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NOTES
While standing before King Agrippa as a prisoner in chains, Paul asked a very simple question, “Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?”
New-creation Christianity emphasizes that God has the power to give humans new bodies. One day, Jesus will harness that power to literally give new bodies to those who have a faith-based relationship with him. Now, this truth didn’t originate with Jesus. In fact, the belief that God has the power to give life and restore life actually runs through the entire Old Testament. In another video, I explain how that promise is present from the very beginning.
For now, I simply want to emphasize that the biblical authors always believed God has the power to restore life. Here’s why: If God created the heavens and earth, then God created all of life. If God has the power to create life, then he has the power restore life. That’s the reasoning of the Bible’s authors. God doesn’t regularly or always miraculously restore life right in front of our eyes. But he certainly has the power to do so if he wants.
For example, this idea appears in the life of Abraham. He lived a little over two thousand years before Jesus and became the great patriarch of the Jews because he trusted God’s word. Namely, he trusted that God would give him a son through his wife Sarah and that that son would become a great nation. God intentionally waited until Abraham and Sarah were far too old to have children, Sarah being decades beyond her child-bearing years. Then, God did the impossible. He revived her womb and gave them a son. If God has the power to create life, then he has the power over the womb—essentially bringing life out of death.
Centuries after Abraham, Moses led the oppressed Jews out of Egypt and then delivered a set of sermons before they entered the promised land. These sermons are in the book of Deuteronomy and here’s what God said through Moses: “there is no god beside me; I bring death and I make life; I wound and I heal.” In other words, God has the power. He struck down the Egyptians. He disciplined the Hebrews and he restored their health.
About seven hundred years after the time of Moses, God called Isaiah to speak to his people and he became the prince of the prophets. Numerous promises about God’s redemption and restoration come through Isaiah. In fact, God reveals his plans for all humanity through Isaiah. Listen to this: “On this mountain [Zion in Jerusalem] the LORD will make for all peoples a feast of rich food [and] well-aged wine. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth.” Here’s another: “Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.” If God has the power to give life, then he also has the power restore life. Why is that so essential for new-creation Christianity? Because Jesus gives you the power to live a new life starting right now. Thanks for listening. I’m Aaron Massey.