(12) CHRIST’S RESURRECTION:  Was Jesus of Nazareth the Lion of the Tribe of Judah or the Liar of the Tribe of Judah?  For centuries there raged within professing Christendom a controversy concerning the honesty of Jesus of Nazareth.  The controversy has ended and a consensus has been reached.  The many factions of professing Christianity disagree on many aspects of God’s Word.  However, they all come together around the twelve foundation stones upon which their religion rests, one of which is the unquestioned “truth” that JESUS LIED ABOUT HIS RESURRECTION.  All agree that He lied many times about many things.  But Ground Zero relative to His inveterate lying is “THE SIGN.”  

When pressed to designate a sign that would prove that He was Who He said He was Jesus replied that He would give mankind only ONE SIGN that would prove that He was God’s Messiah.  That ONE SURE AND ONLY SIGN was that, following His death, HE WOULD REMAIN IN THE TOMB FOR EXACTLY THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS–72 HOURS.  This ONE AND ONLY SIGN would be “… the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For as Jonah was THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE FISH’S BELLY, SO WILL THE SON OF MAN BE THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE HEART OF THE EARTH” (Mat. 12:38-40).  Only the Lord’s Very Elect saints, numbering only a few thousand globally, believe what Jesus said about the sign that proves His status with God and man.  The majority of professing Christians believe that He lied about the amount of time He would be in the tomb.  Church consensus holds that He died on Friday afternoon and arose on Sunday morning, leaving Him in the heart of the earth one day and two nights–Friday night, Saturday and Saturday night–36 hours.  Did the Savior lie, or was He simply mistaken?

The controversy surrounding the honesty of the Godhead is central to professing Christendom’s legitimacy as a religion.  The legitimacy of any religion revolves around the honesty of its leadership.  The Institutional (Catholic/Protestant) Church perceives its leader as dishonest, deceiving and derelict relative to His Word which He claims the Holy Spirit delivered to Him from God the Father (Jn. 12:44-50).  Let us get straight to the point using God’s Words found in the Holy Scriptures.  Anciently, the Almighty sent His Words to the Word (who became Jesus of Nazareth–Jn. 1:1-4,14) by way of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus spoke those Words to the prophets who spoke Them to the Israelites then recorded Them.  Later, as Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord spoke the Almighty’s Spirit-delivered Words to the Apostles who preached them to whoever would listen, then recorded them.  The Apostle John collected all of the Words Jesus spoke into one tome which today is called the Holy Bible.

However, the church proclaims through her words and exhibits by her actions that God the Father, the Holy Spirit, Jesus, the prophets and apostles were all involved in a massive deception involving the Scriptures and that all are equally guilty.  For this reason Catholics and Protestants proclaim by word and deed their rejection of most of the Words of the Lord God and His fellow conspirators.  By rejecting God’s Truth (Word–Jn. 17:17), those within professing Christendom confess that they despise both the Father and the Son (Jn. 10:16).  Their rejective attitude also applies to those who believe and obey the Words of the Godhead.  The church has a special hatred for those who proclaim that Truth because, as Jesus said, God’s Word is light.  He also said that men love darkness more than light (Jn. 3:19).  The church’s darkness is “great” because it passes it off as God’s light and herself as His light bearers (Mat. 6:23).

Rejection of Christ’s ONE AND ONLY SIGN OF HIS MESSIAHSHIP is the hub from which springs all of man’s other sins.  If a religion’s leadership is corrupt, then it is a false religion and controlled by Satan.  The whole of Christendom admits that her leader is an inveterate (continuous) liar Whose Word cannot be taken at face value, with the exception of those few passages with which they agree.  I refer to this phenomenon as “religious cherry picking.”  This globe-encircling “smorgasbord religion” enables its constituents to believe those Scriptures that make them feel good and reject the all others.  They claim that Jesus lied in Matthew 4:4 when He said that in order to be saved man must live by (believe and obey) “EVERY WORD THAT COMES FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.”   He said through the Apostle Paul that: “ALL SCRIPTURE IS INSPIRED BY GOD AND PROFITABLE FOR DOCTRINE, FOR REPROOF, FOR CORRECTION AND FOR TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS” (2 Tim. 3:14-17).  “Every Word,” “All Scripture”–What more need be said?

The church’s rejection of the ONE AND ONLY SIGN of Christ’s Sonship sheds doubt as to whether this man called Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Messiah.  This matter is of utmost importance because, as Jesus made clear, THERE IS ONLY THAT ONE SIGN OF HIS SONSHIP.  Let us be clear, thousands of men have been crucified; thousands have preached some version of the gospel, thousands have healed the sick and cast out demons in the name of the Lord–myself included.  I had a preaching, healing and deliverance ministry long before my true conversion.  Therefore crucifixion, preaching, healing and casting out demons and performing other miracles is not a sure-fire sign that one is right with God.  Recall that Judas did all of those things, and he was a thief who stole money from Jesus.  The signs, wonders and miracles Jesus did were not signs of His standing with God.  As He said, ONLY ONE SIGN PROCLAIMS THAT TRUTH–HIS RESURRECTION FROM DEATH AFTER A SET PERIOD OF TIME.  Only one Man has done that.  Incredibly, the Counterfeit Church rejects His one and only sign, and in so doing, reject Him, His Father, Their gospel and the salvation They offer.  As Paul pointed out in Galatians 1:6-9, they have embraced a perverted version of the true gospel.  They have, as he warned the church in Corinth, accepted another Jesus (2 Cor. 11:4).  As did Adam and Eve, they have been deceived by the Serpent of Eden who has deceived the whole world (Rev. 12:9).

Because this posting is in an abbreviated form, I ask that you read the complete series titled Christ’s Resurrection for a more thorough teaching on this extremely important subject.  Key word–Resurrection.  In that series I offer historical proof that Jesus died Wednesday at sundown and arose Saturday at sundown.  L.J.