ATTEMPTING THE IMPOSSIBLE

“Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it” (Acts 2:24 NKJV).

The murdered Messiah did not stay dead. God raised Him up, and many people could testify to having seen the risen Christ. This was a powerful statement because many of the people listening to Peter’s words had been in Jerusalem at the Passover and may have seen or heard about the crucifixion of this “great teacher.”

It is not possible! - That is the position taken by the agnostic and atheist when confronted with the resurrection of Christ. It is contrary to nature, it defies natural law, it never happened, it is a lie propagated by the disciples who stole the body and faked an empty tomb. But when confronted with the unbelief of men regarding the resurrection, we read “Whom God raised ... because it was not possible that He should be held by it.” Hallelujah for such a glorious Divine impossibility! It was impossible for God to leave Jesus in the tomb.

It was impossible because He was sinless – “The wages of sin is death” says the Scripture (Rom. 6:23). The Lord Jesus Christ did no sin, so obviously, He could not die. But He did die because God made “Him who knew no sin to be sin for us” (2 Cor. 5:21). He died because He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24). Having thus paid the price of our sin, “it was not possible that He should be held” by death. The resurrection was part of that “determinate purpose and foreknowledge of God” (2:23). It is God’s receipt to the believer for a debt paid in full. The greatest proof that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah, is not His teaching, His miracles, or even His death. It is His resurrection.

(Adapted from John Phillips Commentary Series)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“The resurrection of Jesus demands not our applause but our allegiance, not our compliments but our capitulation!”

John Blanchard (1932-2021)

British Christian Preacher, Teacher, Apologist and Author

Word Study

Raised up

In Mark 11:9 we read, “Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD” (NKJV).

Raised up is the Greek word anistēmi (ἀνίστημι =an-is'-tay-mee). It is made up of two words: “ana” which means up, again, and histemi” which means stand, to cause to stand. Thus the word means raise up, bring to life, stand up, appear, to rise again. In classical Greek anistēmi is used to mean raising someone to their feet or of raising someone from the dead. It was also used to denote rising from bed, from a seat, from sleep or recovering from an illness. The Septuagint as well as the New Testament also follow the classic meaning of anistēmi. However, the most important figurative use of anistēmi is to raise up from the dead or to bring back to life.

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus

Old Testament Prophecy – God’s will that Messiah die for mankind (Zech. 13:7).

New Testament Fulfillment – John 18:11

Did You Know…

The Bible states that the Lord Jesus, by His one sacrifice, freed us from the animal sacrificial system (Heb. 10:4-6, 9-10, 12-14).

Bible Quiz

The chief priests didn’t want the Jews to believe that the Lord Jesus had been raised from the dead. What did they do?

**Answer to last week’s Bible Quiz: When Matt. 21:5 records, “Tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey,” what Old Testament prophet was he quoting? Zech. 9:9

Names For God Found in the Bible

“Dwelling Place”

"LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations” (Psalm 90:1 KJV).

1. Meaning – Dwelling Place speaks of God as a place of defense or refuge for His people.

2. Insights – In context, for forty years the people of God had no place to call home. Wandering like nomads in the desert, they had been without any earthly dwelling place of their own. They never unpacked to settle down, and were never tied down to one place. Yet in the midst of this vagabond existence, Moses acknowledged that his soul rested in God, his true dwelling place. Generations may come and go, but God is the one constant in the midst of uncertainty. Our God is not just a place to abide, but is a place of protection for us, regardless of the times or the circumstances. Unlike human abodes, God does not wear out, break down and need repairs or replacing.

Did You Know...Christian History

Jonathan Goforth was born February 10, 1859 in Oxford County, Ontario. He was a Canadian Presbyterian missionary to China with the Canadian Presbyterian Mission.

Goforth dated his conversion from a service which he attended when he was eighteen years of age. After his conversion, Goforth joined the Presbyterian Church. After hearing George Leslie Mackay, Presbyterian missionary to Taiwan, speak, Goforth sensed a call from God to go to China. He attended University of Toronto, and Knox College, where he graduated in 1887. During his training, Goforth met and married Rosalind Bell-Smith. Goforth had also read Hudson Taylor’s book China’s Spiritual Need and Claims, a book that he was so excited about that he ordered a number of copies and mailed them to many pastors that he knew to promote missionary work in China.

The Goforths were then sent to pioneer the North Henan mission in 1888. Their work was difficult and they lost five of their eleven children to sickness. In 1900, the Goforths had to flee for many miles across China during the Boxer Rebellion. Goforth himself was attacked and injured with a sword, but they both survived and escaped to safety.

After a year’s furlough in Canada, the Goforths returned to Henan in 1901. As Goforth traveled through Manchuria, congregations keep inviting him back to speak. During this extended visit there the ‘Manchurian revival’ broke out. It was the first such revival to gain attention, both nationally in China and internationally. The revival transformed Goforth’s life and ministry - from that time on he was primarily an evangelist and revivalist, not a settled missionary. He also became one of the best known of all China missionaries, admired by many, but criticized by some for ‘emotionalism.’

In 1925 Goforth’s Henan station was transferred to the support of the United Church of Canada. However, he decided to remain within the Presbyterian Church in Canada. He and Rosalind, despite their age and frailties, were then sent by the church to begin work in Manchuria, where they remained until Goforth’s eyesight failed in 1935. He remained active into the 1930s, especially in Manchuria. In 1931 the Goforths coauthored “Miracle Lives of China.” After his death in Toronto, Rosalind wrote the popular “Goforth of China,” and her own autobiography, “Climbing: Memories of a Missionary’s Wife.”

The Goforths’ final years in Canada were spent recounting their stories to many congregations. Goforth died at his son’s parsonage in Wallaceburg, Ontario, after preaching the previous evening in nearby Wyoming, Ontario. The funeral service was held in Toronto’s Knox Church, and Goforth is buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in the same city.

A Little Humor

The four-year-old son of an undertaker was puzzled one Easter morning when he heard about the Resurrection. “Do you mean that Jesus really rose up from the dead?” “Oh, yes,” said the teacher. The boy shook his head. “I know my daddy didn’t take care of Him after He died, the boy said. “ If he did, He would never get up again!”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“To live without God means to die without hope!”