devotion column Erasmus Makarimayi
CHRISTIANITY subscribes incontestably to the incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth born of virgin Mary. He was crucified, died, buried and rose from the dead.
The risen Christ was physically seen by many. He ascended on high and sits on the right hand of the Father. The empty tomb of Joseph of Arimathæa, in which Jesus was buried, is a strong case that He rose.
However, the credence of His resurrection and ascension into glory is more than just the empty sepulchre. If you’re a born again believer, you answer affirmatively that Jesus Christ is alive. The empty tomb doesn’t make one a born again believer, but Christ in you is enough truth that He rose from the dead.
The life you now live is the life of the risen Christ. Jesus doesn’t die yearly during Easter holidays. He’s forever risen from death.
Many have fallen into error by dwelling on the incomplete gospel of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospel of Christ is His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, commonly referred to as the preaching of the cross. The Christ you received as Lord and Saviour is not the incarnation Jesus, but the resurrected Christ.
You’re a product of resurrection and not incarnation. That’s why Christianity is a translation from death to life.
Many have confused themselves and gone to visit the empty tomb and thought holiness would be imparted to them. If you’re not born again, you can even stay all your life in Joseph Arimathæa’s tomb and go to hell.
Doesn’t it ever ring in your mind why Jesus of Nazareth, the prophet, with all his influence, never bought a grave ahead of time in preparation for his death?
This was to prevent us from worshipping the tomb. He, therefore, used someone’s tomb.
We respect the biblical plan of God to have the Messiah born in Bethlehem. We respect His choice of Mary as the womb to carry our Saviour. However, we don’t worship Mary, but God.
Apostle Paul sets it clear for us in 2 Corinthians 5:16, which reads: “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” Let me stress by repeating: We have received the resurrected Christ, and not Jesus the incarnation of God.
This risen Christ consciousness will heavily impact on your enjoyment of the finished work of Jesus Christ freeing you from religiosity and legalism. The grace of God becomes more realisable.
Please, read carefully, lest you put wrong words into my mouth. I am not saying there’re two different Jesuses. The Bible records Him as the second and also the last Adam for the purpose of substitutionary sacrifice. Believing that Jesus came in the flesh is actually a prerequisite for salvation for the benefit of knowing that He took away our sins.
Christianity is of spiritual essence. The risen Christ becomes our focus. Resurrection reality manifests as you receive the resurrected Christ into your heart and life.
Things around you benefit as they’re imparted with life.
Jesus taught in John 4:21-24,:“[21] Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. [22] Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. [23] But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. [24] God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
With due respect to the nation of Israel and respect to God who chose it that way, we don’t become holy and righteous by visiting Jerusalem. We’re the righteousness and holiness of God in Christ.
We live in the physical and material world, where natural default is that tangible things are more real than those that cannot be physically grasped. Beloved, we worship God who cannot be touched by physical hands, but who does things that can be touched by physical hands.
From the upper room experience, we see the beginning of the proof of the risen Christ.
Acts 2:41 records: “Then they that gladly received his word were baptised: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” Since then, the Gospel of Christ has been spreading and multitudes getting saved or born again.
This is the proof that, indeed, Jesus Christ is resurrected. If you’re not yet saved, please, join in. Jesus is, indeed, risen from the dead.
Grace and peace be multiplied to you through knowledge.
