Validated in Death and Resurrection

The glorious good news that Jesus died for our sin and rose from the dead to confirm our hope of eternal life in heaven.

It is a powerful story… one that many today in a world where forgiveness, mercy and grace has existed for over 2000 years eliminating blood sacrifice of the innocent for the guilty...

We are so far removed, we often do not understand.

Today, many will color Easter eggs, have little hunts, eat candy chicks and bunnies — share flowers - all things related to new life that comes in the season of Spring —

For many the celebrations of the people of the Kingdom of God has disappeared, and the celebration of a non godly, actually pagan world, rejoicing in the change of a solstice will be all that is focused on today.

For Christians, however, Easter and the celebration of NEW LIFE IN CHRIST through the death and resurrection of Jesus - is still our foremost FOCUS!

Romans 6:23 NLT

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 3:23 NLT

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Romans 3:10 NLT

10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.

We remember that all of mankind was lost to sin and had no hope of eternal life in heaven or forgiveness of the ways we broke the Lord’s laws of righteousness.... until JESUS

John 3:16 NLT

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 5:8 NLT

8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

and

1 John 1:9 NLT

9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

For those of you joining us this morning, our church family has been exploring Jesus being the lamb of God - the one who would die once and for all to take away our sins.

We explored how Jesus was anointed with precious ointments twice before his death that signified Him being chosen as the Lamb to die for our sin, and we looked at the trial to find him guilty and worthy of death in which he was declared innocent - and yet given up for our guilt!!!

This morning I want to spend just a few moments talking about the VALIDATION of CHRIST in His death, resurrection and through His church.

What does validate mean?

Validate means... a: to support or corroborate on a sound or authoritative basis experiments designed to validate the hypothesis b: to recognize, establish, or illustrate the worthiness or legitimacy ofvalidate his concerns

Jesus made some profound statements of who He was and what He would do… this GOOD NEWS was validated through the events we celebrate at Easter.

1. Validated in Death

For a season prior to His death, Jesus told and warned his followers that He would be taken and put to death in Jerusalem and that these things would be required for the plan of God the Father to be fulfilled.

His disciples struggled with this, in fact, Peter proclaimed it shall not be so - to which Jesus called his words that of Satan and rejected them.

In order for Jesus to be validated in death, He had to become the final sacrifice for sin...

Romans 6:10 NLT

10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.

The Hebrews sacrificed for the sins of the nation and people every year - at Passover, but this was the final sacrifice.

The sacrifice was brought into the Holy of Holies in the Temple and the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat of God so when God looked down he did not see the guilt of the people but the blood of the lamb....

Jesus was validated upon His death, when He made a way into the Holy of Holies...

Three of the 4 Gospel writers record the Veil in the temple being torn in two...

Matthew 27:51 NLT

51 At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart,

This veil separated a room that only a High Priest could enter once annually with a rope tied around his feet in case he was found unworthy and died inside.

This “veil” was over 60 feet long, 30 feet high and 4 inches thick - interwoven with heavy wools, precious metals, and threads and sewn in a honeycomb pattern for strength and the inability to see through.

This was not something that could just tear...

Supernaturally it was torn not in many pieces, but from top to bottom, two pieces making one way into the presence of God.

This occured at the same time as the earthquake when Jesus died.

Later...

AROUND 70 AD - the Roman Empire destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, and no sacrifices have been offered since.

Hebrews 7:27 NLT

27 Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins.

Hebrews 9:12 NLT

12 With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

Hebrews 10:10 NLT

10 For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.

Jesus in His death on the cross - when He declared IT is Finished - made a way into the presence of God without any priests or mediators, but with our faith in His sacrifice, and then the sacrifices ceased.... His was the only one needed.

Both the earthquake upon his death, and the tearing of the VEIL was VALIDATION - legitimizing His sacrifice as the only one needed to please God and pay the price for the sins of the entire world.

2. Validated in Resurrection

Jesus then three days later rose from the dead. After he had descended to hell and took the keys of Hades from death and the grave, He rose again.

This was also a measure of validation

John 2:19–21 NLT

19 “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” 21 But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body.

What other prophet, or self proclaimed god in this world ever claimed to raise himself from the dead - and did????

Islam, Buddism, Hinduism, nor any other religion out there can make such a claim, but Christianity has a validated one ...

Jesus said before His death He would rise from the dead, he foretold this event! and he did.

So much so the Jewish leaders required a host of troops to guard the tomb

Four guards awake in four hour shifts, as many as 50 guards standing watch over this tomb with the penalty of death if the seal was allowed to be broken...

Yet, when the miraculous event of Resurrection occured, not one was put to death and people were paid off to spread lies...

Matthew 28:1–15 NLT

1 Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. 2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. 3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. 5 Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. 7 And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.” 8 The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. 9 And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.” 11 As the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and told the leading priests what had happened. 12 A meeting with the elders was called, and they decided to give the soldiers a large bribe. 13 They told the soldiers, “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.’ 14 If the governor hears about it, we’ll stand up for you so you won’t get in trouble.” 15 So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.

They were there to prevent a body being stolen under the penalty of death, no soldier would ever risk if not for the greed of a payoff… to show their weakness.

The very resurrection of Christ validated HIS CLAIMS to being the SON OF GOD - the MESSIAH, the SAVIOR sent from Heaven.

3. Validated by His Church

The greatest validation of who Christ was comes through the church, and is still marching on today.

Cults have not survived the years as truths do not remain, but the death and resurrection of Christ changed the world forever, historically as much as spiritually. Even our calendar is set by this event.

The eye witness account of the followers of Christ and their willingness to go into the world with the Great Commission He left to them continues to validate this truth.

Matthew 28:19–20 NLT

19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Still being proclaimed and even died for in many parts of the world today.

1 Corinthians 15:1–10 NLT

1 Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2 It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. 3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5 He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. 6 After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. 9 For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church. 10 But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.

These witnesses to the resurrection and their shared faith in Christ, has been proclaimed from generation to generation, and still today through this hopeful message of Jesus death and resurrection - HIS CHURCH proclaiming HIS GOOD NEWS is altering lives by the millions in every generation.

This is validation to His claim, because His claim is truth!!!

CONCLUSION

John 14:6 NLT

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

Today, we serve the Lord who was crucified, buried and rose again, and is still being proclaimed throughout the world as the faithful in each generation look for His second coming.

He is the way, the truth and the life....

Will you accept the validation His truth today?

The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world is seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, and He is coming back for a church that is watching and waiting for His arrival.