He is not here, He is risen! 04/12/20

HE IS NOT HERE FOR HE IS RISEN! - What a powerful testimony to the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The words above in capital letters are written on the door of the traditional tomb of our Lord, which is located just outside the walls of the old city of Jerusalem. The site is visited by tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims every year. My daughter Faith has attached a picture of the Garden Tomb to this post.

Good Resurrection Sunday morning to all members of FHG and to others who may read this message. I thought of preparing a video presentation for you today, but knowing that it would of necessity be somewhat lengthy, I decided to send this message in print. You may not be aware that a brief 15-minute video recording can take up to 3 hours to publish. Sister Faith would edit the video recording in a few minutes, then upload it to Youtube before it can be published on the FHG website. The uploading is a very time-consuming process which our editor can only initiate after her working hours at around 10:00 pm. I am so very grateful for her faithful contribution as editor and publisher of my written, audio, and video presentations. I estimate that today's video version of this message can take no less than 40-45 mins. Hence, you can imagine how long it would take to publish; and although sister Faith would be more than happy to complete the publishing, I prefer to not over-task her.

Today we celebrate our Lord's resurrection! Those of you who watched our last bible study on 1 Corinthians 15:20 would know that today is the commemoration of the Jewish feast of First-fruits. Of the seven annual feasts that God gave to Israel through Moses in Leviticus 23, four of them have been fulfilled during the life of Jesus, viz: The feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost and Atonement. Your homework is to find out which are the yet unfulfilled feasts and when they may have their complete fulfillment.

Allow me to take you to several passages of scripture for which I would provide brief explanations and then tie all of those explanations together at the end.

First, let's look at Hebrews, chapter 11. This is sometimes referred to as the "Hall of Faith" chapter as it describes the unwavering faith that some of the Old Testament, God-fearing people held. Please read the entire chapter in order to get the complete understanding of what the writer of Hebrews was trying to convey. His clear point was that the ancient believers in God chose to forfeit all the pleasures of this life that they may gain the benefits of the life to come. Verse 13 for example, explains that none of these individuals received the promises of God in their earthly lifetimes, but died in faith "having seen them afar off and were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."

As you read through the chapter, you discover that each of these saints believed in a resurrection when they would inherit the great blessings of eternal life and heaven. They looked forward to an unimaginable future reunion with fellow believers. This chapter lists some of their names, and their brief testimonies that confirm their concrete faith and anticipation of a future resurrection.

Secondly, let me remind you that biblical salvation is decisively the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives - God's grace and that only, saves us. No effort on our part contributes in any way to our salvation. Faith itself, is a gift from God. Of course you can affirm that by reading Eph. 2:8, Rom. 3:28, Gen. 15:6, Rom. 4:3. Clearly then, the act of baptism, which is a public declaration of our faith in Christ, does not save us. That said, baptism was not only a common practice among Jews, but a commandment of Jesus given to His followers. Therefore, it was expected that all who placed their eternal hope in the finished work of Christ would follow with the act of water baptism. So closely related was salvation and baptism that the two concepts were treated and seen as one. In other words, a person who was saved was also baptized and vice versa. This is the GOSPEL - 'Good News' that Jesus was crucified and resurrected to secure the salvation of those who would believe.

Now please, very slowly, read over and meditate on this paragraph, because it is critical that it be fully understood before going any further.

Now we come to one of the most difficult passages in all of the New Testament. Coincidentally and thankfully, it follows our current bible study. So let's turn to 1 Corinthians 15:29.

"Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?"

How many of you have ever read this verse? How many of you have read it and have become confused over what it means? Deacon Jt once told me that as a child of seven, his mother required him to read this verse at least once per week. He still today follows her instructions and every week after reading, his only comment is "What in the world?" Some of you might be asking the same question right now, as Paul (Assuming he wrote the book of Hebrews) did not go further to explain the meaning of the verse. I suspect that the apostle gave us no additional explanation as he expected his readers to easily and fully understand his meaning. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints uses this verse to justify their practice of conducting vicarious or proxy baptisms. That is to say, the Mormons encouraged family members or friends of a non-baptized, deceased Mormon to be baptized in place of the dead, so that the dead may be credited and benefit from a Mormon baptism. Then and only then, does the Mormon theology of salvation claim that a person is saved. This is salvation by works, and militates against Paul's theology. This kind of interpretation of the verse in question could not at all be what Paul meant, since the apostle never taught in any of his writings that baptism was necessary for salvation. In fact, we have seen earlier that we are saved by grace only, through the faith gifted to us by God Himself (Eph. 2:8). Therefore, if our own baptism contributes absolutely nothing to our own salvation, how can it produce salvation in another, even the deceased? Clearly then, this is not what Paul had in mind and the Mormon interpretation is flawed.

Had we been in Spring Valley right now, I would end my message here and ask you to do some homework on this verse. Since I do not have the luxury of assigning you homework, I am unfortunately 'stuck' with having to give you the meaning of the verse here. So, with sadness and regret, let me try to share with you what I believe about the true meaning of 1 Corinthians 15:29. Notice that the word "for" is twice used in the verse. The Greek equivalent for "for" is the word "huper" and can have several meanings depending on context. "For", "about", "on behalf of", "instead of", "because of" are all possible meanings of huper. The Mormons choose the meaning "instead of" to support their 'proxy baptism' teaching, but since Paul never taught baptismal regeneration, (Baptism is necessary for salvation) "instead of" would be a wrong choice for the meaning of huper. The only feasible option which agrees with the biblical doctrine of salvation would be "because of".

In other words, Paul is saying "........What will they do, who are baptized BECAUSE OF the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized BECAUSE OF the dead?" The verse clearly indicates that some of the early Christians in Corinth were accepting Christ as Savior (be baptized) BECAUSE OF the testimony of the deceased. And yes, some were ready to receive Jesus as Lord of their lives (be baptized) because they too were convinced from the testimony of the Old Testament saints in Hebrews 11, that there is a future resurrection of the dead with a great reunion of all believers. The New Testament Corinthian Christians were therefore willing to accept the teachings of Christianity after being influenced by the deceased Old Testament saints of Hebrews 11.

Much more can be said here, but I do not wish to burden you with more information than needed. Rather, I prefer to pause with this message and advise that you read it over again, maybe much slower, thinking carefully of what I am trying to say. Then read it again tomorrow that you may receive an additional blessing.

May our great God bless each person accessing this lesson, helping everyone to fully understand its contents and may He also provide for us a safe and Happy Easter.

Pastor Chandroo