Resurrection of
our Lord Christ
السبت, 09 مايو,
2009
Resurrection of
our Lord Christ
JesusChrist'sresurrection from the dead is one of
the cardinal facts and doctrines of the gospel.
If Christbe not risen, our faithis vain (1 Cor. 15:14).
The whole of the New Testamentrevelation
rests on this as an historical fact. On the day of Pentecost,Peterargued the necessity of
Christ's resurrection from the prediction in Psalm 16(Acts 2:24-28).
In his own discourses, also, our Lord clearly prophecied hisresurrection (Matt. 20:19; Mark 9:9; 14:28; Luke 18:33; John 2:19-22).
The evangelistsgive accounts of the facts
connected with that event, and theapostles
, also, in their public teaching insist upon it.
How many times did
Jesus appear after his death and resurrection?
Eleven different
appearances of our risen Lord are recorded in the New Testament…
1. To Mary Magdalene at the sepulcher alone. This is recorded at length only by John (20:11-18),
and alluded to by Mark (16:9-11).
2. To certain women, “the
other Mary,” Salome, Joanna,
and others, as they returned from the sepulcher. Matthew (28:1-10)
alone gives an account of this. (Compare Mark 16:1-8,
and Luke 24:1-11.)
3. To Simon Peter alone on the day of the resurrection. (See Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5.)
4. To the two disciples on the way to Emmaus on the day of the resurrection, recorded fully
only by Luke (24:13-35.
Compare Mark 16:12,13).
5. To the ten disciples (Thomas being absent) and others “with them,” atJerusalem on the evening of the resurrection day. One of the evangelistsgives an account of this
appearance, John (20:19-24).
6. To the disciples again (Thomas being present) at Jerusalem (Mark 16:14-18;Luke 24:33-40; John 20:26-28.
See also 1 Cor. 15:5).
7. To the disciples when fishing at the Sea of Galilee.
Of this appearance also John (21:1-23)
alone gives an account.
8. To the eleven, and
above 500 brethren at once, at an appointed place inGalilee (1 Cor. 15:6;
compare Matt. 28:16-20).
9. To James,
but under what circumstances we are not informed (1 Cor. 15:7).
10. To the apostles immediately before the ascension.
They accompanied him from Jerusalem to Mount Olivet, and there
they saw him ascend “till a cloud received him out of their sight” (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:50-52; Acts 1:4-10).
It is worthy of note that it is
distinctly related that on most of these occasions our Lord afforded his
disciples the amplest opportunity of testing the fact of his resurrection. He conversed with them face to face. They touched him (Matt. 28:9; Luke 24:39; John 20:27),
and he ate breadwith them (Luke 24:42,43; John 21:12,13).
11. In addition to the
above, mention might be made of Christ's manifestation of himself to Paul at Damascus,
who speaks of it as an appearance of the risen Savior
(Acts 9:3-9, 17; 1 Cor. 15:8; 9:1).
12. It is implied in the
words of Luke (Acts 1:3)
that there may have been other appearances of which we have no record.
N.B:- Comparing what is mention above
with what is mention by St.Paul in 1Cor 15
Has no difficulty as St. Paul is only mention the appearance for the apostles mainly to prove his
apostleship ( not as a full account of the appearance)
.
Who performed the resurrection?
The resurrection is spoken of as the
act of all three persons of the Trinity…
1. of God the Father (Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:24; 3:15; Rom. 8:11; Eph. 1:20; Col. 2:12;Hebrews 13:20)
2. of Christ himself (John 2:19; 10:18)
3. of the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 3:18)
Why is the resurrection important?
The resurrection is a public
testimony of Christ's release from his undertaking as surety,
and an evidence of the Father's acceptance of his work of redemption.
It is a victory overdeathand
the grave for all his followers.
The importance of
Christ's resurrection will be seen when we
consider that if he rose the gospelis true, and if he
rose not it is false. His resurrection from the dead makes
it manifest that his sacrificewas accepted.
Our justificationwas secured by his
obedience to the death, and therefore he was raised from the dead (Rom. 4:25).
His resurrection is a proof that he
made a full atonementfor our sins, that his
sacrifice was accepted as a satisfaction to divine justice,
and his blood a ransom for sinners. It is also a pledgeand an earnest of the resurrection of all believers (Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 6:14; 15:47-49; Phil. 3:21; 1 John 3:2).
As he lives, they shall live also.
It proved him to be the Son of God,
inasmuch as it authenticated all his claims (John 2:19; 10:17).
“If Christ did not rise, the
whole scheme of redemption is a failure, and all the predictions and
anticipations of its glorious results for time and for eternity, for men and
for angels of every rank and order, are proved to be chimeras. ‘But now is
Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruitsof them that slept.’ Therefore the Bible is true from
Genesis to Revelation. The kingdom of darkness has been overthrown, Satan has
fallen as lightningfrom
heaven, and the triumph of truth over error, of good over evil, of happiness
over misery is for ever secured” (Hodge).
What about claims
that Jesus did not rise from the dead?
With reference to
the report which the Romansoldiers were bribed(Matt. 28:12-14)
to circulate concerning Christ's resurrection, “his disciples
came by night and stole him away while we slept,” Matthew Henry in his
“Commentary,” under John 20:1-10,
fittingly remarks,
“The grave-clothes in which Christ
had been buried were found in very good order, which serves for an evidence
that his body was not ‘stolen away while men slept.’ Robbers of tombs have been
known to take away ‘the clothes’ and leave the body; but none ever took away
‘the body’ and left the clothes, especially when they were ‘fine linen’
and new (Mark 15:46).
Any one would rather choose to carry a dead body in
its clothes than naked. Or if they that were supposed to have stolen it would
have left the grave-clothes behind, yet it cannot be supposed they would find
leisure to ‘fold up the linen’.”
Is Easter mentioned in the Bible?
The name “Easter” is never mentioned
in the original Scriptures. However, one English translation of the Bible does
use the word. The King James Version chose to translate Acts 12:4 like
this:
“And when he [Herod
the King] had apprehended him [Peter], he put him inprison,
and delivered him to four quaternion’s of soldiers to
keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.”
The book of Acts was
originally written in the Greek language by the Christian Gentile and physician
Luke. The Greek word that the King James Version translates as “Easter” is most
certainly not the name “Easter,” it is actually the word “Pascha” (Hebrew: Pesach)
which means “Passover”—and
this is how all accurate translations show it. For example, the New King James
Version says,
“So when he had
arrested him, he put him in prison,
and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring
him before the people after Passover.”
It was during an
annual Passover celebration that Jesus was killed at Jerusalem. Passover was an annual Jewish religious celebration instituted
by God (Leviticus 23:5).
It dates from the time of Moses when God delivered the Israelites from bondage
and spared their first-borns when all first-borns in Egypt died (Exodus 12:11f; Numbers 9:2f; Deuteronomy 16:1f; 2 Kings 23:21f).
Where did “Easter” get its name?
The name “Easter” has
its roots in ancient polytheistic religions (paganism).
On this, all scholars agree. This name is never used in the original Scriptures, nor is it ever associated biblically
with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For these reasons, we prefer
to use the term “Resurrection Sunday” rather than “Easter” when referring to
the annual Christian remembrance of Christ's
resurrection.
This name comes from the Saxon word (Eostre), denoting a goddess of the Saxons, in honor of whom sacrificeswere offered about the
time of the Passover.
Hence the name came to be given to the festival of the Resurrection of Christ,
which occurred at the time of the Passover.
In the early English versions of the Bible, this word was frequently used as
the translation of the Greek pascha (the Passover). When the Authorized Version [King James Bible] (1611) was
formed, the word “passover” was used in all passages
in which this word paschaoccurred, except in Act 12:4.
In the Revised Version the proper word, “passover,”
is always used.
The Date of Easter
In Western Christianity,
using the Gregorian calendar, Easter always falls on a Sunday between March 22
and April 25 inclusively. The following day,Easter Monday,
is a legal holidayin many countries with predominantly Christian traditions.
In Eastern Orthodox Churches which continue to
use the Julian calendar for religious dating, Easter also falls on a Sunday
between March 22 and April 25 inclusive of the Julian calendar. (The Julian
calendar is no longer used as the civil calendar of the countries where Eastern
Christian traditions predominate.) In terms of the Gregorian calendar, due to
the 13 day difference between the calendars between 1900 and 2099, these dates
are between April 4 and May 8 inclusive. Among theOriental Orthodoxsome
churches have changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar and the date
for Easter as for other fixed and moveable feasts is the same as in the Western Church.
The precise date of Easter has at times been a matter for
contention. At theFirst Council of Nicaeain
325 it was decided that all Christianswould celebrate Easter on
the same day, which would be computed independently of any Jewish calculations
to determine the date of Passover.
It is probable, though, that no method of determining the date was specified by
the Council. (No contemporary account of the Council's decisions has survived.) Epiphanius of Salamiswrote in the mid-4th
century:
...the emperor...convened a council of 318 bishops...in
the city of Nicea...They passed certain
ecclesiastical canons at the council besides, and at the same time decreed in
regard to the Passover that there must be one unanimous concord on the
celebration of God's holy and supremely excellent day. For it was variously
observed by people....[38]
In
the years following the council, the computational system that was worked out
by the church of Alexandria came to be normative. It took a while
for the Alexandrian rules to be adopted throughout Christian Europe, however.
The
Church
of Rome continued to use an 84-year lunisolar calendarcycle from the late third
century until 457. The Church of Rome continued to use its own methods until
the 6th century, when it may have adopted the Alexandrian method as converted
into the Julian calendarby Dionysius Exiguus(certain proof of this
does not exist until the ninth century). Early Christians in Britain and Ireland also used a late third century Roman 84-year cycle. This was replaced by
the Alexandrian method in the course of the 7th and 8th centuries. Churches in
western continental Europe used a late Roman
method until the late 8th century during the reign ofCharlemagne,
when they finally adopted the Alexandrian method. However, with the adoption of
the Gregorian calendarby the Catholic Churchin 1582 and the continuing use of the Julian calendarby Eastern Orthodox and most Oriental Orthodox Churches,
the date on which Easter is celebrated again deviated, and the divergence
continues to this day
