lazarus since that day?
Something about him has changed.
You know the day that I’m talking ’bout.
The day Jesus called out his name.

I spoke to him just the other day.
At the market I pulled him aside.
Can you remember the things you saw?
He put his hand on my shoulder and cried.

So I talked to his sister Martha.
“Martha, what’s he said to you?”
She said “he looks out of the window and smiles,
That his worrying days are all through.”

And even as the music swells and subsides, Bishop’s distinctive voice keeps the listener focused on the essentials, framed in a way that only he could have created.

“Just as important as what he saw… what about how he felt? He was a recipient of perfect love. He lost all of his worry… his doubt… his regrets… everything negative.

“He was no doubt the most changed man in the history of the world.

“And maybe,” the singer-songwriter concludes, “… just maybe… he brought back some other traits… a little bit of residue from heaven. That’s what this song is about; how heaven rubbed off on Lazarus.”