From the beginning of these studies my aim was to show, step by step, how important is the Life which God grants so freely, by pure GRACE, without merit, to those who believe in Christ and accept Him as their Saviour. I have worked faithfully to remain true to the Gospel, to make plain all that Jesus came to do to make this great gift  possible! 

The previous chapter ended with, what humanly speaking, was a fulfilment of the plan of God, decided on by a special council of the Holy Trinity before the creation of the world as we know it. To the human eye and intellect, the Cross and the death of Christ was seemingly a sorry end to all that Jesus said and confessed to be, yet, in the spiritual realm, it turned out to be His greatest victory, by which God introduced a completely new relationship with men which is based on a NEW COVENANT. Through faith in Christ, He began the creation of a New kind of a new people, by the new birth, that the Holy Spirit creates in all those, that God gave to His Son Jesus Christ, before He created the world! When Jesus Christ died on the CROSS mankind reached its turning point, Calvary has become a meeting point, and the challenging message of it gives men the possibility to choose to live eternally, instead of remaining in the realm of death, which will end with a complete and eternal rejection of the unbelieving world, called the second death. This judgement will be pronounced at the end of time, before God creates a New Heaven and a New Earth as promised. (Revelation 21:1-5)

Whereas Calvary has fulfilled all God’s promises of Salvation, of which the first was given in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15) and fulfilled in the death of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Had Jesus decided not to go to the end and sacrifice Himself for the sin of the world, no promise would be fulfilled; as Paul says: “We (Christians) would be of ALL MEN MOST MISERABLE”(1Corinthians 15:19.) To bring a sense to the whole of the Old Testament, there remained the necessity of Christ’s resurrection. Death had to be vanquished and it has happened on the morning of the first day of the Week, when an angel came to role the stone from the entrance to the tomb, not to let Jesus out, but to allow the disciples in, to discover  that the tomb was empty, and realise later that God fulfilled the promise, which to this day is the greatest miracle that ever happened, bringing ‘The death of death’, for God raised back to life His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the man from Nazareth, who was despised and rejected of men but highly honoured by God, His Father! On the Friday of the Lord’s last  week in a mortal body, ended with His death, and had He stayed there, it would have been Calvary’s very sad, awful message that men would were left without hope. To think that God could die is already extraordinary, but without the resurrection it would have even be the end of everything. But all this is supposition, for Jesus Christ was Raised from the dead by the glory of God, and the Angel’s announcement to the women, that came to anoint the body of the Lord, is still the greatest message to all men everywhere, for Christ brought and end to death, and that men everywhere can share this glorious gift, as it is written: ‘For the wages of sin is death, but ‘The gift of God is Eternal life in or ‘through’ Jesus Christ our Lord’ 

Thus, the few women that came to the grave to embalm the body of Jesus, heard from the angel these stupendous words:

                              “HE IS NOT HERE HE IS RISEN”!

                             THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS-CHRIST!

From the moment Jesus-Christ rose from the dead, He has, physically, known a most miraculous change; from that earthly human body, maimed, bruised and deformed, by all the evil treatment that was dished out to him, from the grave came out a perfect, spiritual, eternal body, unlike the earthly body, a glorified body that cannot die. Jesus entered into His glory, into a spiritual dimension, which we mortals know nothing about; all the earthly scientists put together could never fathom it. The scriptural statements are the best we humans have, to tell us how the resurrection of Jesus-Christ, affects every human being on this planet, right up to our days and beyond into eternity! 

The only way one can understand how it does, is to read the Bible and meditate upon it, for the Bible, that Holy Book, is not like any other book, it needs a total application of heart, mind, and intellect we can master, with a total submission to the Holy-Spirit, for He alone can help us believe the unbelievable, and through Him light is switched on to help us believe it! I have copied every statement faithfully, just as they are found in the Bible according to the references given. My only purpose it to help men believe in Christ as they read them, and come out of darkness into His wonderful light, from death into life and from slavery to Satan into the glorious, service of Almighty God.

1 The appearance of the angel. Guards shaken!

“After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, (Sunday) Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb! There was a mighty earthquake, for an angel came down from heavenand going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were sore afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. Some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priest had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them: ’You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole Him away while were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor (Pilate) we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So, the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day!” (Matthew 28:11-15.) And, by the grace of God, right down to us

2. Jesus-Christ appears to the women!

“The angel said the women. ‘Do not be afraid, I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen just as he said. Come and see the place 

where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples; He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him. Now I have told you.’

         So, the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and run to tell the disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings’ He said. They came to Him, clasped His feet and worshipped Him. Then Jesus said to them: ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will meet me.” (Matthew 28: 1-10.)

3. Jesus-Christ appears to eleven of His disciples.

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw Him, they worshipped! Then Jesus came to them and said: ‘All authority is given in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy-Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age!” (Matthew 28:16-20.)

4. An angel announces to some women that Jesus is alive!

“When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body, very early on the first days of the week (Sunday), just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, ‘Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb?’

         But they looked up, and they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

         ‘Don’t be alarmed’, he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go; tell the disciples, and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him just as He has told you!”

         Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid!” (Marc 16:1-8.) 

5. Further appearances of Jesus-Christ.

“When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him and who were mourning AND WEEPING. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen Him, they did not believe it.

         Afterwards Jesus appeared in a different form to two men while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.

         Later Jesus appeared to the eleven as they were eating; He rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen Him after he had risen.” (Marc 16:9-13.)

6. Jesus-Christ comes incognito and talks to two disciples.

“Now the same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles. (about 11 kilometres from Jerusalem.) They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they walked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognising him. He asked them, ‘What are you discussing together as you walk along?’ They stood still; their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked. ‘Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that happened there in these days?’ ‘What things?’ He asked.

         ‘About Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied. ‘He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him; but we had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find His body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said He was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not see!

         He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter His glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if He were going further. But they urged Him strongly; ‘Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over’. So, He went in to stay with them.

         When he was at table, with them, He took bread and gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognised Him, and He disappeared from their sight. They asked each other ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us? ‘They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, 

 ‘It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon. Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when He broke the bread.” (Luke 24:13-35.)

7. Jesus appears to the Eleven assembled with other believers.

While they were still talking about this, Jesus Himself stood among them and said to them. ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, ’Why are you troubled, and why doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see me have.’

         When He had said this, he showed them His hands and His feet. And while they still did not believe it because joy and amazement, He asked them, ‘Do you have anything to eat?’ They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and He took it and ate it in their presence.

         He said to them, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you; Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. ‘Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is written’: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what the Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on High.’ (Luke 24:36-49.)

8. Jesus appears to unbelieving Thomas!

“Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So, the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord”. But he said to them, ‘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.’ A week later His disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’ Thomas said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’

         Then Jesus said to him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’

         Jesus did many other miraculous 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 Christ, the Son of god, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:24-30.) There is a divine and eternal purpose in every word recorded in the Bible, especially those that declare to the world that Jesus is alive. 

9. Jesus-Christ, the Son of God. Cooking breakfast for some hungry fishermen!

“Afterwards Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias (Galilee). It happened this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus) Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the Sons of Zebedee (James and John), and two other disciples were together. ‘I’m going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, and they said, ‘We’ll go with you.’ So, they went out and got into a boat, but that night they caught nothing!’Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. He called out to them, ‘Friends haven’t you any fish?’ ‘NO’, they answered. He said, ‘Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.’ When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.     

         Then the disciples whom Jesus loved (John) said to Peter, ‘It is the LORD!’ As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, ‘It is the Lord!’ He wrapped his outer garment

 Around him (for he has taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat towing the net full of fish, fort they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals with fish on it, and some bread.

         Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just caught.’ Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ None of the disciples dared ask Him, ‘Who are you?’ They knew it was the LORD. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples after He was raised from the dead,” (John21:1-14.)

10. A very touching ‘Tete-a-Tete’ between Jesus and Simon Peter.

“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, ‘You know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my lambs.’ 

         Again, Jesus said, ‘Simon son of John, do you truly love me?’ He answered, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Take care of my sheep.’

         The third time He said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me? ’He said, ‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep.’ I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.’ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said, ‘follow me’. When Peter turned round and saw John following them, he asked, ‘Lord, what about Him?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return what is that to you? ‘You must follow me!” (John 21:15-22.)

11. The conclusion to Christ’s post-resurrection appearances!

The Apostle Paul says: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance; that Christ died for our sins according the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared unto Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as one born out of due time.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8.)

I have carefully quoted all these scriptures to help those, who do not have a Bible, to read what is written in it concerning this amazing and the greatest of all miracles, the end of Death, from that tomb an eternal man came to life, Jesus Christ the Son of God, who exalted humanity to the highest place, to heaven at the right hand of God!  It is my belief that many Christians are poor witnesses because they have not fully immersed themselves in the glorious fact that Jesus has destroyed the power of death, defeated the devil, and has broken the chains of sin, and has set them free totally and forever from every bondage. His resurrection guaranties their own and if they are His, by faith in Him, eternity has already begun. Most people still believe that no-one ever came out from the dead to tell us what is like to live without fear of dying, because the Bible says it is appointed unto men once to die, but Jesus said: ‘I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die”! (John 11:26.)! The Christian that has not this assurance he is a poor Christian and is still seeking, by its own efforts, to achieve its salvation! 

So, Jesus came out from the grave, He lives forever and he tells us what it is like to live forever! So, someone did die and came back to life; He is Jesus-Christ the Son of the living God. The God-man is the only one who is in heaven in a human glorified body, but just as He is alive and glorified, so will be, all who have believed on Him right from faithful Abel to the last believer; ‘who will he be’? God only knowns! The resurrection of Christ guarantees that of every true believer, one day the trumpet of God will sound and every son of God will rise from the dead and will be taken up to meet the Lord in the air, those that are alive at His coming with be changed in a twinkling of an eye. Christians do not fear the judgement day, for Christ bore their judgement on the CROSS, when he took upon him the sins of the whole world. In accepting that Jesus died for them, they have dealt with their sins at the Cross, and daily their lives are renewed by the Holy-Spirit; Now, as God looks at His glorified Son, He sees every believer through Him and counts them as righteous as He. The believers who will be alive at His coming will be change in a twinkling of an eye, and together with all those that have been resurrected from the dead they will be taken to Heaven, their Father’s home! They will receive a new, glorified body, just like that of the Lord Jesus-Christ. On that day the last enemy of man, which is Death, will be defeated and eternal life will open eternity!

“So, will it be at the resurrection from the dead. The body that is sown perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

         There is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. It is written: ‘The first Adam became a living being; the last Adam (Jesus-Christ), a living spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The First man (Adam) was of the dust of the earth, the second man (Jesus) from heaven. As was the earthy man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from Heaven (Jesus), so are also those who are of heaven. (Meaning all those that have been born again of the Holy-Spirit by faith in Jesus-Christ – the Bible says that every true Christian is born from above.) And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthy man, (Adam) so shall we (all believers) bear the likeness of the man from heaven (The resurrected Son of God, Jesus-Christ.)

         I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We shall not All sleep, 

(Disciples of Christ do not die the death of unbelievers. Because death is the wages of sin, and a sinner is a man rejected from God, seen by God as his enemy! Christians have been delivered from sin, (as a power) hence all their sins have been forgiven also, and the power of sin, that held them has been broken, they now belong to Jesus-Christ. Their death, is said to be like going to sleep, their soul geos into the presence of Christ, in paradise, where they live a life out of the body; there they wait for the trumpet call, at which point they will enter a spiritual, glorified, eternal body. 

but we shall all be changed ~ in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet! 

For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we (who shall be alive at the coming of Christ) will be change. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true; 

‘Death has been swallowed up in victory,” (Isaiah25:8)

                  Where O death is your victory?

                  Where O death is your sting? (Hosea 13:14)

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus-Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:42-56.)  

Death is so final and so terrible for at the end of man’s existence it cuts him off forever from God Who alone is the source of life. This is why the Gospel is so wonderful for by it, through Jesus-Christ, man can escape from the hold that death has on him and be set free! There exists a divine association between the believer and Jesus-Christ. He came down to earth to share in his humanity, now that He is risen the believer shares in His eternal life and glory. Jesus came right down to us, so that we might be raised right up with Him. We must end this part of the chapter with the following:

“We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angles, now crowned with glory and honourbecause he suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers! He says: ‘I will declare your names to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises’. (Quote from Psalm 22:22.) ‘I will put my trust in Him.’ (Quote from Isiah 8:17.) Here am I, and the children God has given me.’ (Quote from Isaiah 8:18.) ‘Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by His death he might destroy him who holds the power of death ~ that is, the devil ~ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason, he had to be made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of His people. Because He himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those that are tempted.” (Hebrews 2:9-18.) 

The oneness that exists between the true Christian and the Lord Jesus-Christ can never be broken. It has been willed and made possible by Almighty God, and He will never go back on His word. True faith in Christ takes man from where he is ~ in the lowest pit and corruption of sin and hell, ~ into the glorious family of God. God has honoured His servants, but He hath glorified His sons! He can also do it with you! There is nobody that can stop you coming to Christ, you alone can say NO! 

            “THE ASCENSION OF JESUS-CHRIST.”

We will have the opportunity later to return to all the statements from Holy Scriptures quoted concerning the resurrection of Jesus-Christ. It was necessary for Jesus to spend forty days after His resurrection with his disciples, if only to restore them to a full assurance of faith. They have lived through turbulent days! In some ways they must have felt like their small fishing boat, which so often nearly sunk in the sudden waves of the Sea of Galilee. But just as Jesus came to them, on a stormy night, walking on the waters to save them from a certain death, so during those forty days, as He showed Himself alive to them, He proved His love for each one of them. His presence alone was a healing balm on their wounded hearts, beginning with Mary Magdalene, the women that came to the grave and saw and heard the angel, then the Twelve and finally to five hundred brothers at once, as already stated, Jesus acted with them with love and compassion. Those meetings they had together calmed their disturbed hearts, and brought them peace enjoying afresh their fellowship with Jesus.

His restoring ministry to each, especially Peter, who went as far as to deny Him, was like pouring a healing balm on an open wound. With each appearance of Christ, they felt better, and when, towards the end, Jesus prepared breakfast for them on the shores of Galilee, it was the most divine revelation of how much Jesus loved them, it was ‘like the icing on a cake’! Jesus pours His love abundantly on His servants continually, but never as much as when they suffer inwardly the pains of failure. Having been in the ministry of the Gospel for over forty years, I have come through bitter experiences in which I felt the heavy weight of failure! It was in those experiences that I realised how God alone can heal a broken heart! I felt the fingers of men pointed at me but never that of the Lord. That is how, in those days, Jesus put them back together, physically, emotionally and spiritually, for they were in pieces, and He healed them. After Pentecost, when filled with the Holy-Spirit, they became as bold as lions and preached Christ everywhere! Glory to God!

So came the day of His ascension, the day of His departure from earth to heaven. He came amongst men as a little helpless baby which Satan tried to destroy as soon as He was born; but He left the world glorified and re-entered heaven full of power and glory where He sat at the right hand of God and exalted humanity to the very throne of God. “In the past God spoke to our fore-fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by his Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven.” (Hebrews 1:1-3.) 

“After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and he sat at 

the right hand of God.” (Mark 16:19)

“When He had led them to the vicinity of Bethany, He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.” (Luke 24:50-53.)

“After His suffering, He showed Himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while He was eating with them, he gave them this command. “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptised you with water, but in a few days, you will be baptised with the holy-Spirit?”

         So, when they met together, they asked Him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy-Spirit will come on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’

         After He said this, He was taken up before their eyes and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who is taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1: 3-11.)

Just as real as were Christ appearances to all that believed on Him, the crooked priesthood, that heard Him say, prior to His death, that on the third day He would rise again, and hearing what the guards have reported to them, realised very well that the worst, as far as they were concerned, just happened. To hide the truth from the people, they devised a wicked plan and tried their best to deceive them; but to hide the truth is like trying to stop the tide coming in, and soon the truth would fill Jerusalem and the countryside. Nevertheless, they gave the soldiers a vast amount of money to buy their silence and ordered them what to say: ‘That His disciples came and took his body away while they slept.’ (Acts 28:13)   The majority of Israelis still believe it to this day and they still despise the Son of God, their Messiah. 

Whereas the world would expect Jesus to make His resurrection visible and plain to all, Jesus-Christ chose to reveal Himself alive to His disciples only. We are dealing with spiritual things not natural things. God does not see that it is important for Him to prove anything at all to unbelievers. Jesus refused to speak to them while he was still alive, so why should He suddenly want to prove anything when He rose from the dead? He will never speak to unbelievers in any other way but through the Gospel, calling them to repentance just as He does to the Gentiles. Through the anointed preaching of His disciples, God spoke to the people, He still is speaking generations after. 

Do you want God to speak to you? Then try and find a place where the Gospel is preached, if you can’t then read the New-Testament, where the Gospel is recorded! If you have not got a Bible read what is quoted from it on this website. There is enough materiel in these pages for you to find repentance from your sins, and believe that Jesus is alive and if you do it, sincerely, He will reveal Himself to you, not visibly but to your spirit by His word! There is no other way left for man to save himself from damnation! Everything man gets from God is by faith, faith is a miracle and God alone gives it to true and sincere seekers, therefore faith sees without the eyes of flesh, and what is not seen in the natural realm is extremely real in the spiritual realm.

Of course, so much depended on the reality of this tremendous event, for unless Christ was raised from the dead, not one of the great gifts promised by the Gospel, as preached by Jesus-Christ, would be available. If Jesus had died without being raised from the dead, there would be no forgiveness of sins, nor would there be a way of deliverance from the power of death and of the devil! His disciples, what they heard from His own lips, would have been misled for there would be no possibility of salvation and deliverance from sin death and the devil. This is what is said by the Holy Spirit: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17.) 

But such admission is senseless, for Christ is raised from the dead as He said, this indeed was the message the Angel revealed to the women who came to the tomb to anoint the body of the Lord, when they heard it, they went running with excitement to tell it to His disciple. Of course, even though Satan, in the spiritual realm experienced the immensity of His defeat, inflicted on him on the CROSS, in the natural realm he still does all he can to dispute its reality. Nevertheless, with all his evil craft he cannot stop one of God’s elects to come to Christ! Since Christ ascension, millions are now with Him in Paradise, many on earth are ready to go, and those that are marked for salvation, all the unbelief that is present in the world today, sponsored by the devil and his fallen angels, will not stop Christ to save those that God have Him! Thus, grows continually the New People, multiplied daily by a regeneration which is the New Birth. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation”.

The history of the Church reveals that not only was the resurrection of Christ denied by the subtle philosophers of this world, but that even from amongst the Church itself came forth teachers that denied it, they are still new ones, present in the world, still doing all they can to deny this great miracle! trying to confuse the saints, with their carnal outlook of heavenly truths. This is why, as I said, faith is a miracle, because through all the centuries, Satan having never changed his tactics, still using the same arms from his armoury, has never managed to convince the smallest believer not to believe in the power of all that Jesus taught and did, and that He is alive. From every trial of his faith in Christ, a believer comes out stronger. The man, who truly believes, from a deep conviction generated in his heart by the Holy-Spirit, comes out stronger and Christ becomes more real, Peter mentions it perfectly saying: 

“Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus-Christ! In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus-Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade ~ kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith ~ of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire ~ may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Christ, is revealed. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:3-9.) Words like these express very well what I have said previously. I have never feared when new converts to Christ were having a tough time from family, friend or their neighbourhood, because all the opposition and criticism that they had to bear, has proved that their experience was true, their faith got stronger and all their trials have brought them closer to the Lord: “Whom having not seen they loved.”

There has never been a time in the history of the Church when the resurrection of Jesus-Christ has not been challenged by an unbelieving world. Any subject that spells the full blessing of the Full Gospel, such as the new birth, forgiveness of sins, eternal life here and now, etcetera, all have faced the full blast of unbelief and the corrupt efforts of Satan’s disciples that have mixed the tares with the wheat (his counterfeit Christians disgrace the true disciples of Jesus-Christ and confuse the truth of the Gospel.) But all Satan’s efforts have not stopped the Almighty to carry on with His work of grace and the Church shall be complete on the day of Christ’s return for her. 

The greatest chapter in the Bible, which powerfully confirms the resurrection of Christ, is 1 Corinthians 15. In it, we see clearly the reality and the power of God that brought about the resurrection of Christ, which in itself guaranties the resurrection of all those that have believed in Him. I have already stated that when Christ died all died. Jesus-Christ, because of our sins, bore the full blast of God’s anger and with all sinners, whether Jewish of Gentiles, was cursed and forsaken of God. During three days he realised what death really meant, as the Bible says: “He tasted death for every man”, because separation from God is death, no- one has been raised from the dead in the way Jesus was, this is why the Bible states: “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, (believers in Jesus-Christ as their Saviour.)” (1 Corinthians 15:20) What this means is that there is only one glorified person in heaven indwelling a human glorified body, He is Jesus-Christ the Son of the living God, the head of the New Creation, His Church, after His victory He sat at the right hand of God in heaven. All believers that have died are with Jesus in heaven, but they have not put on a glorified body, only their soul is there with Him, but when the day of their resurrection comes, their soul will enter a new recreated glorified body, which will be exactly as that of Christ the Lord.

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, commissioned His disciples to go into the whole world to preach the Gospel. He said to them the following as recorded:

“The disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw Him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said: ‘All power and authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28: 16-20.)

All that Jesus said to them was not written at the time, the New Testament began to be written later on and the last contribution was made by the Apostle John, in about 85 to 90 AD. But the message of Christ was very much alive in their hearts, as we can see it by the message Peter gave to the crowd that gathered around them on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2) They spread the Good News exactly as we can now read it in the New Testament, mainly in the four Gospels and in the Book of Acts. The Book of Acts is the only one in the Bible without a proper end, that is because the command of Christ is still obeyed and the Gospel, although it has now reached the extremities of the Earth, is still preached and it will be preached, by every means possible, right up to the end of the age! This is the work of the Holy-Spirit, to glorify the Lord Jesus-Christ and prepare the Church until in heaven it is united to its Redeemer!

“When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had driven seven demons. She went and told those that had been with Him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen Him, they did not believe it! 

         Afterwards he appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either. 

         Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; He rebuked them for their lack of Faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. Then He said to them, ‘Go into the world and preach the Good News to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe; in my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on the sick, and they will get well.’

After the Lord had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the signs that accompanied them.” (Mark 16:9-19.)

We get a perfect chronology of the way Jesus commissioned His apostles when we read the total record as written in the Gospel of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and in the first chapter of Acts. In all of these it is stressed that they had to preach the Gospel, called also ‘the Good News’. It is clearly stated that this is exactly what they did, in this same spirit, the true Disciples of Christ, sent and anointed by the Holy-Spirit, have done it to this very day. There is no other message that can lead a person to Christ for its salvation, and the forgiveness of all sins, past present and future, meaning every sin committed from the time of the new birth to the death of a believer, is also atoned for at which time his soul goes to paradise. 

The Apostle began to preach the Gospel, the Good News, as recorded in the book of Acts. They were bound to remain in Jerusalem until they were baptised in the Holy-Spirit, just as Jesus commanded them: “On one occasion, while He was eating with them, he gave them this command. “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptised you with water, but in a few days, you will be baptised with the holy-Spirit?” (Acts 1:4-5.) I must remind you that Jesus, even though He was the Son of God, was also baptised with the Holy-Spirit, it happened when John the Baptist immersed Him in the river Jordan. This is what I have quoted previously: “As soon as Jesus was baptised, He went out of the water. At that moment heaven opened, and he (John) saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17.) Later when Jesus returned to His own town, Nazareth, as it is written: “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread throughout the country side. He went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; when He was in the synagogue, He took the scroll and read from Isaiah: “The Holy Spirit is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach Good News, to the poor. Then He rolled the scroll and said: ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:14-21.)

Ten days after the ascension of Jesus into heaven was the day of Pentecost. It was the feast of the first fruits, the spring harvest which was commemorated in June, fifty days after Easter, in the Jewish calendar, called ‘The Passover’!  Pentecost was the day when the Church was born and, on that day, the Holy-Spirit anointed people for the first time, just as Jesus had been anointed! A hundred and twenty men obeyed the commandment that Jesus left them: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised!’ And, ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and (or then only) you will be witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:4 & 8) It is this outpouring, or baptism in the Holy Spirit that enabled feeble men to continue the work their master began, and by mighty works they glorified their master Jesus Christ! The gift of the Holy Spirit was also a stamp of divine ownership, it was, a mighty proof that the sacrifice of Christ was accepted in heaven, by which His disciples on earth began to share fully in the Glory of their exalted Saviour!

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit

and began to speak in other tongues as the (Holy) Spirit enabled them” (Acts 2: 1-4) 

It is an amazing thing that the first sign of this infilling was inspired Praise. There is never a thing more wonderful that anointed worship of God Almighty. There were a hundred and twenty people, each received a personal infilling! Now we must never think that God deals with people ‘En masse’. Entering into the spiritual realm by the new Birth is always a very personal experience. There is a great difference between the idea of men and that of God. Right through the Old Testament we see God dealing with individuals. His calling began with one man, Abraham, since his call God has called His people one at a time, because it is not by a conscription, but a new birth, that He brings His sons into being! He also says, “Where two or three are gathered in my name I am in the midst of them”! I go as far as to say, that if a man does not go through the process of a personal experience with God, he can never enter the Assembly of the saints.  ‘All of them, all those that were in that house, where filled with the Holy-Spirit.’ Jesus baptised each one personally in the Holy Spirit, with this infilling came divine power to praise God and a personal enabling to function in His body which is His CHURCH.  Eleven only were anointed to preach the Gospel; they were those that Jesus called to follow Him promising them that He would ‘make them fishers of men’! Their call to preach the Gospel was reiterated by Christ before His ascension into heaven. But all those that were baptised in the Holy-Spirit were anointed for their specific function in the Church that Jesus created, and still continues to do it in the same way, telling all to: 

“Repent and be baptised every one of you, in the name of Jesus-Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and all who are afar off ~ for all whom the Lord our God shall call.” (Acts 2:38-40.)

Men may have their ideas of what the Church of Christ is, or should be; here we find the pattern of a Church that responds to heaven where God is continually praised and exalted in and by the Holy Spirit, who on earth also makes, of the Church of Jesus-Christ a holy unit of redeemed people, true worshippers of the lamb of God, the Saviour of the world, their redeemer! The first and the most important ministry of every members of the Church of Jesus-Christ is to be an Anointed, Pentecostal, Spiritual worshipping person, a holy entity in the family of God’s Sons. The Christian life is lived individually and it is a personal daily experience. Even in his home, a Christian must find time, every day, to seek God, pray to Him, read the Bible, meditate upon it and worship Him, and to do it properly, He must have the unction of the Holy Spirit. A true worshipper worships God in Spirit and in Truth, his spirit, created anew, is constantly in touch in the Holy Spirit with his Saviour, and feels His presence.

On the day of Pentecost there were people in Jerusalem from many parts of the world, all were God-fearing Jews or proselytes. The noise of Praise attracted many of them to the place where the disciples dwelled and they marvelled that these unlearned Galileans, spoke in their own language. To the disciples they were unknown tongues, they did not know what the Holy-Spirit was saying through them, but these visitors understood them because they: “Heard them declaring the wonders of God in their own tongues”. They were amazed at this; perplexed they wondered what this meant! Some ignorant people, mixed in the crowd, that gathered around the disciples, made fun thinking these men were beside themselves, having drunk too much sweet wine! But on that great day, God began to gather a crowd in which He was preparing many to salvation, to be the premise of a huge harvest of souls. Three thousands of them became the first fruits of this first real Pentecost and were added to the Church; hence, millions have joined their band by faith in Jesus-Christ right up to this day! 

It is amazing how God works, His wonders to perform. These disciples, having received the commission to go and preach the Gospel, beginning at Jerusalem, were, since the ascension of Christ, gathered behind closed doors bound up by fear, unable to say a word in public, let alone preach the gospel openly. Suddenly the Holy Spirit comes and takes over, and everything else is put aside, because His plan, His will have the pre-eminence over every human thought and purpose. If God had not stepped in and filled them with holy boldness, they would have never dared go out of doors, but the Holy Spirit came and flung the doors open, and they went out proclaiming a risen, exalted, glorified Saviour! This happened because they had waited for the promise just as Jesus commanded them, absolutely ignorant of what was: ‘this promise’, and how or when it would actually happen? It looks like many gave up waiting, or could not due to personal responsibilities, who knows? Nevertheless, those that remained together were rewarded and the blessing came on all that were gathered in one place! 

The promise was fulfilled, for God never fails. I wonder how many blessings are missed, even by Christians, who complicate and often annul God’s blessings on their lives, because they will not wait on God to do what He wants. They seek to understand the ‘whys and wherefores’, rather than believe that what God wants for them is the best. Since God has started to pour out His Holy-Spirit, at the beginning of the twentieth century, on a small group of believers, most of the established churches, including many evangelical ones, have opposed it and have shut themselves from God’s will. But millions, in the whole world, have come into the Church through the preaching of the Gospel by these Holy-Spirit anointed preachers, and believers. These new converts have been filled with the Holy-Spiritbut many established churches, have shut their heart to the Pentecostal Blessing!

This is the way God does things; we find it in the Old Testament and in the New. God reveals His Sovereignty and power to little men and uses them to do great and mighty things, changing them and changing the world around them. Thousands of people were in Jerusalem from around the world, and few persons filled with the Holy-Spirit, made enough noise, which could even have been miraculously amplified to be heard all over Jerusalem, so as to attract a great crowd, for God decided to speak to men through unlearned Galileans, men despised by the clergy, firstly for being Galileans and secondly for being disciples of Christ. It was God’s time to save three thousand of them and add them to His divine family! It was an unforgettable day; a day Jesus began to build His Church! What does this mean, they asked? What is all this noise about? Why so much excitement? So, through Peter, Jesus will tell them what salvation is all about! You must read what follows, because in this message God gives the way to eternal life in a nutshell. All that written below is recorded in the New Testament, words spoken by the mouth of the apostles will refer directly or indirectly to the message given by Peter on this eventful day!!

“Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: ‘Fellow Jews, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, (this happened to fulfil) this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, men and women, I will pour out of my Spirit in those days and they shall prophesy! (Acts :14-18.)

The last time anything like this happened was when Jesus, after having been filled with the Holy-Spirit, began to preach the Gospel, to the people of Judea, in their country sides, in their streets and in their synagogues, it is said, that the common people heard Him gladly, and said never man spoke like this man! JESUS spoke the language of the people from which he came forth, a Galilean! HE also had to raise His voice, more at times less at other times, because this message was not and is not to be whispered, it is a message of life that all have to hear, because, since the fall of Adam, it is the only one that God has ever given to men of the whole world, opening a way for them to come out of darkness into light, from sin into purity of life, from the bondage to Satan to the freedom of faith in Christ, from death to life, which Christ alone gives “to all who will listen carefully to Him”. Many heard the message, many still hear the same message, but few really listen! It is like in a classroom, many hear the same lesson but few listen to it, but those that listen learn what the others never will. If one does not listen to God one may as well be deaf! One will get nothing from God if one does not listen for, he that truly listens obeys! Listening demands attention to what is said followed by obedience to the message! This is not just a talk: This is a Holy message, touched by the fire of the Holy-Spirit, so powerful that it can melt a heart of stone and turn it into a heart of flesh! There’s more! There’s more!! Listen!

“Men of Israel, LISTEN to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourself know. This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead, because it was impossible for death to keep Him. David said about Him: ‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made know to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.(Acts 2: 22-28.)

It is stated here that the death of Christ and the manner in which His life was ended, by wicked men, was done according to ‘God’ set purpose’. Jesus Himself, as already quoted previously, knew why He came to earth and that a part of his mission was eventually to die on a cross. His death, the manner of it, the purpose of it, was prophesied in many parts of the Old Testament. The whole law concerning sacrifices, especially that for sins, was a prophetic, foretelling the substitutionary sacrifice of God’s lamb, as the Bible says: ‘Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15: 3.) Therefore, throughout the whole Bible God declares that man is unable to help or save Himself, and that He alone had to take the initiative to come to his rescue. Salvation is totally the work of God, He alone planned it. We also learn through this passage that although wicked men bring God’s purposes to pass, they are nonetheless responsible for what they do, and will be judged for their sins. The killing of Jesus-Christ has brought a curse upon the whole world, being a Jew or a Gentile makes no difference, all are men casts off from the presence of God, cursed and doomed for hell, it may be strong language but it is the truth, but God made a way out of this curse, and repentance will be preached to the whole world, God’s purposes will be fulfilled! 

There is still more, and you must read it, please, and respond to it! It’s for you too!

“Brothers I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God has promised him on oath that He would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, He spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’(Quoted from Psalm 110:1.)

         Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this; God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.’ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles: ‘Brethren, What shall we do?’ (Acts 2:29-37.)

All these words are so important, they cannot be ignored or replaced, they are part of the doctrine on which rests the Church of Christ! Some I have highlighted for a special reason, others are underlined; some are written in larger letters, because they convey elements of great truths, which can never be bypassed. If one does not seriously face these truths and does not respond positively to them, one will never be saved however righteous one may become! Think this! If God could not find another way to save men from eternal death, the power of sin and the devil, and restore everything to perfection, but had to send Jesus, His Only Son, whom He loved so deeply, yet was prepared to see Him humiliated and die such a cruel death! then He will in no way bypass the truth here declared. Whatever men may say, whatever they have set up in rebellion to the Gospel, and made their own way, rather than follow God’s way through Christ, then they will lose their soul forever! There is no purgatory, men have drop that into poo; to muddy the clear waters of truth!

God has exalted Jesus to the highest place; at the HIS right hand, He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He reigns, for the time being, over His Church and through her continues His work on earth, changing people through faith in Him and influencing the world in which they are placed to live His life. But the day is coming, when He shall return just as He said He would, and just as it was declared by the angels that appeared on Mount Olivet when Jesus disappeared from their sight as He went to heaven; it is on that Mount that He will return and extend His reign over every nation under heaven. This is what God meant when He said to Christ: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’ These things are real, it is only a matter of time, God works to His clock and He is never late! The Kingdom of God that Christ will institute on earth was promised by God to David, and Peter explained it very well when he said that David had prophesied it concerning Jesus-Christ: ‘God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.’

WHAT DID PETER PREACHED ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST?

Right at the beginning of his sermon He cannot miss, no, He must not miss to mention the CROSS; since the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down and filled them with His power and glory; it became the very Central point of the disciples’ message of salvation! In verse 22 (Acts 2) He introduces Jesus of Nazareth, unknown to many of the visitors, but well known to others, and rightly so, Jesus takes the central place, the Highest place, and He is the message. It was only fifty day ago, that the whole drama of His death had taken place, the inhabitants of Jerusalem that have lived through it, may have forgotten it already, for to them it was just another death. Yet to others, these words from Peter, bring the awful story back to life again, they cannot get away with it nor from it, and God choses to remind them of what they did to His Beloved Son; ‘This man, was handed by you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the CROSS!’ But listen, says Peter, He is not dead because God raised Him to life. This was complete news to most of those people that had a hand in it, who shouted again and again: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” We will not have this man to reign over us”. Most of them had been back in their various provinces, now, for the Feast of Pentecost they returned to the Capital, as God commanded it, and these words, spoken in the power of the Holy-Spirit, went right into their heart like a dagger.

1.The CROSS became the central message of the apostles of Christ. Everywhere they went, they proclaimed the Crucified Saviour, whom God raised to life! This CROSS is no more, but what happened on it is still very real and that is where a sinner meets His Saviour. A Song says: “Kneel at the CROSS, Christ will meet you there, come while He waits for YOU! So do it! He preached that the man, the man JESUS, (about whom we have written throughout these chapters, especially since He commemorated the Passover with Him disciples (John 13.) Right from the time Jesus was apprehended in the Garden of Gethsemane, by the thugs sent from Annas the High Priest. Yes, this man, whom the Jewish authority falsely accused and condemned to die so brutally, who forced Pilate to send Him to the cross, but after He was laid in a tomb, was raised by God triumphantly on the Passover Sunday, this man is now exalted to the highest place in Heaven; it was HIM that GOD DECLARED, YES, THIS JESUS, TO BE LORD AND CHRIST.  We are witnesses of it, for we saw Him alive, He ate with us and drank with us, Yes indeed! You killed Him, but God raise Him! This message is dynamite; and still remains the greatest for it leads men back to God!

2. The divinity of Jesus-Christ was one of the important points in the message concerning this God-Man whom preached the Apostles, and has remained through the centuries up to this day. The man that died on that CROSS is the LORD! (Jehovah) Alive today and forever!

Although Jesus, the babe, was born in a manger and grew up to be a man of little importance in the eyes of the world, yet he ‘was born as heir of the eternal kingdom’ which God promised to His ancestor David. He has inherited the throne and He Reign over the Church, and influences the world through the True Church of which is the Head. He is coming back again, and this time it will not be an uneventful birth in a manger, but the Coming of the Eternal King, with trumpet sounds and great Glory. At that moment: “Every knee shall bow before Him and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (YAHWEH) to the glory of God the Father.” 

3. The return of the Lord Jesus-Christ is paramount to the doctrine of salvation. There are untold references in the New-Testament to the return of Christ and the changes that He will bring geographically, socially and spiritually. As the apostles did, the true Church of Christ still does, and lives as if Jesus’s return was imminent. Everything that is happening in the world today points to the soon return of KING JESUS! 

No other faith can claim these glorious truths. The God of heaven, the creator of the universe came on earth to open for men a way of repentance that leads back to God! He is the founder of the Church and He is the builder of it, and Jesus is its sole defender. Christ the WORD is the foundation of the Church and its doctrine, and He said that heaven and earth shall pass away but His word shall stand forever. All other faiths have a human leader and their tomb still hold their cadavers, only the Christians have a living Saviour who redeemed His disciples by His own blood, which cleanses them from all sins, and It is though Him that they have been born again into a life that shall never end. They live in Christ without merit, purely by grace, which is God’s unmerited favour. He has promised a new heaven and a new earth wherein shall dwell righteousness. All other faiths began on earth by one man who tried to find a way to God! They all failed, and have left the world in a great confusion. They have obeyed Satan who, according to the Bible is the author of confusion! As for The Church, it existed in the plan of God before He created the heavens and the earth, from heaven he will come to raise His people to life and take it to be with Him forever.

4. Jesus started to preach the Gospel in His own country to the Jews, who were really Hebrews as was their father, Abraham! Jesus never wrote a book, nor left to his disciples written commandments. Everything that He said was committed to their memory. The New Testament includes the Gospels, the epistles, which the writers wrote under the inspiration of the Holy-Spirit. The last book of the Bible was given by revelation the apostle John! The life they lived with the Lord during three years, left such an impact on them that what he said, what he did especially, who He was, could never be effaced from their very inner being! The epistles are instructions the disciples left to the Church, and with the Book of Revelation, are the Living Word of God, The New Testament.  Before His ascension, Jesus commissioned His apostles to go and preach the Gospel to the whole world. This they did faithfully and after them, faithful men, called of God and anointed with the Holy-Spirit, still preach the same Gospel. The New Testament closes with a warning: 

“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophesy God will take away from him the share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says: ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen! (Revelation 22:18-19.)

In the preaching of the Gospel the resurrection of Jesus-Christ was and is its central point! Without the Cross and His resurrection there is no Gospel. In the world in which we live, He has been brought down to the level of a man and men take Jesus to be just another prophet, often the smallest among them. Jesus is now accepted as being equal to any other founder of pagan religions; even the Church, so called, rarely mentions Jesus-Christ as to who He really is. The Jews have Moses, the Buddhists have Buddha, the Mohammedans have Mohammed, and so on, the Hindus have gods without number, but the Christians have God as their Father, Jesus-Christ as their Saviour, and Holy-Spirit as their guide. He is their Master and Lord, Christ remains the foundation of their faith, the only One that trod the lowly road to Calvary, where, by His death, as God-Man, He dealt positively with sin, death and the devil, and destroyed them on the CROSS. To all His disciples He says:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the FATHER and of the SON and of the HOLY SPIRIT, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I AM with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew: 28:18.)

The Disciples of Christ did just that. They did it faithfully, all, (except the apostle John), did it at the cost of their lives. These men, to whom belonged the whole world to come, lived in this one as poppers, and yet they enriched thousands with the greatest riches which the whole gold of the world could not and cannot purchase to this very day, buy them the smallest of them. This very Gospel is still doing it in the world today; you too can become a disciple of the Lord Jesus-Christ and experience the power of the eternal life which millions then and now have received when they surrendered their lives to the LORD JESUS-CHRIST who loved them and gave himself for them! 

Christians! Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. I my father house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. And If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am!

(John 14: 1-3). EVEN SO COME LORD JESUS!

The next chapter deals with every step a Christian takes during his life time under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Please read it!