God Speaks. How do we know what He says is true?

In my last blog post, I mentioned going a little more in depth with the resurrection part of Holy Week. Thinking of the title of this blog, resurrection is the answer to the question. We know what God says is true because of the resurrection of Jesus. We know that Christianity is true because of the resurrection. This is also what separates Christianity from the other popular world religions.

Some time ago I did very brief research on several of the world's most popular religions. There are two significant distinctions between Christianity and the other religions. Let me first clarify what is meant by Christianity. Christianity is belief that Jesus is God's Son; that He was born as a man through a virgin; that He died and resurrected and that the way to heaven is through belief in and acceptance of Jesus and what He did for us. If any of these beliefs are other than described, then it is NOT Christianity.

The first significant difference to mention between Christianity and other "religions" is that in all the other beliefs, humans are responsible for their arrival in heaven or nirvana or whatever the "place of peace" may be called. According to most other popular religions, only if humans do the "right things" or "try hard enough" or "do enough good things", can they enter heaven upon death. From what I researched, most of these other beliefs do not even signify that the person on whom their religion is founded is the one who determines their entry. Who is the one to judge whether they are good enough, or have done enough good things? Christianity still requires action from the individual; however, it is not subjective. God asks us to believe and accept Jesus and His sacrifice for us and to let Jesus have charge of our life, then we can go to heaven with Them. God is the one that determines if we have done that and it is not subjective, it is objective. Believe and accept or not; very cut and dry.

To further describe the sacrifice of Jesus for us, it was much more than just dying on a cross. Realistically none of us are worthy of communing in Heaven with God because God cannot tolerate sin and we are all sinners. If there had been no Jesus, or He had not become our sacrifice, ALL humans would spend eternity in Hell because we ALL sin (do bad things) and sin cannot be in God's presence. God knew that there was really nothing that WE could do to get rid of our sinfulness, so He sent Jesus. God's ultimate goal for Jesus was to experience OUR punishment of Hell instead of us. When Jesus was on the cross, Jesus BECAME our sin (our bad things) according to 2 Corinthians 5:21. He spent time in Hell and took the keys of our jail cell from Satan so that we won't have a room there. All God asks in return is acknowledgement and belief that Jesus did this and a willingness to allow Jesus to lead us in life. If we do that, our key is thrown away. If we don't do that, Jesus returns our key to Satan.

The second significant difference between Christianity and other "religions" is Resurrection. No other leader has resurrected anyone nor has been resurrected themselves. The Bible mentions several stories about resurrection. Most were in relation to Jesus. Either he performed the resurrection or was resurrected Himself. In Luke 7 we read of Jesus bringing back to life the son of a widow. In Luke 8, Jesus resurrects or brings back to life the daughter of Jairus. The third resurrection performed by Jesus was that of Lazarus, his friend. To the Israelites, only God had the power to resurrect and by performing these three resurrections, Jesus was proving that He was God. The next resurrection recorded is that of Jesus Himself. On the third day of His death, Jesus came back to life. Matthew 27:51-53 tells us also that when Jesus was resurrected, many others were as well.

"Matthew 27:51-52 The Voice (VOICE)

At that instant, the temple curtain was torn in half, from top to bottom. The earth shook; rocks split in two; tombs burst open, and bodies of many sleeping holy women and men were raised up. After Jesus’ resurrection, they came out of their tombs, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and showed themselves to people."

This verse also describes the temple curtain being torn in half. The temple curtain was used to separate the "commoners" from the area of the "presence of God". Once that curtain was torn in half, the "commoners" had immediate direct access to God and no longer had to go through a mediary like a priest. In comparison to the other popular world "religions", no other leader came back to life after dying! That is what makes Christianity different. Jesus came back to life and is still alive in Heaven waiting for us. The other religions follow their leaders' teachings long after they are dead, but Christianity follows the teachings of Jesus, Who has come back to life and is still living. Because Jesus died once and came back to life, so can we. Whether pr not we acknowledge and belief in Jesus sacrifice and let Jesus be in charge of our life will determine whether we live eternally in Heaven or Hell.