“The Resurrection Of Jesus And Judaism” (Ready to Worship S9E6)

March 1, 2019

Ready to Worship Season 9, Episode 6 for Friday, March 1, 2019

On this season of Ready to Worship, we are examining the resurrection. It is our hope that examining the resurrection will improve our worship. Recently, I was asked to consider Judaism and to show what was wrong with it. Although there are many differences between Judaism and Christianity, we primarily focused our study on what Judaism teaches about Jesus Christ. As you likely know, Judaism denies that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. In fact, Jews are still waiting for the Messiah to come. In pointing out the error in this line of thinking, we noticed three things – a prophetic revelation, a plain demonstration, and a powerful exclamation.

TRANSCRIPT

For the prophetic revelation, we examined the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah which reveals the death of Jesus on the cross. Although modern Judaism wants to apply this prophecy to the suffering of the Jewish nation instead of Christ, this interpretation won’t work. Isaiah uses masculine, personal pronouns to refer to the suffering servant (Isa. 53:4-6). These pronouns clearly apply to an individual man and not to a nation. In discussing this passage with the Ethiopian treasurer, Philip applied the prophecy to a man -Jesus Christ (Acts 8:30-35). For the plain demonstration, we noticed the ninth chapter of John which records the healing of a blind man. It was prophesied that the Messiah would open the eyes of the blind (Isa. 42:7). The man that was healed clearly understood the implications of this miracle (John 9:30-33). He knew that this miracle revealed that Jesus was from God. He knew that no man from the foundation of the world had ever opened the eyes of the blind. Sadly, to get around this miracle and others, modern Judaism denies that the Messiah was expected to be a miracle worker. However, Isaiah’s prophecy and others reveal that He was. For the powerful exclamation, we noticed the resurrection of Christ from the dead. The resurrection powerfully proved that Jesus was the Son of God. Paul wrote, “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 2:3-4). If Jesus had been a blasphemer as the Jewish leaders argued, then God would never have raised Him from the dead. Their claim after the fact that the disciples stole his body won’t hold up for several reasons. First, the Jewish leaders were in charge of security and they made it as secure as they could. They suggested to Pilate that the disciples might try to steal the body. Second, the disciples never recanted their claim that He was raised even though they were beaten and killed. Men do not die for something they know to be a lie. Third, the soldiers were not executed for derelict in their duties. The empty tomb proves the validity of Jesus’ claim of deity and the falsity of Judaism’s claim of blasphemy. As we get ready to worship this week, let’s be reminded that Jesus is the Messiah. He matched prophetic revelations of the Messiah. He proved His deity by plain demonstrations of miraculous power. Finally, He removed all doubt by a powerful exclamation – His resurrection. “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then you why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.” Timothy Keller Read more: https://www.christianquotes.info/top-quotes/16-glorious-quotes-resurrection/#ixzz5gU4mkp4u