The Person of Christ His Exaltation : The Importance of the Resurrection.

The Person of Christ His Exaltation : The Importance of the Resurrection.

Notes from H. Brash Bonsall. The person of Christ pps 148-149

1. The Resurrection declares His Deity.

Rom 1:3  who, as regards His human descent, belonged to the posterity of David,

Rom 1:4  but as regards the holiness of His Spirit was decisively proved by His Resurrection to be the Son of God--I mean concerning Jesus Christ our Lord, WNT

See the note on Act_13:33, where this subject is considered at large. The word ορισθεντος, which we render declared, comes from οριζω, to bound, define, determine, or limit, and hence our word horizon, the line that determines the farthest visible part of the earth, in reference to the heavens. In this place the word signifies such a manifest and complete exhibition of the subject as to render it indubitable. The resurrection of Christ from the dead was such a manifest proof of our Lord’s innocence, the truth of his doctrine, and the fulfillment of all that the prophets had spoken, as to leave no doubt on any considerate and candid mind.

With power - εν δυναμει, With a miraculous display of Divine energy; for, how could his body be raised again, but by the miraculous energy of God? Some apply the word here to the proof of Christ’s sonship; as if it were said that he was most manifestly declared to be the Son of God, with such powerful evidence and argument as to render the truth irresistible.

Christ Arose!!!Hallelujah

Act 13:33  that God has amply fulfilled it to our children in raising up Jesus; as it is also written in the second Psalm, 'THOU ART MY SON: TO-DAY I HAVE BECOME THY FATHER.'

Act 13:34  And as to His having raised Him from among the dead, never again to be in the position of one soon to return to decay, He speaks thus: 'I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY AND TRUSTWORTHY PROMISES MADE TO DAVID.'

Jesus said

Joh 11:25  "I am the Resurrection and the Life," said Jesus; "he who believes in me, even if he has died, he shall live;

Joh 11:26  and every one who is living and is a believer in me shall never, never die. Do you believe this?"

His resurrection proves the claim that He is ‘the Prince of Life’. Acts 3:15

b. The Resurrection accredits His Character as a Prophet and as the Messiah.

He repeated declared that he would rise from the dead.

Mat 16:21  From this time Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer much cruelty from the Elders and the High Priests and the Scribes, and be put to death, and on the third day be raised to life again.

Mat 17:9  As they were descending the mountain, Jesus laid a command upon them. "Tell no one," He said, "of the sight you have seen till the Son of Man has risen from among the dead."

Mat 12:40  For just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS IN THE SEA-MONSTER'S BELLY, so will the Son of Man be three days in the heart of the earth. Cp Ps 1:10 Acts 2:25-32

This was His Final Authentication of His Ministry and who He was.

c. The Resurrection Validates Christ’s Atoning Work.

Without the resurrection the death of Christ was only the death of a martyr.

1Co 15:13  If there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead, then Christ Himself has not risen to life.

1Co 15:14  And if Christ has not risen, it follows that what we preach is a delusion, and that your faith also is a delusion.

Christ’s death bore the stamp of Divine Approval when God raised Him from the Dead.

d. The Resurrection was necessary for His High Priestly Ministry.

In Leviticus the Blood of the Atonement sacrifice had to be sprinkled upon the Altar. Lev 1:12-19

It was necessary in the antitype that Christ should only be the Lamb which should take away the sin of the world. John 1:29

Heb 9:14  how much more certainly shall the blood of Christ, who strengthened by the eternal Spirit offered Himself to God, free from blemish, purify your consciences from lifeless works for you to serve the ever-living God?

Christ is the High Priest of the better Covenant who presented His own blood within the veil and there makes Intercession for us who approach God’s Throne. Heb 12:24; 7:25

e. The Resurrection of Christ opened ‘the new and Living Way’ into the Presence of God.

Heb 10:19  Since then, brethren, we have free access to the Holy place through the blood of Jesus,

Heb 10:20  by the new and ever-living way which He opened up for us through the rending of the veil--that is to say, of His earthly nature--

H.Brash Bonsall comments, “We may deduce that the veil of the Temple that lead into the Holiest of All was a type of His flesh, that when the veil of the Temple was rent from top to bottom as by a Divine Hand, at the same moment the veil of His flesh was torn when He died upon the cross. Matthew 27 : 50 and 51. The veil of His  Flesh, the means of our access to God,

had a resurrection making a New and Living way for us to approach the Throne of God.

f. The Resurrection was essential for the performance of His duties as Mediator of the new Covenant.

Heb 9:15  And because of this He is the negotiator(Mediator) of a new Covenant, in order that, since a life has been given in atonement for the offences committed under the first Covenant, those who have been called may receive the eternal inheritance which has been promised to them.

Heb 9:16  For where there is a legal 'will,' there must also be a death brought forward in evidence--the death of him who made it.

Heb 9:17  And a will is only of force in the case of a deceased person, being never of any avail so long as he who made it lives.

Will G1242  διαθήκη diathēkē

Thayer Definition:

1) a disposition, arrangement, of any sort, which one wishes to be valid, the last disposition which one makes of his earthly possessions after his death, a testament or will

2) a compact, a covenant, a testament

2a) God’s covenant with Noah, etc.

This renders the Hebrew berith a covenant as in the new testament

Here it is not used in the sense of a compact mutually agreed upon by two equals but rather an arrangement by one party who has all the power and which the other may accept or reject but cannot change.

Our testator, our Lord Jesus Christ, the heir to Gods riches, has left all to us. he died that His will might become effective, and rose from the dead to see that it became effectively the means of bequeathing to us His all.

The Story of the Elder Brother’s Will.

At the risk of their lives some Scottish Covenanters were once holding a worship-meeting or “conventicle” in the Highlands when a girl on her way to join them was stopped by some dragoons who demanded to know her destination.Knowing that so many lives depended

upon her answer and yet determined not to tell a lie, she combined truth with discretion with this reply,” Oh, Sirs, our Elder Brother has died, and His family are meeting together to hear His Will read, and to learn what provision is made for them in His Legacy.” They let her pass.

g. The Resurrection Provides the Pledge of our Own Resurrection.

Jesus said, “Because I live, you shall live also.” Jn 14:19

To Martha He said Joh 11:25  "I am the Resurrection and the Life," said Jesus; "he who believes in me, even if he has died, he shall live;

Joh 11:26  and every one who is living and is a believer in me shall never, never die. Do you believe this?"

When He spoke of the Vine and the Branches in Jn 15:1 He implied that They derived their spiritual life from Him, and as he should never die they too would be immortal.  See also Rom 8:11  And if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead is dwelling in you, He who raised up Christ from the dead will give Life also to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who dwells in you.

1Co 15:22  For just as through Adam all die, so also through Christ all will be made alive again.

1Co 15:23  But this will happen to each in the right order--Christ having been the first to rise, and afterwards Christ's people rising at His return.