The resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most central and significant events in the entire Bible. It stands as a cornerstone of the Christian faith, and its importance cannot be overstated. As C.S. Lewis famously said, “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.”

The historical evidence for the resurrection is strong. As a matter of fact, there is more evidence for the resurrection of Jesus than for any other event in ancient history. There are multiple sources that attest to the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, including both Christian and non-Christian sources. These sources all point to the truth of the resurrection.

The early Christians were willing to die for the truth of the resurrection, despite the fact that they could have saved their lives by renouncing their belief. This willingness to lay down their lives for what they believed to be true serves as evidence of the reality of the resurrection. Furthermore, there were many eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, including those of His disciples. Many of these accounts were written down and passed on to future generations. Finally, we have archaeological evidence that corroborates certain details of the resurrection narrative. This serves as additional evidence for the historicity of the resurrection.

The disciples’ transformation from cowards to bold evangelists is difficult to explain apart from the resurrection. Before Jesus’ death, the disciples were afraid and unsure of what to do. However, after Jesus’ resurrection, they were suddenly filled with courage and conviction, boldly proclaiming the good news of the gospel. This transformation can only be explained by the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. The resurrection was the event that changed the disciples from cowards to bold proclaimers of the gospel.

The empty tomb serves as evidence for the resurrection. All four gospels record that on Easter morning, Jesus’ tomb was found empty by his followers. This empty tomb serves as evidence that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, as no other explanation can adequately account for it. Furthermore, the Jewish leaders, who had so desperately sought to discredit the resurrection, were unable to explain the empty tomb. This serves as further evidence of the resurrection.

The testimonies of those who encountered the risen Jesus are significant. The gospels record multiple accounts of people who encountered the risen Jesus and were transformed by the experience. These testimonies serve as powerful evidence for the truth of Jesus’ resurrection. For example, the apostle Thomas was initially skeptical of the resurrection, but changed his mind after encountering the risen Jesus. This is just one of many examples of how the testimonies of those who encountered the risen Jesus serve as powerful evidence for the resurrection.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is an event that has had a profound impact on history and continues to shape our lives today. Its validity and importance cannot be denied, and it stands as a cornerstone of the Christian faith. With all of this in mind, we can confidently affirm that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead and is alive today.

The world has gone crazy, hasn’t it? We have mandates for a vaccine to just be able to work, people are being banned from their own countries and the world is holding its breath as tensions rise across the globe resulting in rioting. Our relationships are failing due to a lack of communication, distrust, and misplaced morals. Our health is faltering since hospitals are understaffed, too few beds for patients, and stressed out medical professionals. Poverty. Destruction. Peril. Everywhere you look bad news is inbound. 

What are we to do? It makes you just want to stay under the covers in fear. 

In the first century A.D the ancient Christians were under the same type of assault. Caesar Nero made the case that all Christians were to be rounded up and executed for, at least publicly, burning down Rome. During their trials, however, there wasn’t enough evidence to convict them of arson, so what did he do? According to Tacitus, a Roman historian, Nero accused them of “hating humanity”. Then they were slaughtered. They were crucified, they were beheaded, exiled, or burned at the stake. Nero would use them as garden lights while having parties for dignitaries. 

Paul was very aware of what was going on, he was sent to prison himself for preaching the gospel, as a proud Roman citizen Paul appealed directly to Caesar and during that time Nero (most likely under God’s grace) allowed Paul to leave. Paul knew the trials ahead for the Christians and would often write to the churches in epistles. These epistles were not only there to reprimand the churches, but also to encourage them in this difficult time. 

Phillipians 4 has some fantastic encouragement for Christians as we see our current world falling down around us and the governmental order changing. Paul knows the persecution that these Christians will go through and are going through as he went through it himself. He starts off his message with this “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice.”(Phil 4:4) This is marked insanity, these people are about to be KILLED and Paul is telling them to rejoice? Then in Philippians 4:5, Paul tells them to be reasonable, they’re about to be hung, crucified and beheaded, but they are to be reasonable? Right after he tells them what to do in these times and this is what I really want to examine. In Phillipians 4:6-7 he tells them: 

“The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the PEACE of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

So First of all he says, “The Lord is at hand”. He takes the words from the conversation between God and Jeremiah in Jeremiah 23 God asks Jeremiah a rhetorical question, “Am I only a God at hand and not a God far away?”(Jer 23:23), the God replies “Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? Do I not fill the heavens and Earth?”(Jer 23:24). Paul tells us that the Lord is always here, he’s always with us. Christ never forsakes or leaves His own. As you read this right now, He is with you. 

So because He is always with us, what does Paul tell us? “Don’t be anxious about anything”! Christ, the God of creation is always with us, why would we be anxious? We have the ability to go to the very real Lord of this Earth in prayer to ask for ANYTHING. So he concludes this thought with “In Everything by prayer and supplication with THANKSGIVING make your requests be made known to God.” Paul has gone insane here, Not only does he tells us to stop being anxious, but he also tells us to be THANKFUL for whatever is making us anxious. 

I want to stop right here, why should we be thankful? Your spouse leaves you, your house burns down, whatever happens and what exactly in that very moment is there to be thankful for? You throw your fists up to the heavens and get angry. 

The very fact that you can still be angry should make you fall on your knees. God could have taken your life, He could have done a lot worse yet, He is in complete control. So even if you are angry, even if you are sad or depressed about life’s situation, you are still alive and you can thank God that He is still on His throne. 

And because you know He is there, because you know that He is on His throne, because you know whatever is causing you anxiety, is also reminding you that you are alive, as Christians, we have a blessed hope that God is always in control. That should put us in perfect peace. Indeed Paul writes that it is a peace that passes all understanding. 

See, the God of peace isn’t only the God of peace because that’s His attribute, He is the God of peace because He is always in control. He is a God at hand and far away, He always sees us and knows our hearts. And now because of our Savior in Heaven, we have a mediator who can relay our emotions in an earthly way to the Godhead. So our God can more personally affect each of our emotions differently to give us peace in our hearts and minds. 

Much like Grace,which we have already gone over, Mercy is another word used often to describe God and His actions. Most people would describe mercy is “receipt of a favor or consequence which wasn’t deserved”, while I agree with that definition, I think we can come to a better conclusion!

I think as we go through this quick study, God’s grace (defined as: Someone in Authority bowing down happily to give a gift to someone in lowly stature, such as a peasant) and mercy will jump out of the page more for you and you will be surprised at how beautiful our God really is. 

Mercy in English comes from Anglo-French ‘Merci’, which means as ‘Pity or Thanks’ while Merci comes from the Latin Merced- which means ‘Paid Wages or reward’. The word in Greek is very similar, it is the word ‘Eleos’ (ἔλεος), which according to Strongs NT concordance means “mercy; kindness or good will toward the miserable and afflicted, joined with a desire to relieve them” 

I think we’re getting to the bottom of this but, we need more information. Our final source will come from the Hebrew word that is used in the Old Testament to describe God. Then, like we did with Grace, we’ll combine them and get a median definition. 

In the Hebrew, the most commonly used word to mean mercy is ‘racham’(רַחַם), which means compassion. I think something else interesting that we can add, is that this word also means ‘deep’ or ‘bowels’. So it means: something at the very center of someone’s being. 

So what have we understood as a full meaning of mercy? Mercy from a combination of all languages used from the original manuscripts and then our current language means simply “Compassionately pays the price due to the miserable and afflicted in an effort to relieve them”

Let’s break this new definition down. (Now you’re saying, this sounds just like the original definition only wordier) God not only continually pays the price or the wage due to us daily out of compassion simply to provide relief, but He also does this compassionately or literally ‘with passion’. As I said earlier that definition of ‘Deeply’ will come into play. He feels so strongly and cares so much about the miserable and the afflicted, which is all of humanity, that daily He passionately takes away our dues for our screwups. What wages would need to be paid for our sin? Paul tells us in Romans, “the wages of sin is death”. 

So if we have a gracious and merciful God what does that actually mean? In one sentence, we come to this conclusion. God happily and passionately bows down to provide favor in order to distribute relief to the poor and afflicted and pay the price due to their continual failures. That my friends, is what I wanted to write this whole time. 

You ask why my blog is named ‘Something Extraordinary’, that right there is the reason. An all-powerful God in Hellenistic thought would have ignored us and moved on to a different planet, in Egyptian thought He would have destroyed us or made us slaves, in Babylonian thought He would be sacrificing our children to appease him. 

But God, who is rich in mercy, joyfully and passionately sent His only Son to die on a cross for our sins in order to provide relief for the poor, afflicted, pitiable and woeful to pay one price for our failures: past, present, and future.

Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” 

And that, my friends, is Something Extraordinary.