Bible Study

The Gift of Eternal Life Berean Bible Study Course

Part I--The Character Of Jesus Christ Our Lord

F. Lesson 6--Jesus Is The Savior Of The Obedient

19. READ: JOHN 19:38-42 AND JOHN 20:1-9

c. What did they still not understand from Scripture?

Answer: Peter and John still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus HAD to rise from the dead--HAD to be resurrected, (verse 9 of John, chapter 20).

MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:

• The first that Peter and John knew of the resurrection was from the physical evidence they could see with their own eyes as they looked into the tomb. They still did not understand that the Scriptures HAD to be fulfilled--that Jesus HAD to be resurrected.

  It was written in Scripture that this would happen, thus it was the Will of God that it should happen, making it impossible for it not to happen:

  John 2:18-22: "Then the Jews demanded of Him [Jesus], ‘What miraculous sign can You show us to prove Your authority to do all this?' Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.' The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and You are going to raise it in three days?' But the temple He had spoken of was His body. After He was raised from the dead, His disciples recalled what He had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the Words that Jesus had spoken."

  Luke 24:26: [After His resurrection, Jesus said,] "Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?"

  Luke 24:45-46: "Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day...'"

• NOTE: The resurrection of Jesus HAD to happen because without the resurrection of Jesus, there could be no resurrection from the dead for anyone:

  John 11:25-26: "Jesus said to her [Martha, sister of Mary and Lazarus], ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?' ‘Yes, Lord,' she told Him, ‘I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, Who was to come into the world.'"

  Romans 6:3-11: "Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

  1 Corinthians 15:12-20: "But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead. But He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."

  Philippians 3:10-11: "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."

  1 Peter 1:3: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..."