Devotional Day 35 for Sunday 4/4

Reading: Acts 4

These next 4 days, we will look at the implications of the resurrection from my message on Easter Sunday.

“It is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit… The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.” 

(I Cor 15:45-46)

It is impossible to understand what we are celebrating or why we celebrate unless you can answer the question – Who Is Jesus?

Millions of people have different answers to this question. Elton John recently gave his opinion when he said, “I think Jesus was a compassionate, super intelligent gay man who understood human problems…”

Yes, opinions on Jesus abound…

Ghandi considered Jesus the greatest moral teacher to have ever lived.

Others have suggested Jesus reached a heightened state of enlightenment.

Some religions consider him a great prophet.

In fact, Jesus is held in very high regard by most of the people in the world. You won’t find too many people out there spewing negative opinions about Jesus.

In Acts 2, Peter presents us with the real question that defines who Jesus is.  The questions is did Jesus really rise from the dead?  On this question hinges all the opinions and debates throughout history about who Jesus is and was. 

If Jesus was a “life-giving spirit,” if he was the Son of God, then he could not have stayed dead.  He could not have rotted in the tomb outside of Jerusalem.  He could not merely be a man.  And this what Peter is pointing to in Acts 2.  Jesus is not like King David whose bones eroded in his tomb.  Jesus is alive forever – he will never see corruption.