Verification of Christ's Claims, through His Resurrection (The Greeting: Part 4)

"Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord..." - Romans 1:1-4

So, I know we've already covered these first few verses and that I keep putting them up there... but I want to keep everything in context. This would be much easier if Paul had used punctuation in his letters. Unfortunately, the original text was written, not only without chapters and verses, but also without a lot of punctuation. The letters of the New Testament were written as a continual thought... As you can see, we are four verses into Romans and have not yet found a period... lots of commas, but no periods.

With that being said... let's dive in!

So, yesterday we covered the prophetical backing of the Old Testament in defense of Jesus' claims as the Son of God. And if I had looked a little closer, I might have included verse 3 with yesterday's text, since it references the Old Testament prophecies as well! God had said that the Savior would come through the line of David. This is seen several times, in the Old Testament.

Today let's look at New Testament fulfillment of those prophesies, as laid down by Paul's letter to the Romans. "Who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord..." (1:4)

Easter is coming... most of us could probably recount the story of Christ's death and resurrection. But what we must understand is that it is His resurrection which gives power to His words as the Son of God. There are plenty of idealists in the world. There are even some who are claiming to heal the sick and the deaf and the lame. But only Christ has ever proclaimed Himself the Son of God, been killed by those who reviled Him, and then come back to life! It's just not something that happens all of the time.

The important part to remember is that, way before Christ is ever arrested or tried by the courts and the Sanhedrin, He constantly told His disciples what was to come. He proclaimed, well in advance, His death and resurrection. This was also OT prophecy being fulfilled (Isaiah 53).

Now, where this gets important for you and for me... His death and resurrection didn't just verify His claims as the Son of God, but was the ONLY way for us to be saved, once and for all, from the penalty of our sins. "DEATH" was written on each of our hearts, before we were even born, and Christ spilled His own blood on the cross... with which He wrote "LIFE" over the death within our hearts! The death and resurrection of Christ made it possible for Him to be THE perfect mediator, for our souls, before the throne of God. Every accusation of the devil is counterable by the blood and testimony of Christ Jesus.

DO NOT, however, take this lightly. This is not a license... it is a free gift that comes from an unconditional love! We do not, because of this blood, have the freedom to live in the pleasures of this world, but must see the importance of obedience to Christ's words, which He spoke while He was alive! We will cover this more specifically in the chapters to come.

So, I say all of this, but the question must then come... "Is Jesus Christ your Lord?" It is an undeniable FACT that He IS the Lord of All, but are you rebelling against His Lordship? Or are you living in the humility of His grace and mercy, and devoting yourself to Him? At the end of the day... this is the question that matters most. "Who are you living for?"

As an aside, anyone who has lived long enough can tell you... living for yourself is a worthless endeavor! In the end, every "treasure" that you might acquire will become worthless to you. Until you see Christ as the highest goal and ultimate fulfillment of purpose in your life... you will not truly live.

If you have further questions about today's blog... Please, e-mail me! I'd be happy to talk about what we've discussed today. For now, though, I leave you with these thoughts...

Grace and Peace!

Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .