by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
The death of Jesus was a stumbling block. The resurrection of Jesus also causes many to stumble. In preaching to the Athenian philosophers, Paul testified that God had raised Jesus from the dead. “Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked<\/em>” (Acts 17:34).<\/p>\n When Paul stood before King Agrippa, he stated: “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe<\/em>” (Acts 26:27). Earlier Paul had said: “Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?<\/em>” (Acts 26:8). To believe in the prophets is to believe in God. Believing in God makes the raising of the dead credible.<\/p>\n Beginning with God, it is\u00a0not<\/strong> hard to believe in a resurrection. In the beginning, He made a body out of dust and breathed into it the breath of life. Surely it is not more difficult to raise a dead body than it was to create it in the first place.<\/p>\n With such belief in the resurrection of Jesus, it becomes easy to affirm the rest of the story. The virgin birth? Such is no more difficult than the resurrection from the dead. Healing the lame, blind, and infirm? Casting out demons? Calming a storm? Walking on water? Believing in the resurrection of the dead is a belief in the very power and ability of God.<\/p>\n Modern man has begun at the wrong point as they think about Jesus. Many scholars start with the denial of\u00a0any<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0all<\/strong> miracles. Such is purely unbelief in the nature and power of God. Beginning with the denial of miracles leads them to a denial of the resurrection of Jesus. With the denial of the resurrection of Jesus, they end up denying\u00a0our<\/strong>\u00a0resurrection.<\/p>\n I find it incredible that men would believe in God and\u00a0not<\/strong>\u00a0believe in the resurrection. Paul wrote: “For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied<\/em>” (I Corinthians 15:16-19).<\/p>\n Unbelief in the resurrection leaves us in the same hopeless situation as unbelievers in God. We live, we die, and we perish forever. There is nothing to hope for beyond dying. There is no justice against those who do evil. There is no reward for living godly. It matters not in the whole scheme of things whether one lives godly like Paul or completely wickedly like Stalin. Life is futile.<\/p>\n But<\/strong>, Christ has risen. God does exist. There will be a resurrection of the just and the unjust. There is eternal life in the presence of God. Thanks be to the Lord who was raised from the dead.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hugh DeLong The death of Jesus was a stumbling block. The resurrection of Jesus also causes many to stumble. In preaching to the Athenian philosophers, Paul testified that God had raised Jesus from the dead. “Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked” (Acts 17:34). When Paul stood before King…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,664],"class_list":["post-51832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith","tag-resurrection"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23340,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-old-testament-points-us-to-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":51832,"position":0},"title":"The Old Testament Points Us to Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Tommy Peeler The Old Testament is valuable because it points us to Christ. Jesus emphasized that the Old Testament pointed to Him Jesus said, \u201cYou search in the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that bear witness of Me\u201d (John 5:39).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/arrow-road-road-signs-sign-preview-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":58868,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-prosperous-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":51832,"position":1},"title":"A Prosperous Journey","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Walton Weaver via\u00a0Truth Magazine\u00a0Vol. XLIV: 10 p19 May 18, 2000 Paul had a great desire to go to Rome. He knew however that if such an opportunity presented itself, God would have to open up the way. His prayer that God might do this for him is given to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4060,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-jesus-believe-in-life-after-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":51832,"position":2},"title":"Did Jesus believe in life after death?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Did Jesus believe in life after death all of his earthly life? Was His knowledge gained from the Torah, or was it revealed specifically to Him by God? Answer: Christians believe that Jesus was God in the flesh and thus the author of the Torah (the five books of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51347,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-did-jesus-become-the-son-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":51832,"position":3},"title":"When did Jesus become the Son of God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi minister, I do not believe that the Bible contradicts itself; hence, whenever I sense a contradiction I call it confusion. Now I am a little confused because I do not know when Jesus became the son of God. This is because some passages of the Bible say he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57424,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/incredible-beginning\/","url_meta":{"origin":51832,"position":4},"title":"“Incredible” Beginning","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Diestelkamp via Gospel Power, Vol. 15, No. 30, July 27, 2008. The beginnings of things always intrigue us. We often mark them with great ceremony at the time if we anticipate their importance (weddings, ribbon-cutting grand openings, signings, etc.). We frequently research beginnings if only later do we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19984,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-still-raise-people-from-the-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":51832,"position":5},"title":"Does God still raise people from the dead?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A friend of mine seems to think that it is possible for someone to raise from the dead now. I thought that Jesus was the last person to do that. He seems to think that I am underestimating God's power. I believe that God can do anything, but I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51832\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}