This is the third blog in the series Why The Resurrection Of Jesus Christ. In the blog Resurrection Was Not New [May 20, 2011] I wrote that God required Abraham to sacrifice his son of promise, Isaac. Isaac was a type of the ultimate Son of Promise, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

In this blog we will look at another reason Jesus was raised from the dead. His resurrection was proof that He was God come in the flesh [as a human being].

A strategic revelation confirming the coming Son of Promise can be found in Proverbs 30 verse 4 [NKJ].

“Who has ascended into heaven, or descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has bound the waters in a garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name, and what is His Son’s name,
If you know?”

There are several clues found in this one verse.

1] “Who has ascended into heaven, or descended?” Jesus uttered these words when He was discussing with Nicodemus the protocol for entering into HIs Kingdom.

John 3:13 ~ “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”

This verse confirms the revelation found in the book of Proverbs mentioned above. Jesus declared Himself to be the fulfillment of Agur’s assertion a Son was coming.

2] “Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what His Son’s name, if you know?”

Among other things Agur was revealing there is a Creator and this Creator has a Son. Jesus made reference to the wind in His discussion with Nicodemus. Not in the same context as Agur but the connections are clear nonetheless.

The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:1-4 ~

“Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”

Paul stated in this text ~

1] The gospel of God was promised through His [Old Testament] prophets
2] The gospel of God was promised in the Holy Scriptures [Old Testament]
3] The gospel of God in the OT that was promised concerned God’s Son
4] The gospel of God in the OT that was promised connected the awaited Messiah, the Son of David [God’s Son] to Jesus Christ who came as a human
5] The gospel of God in the OT that was promised declared Jesus Christ the human to be the Son of God.
6] The gospel of God in the OT declared Jesus to be God’s Son with power
7] The gospel of God in the OT declared Jesus to be God’s Son with power according to the Holy Spirit [Spirit of holiness = perfection, truth, God, etc]
8] The gospel of God in the OT declared Jesus to be God’s Son by the resurrection from the dead

WOW! You may be thinking “I did not know the gospel was preached in the OT?” I don’t have time to elaborate on this truth here but Paul revealed in Galatians that Abraham heard the Gospel.

The apostle John tells us that Jesus is the Sovereign God when he wrote this in chapter 10, verses 17 and 18 in his Gospel.

“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

In these two verses Jesus is quoted as saying that He had been given authority to determine His own fate. This is a huge deal. Just like in His wilderness experience where He was tempted by the devil Jesus had complete control over His environment.

Jesus is speaking about His Sovereignty. He states that “no one takes it [His life] from Him.” No one = not even the devil. He goes on to say He has power to lay His life down [crucifixion] and He alone has the power to take it up again [resurrection]. This confirms Jesus knew His identity as the Messiah, the Promised Son of God. He also reveals that He determined the exact day and time of when the crucifixion and resurrection would take place.

Let’s look at some things Jesus said about Himself in the Gospel of John.

John 11:25 ~ “I am the resurrection and the life.”

John 8:12, 24, 27 ~ “I am the light of the world . . . I am He . . . I am He . . .”

John 10:7, 9, 11, 14 ~ “I am the door of the sheep . . . I am the door . . . I am the good shepherd . . . I am the good shepherd . . . ”

Here we find Jesus referring to Himself as the “I am”. God identified Himself to Moses as the “I Am”. “I Am” = I am what you need Me to be when you need Me to be it. “I Am” = I always have been and I will always be. God is not just the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. He is the summation of all things, or all things from the beginning to the end are summed up in Him.

Jesus referred to Himself as the resurrection, life, light, He, door and the good shepherd.

In the book of Romans Paul had this to say in chapter 6, verse 9 ~

“knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.”

Again, Paul is communicating the Sovereignty of Jesus.

1] Jesus Christ of Nazareth was raised from the dead and,
2] He will never die again and,
3] He has dominion over death

There are those who do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God but claim that He was a good man, and a teacher or prophet of God. He cannot be any of those if He is not the Son of God.

If Jesus is not the Son of God, as He and those close to Him claimed, then He is a liar, a false teacher and a false prophet. He cannot be a good man if He is a liar. He cannot be a teacher and or prophet of God if He misled people through His teachings and prophetic ministry.

Jesus was crucified for His “crimes”, not stoned. Stoning was the punishment for being a false prophet. This is further proof Jesus is who He said He was. He was not killed for being a false prophet. He was killed because He was exactly who He claimed to be.

The question people must ask themselves is this, What do I believe about Jesus of Nazareth? How people answer that one question will determine their eternity.

For HIS Glory!
Dr. Kevin M. Drury
A Hisstorymaker