BIBLE STUDIES

TOPIC: JESUS IS ALIVE AND WELL

Five hundred people saw Jesus after He arose from the dead. If we do not believe that He is alive, we cannot call ourselves Christians, I Cor. 15:16. He showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs. God called what the witnesses saw, infallible proofs, Acts 1:3.

Jesus upbraided some people for their hardness of heart when they did not believe the ones who saw Jesus after He arose from the grave, Mark 16:14.

If you put someone on the stand that did not see anything, know anything, or hear anything, he wouldn’t be a good witness.

Let’s put Stephen on the stand. Among a great cloud of witnesses, signs and wonders and miracles followed when Stephen preached Christ. God’s Word declares that he was of honest report and full of the Holy Ghost. He saw a great revival. He had enough grace to tell his persecutors that they were stiff-necked and uncircumcised of heart - that they were resisting the Holy Ghost. He told the same thing to all the religious leaders.

In the face of deadly stones, Stephen looked up and declared that he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. In the presence of a great cloud of witnesses, he was welcomed home by Jesus Christ Himself.

No one can deny this scene and the life beyond and still believe the infallible Word of God.

Let us call Saint John to the stand.

"John, do you know He lives today? Do you know there is life beyond the grave?"

"Beyond any doubt," John answers. "I was with Him for years. If anyone knew Him, I did. I leaned on His breast. I saw Him on the mountain. I saw Him in the temple. I saw Him in the valley. I saw Him in the wilderness. I saw Him in the garden. I saw Him on the cross. I saw Him at the whipping posts. I saw Him at the cross and He was pronounced dead, and put into the tomb. I saw the tomb sealed, "I was an eyewitness when He met us behind closed doors and ate with us. He appeared to me when I was on the isle of Patmos. I talked with Him for hours. He let me look into the heavens and see ten thousands times ten thousand witnesses. I saw thousands and thousands of people who are still alive now. They live on and on. They are there now praising the One who lives forever and ever and ever."

Out of the five hundred witnesses, one of the most influential witnesses was Paul. He was a rank unbeliever, a persecutor, a blasphemer, and a officer who tried to destroy all the disciples of Jesus.

Let us call Paul to the stand. "Why, Paul, have you had a change of heart? Why did you change instantly?"

Paul answered, "I met the risen Lord face to face and was convinced, Acts 9:5. Jesus is alive and well, forever more! I became a new creature in Christ Jesus. Old things have passed away and behold, all things became new."

Let us call one more group to the stand. Who are these people? These are the people who throughout the ages gave their lives for their testimonies. They are sincere witnesses. They are now under the altar in heaven. Listen to what they are saying:

"How long, O Lord, Holy and True, doest thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth." I see the Lord giving everyone of them white robes and telling them to wait just a little while, Rev. 6:9-11.

This group includes Stephen, John the Baptist and the teeming thousands of people who have had their lives taken for their testimony from the foundation of the world until now.

Why take anymore witnesses? Is there one who can prove what these people witnessed is not the truth?

Oh, a witness from hell?

Here is a testimony being sent back to us from hell!

This testimony says, "Eternity is real. Hell is real. Life after death is more real than life on earth. DON’T COME THIS WAY! DON’T COME THIS WAY! Turn to God!!

Along with this witness will be King Saul who stubbornly refused to repent. He fell on his own sword, crying, "I have sinned." He committed suicide, I Sam. 31:4.

That rich man is still alive in hell right now, crying back to the world, "Don’t come this way. Go tell my five brothers to please not come this way." Abel is still witnessing against Cain,

Hebrews 11:4. All these men, being dead still speaketh. They are living on to be united with their bodies, to appear at the judgment, to witness against themselves, Romans 1 4: 11, to receive their sentence. Their own mouth will condemn them, Matt. 12:37. There is a life beyond, heaven and hell. It is a reality!

If you haven’t asked Jesus to come into your heart and be your Lord and Saviour. Ask Him now. Your destination of heaven or hell is as important to me as it is to you. Why? Because I know it is real….people have died and came back to tell about it. I myself can testify of the reality of hell and heaven:- it happened about 4 years ago, I was in pain and depressed I couldn’t eat for so many days I laid on that woollen (made in Africa) carpet of mine in the city of Zwolle here in The Netherlands weeping for my heart brokenness, all of a sudden, one afternoon I found myself came out of my body, I went through a very dark never ending tunnel it was as if there was a light millions of kilometres away from me. I followed that light till I reached a “Y” junction and I did not know if I should go to the left or to the right, there I remembered the Words of my Saviour Jesus Christ:-  “Then He (Jesus) will divide them into two groups, just as a shepherd separated the sheep from the goats.  He will put the righteous people at His right and the others at His left”.

Therefore I discovered that I was dead. But since I knew that I have not yet fulfilled my mission and calling on earth, I begun to fight back and refused to go ahead to that long journey. I came back to life again and found myself sweating and my heart was beating as if I just finished a marathon race. And from that time, I eat and decided not to die but live and serve my Master and Saviour Jesus Christ and to fulfil my mission and calling. For what we have seen, heard, touched and handled is what we testify and we know that our testimonies are true.

And God is not a liar. We could go at any given moment…and eternity is a very, very, very long time! Infact, there is no time in eternity! Think about it.

Mathew  25:31-46    

“When the Son of Man comes as King and all the angels with him, he will sit on his royal throne, and the people of all the nations will be gathered before him,  Then he will divide them into two groups, just as a shepherd separated the sheep from the goats.  He will put the righteous people at this right and the others at his left. 

Then the King will say to the people on His right, ‘Come, you that are bless by my Father!  Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world.  I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave Me a drink; I was a stranger and you received Me in your homes, naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me, in prison and you visited Me. ‘ 

The righteous will then answer Him, ‘When, Lord, did we ever see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You a drink? When did we ever see You a stranger and welcome You in our homes, or naked and clothes You? When did we ever see You sick or in prison, and visit You?’

The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these brothers of Mine, you did it for Me!’

“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Away from Me, you that are under God’s curse! Away to the eternal fire which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels!  I was hungry but you would not feed Me, thirsty but you would not give Me a drink; I was a stranger but you would not welcome Me in your homes, naked but you would not clothe Me; I was sick and in prison but you would not take care of Me.’ 

Then they will answer Him, ‘When, Lord, did we ever see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and we would not help You?”  The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you refused to help one of these least important ones, you refused to help Me.’ 

These, then, will be sent off to eternal punishment, but the righteous will go to eternal life. ”

May the Lord have mercy upon us all. Amen.

God bless you richly.

Pastor Isaac (www.crpmi.org)