This is the fourth blog in the Why The Resurrection of Jesus Christ series. Jesus of Nazareth is God who came in the flesh.

I have taken a break from this series as other important themes surfaced. I hope to get back into the flow of this series because I believe the purposes for the resurrection of Jesus are important to the maturing of the saints.

The idea and doctrine of resurrection has been a part of human history since at least the days of Abraham [Genesis 22; Hebrews 11:17-19]. There are a lot of different reasons why Jesus was raised from the dead. In this blog we will study His resurrection was to prove that God is not a liar.

Paul the apostle says this in Romans 3:4 NLT, “. . . Though everyone else in the world is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say, ‘He will be proved right in what he says, and he will win his case in court.'”

Every matter is to be established by the testimony of two to three witnesses [Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15; Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Timothy 5:19; Hebrews 10:28].

I am adding the following two verses to collaborate Paul’s statement above. David said this in Psalm 119:160, “The entirety of Your word is truth.” Jesus Himself said this in John 17:17, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”

Having created a foundation from the Scripture, I believe that an ironclad case has been made that God is not a liar because what He says is true. With this in mind we will proceed with this blog.

Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, called King David a prophet [Acts 2:30]. In Psalm 2:7 [YLT] David said this, “I declare concerning a statute: Jehovah said unto me, `My Son Thou [art], I to-day have brought thee forth.'”

The typical English translation of the phrase “I to-day have brought thee forth” is “Today I have begotten Thee.” The word ‘begotten’ is used in Scripture to substantiate a live birth [Gen. 5; Matt 1; others]. We see the use of the word begot throughout the Old and New Testaments as it relates to someone being born. I chose to use Young’s Literal Translation on purpose because the Scripture always explains itself.

In Acts 13:26-33 [NAS] Luke makes the following statements referencing and utilizing Old Testament Scripture.

“Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family [Jewish people], and those among you who fear God [Jewish and non-Jewish people], to us the message of this salvation has been sent. For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him [Jesus as God’s Son] the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these [Old Testament Scriptures] by condemning Him. And though they found no ground for putting Him to death [according to the Jewish Law], they asked Pilate that He be executed. When they had carried out all that was written [In the OT Scriptures] concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead; and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people. And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, `YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU'” [Words in parenthesis, Bold emphasis mine].

I used the New American Standard Version to verify how the word begotten is used and how that may create confusion. Even the YLT of Acts 13:33 uses the word begotten instead of the phrase “brought Thee forth” as found in the Psalm 2:7 verse referenced by Luke in Acts 13:33. The obvious connection made by Luke is the “begotten” or “brought Thee forth” relates to Jesus’ resurrection [13:30].

Luke states early in our text that the people who lived in Jerusalem, and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, nor the utterances of their own prophets which are read every Sabbath.  As I stated above, in Acts 2:30 Luke calls David a prophet which would include him and what he said in Psalm 2:7 as a part of the missed prophetic utterances about the coming Son of God. God had been communicating forever that His Son was coming and that He would die on a cross and be raised from the dead.

Matthew 27:63 records these words of the Jewish religious leaders to Pilate after the crucifixion of Christ Jesus, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, “After three days I will rise.'” This is the final confirmation that Jesus prophesied He would rise from the dead after three days.

Look at what these religious leaders called Jesus ~ “that deceiver”.  

This is very important to note for many reasons.

1. If Jesus was [is] a deceiver then He cannot be the Son of God
2. If Jesus is not the Son of God then He is a liar
3. If Jesus is a liar then He cannot be a teacher sent from God
4. If Jesus is not a teacher sent from God then what He taught was false
5. If what Jesus taught was false then He is a false prophet who should have been stoned

Jesus was not stoned. Jesus was crucified. I believe this proves that the Jewish leaders who did not recognize nor receive Jesus as the Son of God were driven by jealousy, not Scriptural purity to end Jesus’ life [John 1:12; Acts 3:12-15; Acts 4:8-11; Acts 13:28]. “So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him’” [John 12:19].

Luke writes in the Book of Acts [Acts 2:27 & 13:35-37] that Psalm 16:10 was quoted by Peter and Paul in sermons. This is what Psalm 16:10 says, “For You will not abandon My soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.”

We know that in Palestine in that day bodies that were buried in cave like tombs began decaying somewhere between the third and fourth day [John 11:17,39]. Going back to Acts 13:36 Luke tells us that David’s body decayed, so Psalm 16 which was written by David could not have been speaking of David.

God, through His prophet David, declared that Jesus would die and before His body decayed He would be raised from the dead.

Folks, God is not a liar. He means what He says and He says what He means.

What promises has He made to you? God can be trusted. Activate your faith by stepping out onto His word and watch the miraculous unfold for you and before you.

Let God be true!

Allow God to prove to you that He watches over His word to perform it.

For HIS Glory!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury
A Hisstorymaker