GOD’S AMAZING PLAN OF SALVATION

What It Took To Save Us

BY KEITH DORRICOTT

Copyright © Keith Dorricott 2013

First Edition

Scripture (except where otherwise noted) taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960 (NASB), 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

NKJV - The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

NIV - The Holy Bible, New International Version ® Copyright © 1973,1978,1984 by the International Bible Society.

Canadian spelling used in the text, except for Scripture quotations.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: HOW GOD PREPARED FOR BETHLEHEM IN EDEN

CHAPTER 2: WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DARKNESS OF CALVARY

CHAPTER 3: HOW DO WE KNOW THAT JESUS IS ALIVE?

OTHER TITLES FROM KEITH DORRICOTT

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS!

1.        Is There A Greater Display of God’s Glory Than Creation?

2.       Who Was The Focal Point of God’s Creation?

3.       How Was The Creation Of Mankind Unique?

4.      What Went Wrong?

5.       What Were The Consequences of Adam’s Sin?

6.       How Was Salvation First Introduced?

7.       Are We Sinners Because We Sin - Or Do We Sin Because We Are Sinners?

8.      What Does History Prove?

9.       What Is Needed?

10.    How Did The Incarnation Meet These Requirements?

11.     Was Christ Sinless As A Man?

12.    How Did God Design Us To Make Our Salvation Possible?

13.    How Was The Birth Of Christ Unique?

14.   How Low Did Christ Come?

15.    Why Was The Life of Christ Necessary?

16.    Was It Enough?

17.    What Remained to be Done?

18.   What was the Purpose of Christ’s Trial Proceedings?

19.    Was Justice Done?

20.   Why was Crucifixion Necessary?

21.    What Must The Atonement Involve?

22.   How Did Calvary Accomplish All This?

23.   What Happened In The Darkness?

24.  Why Was Resurrection Necessary?

25.   Why is There Still Sin & Death?

26.   What is “The Double Cure”?

27.   If Christ Died for All, Why Are Not All Saved?

28.  What Evidence Is There For The Resurrection Of Christ?

29.   What if Jesus were Not Alive Today?

1. How God Prepared for Bethlehem in Eden

Was the coming of a Saviour at Bethlehem just God’s reaction to an accident that happened in the Garden of Eden? Or was it the other way round? Did God in fact determine what would happen in Eden to allow for the birth at Bethlehem? Was God adjusting to circumstances as they occurred—or had He designed the whole thing perfectly from the beginning?

We know from the Bible that Adam and Eve were real people, and the Garden of Eden was a real place. What happened there affected all mankind for the rest of human history. But what really was the result of “the fall of man”? And how did God’s plan of salvation totally and perfectly deal with it in the coming of His own Son to earth as a human?

Why did Christ have to come as a baby, and not just as a full grown man? Why was He born at that point in history? Why was He conceived by a virgin, and how can that happen? How in fact was there absolutely no other way for God to save us than what actually happened at the coming of Christ?

Is There A Greater Display of God’s Glory Than Creation?

In this universe around us, God is speaking to us constantly—revealing His greatness. But there is an even greater display of the glory of God; it is seen in His amazing plan of salvation for humanity—to restore mankind to Himself despite the devastating effects of evil in this world.

Just as the glory of a light is seen better when it is shining in the darkness, so the glory of goodness is seen better in contrast with evil. God did not create evil for this purpose—in fact He did not create evil at all. He created choice in His creatures, so that they might choose the good. But it is God’s own prerogative to bring good out of evil, to bring restoration from despair and depravity. And so, when His creatures chose independent action and fell into sin, God put into effect His great plan of salvation to restore mankind to Himself - so that His great purpose in creating them would be fulfilled. And in doing so He gave us the greatest revelation of divine glory.

C. S. Lewis said “It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things; but to convert rebellious wills cost Him crucifixion.”

Who Was The Focal Point of God’s Creation?

God created three distinct levels of living beings—very different from each other, and with very different purposes. Firstly He made angels, those innumerable mighty beings who serve Him and execute His every command. (“Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.” Psalm 104:4). And, although they are the mightiest of God’s created beings, they are not the focus of His eternal purpose. He made them able to sin (and many of them did rebel), but He did not make them able to be saved. (“He does not give aid to angels” Hebrews 2:16). They were not made that way.

Secondly, He created all manner of animals. (“God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind.” Genesis 1:25) But animals are just physical beings, without the ability to relate to God, and His purposes do not centre on them.

Finally, God created His crowning work—man—lower than the angels, but in His own image. Man was not made as a spirit being, as angels are, nor just as a physical being, as animals are; man was made a living soul, having also a body and a spirit. Unlike the angels which were all created at one time as separate beings, the human race began with a single man and developed by means of procreation over the generations.

How Was The Creation Of Mankind Unique?

The formation of man and woman followed a specific design which was necessary for man’s eventual salvation:

1.        “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7). From already created material, God formed man’s physical body. He then animated it with His own life (spirit). And the result was a new creation—a living soul—mind, emotions and will.

2.       “The rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.” (Genesis 2: 22-23). Woman was not a distinct creation, but was formed from the man. However they were not intended to live separately.

3.       “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24). God provided the institution of marriage so that man and woman could be united, and thereby be complete together.

4.      (4)              “God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). The union between man and woman would result in offspring, by which the world would be populated. And so all human beings would derive from the first pair. There are not different races of mankind; we are all one race—the human race. Any discrimination between “races” is wrongly based. (“He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.” Acts 17:26). All four of these elements occurred before sin.

What Went Wrong?

How did evil originate? Not with the human race, but with the angels. Lucifer, the greatest of them, and his followers rebelled. He became “Satan”, the adversary. Jesus said “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). He had no opportunity to repent, and so he made it his mission to corrupt the human race to undermine God’s great purposes, because he knew those purposes centered on them.

And so Satan appeared in the Garden of Eden in the form of a serpent, the most advanced animal creature at that time. He deceived the woman in the only test that God had given them, to not eat of the forbidden tree. She ate it and gave it to her husband, and he ate it. Eve was deceived, but Adam’s act was a conscious deliberate choice. And by that one offense, that single act of disobedience, not only did Adam become a sinner, but he brought sin on the entire human race who would descend from him. (“By one man’s offense, many died.” Romans 5:15.)

What Were The Consequences of Adam’s Sin?

God had said “In the day you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Did Adam in fact die that day? Three chapters later we read: “All the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.”  (Genesis 5:5). What happened that day is that Adam became mortal; his eventual death became inevitable, even though it didn’t take place for 930 years. Death was not part of God’s original design for man; it came in later as an intrusion, an enemy.

But Adam also experienced another death that day. Death is separation from the source of life. When the body is separated from the spirit it dies (James 2:26). Similarly, when a person is cut off from God, he dies spiritually. And that is what happened to Adam and Eve that day.  (“The LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden” Genesis 3:23.) And so there are two types of death—physical and spiritual.

But something else happened. There was introduced into the bodies of Adam and Eve an element that would be transmitted to every one of their offspring—the power of sin. Later the apostle Paul called it “the law of sin which is in my members” (Romans 7:23). It is that characteristic that makes the committing of sins inevitable.

There were other consequences. The creation was cursed, held in bondage of corruption (Romans 8:21). The serpent was cursed, being transformed from the highest to the lowest of creatures. Eve was cursed; her unique privilege of childbirth was made a painful and troublesome experience, and her relationship with her husband was altered. And Adam himself was cursed—condemned to work hard for his living in a cursed earth, and doomed to eventual death.

How Was Salvation First Introduced?

Immediately God launched His great plan of salvation, to remedy what had just happened. He provided an immediate temporary solution, an animal sacrifice—perhaps the first ever death that had taken place. (“For Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21.) And so from the outset we are introduced to the principle of sacrifice—that sin requires offsetting payment, and also to the principle of substitution—that God will accept a satisfactory substitute, in order to spare the sinner.

God also promised the eventual permanent solution to sin, because no animal blood could atone for human sin. It only allowed God to postpone His judgment on sin until the permanent sacrifice could be provided. And so He gave notice in the words spoken to the serpent (Satan) in Eden: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise [crush] your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:15).

Are We Sinners Because We Sin - Or Do We Sin Because We Are Sinners?

The answer to this question for Adam and Eve was that they became sinners because they sinned, by taking the forbidden fruit. But for the rest of us the answer is different. We are born sinners, we inherit the sin factor in our bodies, which makes sinful actions inevitable in our lives.  And so, just as there are two types of death to be dealt with in our salvation, so there are two parts to the sin problem. Not only do we commit sins, which separate us from God and make us guilty before Him, but we also have sin - we are sinners - which causes us to commit sins and makes us mortal. Even little infants sometimes die, not because they have committed sins for which they are accountable, but because they are sinners. Despite how innocent they appear, they have inherited a sinful nature.

Romans 5:12 explains: “through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned”. Through Adam’s sin we have all become sinners.

What Does History Prove?

About four thousand years of human history occurred from the Garden of Eden to the coming of Christ. And it all proved conclusively this fact—that mankind is utterly incapable of saving himself.

First there was a period of innocence in the garden. It ended with disobedience and the fall of man. Then there was the period when mankind had a conscience, an inner sense of right and wrong. That ended with God having to destroy the world with a flood. Then God gave the basis of human government, but that ended with the judgment of God at the tower of Babel. Then God began again with one man, Abraham, and gave him great promises. But the descendants of Abraham ended up in slavery in a heathen country, Egypt. Finally God called His people Israel out of Egypt and gave them a special revelation of Himself. He gave them His law and His covenant, and lived among them in a tabernacle and then in a temple. How did that turn out? Things went from bad to worse, and culminated in them rejecting and crucifying their Messiah when He came. In every case the result was the same—futility.

Romans 3:23 sums it up this way: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. And Galatians 3:22 states: “the Scripture has confined all under sin”. The indictment is universal; there are no exemptions, no exceptions. And while this is very bad news - every one of us is headed for the dire judgment of God unless salvation intervenes - it is good news also. Because the verse goes on to say:  “that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe”. By being included in the indictment, we become eligible for the salvation that Christ obtained, simply by means of our faith in Him. If we are not prepared to accept God’s indictment of us as sinners, we will not be prepared to accept the salvation He offers in Christ, and so we will remain destined for the certain future judgment of God.

What Is Needed?

And so we have this great predicament—we badly need saving, and yet we are unable to save ourselves. What was required to deal conclusively with the problem of human sin was: “A sufficient substitutionary sacrifice provided by God.” Every element of this prescription is essential.

1.        Why a sacrifice? Because sin must be fully paid for. God’s plan of salvation must not exhibit His mercy at the expense of His justice. God is a just God. His law in the Old Testament expressed it: “an eye for an eye...a life for a life”. God cannot just overlook sin. The price must be paid in full.

2.       Why a substitute? Because otherwise the sacrifice for the sin would destroy the very sinner God wishes to save. God’s purpose is to restore mankind to Himself, to fulfill the purpose for which He made us. If the only remedy was to sacrifice those who had sinned, it would destroy us all in the process. And so He is prepared to accept a substitute—if it is sufficient.

3.       Why must God Himself provide it? Because, as we have seen, man is incapable of saving himself. Only God can do it, and in this way God Himself receives the glory. None of us can boast or take the credit for ourselves.

4.      Why must it be “sufficient”? So that it need never be repeated. A temporary or partial remedy will not do. It must deal once and for all with the entire problem of sin and all its consequences.

5.       What would be sufficient? The sacrifice must be human (only a human can atone for human sin); it must be sinless (or else it would need saving itself); and it must be willing (not coerced, to show the love of God as well as His ability). To be sinless, this saviour must be free of both types of sin - (1) be without inherited sin; and (2) not commit a single sin.

As we apply each of these mandatory requirements, the range of possibilities narrows until it becomes clear that there was only one possible solution — and only one possible Saviour.

How Did The Incarnation Meet These Requirements?

“When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4).

The coming of Christ as a baby at Bethlehem was a direct intervention by God to bring us salvation. It was His provision of the one and only possible saviour for the human race. If it failed in any respect, there was no other plan. And so, just how did the coming of Christ at His incarnation meet these requirements?

1.        He was provided by God. “The Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world.” (1 John 4:14) Not only was it God who provided the saviour, the saviour He provided was God—His own Son. God Himself would be the Saviour.

2.       He was human. “Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). The mystery is that God Himself, without surrendering any aspect of His deity (which would have been impossible), actually took on humanity—not just the appearance of it. He became part of the human race, biologically related to us.

3.       He was willing. “When He came into the world, He said: ...a body You have prepared for Me...behold, I have come...to do your will, O God.” (Hebrews 10:5-7). A wonderful thing about the coming of Christ into our world is that, despite knowing the terrible ordeal it would be for Him, He came willingly. He didn’t have to do it—but He did.

4.      He was sinless—in both respects, as we will now see.

Was Christ Sinless As A Man?

The apostle Peter, who knew Him well, said: “Christ...committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:21-22). For 33 years, there was not one sinful thought or word or action. On one occasion Jesus said to the Jews who challenged Him: “Which one of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46). None of them could. He was free of committed sin.

But could Christ have sinned as a man? We know He was tempted in every way like we are (Hebrews 4:15). We sin when we are tempted, when the temptation appeals to the lust of our flesh, the power of sin within us. In Judas’ case it was greed. He was a thief, and Satan succeeded in tempting him to betray Jesus by offering him money. But with Christ there was nothing in Him to appeal to. He said: “The ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.” (John 14:30). He was “dead to sin”, and there can be no response from a corpse.

Christ also did not have inherited sin. As the apostle John, who also knew Him very well, said: “In Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). And so, since He was not a sinner, by act or nature, He did not need to die. His death on Calvary was by choice.

Which leaves us with this perplexing question: If sin is transmitted from one generation to another, how could Christ have been born human without sin? If all humans are born sinners, how could Christ be truly human and yet not be a sinner? This leads us to consider the wonder of God’s original design of the human family, back before Eden, in such a way as to make this salvation possible.

How Did God Design Us To Make Our Salvation Possible?

1.        Man must be uniquely created in the image of God—so that later God could take on his humanity.

2.       Man must be a physical being (unlike the angels who were all created separately and simultaneously as spirit beings). In this way all human beings are related to each other biologically.

3.       All mankind must originate from one person, so as to be a single race. In this way, sin in the first man would be transmitted to all, but one Saviour from within that race could save all.

4.      The first woman must come from the first man (to be of the one human race), and yet be separated from the man before sin occurred. In this way her seed (her reproductive cells) could be kept separate, while she herself became a sinner. (Geneticists now know that the reproductive cells of a female fetus are separated very early in the process, and are kept protected from the other body cells.)

5.       The human race must emerge through successive generations of procreation, by the union of the seed of the man (which contains the sin factor) and the seed of the woman (which does not). Thus sin is transmitted through the father.

6.       Lastly, the one exceptional case, the conception of the Saviour, must involve a woman (so that He is entirely human - “the seed of the woman”, as promised in Genesis 3:15), but not a man. And so we have the necessity of a virgin birth.

How Was The Birth Of Christ Unique?

The incarnation of Christ was a special creation by God. Firstly, at the conception in Galilee, Mary was told: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35). The conception of the body of Christ involved the operation of the divine Spirit on the womb of Mary, to produce a truly human body to house the Son of God in His humanity at His subsequent birth in Bethlehem. (“A body You have prepared for Me...then I said, Behold, I have come”. Hebrews 10:5-7.)

Christ was both fully God (“In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” Colossians 2:9) and fully man (“As the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same” Hebrews 2:14). There was nothing lacking of His deity, or of His humanity. He was truly unique.

He gave evidence of His deity in [a] the miracles He performed (John 2:11; 5:36), [b]) by forgiving sins, which is the prerogative of God (Luke 5:21, 24) and [c] by accepting worship, which would have been idolatrous if He were not God (John 9:38).

He gave evidence of His humanity by His bodily weakness (John 4:6). Hebrews 2:17 tells us: “In all things He had to be made like His brethren”. It is utterly amazing that the eternal Son of God would be ‘made’ to be anything that He was not before - and all for the purpose of our salvation. The one who “upholds all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3) confined Himself as a helpless infant in a manger in Bethlehem.

And the wonder is: He is still incarnate! He did not take on a body just temporarily. He still has a body, which is glorious, and one day our bodies will be changed to be like it (Philippians 3:21). And so there is a man in heaven today with a body. He represents us there. And His presence there is what gives us a right to heaven also.

How Low Did Christ Come?

Christ was not only made lower than the angels, but He became the lowest of men...

         He became like an indentured slave—with no rights of His own. He “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself” (Philippians 2:7-8).

         He made Himself abjectly poor, with no possessions of His own. “Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

         He was without human dignity or respect. “I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” (Psalm 22:6).

C. S. Lewis said that for the Son of God to become a man is like us becoming a slug.

Why Was The Life of Christ Necessary?

If Christ came to die, to be the perfect sacrifice, why did He first have to live a life of about thirty-three years?

1.        His perfection had to be demonstrated to the world. His immunity from the corruption in this world had to be demonstrated, for Him to be the sinless sacrifice. So that He would be “in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)

2.       His perfection as a man had to be attested to by His Father, to qualify Him to be the acceptable sacrifice. Just as the Passover lamb had to be without blemish when it was first taken, and also before it was killed four days later, so Christ must be as sinless at the end of His life as at the beginning. Twice, once at the start of His public ministry and once at the end of it, His Father (who sees the heart) attested to this. He declared from heaven “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. (Matthew 3:17; 2 Peter 1:17).

3.       He had to give all of us an example of what a perfect human life was like. Of how to serve others (John 13:15), of how to endure suffering (1 Peter 2:21), of how to resist temptation (Luke 4:4). It is all too easy to dismiss these situations by saying “but He was the Son of God”, whereas Christ did not use divine power to deal with them. He did so as a man, showing us how we might do the same by the power of God.

Was It Enough?

The life of Christ, perfect though it was, was not sufficient to deal with sin and its consequences. When Christ said to His Father in John 17:4: “I have finished the work you have given me to do”, there was still Calvary to accomplish. But everything was now ready for that final twenty-four hours, when He must become the one substitutionary sacrifice, when He must accomplish atonement for all sin.

2. What Happened in the Darkness of Calvary?

The death of Christ on Calvary almost 2,000 years ago seemed to be a defeat. He was a young man in His thirties, but His enemies captured Him, sentenced Him to death and had Him executed, all within 24 hours. And that was the end of His threat to their authority - or so they thought.

And yet every detail of the death of Christ on the cross was absolutely necessary. It was all part of God’s amazing plan for our salvation - and it had to be carried out without the slightest deviation. Who really was in control when Christ was on the cross?

Why was Christ crucified, when the Jewish method of execution was stoning? Why did the Jews want Him to be crucified when they knew His death would take several days, and yet they had to have Him off the cross by 6 o’clock that evening? Why did God bring down a thick darkness for three hours in the middle of the day? How did Christ’s death actually accomplish victory? And how exactly did He atone for your sins and for mine?

There is a lot we do not know about the death of Christ and what it accomplished. But there is a lot that we can know. And if we have a believing heart, it will cause us to just want to bow down and praise and exalt our great God who went to such lengths to save us.

What Remained to be Done?

The incarnation and life of the Son of God as a man on earth demonstrated that He fully met many of the essential requirements that we have identified in order to be the Saviour of the human race. He: (1) was provided by God (and was Himself God), (2) took on full humanity by His birth as “the seed of the woman”, (3) came willingly to accomplish the work of redemption, and (4) was utterly sinless, free of both inherited sin (through the virgin birth), and committed sin in His lifetime, despite living in a defiled world.

What else remained in order for Him to be the satisfactory substitute?  It was this, and it was the greatest requirement of all, He must sacrifice Himself. This required the great work of atonement (reconciliation to God) on Calvary.

What was the Purpose of Christ’s Trial Proceedings?

Christ was taken before the highest Jewish religious court, the Sanhedrin, and then before the highest political power in the world at that time, the Romans, under the local governor Pontius Pilate. “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.” (Acts 4:27-28).

The objective of the Jewish leaders was to have Him executed, because they were envious of Him (Matthew 27:18) and thought He posed a threat to their power and position. They needed to have Him convicted of blasphemy, which required the death penalty under their law. But they had lost the power to execute the death penalty to the occupying Roman forces - so they had to convince the Roman governor that He was worthy of the death penalty, by being convicted by the Romans of treason. The Romans only used the cruel ultimate penalty of crucifixion on slaves or on citizens guilty of treason. It was considered the worst crime of all.

On the other hand, God’s purpose in these legal proceedings was that Christ be declared by these two governing powers to be in fact completely innocent, while they themselves would reveal their utter depravity by sentencing Him to death anyway. And that is just what happened.

In the case of the Jewish trial, they resorted to false witnesses to try to get a conviction. Yet the Jewish council found Him guilty of blasphemy because He acknowledged that He was indeed the Messiah, the Son of God (without in fact using those words): “The high priest answered and said to Him, "I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!" Jesus said to him, "It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! What do you think?" They answered and said, "He is deserving of death”. (Matthew 26:63-66).

Then, in turn, at the Roman trial, three times Pilate declared Him “not guilty” (John 18:38; 14:6,8). Yet Pilate bowed to the pressure of being considered disloyal to Caesar: “The Jews cried out, saying, ‘If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar’...then he delivered Him to them to be crucified.” (John 19:12-16).

Was Justice Done?

Both of these trials were a travesty of justice, dominated by political motives. The Jewish trial, in fact, violated ten distinct rules of Jewish justice (as documented later in their Mishnah), as follows:

1.        No capital case could be tried at night.

2.       Sentence could not be passed on the same day as the trial.

3.       No sentence of death could be passed, or carried out, on a holy day.

4.      The death sentence could only be pronounced in the privacy of the temple inner chamber.

5.       No unanimous verdict was permitted; witnesses in favour of the defendant must be found.

6.       Witnesses found to be false must suffer the same punishment as the crime required (based on Deuteronomy 19:15-19).

7.       Accusations of blasphemy must be based on the explicit use of the name “Jehovah”.

8.      The penalty for blasphemy must be stoning (based on Leviticus 24:16).

9.       The same people could not be both prosecutor and judge. The Pharisees & Saducees should have withdrawn themselves from trying the case, as they were also the prosecutors.

10.    A condemned man could not be scourged before death. If he were scourged, he could not then be put to death.

Despite all these violations, which rendered it a complete mis-trial by their own standards, the Jewish leaders were careful to observe the letter of the law by: (a) refusing to enter the Roman Praetorium on a high day, and by (b) requiring the crucified bodies to be removed before sundown and the start of the Sabbath day.

Why was Crucifixion Necessary?

Crucifixion was not uniquely a Roman method of torture and death, although they were its leading proponents. Had the Jews been in control of their own nation at that point in history, crucifixion would not have been the prescribed manner of death. And yet, in the purposes of God, it was arranged to be so, for several reasons:

1.        Old Testament prophecies required that the Messiah be pierced (Zechariah 12:10), and none of His bones could be broken, as they would be in stoning (Psalm 34:19-20).

2.       Also, He must be raised up in death so that the Old Testament illustration of the serpent of brass in the wilderness would be fulfilled: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14).

3.       Christ must die in the manner He Himself had foretold. (“I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself. This He said, signifying by what death He would die.” John 12:32-33.)

4.      His blood must be poured out as evidence of His life having been given. A bloodless death would have been inadequate. (“Without shedding of blood there is no remission” Hebrews 9:22; “when I see the blood, I will pass over you” Exodus 12:13). This requirement was met by the blood that poured from His side after His death as a result of the spear wound. It showed he was dead.

5.       He must be cursed under the law of God by being hung up to die, so as to release us from the judgment of that law. (“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us - for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” Galatians 3:13.)

6.       His death must be prolonged sufficiently to allow for what had to happen during the hours of darkness before He died.

7.       And so Christ was condemned to die by crucifixion.

What Must The Atonement Involve?

The work of atonement, in order to be complete, must totally and finally deal with both types of sin (inherited and committed), and with both types of death (physical and spiritual). To simply say “He must die for our sins” is to miss detail which is profoundly significant. Christ knew that He must, in the whole course of His death and resurrection, achieve the following:

1.        He must die physically as a man—actually lose His human life, and do it voluntarily, since He was not mortal.

2.       He must also die spiritually—be separated as a man from God.

3.       He must then regain His spiritual life (His relationship with His Father) and His physical life (by means of resurrection) and, by so doing, conquer both forms of death for us.

4.      He must conquer the power of sin in human flesh, so that it no longer could dominate us.

5.       He must pay the full penalty for all the committed sins of the human race, past and future, and so remove their guilt.

6.       He must once and for all conquer Satan and the forces of evil, who had originated sin and who have opposed the purposes of God.

7.       He must do all this by one momentous act of righteousness that would outweigh and overcome the one act of unrighteousness committed by the first man Adam, that delivered the entire human race into sin.

How Did Calvary Accomplish All This?

Christ was on the cross for almost nine hours—from 9 a.m. until almost 6 p.m. The first three hours were a time of intense physical and mental anguish—inflicted by mankind, the ones He had come to save. This was the visible part of His sufferings but by no means the worst. These three hours were necessary:

1.        For His enemies to inflict physical pain, and for Christ to endure unfathomable suffering at their hands;

2.       For His enemies to also subject Him to shame and mockery;

3.       For Him to leave His followers an example of how to endure suffering (1 Peter 2:21-23);

4.      For Him to fulfill the many prophetic scriptures regarding His suffering (such as the Messianic psalms); and

5.       For Him to be able to testify to the criminal being crucified beside Him, thus changing His eternal destiny in the final moments of His life.

During the final three hours of Calvary:

1.        Christ fulfilled the final scriptural prophecy (by asking for and accepting a drink); despite His agony, He was obedient in every detail to the very end; and

2.       He shouted “It is finished” and then gave up His life by an act of His will. He committed His spirit to His Father (showing that the communion between them had been restored), and His soul descended to upper Sheol;

3.       His side was pierced by the soldier, with blood and water gushing out (as a certain sign of His death); and

4.      His body was taken down from the cross and put in a new tomb, to await its resurrection on the third day.

But it is what took place during the middle three hours of darkness on the cross that we know so little about, and yet was pivotal to the great work of atonement that He was accomplishing. It took more than the actual death of Christ to obtain our salvation. Those were the hours of darkness.

What Happened In The Darkness?

We know very little of those hours - this was a private dealing by the Father with His Son over the matter of our sin. The darkness shielded this from human view. Our only clue is in Matthew 27:46: “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”.

Christ as a man had been forsaken by His God. He had undergone spiritual death, the sure consequence of all sin. In that black darkness, He was all alone, facing the penalty of all our sins. “Christ died for our sins,” scripture says simply (1 Corinthians 15:3). This was true both physically and spiritually. Just as Adam had died physically and spiritually as a result of His own sin, so did Christ as a man - but for all our sin, not His own.

The suffering of the first three hours had been afflicted by men. They did their worst. But the suffering of these three hours was inflicted by God Himself.  “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin”. (Isaiah 53:10).  “The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6). “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all” (Romans 8:32). Christ was “made sin” for us (2 Corinthians 5:21); that is, He was made to be a sin offering - He did not become sinful. The purpose of a sin offering is to appease an offended God. Just as an animal corpse was consumed by the fire on the altar, so Christ “through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God” (Hebrews 9:14).

Whether this suffering of Christ’s soul lasted for the entire three hours or not we do not know. The penalty for our sin is eternal punishment and banishment from God, enduring His fierce wrath in the lake of fire forever. All of that was compressed into three hours of suffering for the pure and spotless Son of God. We cannot comprehend the intensity of that experience. And He had to be fully alive and conscious for it all, which is no doubt why He refused the sedative earlier. What He looked like at the end of it we do not know, but Isaiah 52:14 says: “His visage was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men”. He was unrecognizable.

What happened in the darkness? We do not really know. Except that, after it all, Jesus cried out with a loud voice “It is finished.” It was all over!

Why Was Resurrection Necessary?

Until the resurrection of Christ on the third day, there was no after- life, nor any prospect of one. Satan had the power to keep souls in death (Hebrews 2:14). It was his ultimate power. What broke the power of Satan was the voluntary death and resurrection of Christ by the power of God. Christ had said: “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.” (John 10:17-18). As a result, Christ could say in resurrection: I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” (Revelation 1:18). He had taken them from the devil by force.

The resurrection of Christ is one of the most attested facts in human history. By it His Father declared Him to be without dispute the Son of God (Romans 1:4). The gospel preachers emphasized it; for example in Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

But resurrection is not only for the saved. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22) “There will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust” (Acts 24:15). And so some will be raised to glory, and others to eternal judgment; but all will be raised.

And so it was the death and resurrection of Christ that defeated the two enemies of physical death and the devil.

Why is There Still Sin & Death?

Christ was victorious over all His enemies at Calvary, and so thereby condemned them all to destruction. However, while the verdict is final, the sentences were not carried out immediately. For example:

1.        Inherited sin: “Now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” (Hebrews 9:26-27);“On account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). Christ has dealt with the power of sin within us, and yet we still experience sin in our daily lives. It will not be until we are changed at His coming that this power will be removed from us, when we will be delivered from “this body of death” (Romans 7:24);

2.       Physical death: Christ conquered death at Calvary, and yet the human race continues to die, and will do until the very end when “there shall be no more death” (Revelation 21:4). “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:26); and

3.       The devil: Satan was conquered at Calvary (Hebrews 2:14-15), and His supporting principalities and powers were disarmed (Colossians 2:15). And yet Satan will remain active, deceiving the nations, until he is finally banished to the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10). But he can now be resisted (James 4:7).

The same principle holds true for unbelievers, with an important difference. Scripture says they have already been condemned. (“He who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18-19). However, this condemnation need not be final. By the exercise of our faith in Jesus Christ, the Saviour, the salvation of God will intervene, as it did with that criminal who turned to Christ on the cross beside him.

What is “The Double Cure”?

The old hymn “Rock of Ages” contains these true words: “Be of sin the double cure -cleanse me from its guilt and power”. Not only did Christ conquer the twin problems of death, physical death and spiritual death. He also dealt with the two-fold sin problem -the problem of the guilt of the sins we have and will commit, and also the power of sin within us that causes them:

1.        The Guilt: Christ has paid the debt in full, and so our sins are “remitted”, which is an act of finality. “Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18) The guilt is gone; we are justified by faith.

2.       The Power: By taking our sinful nature on Himself (without Himself becoming a sinner), Christ has overcome it, so that it need no longer dominate us (Romans 6:6,12). (“Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness” 1 Peter 2:24). By giving us a greater power within, the indwelling Holy Spirit, it is now possible for the believer to have victory over the law of sin in his bodily members. (“He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:3-4).

If Christ Died for All, Why Are Not All Saved?

There is no doubt that the sacrifice of Christ was all-inclusive, that He died for all people everywhere, because all are sinners. (“He Himself is the propitiation [atoning sacrifice] for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” 1 John 2:2.) But salvation is not automatic; it requires the exercise of personal faith. And so the offer of salvation is universal, but salvation itself is not. (“Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” Galatians 3:22).

If Christ has dealt with both inherited sin and committed sins, since God will not punish twice, what is the sin that will keep people out of heaven? Is there a remaining sin? The Lord Jesus said about the coming of the Holy Spirit, in John 16:8-9, “When he has come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me”. There is no remedy for lack of acceptance of Christ, of refusing the convicting work of the Holy Spirit regarding Him. It is this lack of faith, and nothing else, that will keep people from God’s salvation. Christ has done the rest. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

God’s Amazing Plan

And so the incarnation and atoning work of our Lord Jesus Christ, in all its perfect adherence to the holy requirements of God, have restored believing members of our race to the great purpose for which we were created - to see and to share in the great glory of our Creator and our Saviour and to praise Him forever. As we think about what it took for God to make our salvation possible, and that it only takes faith for us to obtain it, we marvel at “God’s Amazing Plan of Salvation”.

“He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love...to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Ephesians 1:4-7).

3. How Do We Know That Jesus is Alive?

The Resurrection is Central To The Gospel Message

The Christian faith is unique among world religions. Only the Christian faith is based on historically verifiable facts, such as: (1) the birth of Christ, (2) the death of Christ, and (3) the resurrection of Christ. Gospel preachers in the book of Acts made the resurrection of Christ central to their message.

For example, the apostle Paul, in outlining the gospel to the church in Rome, said: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Belief in the resurrection was indispensable. The apostles spoke about it as an established fact of Scripture: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures…was buried and…was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). They knew that Christ being alive from the dead was essential to the gospel of salvation, and they had seen Him alive with their own eyes. As Peter said on the day of Pentecost: “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.” (Acts 2:32)

This pivotal role of the resurrection in the Christian faith has been stressed by gospel preachers and Bible scholars down through the years. For example, Philip Schaff, who was a theologian in the 19th century, is quoted as saying: “The resurrection of Christ is therefore emphatically a test question upon which depends the truth or falsehood of the Christian religion. It is either the greatest miracle or the greatest delusion which history records."

Dr. Benjamin Warfield, an American Bible teacher in the 20th century, stated: “Christ Himself deliberately staked His whole claim to the credit of men upon His resurrection. When asked for a sign He pointed to this sign as His single and sufficient credential... ‘as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’” (Matthew 12:38-40) These quotations emphasize the point that, without the resurrection, the gospel would be lacking in credibility.

Why Was The Resurrection Necessary For Our Salvation?

There are several reasons why the resurrection of Christ is a vital part of the gospel message that we believe.

[1] IT PROVED THAT CHRIST WAS IN FACT GOD

When Christ was on trial before the Jewish Council, what caused them to finally find Him guilty was the charge that He had made Himself out to be the Son of God. “The high priest answered and said to Him, ‘I put you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you said...’ Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, ‘He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! What do you think?’ They answered and said, ‘He is deserving of death.’" (Matthew 26:63-66). Then they took Him to Pilate and that was the charge they cited: “He made Himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). As He was being crucified, there were mockers who also challenged His deity. They said “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross" (Matthew 27:40).

How did Jesus answer these challenges? The fact is that He didn’t. He left that to His Father. How did His Father answer them? By raising Him from the dead: “He 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 1:4) The resurrection of Christ was the strongest possible declaration by God that Jesus was in fact His Son.

[2] IT PROVED CHRIST’S WORK WAS A COMPLETE SUCCESS

When the soldiers came to break Jesus’ legs on the cross to hasten His death, so they could take His body down before the Sabbath began at six o’clock that evening, they found that He was already dead. When Pilate was told this, He was amazed. Crucifixion usually took several days to kill the victim. But Jesus didn’t die from crucifixion, or even from loss of blood. He gave up His own spirit, which is something we cannot do. We may be able to commit suicide, to kill ourselves, but we cannot just give up our life. But Jesus had said: “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.” (John 10:17-18)

By His voluntary death, and His voluntary taking of it again, Christ defeated death. Death was the inevitable result of sin. It was an enemy that had come in through the sin of Adam, which rendered the entire human race mortal. Satan, the great adversary of God, held the power of death. And so by His death and resurrection, Christ defeated both death and the devil: “…that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” (Hebrews 2:14-15). Those great impediments to our salvation had been conquered once for all.

The exalted Lord Jesus showed Himself to John at the start of the book of Revelation and He described Himself this way: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” (Revelation 1:18). His work on earth was a total success, a complete victory.

Since this is the case, why do we still experience sin, death and he temptation of the devil in our lives? The fact is that all these enemies have been defeated, but not yet banished. The sentence has been handed down by the judge, but it has not yet been fully carried out. Christ was “manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself”, Hebrews 9:26 tells us. Yet that inherited sinful nature is still in us.

During our lifetimes as believers we are given the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to overcome it, but it will not be finally taken away until we are changed at His coming for us. “When He is revealed, we shall be like Him” (1 John 3:2). Similarly, death has been defeated, but people still die. Death is the last enemy that will be abolished (1 Corinthians 15:26). Our bodies are still mortal but, because Christ was raised from the dead, so shall we be. Only those believers who are living when Christ comes to the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16) will escape passing through death. But then death will be over. “There will no longer be any death” (Revelation 21:4). In the same way, the devil is still at large and allowed some influence in our lives. But we are told now to resist Him, because he and his spiritual hosts of wickedness have been disarmed (Colossians 2:15), and we are now the ones with the spiritual armour (Ephesians 6:11-17). When Christ, by dying, took away the power of death, He took away Satan’s greatest weapon: “that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). Satan is now doomed. In Revelation 12:12 it tells us that Satan knows he has only a short time left.

His eventual destiny is the lake of fire, which was prepared for him and his angels: “The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone…and…will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).

And so, even though we still see sin, death and evidence of the devil’s activity, they have been once and for ever defeated, and they are doomed.

However there is a very important exception to the condemnation of God being final. There is one class of beings who need not undergo the sentence on sin that has already been passed on them. That exception is us. The sentence has already been passed on all mankind – we are all headed for the severe judgment of God, unless something happens to intervene. And so it is a fact that, unless we do something, we are already doomed.

What is that something? It is taking Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord by personal faith. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18). For the believer, the gift of eternal life and forgiveness of sins intervenes to cancel out the sentence of judgment that God has already passed on us.

[3] IT GUARANTEES OUR FUTURE RESURRECTION

Before Christ was raised, there was no resurrection to everlasting life. Death was the end. Even those whom Christ raised from the dead died again. But Christ’s resurrection to live in the power of an endless life (Hebrews 7:16) has meant that every human being who has ever lived, or whoever will live, will live forever. “The hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” (John 5:28-29) Christ was the first fruits (1 Corinthians 15:20); one day the resurrection harvest will be full. As the apostle Paul said to the governor Felix in Acts 24:15: “There shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.”

[4] IT GIVES A SURE BASIS FOR OUR FAITH

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:17: “If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!... But now Christ has been raised from the dead.” No other religion, philosophy or faith, includes a certainty of hope, a guaranteed future beyond this life. Faith is the essential ingredient, but it is very different from blind faith or wishful thinking. It is based on a certainty.

Abraham is an outstanding example from the Old Testament of a man who lived his life by faith. He is called “the father of all those who believe” (Romans 4:11). God spoke to Him on several occasions and revealed certain things to him. Abraham believed God and acted on those things. He believed that God would give him a son to fulfill the promise of many descendants, even when he and Sarah his wife were well past child-bearing years: “He contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith.” (Romans 4:18-21).

Abraham believed in a God who could give life to dead bodily functions. Then his greatest test was when he was told to go and offer his son Isaac, in whom all his hopes for the future rested. What motivated Abraham to be obedient to that extent? Again we read about it in Romans 4:17: “…in whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.” Abraham believed in a God of resurrection, a God who brings the dead back to life.

What Evidence Is There For The Resurrection Of Christ?

Since the gospel hinges on the resurrection of Christ being a historical fact, what evidence is there as to its reality? Certainly the apostles were convinced He was alive from the dead because they saw Him over a period of time: “To the apostles whom He had chosen…He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days” (Acts 1:2,3). He gave them “many convincing proofs.” What proofs are there to convince us?

There have been many attacks over the years on the historical reliability of Christ’s resurrection. These generally fall into three categories, as follows:

a)     The swoon theory – This maintains that Jesus didn’t actually die, that He was just unconscious and later revived.

b)     The theft theory – This says that Jesus’ disciples stole His body from the tomb and then claimed that He had risen.

c)      The hallucination theory – This claims that those who proclaimed Jesus’ resurrection were in a hallucinated state, and were mistaken when they thought they saw Him alive.

The biblical account gives verifiable facts – the location, the tomb, its owner, the stone, the seal, the guards, the day, the time, etc. His followers were petrified at His death and hid. They didn’t believe the women’s reports that Jesus was alive, for which He later rebuked them. But after they had witnessed Him themselves after His resurrection, they had a boldness to witness for Him everywhere. In Jerusalem at Pentecost (7 weeks later) Peter openly preached the fact of the resurrection.

There were over 500 witnesses to His resurrection at the same time (1 Corinthians 15:6). Acts 10:40, 41 says: “Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.” Someone has said about it: “The silence of the Jews is as significant as the speech of the Christians.”

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul presents legal proof for the resurrection, citing appearances and witnesses. They are all in addition to the several women who saw Him; they are not mentioned because their testimony would not have been admissible in court. Former English Chief Justice Lord Darling has said: “The evidence is so compelling that no intelligent jury in the world would ever bring in a verdict other than that the resurrection story is true.”

Christ’s tomb was empty even though a huge stone had been sealed in place in its groove, and it was guarded (which was unusual security). The women acknowledged that they could not roll the stone away. The women did not go to the wrong tomb by mistake; they had watched the burial taking place. Joseph and Nicodemus knew where they had buried Jesus’ body. There was no disputing that the tomb was empty. When the guards reported it, the chief priests bribed them to say His disciples had stolen the body. This became the prevailing theory, to protect Rome’s reputation.

There is no biblical or secular indication that people ever treated Christ’s tomb as a shrine. Even though it was close by when the Christian activity started in Jerusalem after Pentecost, there is no mention of the tomb. Everyone knew the body wasn’t there. They could easily have gone to check (and maybe did). Peter and John personally examined the grave clothes as they lay, undisturbed, as though untouched by human hands. John said he saw and believed. If Christ’s body had been stolen by the Jews or Romans, they could have produced it later to disprove the claims of His resurrection. If His body had been stolen by His followers (even if they could have somehow done it), they would have known that His resurrection was untrue and would not have martyred their lives for that lie.

Simon Greenleaf, a top US lawyer and founder of Harvard Law School, has said: “It was therefore impossible that they could have persisted in affirming the truths they have narrated, had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact.” No one willingly dies for a lie.

The disciples were not expecting His resurrection. Thomas was just one of those who were skeptical. The apostle Paul and James, the Lord’s brother, who had both been opposed to Him, confessed to the resurrection. And there was no doubt that he had died. It had happened in public after the most intense suffering. The soldier who pierced Him realized it. The blood and water from the spear wound was pathological proof He was already dead. The centurion (who was experienced in executions) attested to it to the Roman governor, otherwise the governor would not have given permission to take the body down. Christ’s body was in the tomb for three days (two days’ death was required by law, but four days would have resulted in decay, as we read in the case of Lazarus in John 11:39). Christ could not have recovered from a comatose state and rolled the stone away Himself. He was totally bound and could not have breathed.

Thomas Arnold, a great historian and professor of history at Oxford University, has said: “I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better, fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God has given us that Christ died, and rose again from the dead.”

The evidence is overwhelming.

What if Jesus were Not Alive Today?

If Jesus had not been raised to life and be alive in heaven today, there would be certain inevitable consequences:

         We could not have eternal life (“God…has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 1 Peter 1:3)

         We could not be justified from our guilt (“He was raised because of our justification.” Romans 4:25)

         We could not have the Holy Spirit within us (“The Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:39)

         God could never be satisfied when we continue to sin (“If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2:1)

         Our prayers would not be received (“Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.” Romans 8:34)

         We could not serve God in His house (“Since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near.” Hebrews 10:21-22)

         We could not “walk in newness of life” (“Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.” Romans 6:4-5)

After the Jewish leaders and the Romans had done their worst to Christ before and during His crucifixion, when His work was completed, He gave up His spirit to His Father. From that moment on, they had no more control of Him. God provided the loving hands of Nicodemus and Joseph to take Him down from the cross. He provided a new tomb for Him to be buried in, although the authorities planned to bury Him with other criminals they had executed. “They made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:9)

But what is unique about His grave is that it is empty!

OTHER TITLES FROM KEITH DORRICOTT

Uncovering the Pattern

http://www.amazon.com/Uncovering-Pattern-Unity-Disciples-ebook/dp/B00925IQ96/

In this concise e-booklet, Keith surveys 2,000 years of Christianity and explains how the important pattern that was set out in the New Testament in the early church as to how God wanted to be served, was gradually lost over the succeeding centuries. He goes on to discuss how the truth was gradually recovered through the Reformation and the emergence of the Brethren movement, culminating in the re-establishment of Churches of God.  Available in Kindle format on Amazon.

“I Want to Live"

http://www.amazon.com/I-Want-to-Live-ebook/dp/B007XP8H9G

Keith Dorricott is a leukemia survivor. After being diagnosed at a regular medical checkup in 1988, he was given just a few years to live, with no cure available. After many rounds of chemotherapy and being rejected for a bone marrow transplant, in 1997 he was able to have a transplant to the amazement of his doctors. A year later he was declared to be in full remission. In Keith’s own words, “It had God’s finger prints all over it.” This book tells his story of the ten-year ordeal and challenges that he faced, and how they were overcome with the full support of his family, friends and medical professionals. But above all it is the story of God at work in this one man’s life, to accomplish His own purpose.  Available in Kindle or hardcopy format on Amazon.

Are We Missing Something?: Discovering God’s House, God’s Church, and True Worship

This ambitious and thought-provoking guide is designed to examine and explore beliefs that are prevalent in the evangelical Christian world today. New churches and denominations are emerging at a rapid pace, but are these congregations worshipping God in the way that He intended? Using Old and New Testament scripture, Dorricott traces the concept of God living among a people on the earth and shows how the Bible provides answers to fundamental questions such as:

         Why are there so many Christian churches?

         Can we be true Christians without belonging to a church?

         Is the apostles’ teaching relevant in the twenty-first century?

         Is the New Testament just first-century history, or is it also a blueprint for us?

         Is all worship acceptable to God?

By challenging all true followers of Jesus Christ to set aside conventional thinking and focus on the true meaning of God’s house, Keith provides a path of genuine study and reflection that will guide all those who wish to examine and reaffirm their service in unity to God.  Available in hardcopy format from Amazon.

ALSO RECOMMENDED

Keith recommends Christian books published on a wide range of topics by Hayes Press Christian Resources – which, as well as his own books, can be purchased at this website: http://astore.amazon.com/hayespress-20

Keith also recommends a wide range of gospel tracts, booklets, Bibles and Bible posters which are available from Ikthus Gospel Tracts on Ebay at: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Ikthus-Gospel-Tracts

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Formerly the Vice-Chairman of a national Canadian bank, Keith Dorricott is now retired and resides in King City, Ontario with his wife Sandra.  He has three grown children and six young grand-children.  Keith devotes most of his time to teaching and serving others in the Churches of God.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTSCHAPTER 1: HOW GOD PREPARED FOR BETHLEHEM IN EDENCHAPTER 2: WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DAR...

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS!1.

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And yet every detail of the death of Christ on the cross was absolutely necessary. It was all part of...

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For example, the apostle Paul, in outlining the gospel to the church in Rome, said:

OTHER TITLES FROM KEITH DORRICOTT

“I Want to Live"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR