A Resurrection Lie!

In the interest of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 being our purpose here at SCRIPTURES WEEKLY, that being the teaching of God’s written word given by holy inspiration for reproof and correction, and instruction in righteousness - at the alarming behest of this recently released story, we wish to utilize Gods word to correct an unfortunate misuse of scripture in the world today.

Click this LINK for the bazaar resurrection story. Then come back and finish the lesson.

This is another sad case of believing in a wrong Jesus Christ, a wrong Gospel! The supposed "strong faith" these folks had and prayed under, is clearly seen as a deception from God Himself (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12) to hopefully jar them and others who are reading this tragedy, out of their human wisdom, and submit to the wisdom of God through His word.

The common mistaken faith practice of scripture people use today for their own purposes is Matthew 20:21-22. This scripture is grossly taken out of context in the case of this story where the family believed so hard that they were waiting for the dead loved one to be resurrected from the dead. They missed a fundamental point of what God is teaching us about faith.

Jesus had just withered a fig tree after rebuking it (Jerusalem) for not having a new found faith in their Messiah right in front of them. As the preacher C.H. Spurgeon noted in one of his messages:

"Finding no fruit upon the tree, it being a season when he had no right to expect that there would be any, he was vexed, and uttered a malediction against a tree, as though it had been a responsible agent. This view of the case results from the folly of the observer: it is not the truth. Our Lord desired to teach his disciples concerning the doom of Jerusalem. The reception given him in Jerusalem was full of promise, but it would come to nothing. Their loud hosannas would change to, "Crucify Him!"

After the fig tree immediately withered before their eyes, they were amazed, and they asked the Master how it withered so quickly?

Back to Matthew 20:21-22 and the family who prayed over their loved one in the article. Jesus says:

"If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

The missed Clue

Do you see and hear the clue these people and their strong faith missed in understanding Christ’s words? In a nutshell, Jesus was directly speaking to the 12 disciples for whom He would later bestow power from on high. Not to you or me today or even other bystanders alongside the twelve disciples Jesus chose to continue His work. We have the advantage to see what happened with the twelve He is speaking to in this conversation about the fig tree. Just 5 weeks after Jesus went back to heaven, they became empowered Apostles equipped with the power to heal and raise the dead through the power of God and not of themselves. This is the proper context of Matthew 20.

This demonstrates just how important it is to dig deeper into Gods word to hear Him, and not assume one understands. He is preparing the 12 for the ministry to the Jews first in Jerusalem, and beyond. Along with 3 years of intimately teaching the 12 disciples, it is after the resurrected Jesus in His glorified state that He breathed upon the 12 the Holy Spirit giving them power from on high to actually do what He said they and they alone could do in Matthew 20:21-22.

This isn’t to say God is unable to resurrect anyone at any time He chooses. He certainly could according to His will, but we have no indication from His perfect word that such is the case. Sadly, these people misunderstood the scripture context and believed a lie.

The resurrection power was only reserved for the 12 disciples soon to become apostles in Acts chapter 2 when the church was born in Jerusalem. His will was not to resurrect the corpse today as there is no need to do so. God’s revelation is already proven in His word, the Bible. Everything He wants us to know has already been done. What He is looking for from us is a life of faith in Him, not a random miracle to serve our selfish desires. We need to be preparing ourselves for an eternity with Him! That we are “Gods handiwork, created in Christ to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10).

There is no further revelation to man that needs to come from heaven. The only revelation we need today is through the Gospel by an individuals, right and true relationship with Jesus Christ,

This news story is just one of thousands of false teachings and misinterpretations of scripture today that the Lords true church has to contend with. It’s a sad thing to see good people so deceived and taught a wrong doctrine of God’s word. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39).

We hope you have learned a little more of the mind of Christ today.

Many blessings…