Proving The Resurrection From The Old Testament | Easter Service | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

There are many ways to approach the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So many aspects and elements regarding it that we can commemorate and reaffirm. But as I meditating on this message and what to say on this Sunday, I trust that will be most beneficial is to consider the deep and the rich roots of this precious truth. In other words, I want us to see together in the word of God how what we just sang about this past forty five minutes, what we hold dear to, what everything really hinges on pertaining our faith is not a novel idea introduced in the New Testament. It is something that God has consistently conveyed to the world from the beginning of time.

It is a hope that has been woven throughout redemptive history culminating two thousand years ago and something that we still hold to today. And this is something that Paul, the great apostle, always alluded to, always affirmed, especially in his defense of his faith in the person of Jesus Christ. This great man of God known as Paul was charged for many things after he became a follower of the Messiah. But one of the main things that he was accused of is that he was some kind of a ringleader of this new sect that supposedly contradicted the truths of the Hebrew scriptures. But I want you to see, and I hope you have your Bible with you.

I I want you to see what Paul says in a particular place that confirms this glorious truth is something that's always been. Meet me in your Bibles in Acts 24 verse 14 as we look at Paul standing on trial before Felix, the governor at Caesarea. And I wanna encourage you. This is where we're headed today for this Easter service. There's gonna be a lot of Bible.

Because more than anything, I want all of our hearts to leave here more assured regarding the historicity of our faith, the validity, the consistent message that we hold to. And so we're gonna start here and we're going to continue. Make note of these verses. I trust that they will help you in your worship and also your defense of what we believe. Acts 24 verse 14.

Paul says, but this I confess to you that according to the way which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the law and written in the prophets, having a hope in God which these men themselves ex accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. There are three major statements that Paul makes here in his defense. Number one, he affirms that he worships the God of his fathers, the God of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the 12 tribes of Israel. He's not introducing a new God. He's confirming, I believe in the one true God, the Lord Yahweh.

Second, he also says that he holds to the entirety of the scriptures. Isn't that what he says? Believing everything laid down by the law and written in the prophets. What you and I call the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, is what Paul says he wholeheartedly believes. And combining these things, he says this final thing.

That the message of the resurrection that Paul preached, that Paul promotes was something that he came to because of his faith in the true God, and because of his belief in the sacred scriptures. So in essence, what he is saying to his accusers, these Pharisees and these Jews who were standing there hoping to condemn him, is I'm more orthodox than you are. I'm more scripturally sound than you. I'm no heretic. This comes from what God had said from the beginning.

This was transmitted down throughout the ages from these prophets and these men of God that God set apart to speak his oracles. This is a wonderful claim, but only begins here. Go to Acts 26 now. Here we find Paul standing on trial before King Agrippa. And look what he says in Acts 26 verse six.

And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope, I am accused by Jews, oh king. Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? I love this man of God. What hope is he speaking about?

What what is he trying to explain? Primarily the hope of Israel's redemption, which includes the reality of the resurrection. And again, he's reminding his opponents that God is the one who promised this glorious future. This didn't begin with him. It didn't start with Jesus the Messiah.

It didn't come from these apostles. No. It's something that stirred the nation of Israel to continually adore and worship day and night, which leads Paul again to challenge his hearers. Is not my proclamation of Jesus Christ of Nazareth raising from the dead a validation of this long standing truth that God raises the dead? Why are you so shocked?

Why does that stun you? Why does it sound like blasphemy to you? It is something that was always there. And I'm here to tell you it happened in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the firstborn of many.

And we see here that there's so much we can say, but I wanna highlight one main thing. Paul, who's defending the central theme of his message, the resurrection, is proving to us that we can actually go to the law and to the prophets and discover it there. That is so crucial for us if we are people of the book. That is so important for us if we really want substance to our faith. Because when you consider the supernatural element of this book, it's not just one piece of literature, it's 66 books that span over thousands of years and multiple different authors and even different languages, and yet there's this golden thread.

There is one voice. So here's my aim. I'm not really interested in hyping up anybody emotionally. I want all of our minds to be opened and I want our hearts as a result to burn as we see the beauty and the wisdom of God in his word. So here's what we're going to do, because the benefit of recognizing this is that it strengthens our faith.

And also, it also brings more weight to the gospel message in that if anyone were to deny it, you're not just rejecting what Jesus said. You're not just swatting away what his apostle died for. You're also denying what God has said from the beginning of time. That's significant. And I wanna prove that to you.

In Jesus' day, the Hebrew scriptures, what Christians again call the Old Testament, was divided into two main sections, the law and the prophets. But if you wanted to be more precise, there was actually three different categories. And Jesus, in that chapter that we read during the announcements, actually points to that threefold division of the Old Testament. He says it there when he says, it was written about me in the law, the prophets, and what's the last one? The Psalms.

The Psalms. Here's what's interesting, that the Hebrew Bible today, the one that Jews uphold even now is similar. It's similar in the fact that, again, what we call the Old Testament is identified perfectly in terms of the amount of books and the same content, but they call it something different. I remember being in a room filled with Jews, and there are Christians there as well. And one Christian asked a Jewish teacher something about the Old Testament, and that person, the Jewish man, interrupted right away.

He says, what's old about it? It's their Bible, and it's in our Bible as well, but they call it a Tanakh. And the Tanakh is really an acronym for the threefold division of the Old Testament. We have the first part which is the Torah, and that deals with the first five books of the Bible. We call that the Pentateuch.

And from there we have the Nevi'im, which is comprised of the oracles of the prophets. And lastly, we have the Ketuvim, which speaks of the writings. That's what it means and it contains things like the wisdom literature and the poetic books as well as some historical records. Now it's important to note that though we have the same books as our Jewish neighbors, they're organized quite differently, but that's not the main point that I wanna make. What I want to bring to your attention is how we can prove the resurrection.

And what I mean by resurrection is the glorification of these bodies. We can find that in each section of the Tanakh. It's everywhere, and I want us to see it together. And though this may seem like a daunting task, I wanna assure you that the Lord has been gracious to us because he guides us through the New Testament of what to look for and how to find it. Are we ready?

We're going to begin in seeing the resurrection in the law in the first five books of the Bible. And this isn't gonna be exhaustive. This is just a sample for you to be stirred that this book is indeed God's book. You know, this trust and this belief and this faith in the resurrection is denied by many. As you sing about it this afternoon, there are people who mock it just around us.

At your workplace. Maybe as you gather with your families, they don't see the beauty and the truth in it. But it's not something this disbelief didn't spring out of the enlightenment period or postmodernism or any kind of humanistic ideology. No. It's also ancient.

And there's a particular group in Jesus' day that vehemently despised it and denied it. They were a liberal theological camp known as the Sadducees. Very prominent individuals, very influential, but they did not hold to anything really supernatural. And on one day, they approached Jesus hoping to trap him, hoping to have him, confused and not be able to answer this hypothetical situation that they come up with. So they present this case that here's this woman whose husband died, and according to the law, that means the husband's brother had to marry her to continue his legacy.

And they imagine that she had seven husbands. And they approach Jesus and ask, whose wife will she be at the resurrection? And the Lord is brilliant. I mean, you're talking about the word who's become flesh, and you're gonna try to stump him with the word. And so now, he's going to show them how they overlooked a very important detail in what they call the scripture because, again, the Sadducees only held to the Torah, the first five books.

They didn't acknowledge any of the other ones. So what does the Lord do? He meets them at their level, and he says the following. Turn with me to Matthew 22. Let's look at verse 31.

And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God? Pause. I'm sorry. I I cannot get by this passage without always making this comment. Jesus is gonna quote the Old Testament to these Sadducees, but notice how he presents it.

He says here in verse 31, have you not read what was said to you? You know what that teaches me? That every part of God's word is meant to speak to you. Even Exodus three, which he's about to quote. Let's continue in verse 32.

I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He's not God of the dead, but of the living. And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. Jesus brilliantly references the Lord's appearance to Moses at the burning bush. And in that encounter, Jesus wants to show that the Sadducees missed a detail.

When the Lord introduces himself to Moses in this spectacular fashion, he does not say I was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. He deliberately uses the present tense, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And why that's important to note is because these patriarchs were long dead before the Lord appeared to Moses. And yet God declares that he relates to them as though they were alive, actually more alive than ever. I am their God.

I do recognize them. I do relate to them. And he would never say this about anything or anyone that no longer exists. So what we find here is that though these patriarchs have been buried in the promised land long before this, the only conclusion that we can make is that they're alive. They're alive.

They're this they're in this intermediate state. They're in the presence of God. They're again more vibrant than ever awaiting their resurrection bodies. And we know that this is true because when the Sadducees heard it, they didn't rebut. They didn't they didn't challenge him further.

They understood exactly what God was saying in that place, and they couldn't deny it. He is their God, meaning they are alive. And if that's not what Jesus is saying, then what did he mean when he said in another place? You don't have to turn there, but when he's talking about the kingdom of heaven and the culmination of the age, he tells these Jews that there are gonna be people from the East and the West that will gather and recline at table with who? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Matthew eight eleven. So how are these Gentiles who are gonna be now grafted in, how are they able to fellowship and have supper with the patriarchs unless, of course, they are alive? So this is just the beginning, but can we trace it further back? Is there anything before Exodus, in Genesis for example, where we can find this belief, this this truth vibrating in the hearts of these saints, giving them the hope, understanding what's to come, that this life, this is not the end of it. Absolutely.

And again, the New Testament is our guide. Turn with me now to Hebrews chapter 11 beginning in verse 17. This chapter is famously identified as a chapter that describes what faith looks like. And what's being highlighted here is the depth of Abraham's faith. This man had rich trust in God.

It's no wonder that he is consistently portrayed as a model of faith in God. Here's how we see it in Hebrews eleven seventeen. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son of whom it was said, through Isaac shall your offspring be named. He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead from which figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

So we know this very well that there came a critical point in Abraham's relationship with God where he was told to give up the promised son, Isaac. Surrender him. I want it to become a burnt offering. And we're being reminded here that Abraham obeyed, but that wasn't where his faith rested solely. What's being underscored here is that he believed that God, though asking him to do this, was not going to let Isaac remain dead.

And why did he believe that? Because God told him earlier in Genesis, in in chapter 17 more specifically, that through Isaac and his offspring, would Abraham's seed continue and flourish. Abraham understood the unconditional covenant that God made with him and his descendants. And so he firmly understood that though this seems like a strange request, there's something on the other side of it because God does not break his promise. What kind of faith is that?

Most of us have God asked us to do something like this would blame God for being contradicting, for being inconsistent. I thought you said that through Isaac, my seed would continue. And now you're asking me to eliminate Isaac and therefore eliminating the promise. He doesn't accuse. He is now forced to believe in something called the resurrection.

Okay. I don't make sense of this really in its entirety. So the only logical outcome is that, yes, I will sacrifice Isaac, but then God's gonna raise him from the dead. And I believe there's a measure of Abraham's own experience that lended him the faith to believe this about his son. What do I mean by that?

Scroll back to Hebrews 11 verse 12. Notice what it says. Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead. This is Abraham we're speaking about. And him as good as dead were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

Look at that description of Abraham's condition in his old age, as good as dead. This is me and my sanctified imagination now. I like to imagine that when Abraham heard the call to sacrifice his son and he woke up very early to obey, as he was making his way to that mountain that God consecrated for that sacrifice to take place, he thought the following. I have to believe that the same power that birthed Isaac, that I was as good as dead, will also bring Isaac back to life. It has to be.

And so he boldly approached that mountain, not wavering in faith, anticipating a resurrection. This is mind blowing. Now I can hear the critics. I hear you. I can hear the critics because I've talked to them.

Oh, here's yet another example of you New Testament Christians forcing your interpretation in these Hebrew texts, taking your Christ and shoving him into these stories and trying to make him to be the central theme and trying to find types and shadows? And my response would be, are you sure about that? Are you sure that there is nothing in the original account of Abraham ready to sacrifice his son Isaac believing in his resurrection? Well, let's be certain. Turn to Genesis 22, and let's look at it together.

I told you there would be a lot of bible today. Genesis 22. Let's start in verse three. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. Now if you hold the New King James version in your hand, this critical observation will be more clear. Because in verse five, it would read in your translation, stay here with the donkey.

The lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you. The same can be said in the NASB. Either way, the honest reader will acknowledge that the same point is being made with any faithful translation. What is Abraham saying? He's planning to go through with God's decree, but he wholeheartedly believes that both he and Isaac are coming back down that mountain.

We're coming back to you. How do you believe that if this son is gonna be slain? How is that possible? If he's gonna be a complete sacrifice? Well, Hebrews clarifies.

The same Holy Spirit tells us it's because he believed that God would raise him from the dead. What are you gonna do about this now? The resurrection didn't begin with the Christian movement. It's found all the way here in the heart of the father of the faith. He believed it.

Do you? He understood God's character, his ways, the extent of his power. Do you? By the way, when did Abraham say to his servants that he and Isaac would go and worship and come back together? Look again at verse four, on the third day.

Did you see it? That coincidence couldn't have been the second day, the seventh day, the twelfth day. No. On the third day, my son will come back. I love the Bible.

I'm trying to contain myself here. This is this is no ordinary book. When you consider again that Genesis was written way before, centuries before, Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. One voice. Resurrection found even there.

This is the law, but that's not the complete Tanakh. So we now come to the prophets. Where can we go in the prophets? How many places can we go in the prophets? Why don't we go to Isaiah together?

Let's travel now. Isaiah 26. A very well known passage, but it's more rich than people believe. Isaiah 26 verse 19, and I will wait for you. Please, please remember these verses.

Don't forget them. Record them. Isaiah 26 verse 19. Here's what the prophet declares. Your dead shall live.

Their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy. For your dew is a dew of light and the earth will give birth to the dead. Why don't we just close our Bibles and say hallelujah amen and go on. However, it's a bad habit to pluck any verse, any place in the Bible, and to derive your interpretation in isolation.

If you wanna be a serious student of the Bible, if you wanna be taken seriously by others, always honor the context of any verse. So here's the question. Why is Isaiah saying this here and now? And here's what you'll discover, that this is actually more of a metaphor for the reviving of national and political Israel. That after all the devastation that they've experienced at this time, the prophet wants to comfort them that they have a bright future.

They will be revived. And he's offering symbolic imagery here. Your dead shall come to life. You will rise from the dust. So again, this is to say something about the national entity of the Jewish people.

And that becomes more clear when you realize that what Isaiah says in this verse contrast the fate of the neighboring enemies of Israel. So look back here now at verse 13 in Isaiah 26. What does he say about Israel's foes? They are dead. They will not live.

They are shades. They will not rise. To that end, you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them. So by way of comparison, the enemies of Israel who have harassed and oppressed God's people will die. They will cease to exist, and it will be permanent.

There is no future transformation. There is no fruit. There is no hope for tomorrow. You will be decimated for good. And as you just read, then he comes to the people of God, says, no.

No. No. No. But for you, there will be a resurrection. Okay.

Great. So this deals with a historical period and there's poetic imagery to portray Israel's reviving, so we can't really use this in our doctrine. Hold on. There is still a clear indication of a literal, individual, bodily resurrection in this passage, especially when you look at the surrounding apocalyptic literature in its context. So let me give you an example.

We're in Isaiah 26. Right? There was no chapter numbers or verse numbers in the original scrolls. That came much later to help us. So look at Isaiah 25 and notice what's being said here in Isaiah 25 verse six.

A close neighbor to this passage in Isaiah 26. Isaiah 25 verse six. The same prophet says, on this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations, he will swallow up death forever. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

What do we have in view here? A universal shift to a universal problem. The conquering of death, and it's not just for Israel and you can't make it seem metaphorical. It's not just a prophecy about this particular group. No.

Look again at the language. The covering that casts over all peoples, over all nations, wipe away tears from all faces. So what is here being prophesied is that there will be the Lord who on this mountain so that that points to some kind of manifest power of God in our realm. The Lord on this mountain, that is the Mountain Of Jerusalem. He's gonna do something at that point.

He's going to cancel death. He's going to defeat death. He's going to erase death, And it will be the cause of global celebration. And as he wipes away all our sorrows forever and ever. So again, this is a real prophecy about a real victory over a real death and real people will benefit from it.

So let's take a breath here. Right? What makes us even more profound is that this is what Paul quotes when he makes a defense for the resurrection in that famous passage in first Corinthians 15. I I just encourage you to take a deep breath in and just hear these words because it comes from Isaiah 25. Listen to what Paul says in first Corinthians fifteen fifty four.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Where did that come from? Paul's head? Isaiah 25. How will life after death be possible?

How will there be this ability to remain with God uninterrupted without the fear of any cessation of existence. You ready for this? We're told in the same book. The same book of Isaiah, we are told that there will be the death of one individual and through his resurrection, this resurrection will be possible. Isaiah 53.

Can I say something here? Again I'm trying to contain myself. If you are a person in this place that really takes serious your faith, if you wanna enrich your understanding, if you wanna be more effective in proclaiming and proving what you believe, can I offer a word of advice? Master Isaiah 53. Don't even just memorize it.

Master it. Because if you really unpack line by line what Isaiah says seven hundred years before Christ, it will blow your mind. I mean, just reading it. We read it on Friday. Just reading it is astounding.

And perhaps some of you have seen this clip online where Messianic Jews made their way to Jerusalem and met with Orthodox Jews, and secular Jews, and reformed Jews, and simply read Isaiah 53 without telling them where it came from. And what you find there is consistently that people, the Jewish people who were being interviewed denied it. Some saying that's in the New Testament only to be shocked when they were told it's Isaiah 53. It's an incredible prophecy. I actually believe that, again, remember chapter divisions and verse numbers were not original.

I believe Isaiah 53 should have began in Isaiah 52, the last part of it. Can I give you an example? I failed. I couldn't contain myself. I'm sorry.

Let me give you an example. I wanna stir your heart to be mighty in the scriptures. Isaiah 52. Look at verse 13. This is where I believe the prophecy of the suffering servant should begin.

Look at this. We're just gonna deal with the first line. Behold my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. Hold on.

I read through Isaiah. I've read it multiple times. And here's what I learned, that that phrase high and lifted up is exclusive to the Lord. That awesome status and position purely belongs to God in the book of Isaiah. Let me give an example.

Isaiah six one. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated high and lifted up. Isaiah 57 verse 15, thus says the one who is high and lifted up. And then now I come to Isaiah 52 and I read about a servant, which many who do not believe in Jesus claim is Israel the nation. Okay.

Let's go with that. Israel the nation will be high and lifted up. Whoever the servant is, you have to admit that they will be exalted to a position and they will share a prerogative that belongs to God alone. Listen. You don't just have a prophecy here of the Messiah, you have a prophecy here about the divinity of the Messiah.

Because whoever the servant is, he will share a seat with Yahweh. Okay guys. That that's just the first line. That's just the first line. We didn't even get to Isaiah 53 yet.

Be stirred. This is what God has given us as a gift to be assured in our faith, to proclaim it boldly no matter who says what. Now let's come to Isaiah 53. Let's look at one place, verse 10. Again, what are we doing here?

We're showing how the resurrection is found in the Old Testament, the Tanakh. We covered the law briefly. Now we come to the prophets. Let's deal with this passage. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.

He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Well, I've been talking about our Jewish friends a lot.

Let me speak about our Muslim neighbors now. Our Muslim neighbors often point to this passage and attempt to convince Christians that it's not about Jesus. Why? Because if you think Isaiah 53 is about Jesus, then you also have to admit that Jesus had kids. Where are they getting that from?

Well, again, look again at Isaiah 53 verse 10, the second part, he shall see his offspring. Oh, so the Messiah had children. Do you believe Jesus produced children? Did he have an earthly family? Of course he didn't.

Now if you really want to get technical, in the Hebrew when it says he shall see his offspring, the word his isn't there. So it more literally reads, he shall see offspring. But even if you wanna just avoid that route and deal with this directly and understand that this is in fact speaking about the Messiah's offspring, it's so evident that he's speaking about a spiritual offspring. In the same way, the word seed or offspring is used throughout the book of Isaiah to denote the offspring of the wicked. A sinner producing a sinner alike.

We don't have time to get there, but it's all over the book of Isaiah. So in the same way that an unrighteous man is able to produce unrighteousness in a spiritual sense, so we have here that there is something about the Messiah and what he does that will bring forth a new breed of righteous people. He shall see his offspring. This is a promise that through the agonizing, substitutionary, and vicarious death of the Messiah, there will be a new family. There will be a new people.

There will be a new breed who will not be righteous by their own merit, but who will be made holy because of the efforts of the Messiah. It's so plain. Just read the next verse. Look at verse 11, Isaiah 53. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied.

By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be counted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. So what do we see here? What does this have to do with resurrection? It's very obvious. In the very same passage that people point to to make you doubt that Jesus was predicted and prophesied about actually teaches about the fact that he resurrected.

Let me give you just a simple observation. After being told before Isaiah fifty three ten that he will be cut out from the land of the living, that he'll be offered up as a guilt offering, which according to the law means death, that his grave will be made with the wicked. After all this language, being pierced unto death, being crushed to death, what does it say? He shall see his offspring. Last time I checked, after you die, you don't see anything.

Apparently, he's gonna see. He's gonna see the fruit of his sacrifice. Doesn't even end there. What does he say next? Moreover, he shall prolong his days.

I thought your days were cut off. I thought you ceased to live. I thought you were put to death. Yes. But after that, this is this is chronological, after that there will be an extension of his life.

He will continue to live. Is there anything else in this one verse alone? Yes. Look at the end of verse 10. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Implying that there is something else that this suffering servant will accomplish after his death. How can my hand do anything unless it is animated with life? And so there's still more for Messiah to do and we learn about it, he's going to intercede for transgressors. So clearly, there's only one logical conclusion. That this one who does lay down his life, who does become a sin bearing sacrifice for many will live again.

He will live again. Who said that? Peter? Who said that? John?

Who said that? The pastor of Maranatha Bible Church? Isaiah the prophet. Seven hundred years before the life of Christ. That's why Isaiah is known as the fifth gospel.

Reeling in all this together, here's the message in Isaiah. The Messiah's personal defeat over sin will conquer death forever, and it will justify others who are belonging to him. Just the surface of finding the resurrection in the prophets. Let's come finally now to the writings, the last part of the Old Testament. Daniel chapter 12.

Did you know that in the Tanakh, the book of Daniel is not placed under the prophets, but with the Ketuvim, the writings? I can explain why, but I don't wanna keep you too long. We could go to the Psalms. We can go to Job. There's so many things in the writings that point to the resurrection.

Why am I going to Daniel? I'm going to Daniel because it brings us full circle to our original verse when we open up this message. When Paul was defending his faith in the resurrection, he alludes to what Daniel says in Daniel 12 verse two. Let's read it. It's what the prophet Daniel says.

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. I wanna end a little differently here. I'm fully aware that there are some, maybe even many, who are listening to this message and you don't believe not just what I have to say here, you don't believe anything that the Bible has to say. And if you have survived the sermon to this point, I wanna tell you something that might pique your interest. That whether you believe in it or not, the Lord speaks about you.

Yes. Even if you don't believe in this truth, even if you don't believe in God, you reject Jesus, you wanna live your own life, you're the you're the master of your faith, you're the captain of your soul. Can I tell you that the Bible anticipated you? Can't be said more clearly than what Daniel says here that there will be those who will, yes, be raised to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. The Bible tells us why there will be some who will be raised to everlasting contempt.

It anticipates again that there will be those who will deny God, deny his provision of eternal life and live their way. The Bible wants to tell you that there is a cost to that decision. And I wanna say something that most would hesitate to say for an Easter message. But I'm aware that you may never hear it at another place. You may not hear it from another person.

What this book teaches is that there is a real heaven and there is a real hell. And every single person will spend eternity in one of those two places. That's it. It's as simple as that. You're not a bag of skin stuffed with meat.

You're an immortal soul that's been created in the image of God and He made you to walk with Him. But our first parents made the decision to walk away from Him because love has choice in it. And the choice of our parents and we follow in their direction is to ignore God, blaspheme God, enjoy what he hates, break his law. And on top of that you have some who deny his existence, reject his creative work, separate themselves from anything that is righteous and pure and good. Let me be the one to tell you that you have been made by God and you've been made for God.

But again, He gives you the choice because sin separates us from God and He was the one who initiated reconciliation with Him. But He couldn't just sweep our our sin underneath a rug. He couldn't just ignore it because as much as He is love, He is holy, He is true, he is just. And so he came with a plan. Paul calls it the wisdom of God.

He came up with a plan in order to extend his love and yet at the same time satisfy his justice. The second person of the Trinity enters into the world, takes on flesh, and he pays our debt. And he does that by dying on the cross, absorbing the wrath of God that was over your head and mine. He's buried. He raises from the grave and that resurrection is God's amen that he approved that payment.

All for what? So that you, a debtor, you, a sinner, you, condemned, you, guilty, would acknowledge it and receive that free gift of salvation and be saved? How can I know with absolute assurance that what Daniel prophesies here will not be my portion? How can I transition from everlasting contempt to everlasting life? How can I know that when I give my final breath, how can I know that even if I'm surprised by death that the next step I will take will be in the presence of God?

Will be in the arms of a loving creator? Let me tell you what Jesus says to you. Here's what Jesus says to you in John eleven twenty five. I am the resurrection of life. Whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live.

The way you can know that you will have resurrection unto life is by embracing the Lord Jesus Christ. By understanding his love for you. By understanding what he laid aside. Again, I I gave that very faint picture of what it must have been like for Christ to return in glory in flesh. But what was it like when he removed his glory to enter into this world as flesh?

What did those creatures see? How do they converse among themselves? How do they try to ratify it and justify it and explain it? That this God chooses to come into this world that he created. This world that spat in his face and denied him, and turned their back on him, and yet he is reaching for them to bring them back to himself.

How can this be? Just restart. Change the whole thing. Start from square one. The throbbing love of God for him to come and to reach out to us.

So here's what you're hearing on this Sunday afternoon. God's hand even today because he commanded men to go and preach the gospel to all nations. Here's the message, God's hand is extended out to you. What will you do with it? Will you ignore it?

Will you slap it away? Will you come up with your own terms and shake his hand on a premise that he did not propose? Here's what he asks of you. Repent. Turn from your sins and embrace his forgiveness for your life.

And in the moment that you genuinely turn, not from God, you turn from your sins, and you believe on him, in that very second you'll be justified before God. Just as you have never sinned, you will be redeemed, you'll be cleansed, and your name will be written in the Lamb's book of life. And not only do you have somebody to look forward to after this life, but you can walk with your God in this life and enjoy him until it climaxes where you see him and you get to be with him and his people forever because death is swallowed up in victory. Praise God. Let's pray.

Indeed, lord, we have feasted on your word today. And though there may be some who deny the validity of these truth claims, I trust that there is not one person who can deny that it is consistent in your word. That at various stages in history, you have hinted at, you have made known, you have revealed that you will defeat death. And those who place their trust and their faith in your son will also defeat death. And so, Lord, today, as your word went forth, we ask that you would do what no man can do, and that is to convict and change hearts.

And, Lord, for those who have been redeemed and who are here celebrating what happened to their lives because of what you've done, we've now come to celebrate you in this final moment. Receive glory, Lord. Help us never forget the richness of this treasure that you have made available to us. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand.

He's in the law. He's in the prophets. He's in the writings. He's everywhere. He's the theme of the Bible.

He's the theme of the universe, and he is our king.