Raised and Set Apart: What Death Could Not Hold

With a Subtitle: The empty tomb is the one claim that divides Jesus from every other religion.

A brief Excerpt: Thousands of religions fill the world, but one claim sets Christianity apart: the grave could not hold Jesus. Because He rose, those who follow Him are remade to live a wholly different life.

The Author is: Rich Holt

Scripture:

Our verse for today comes from Acts 2:24, “God raised Him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.”

Background:

Of all the religions in the world, and supposedly there are several thousand of them, you could say that one thing separates Christianity from all the others. That difference could be expressed in a number of ways, to varying degrees of detail and specificity, but one of the ways it could be explained is our belief in our verse for today. Followers of Jesus believe that He arose from the dead. And as I said, there is much more to it than just that. The resurrection carries with it many implications and points of theology, but those who reject Jesus as Messiah refuse to believe that He came out of the grave and lives now with the Father on His throne in heaven. As a believer, you should carry that stigma of believing what the Bible says that Jesus did and said. As a believer, you should be separated from all the other religions that man has to offer. And as a believer, you should portray a different expression of life and relationship from those who live apart from Jesus.

In church recently, we were reminded that we have the answer to the anxieties of life that the unbelievers do not. We also know that there are higher purposes and redeeming aspects to the sufferings that we go through. We understand that pride and ego are a Trojan horse, leading us to doom even as they carry us to greater heights. And we know that our desires and aspirations are not our own but have been purchased by Jesus to now be about His glory and fame.

Application:

These qualities, and so many more, set you apart as a believer from all others who have not been changed by the truth and power of the victory Jesus won over death. We have the ability, through our relationship with Jesus the Son and God the Father, to live as God intended us to live. We can actually be the person He had in mind before time began. And we know that’s so completely different from what we see going on all around us. Overcoming death is what separates us from the lost. How much else is there about you that acts and sounds different?

Charge:

As we seek Him today, discover whether you are as different as you were re-made to be.