Old Testament Bible Essay - the Resurrection

The Resurrection

Physical vs. Theological

Caleb Schneider

Lubbock Christian University

        The resurrection, what does that mean to someone living the Christian Faith? Many would think of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion which lead to him rising from the dead just three days later as it is described in the Book of John in the New Testament. The Gospels tell a story in which paints a picture of and physically describes what actually took place on that day. But there is a lot more meaning behind the Christ’s resurrection than just a story. Ultimately, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not only the climax of the story of Jesus being the Messiah, the promised deliverer of the Jewish nation, but the deeper meaning behind all of it. This is what Paul describes in his letters to the different churches he helped establish throughout his travels of ministry. One of the churches he preached to in his letters and his travels is the church in Colosse. Paul writes to this church in this letter that was documented in the New Testament as the Book of Colossians. Now the question raises of what point exactly are the authors trying to make in their stories and discussions of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. As these books in the New Testament discuss the same topic, there is much more of a difference in how they are told between the Gospel of John and the Letter to the Colossians. The Gospel of John is written more in the physical sense, while the Book of Corinthians is discussing more in theological terms of the resurrection of Christ.

        The Book of John was written sometime at the end of the First Century A.D.; however there is some speculation as to the exact date. It was written by the Disciple John, who referred to himself as “…The disciple whom Jesus loved…” (John 13:23 & John 19:26, NIV). John was writing to non-Jewish believers that questioned the true identity of Jesus as the Son of God and he felt the best way to show them was by writing about some of the miracles that Jesus performed during his time on earth. “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” John 20:30-31, NIV). The Letter to the Colossians was written by the Apostle Paul while he was in prison (see Col. 4:3, NIV) in Rome in A.D. 60. This letter was written to the believers in the city of Colosse that gathered at a church that Paul’s associate actually established. Paul, formerly known as Saul, was a persecutor of all Christians. He decided to set out to the town of Damascus to go and find any follower of Christ and arrest them (Acts 9:1-2, NIV). On his way to Damascus, Jesus appears himself to Saul and confronts him saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4, NIV) “Then by divine sovereignty the Lord intervenes in Saul’s life and he is genuinely converted during that encounter with the Lord Jesus” (Tracing). During his transformation, Saul’s name changed to Paul and he become an evangelist and apostle for Christ and preached the Gospel of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Rome and back. He helped establish many Christian churches and is the author of the majority of the New Testament.

        John, the writer of the Gospel of John, was one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus when he was on earth. He was actually the first of the disciples to see that Jesus’ tomb was empty after Jesus’ resurrection. ”Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first” (John 20:4, NIV).  After Peter and John went back to town, Mary Magdalene stayed outside of the tomb and that is when Jesus appeared to her. At first she did not know who he was, but she then realized that it was Jesus in front of her and she ran back to town to tell the disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead. Later that day, Jesus appeared to the disciples to show them that he had been raised from the dead. Jesus showed his hands and his side to the disciples proving that it was truly him and then he gave them something that he had promised. “And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”” (John 20:21, NIV). Jesus had spoken several times about his death and resurrection before it ever happened. He preached it to a crowd of people telling them that he would be raised up and ascend from the earth (See John 12:20-36, NIV). Jesus refers back to what is written in Isaiah 53 when his death and resurrection are prophesied by Isaiah. John quotes Isaiah 53 later in chapter 20 discussing the unbelief of the Jewish people in regards to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Many other times did Jesus say that he would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days; however, he was not talking about the actual temple the Jews worshiped in. Jesus was speaking of his body and how he would die and rise three days later. During the last supper, Jesus tells his disciples to drink the wine as his blood and to eat the bread, which is his body broken for them. He put it out there for them to hear what was to happen, but everyone’s minds were on the physical things and could not comprehend the true meaning behind what he was saying at that time.

Now, after he had risen, he came to his disciples and showed them how he had defeated death and all prophesies had been fulfilled from the scriptures of the Old Testament. There were those that did not believe it was truly Jesus who came back to them. One of these people was Jesus’ disciple Thomas, who was not with the rest of the disciples when Jesus appeared to them. In John 20: 25 Thomas say, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Jesus later came to him and allowed him to physically touch his scars and that convinced Thomas that it truly was Jesus that had risen from the dead, just as he said he would. Jesus walked to the earth for forty days before he ascended to Heaven. In that time he continued to perform miracles and just kind of showed up periodically, showing himself to different groups of people. The Jewish people had believed that the Messiah would stay and reign over the earth and be the “King of the Jews”, defeating all of their enemies. It was hard for them to believe that Jesus was going to ascend to Heaven and that he was going to give them the Holy Spirit. This is what Paul is one thing that Paul really tries to emphasize in the letters that he wrote to the different churches. So many of the Jews were stuck in the “Old” Mosaic Law and could not wrap their head around the fact that it was not Jesus that would remain on this earth, but the Holy Spirit, which was designed to help guide Christians.