2000-04-24 - Risen from the Dead

The Prophecy Fulfilled Series, Part 11

The Prophecy

Psalm 16:10, "For your will not abandon my soul to Sheol; neither will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay."

Psalm 49:15, But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; for He will receive me. Selah."

The Fulfillment

Mark 16:6,7, "And he said to them, 'Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here, behold, here is the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, 'He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He said to you.''"

"Collect," says Saurin, "all these proofs together; consider them in one point of view, and see how many extravagant suppositions must be advance if the resurrection of our Savior be denied. It must be supposed that guards, who had been particularly cautioned by their officers, sat down to sleep; and that, however, they deserved credit when they said the body of Jesus Christ was stolen.

"It must be supposed that men, who have been imposed on in the most odious and cruel manner in the world, hazarded their dearest enjoyments for the glory of an impostor. It must be supposed that ignorant and illiterate men, who have neither reputation, fortune nor eloquence, possess the art of fascinating the eyes of all the church.

"It must be supposed either that five hundred persons were all deprived of their senses at a time, or that they were all deceived in the plainest matters of fact; or that this multitude of false witnesses had found out the secret of never contradicting themselves or one another, and of being always uniform in their testimony.

"It must be supposed that the most expert courts of judicature could not find out a shadow of contradiction in a palpable imposture. It must be supposed that the apostles, sensible men in other cases, chose precisely those places and those times which were most unfavorable to their views. It must be supposed that millions madly suffered imprisonments, tortures and crucifixions, to spread an illusion.

"It must be supposed that a thousand miracles were wrought in favor of falsehood, or all these facts must be denied; and then it must be supposed that the apostles were idiots; and that all the primitive Christians were idiots.

"The doctrine of the resurrection of Christ affords us a variety of useful instructions. Here we see evidence of divine power; prophecy accomplished; the character of Jesus established; his work finished; and a future state proved. It is a ground of faith, the basis of hope, a source of consolation, and a stimulus to obedience."

I have quoted at length here, because sometimes something can not be improved much upon. Saurin, is either Elie Saurin (1639-1703), pastor of Delft in 1665 and Utrecht in 1670 and a figure at the synod of Leuwarden (1695), or, more likely, Jacques Saurin (1677-1730), the greatest orator of the French-Reformed Church. The source I am using for this quote does not identify which Saurin is being quoted.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

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