The Resurrection
What are Satan's goals? First, he attempts to discredit the Book, which teaches us about God. Second, the devil seeks to undermine the proof that the Bible is the Word of God. Third, he slanders God to us in order to get us to think that God is not the way He presents Himself. Fourth, failing all of those techniques, his goal involves getting us to procrastinate obeying the gospel. But if we do o dissuade us—then, fifth, he tries to discourage us to continue to live faithfully. He might encourage us to let the world take back our lives or discourage us by bad conditions in the world or even in the church.
One of his most effective tools is the employment of false teaching. For example, if he has not been able to convince someone that God does not exist, then how about changing our image of the way God actually is? Sometimes, this technique involves an attempt to alter His character. Most everyone has heard the bogus claim that the God of the New Testament is different than the God of the Old. No. God changes not (Mal. 3:6). Also, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). Attempts to prove He has changed fail utterly.
Satan has convinced some that Jesus was a created being. No. He is eternal, as is the Father and the Holy Spirit (1 John 1:1-2; Heb. 9:14). Jesus, the Word, is God and has been God from the beginning (John 1:1-3). While on earth, Jesus taught the principles of the kingdom and did miracles as proof of all that He taught and claimed. The reality of the miracles could not be questioned; so, His opponents attributed them to Beelzebub, the prince of demons (Matt. 12:24). That strategy failed.
The attack on Jesus' Deity still persists to this day. Some yet claim that there is no proof that Jesus ever lived, which has been debunked for decades. Those who continue to propagate this error (mainly, college professors), are either ignorant or liars, which would not be surprising since they are of their father, the devil. But He did live, and He was the Word made flesh (John 1:14).
But of equal importance is the assault on His resurrection, which began shortly after Jesus arose from the dead. What actually happened was that there was a great earthquake, for an angel descended from heaven and rolled the stone back from the door. The angel sat upon the stone, and the guards shook for fear of him. Notice that they saw and witnessed this occurrence (Matt. 28:2-3). But when the guards reported what they had witnessed to the chief priests, they didn't want the truth to be known. The chief priests and the elders bribed the guards to say that Jesus' disciples came and stole the body (Matt. 28:11-15).
This was the first attack on the truth of the resurrection—but not the last. Satan's assault upon the doctrine of the resurrection is understandable because if people believe Jesus arose from the dead, he is all but finished. He only wins in that case if Christians don't follow through on their commitment to the Lord. Therefore, he desires to keep as many people from believing it as possible.
“But,” someone says, “surely he has lost that battle, because just about all who claim to be Christians know that Jesus was raised from the dead.” While it is true that people know the fact of the resurrection, they do not know the importance of it as one becomes a Christian. It is an integral part of baptism. Notice how Paul ties baptism to the Lord's death, burial, and resurrection in Romans 6:3-6:
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Notice that baptism is our connection to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. He died, was buried, and was resurrected; baptism takes us into His death. Sprinkling or pouring do not constitute being “buried”; only being completely covered (immersed in water) can imitate a burial. Jesus was completely covered in the tomb; His body was not left exposed to the elements with a little dirt sprinkled on Him.
Jesus arose from the dead; we arise from the waters of baptism with a new life. We are in the likeness of His resurrection. We enter into the water with all of our sins, but there they are washed by the blood of Jesus (Rev. 1:5). God removes them from us (Col. 2:12); they are washed away (Acts 22:16).
When Jesus arose from the dead, He had a new life—one in which men could no longer harm Him. He no longer had a physical body; He could die no more. When we come forth from the waters of baptism, we have a new life. We have been born again! We no longer need to be slaves of sin (Rom. 6:7-10). Our sins have been washed away; we have been cleansed. We are also justified (1 Cor. 6:11).
The Upshot
What do these facts have to do with the assault on the resurrection? If Satan cannot destroy the teaching of the resurrection itself, then the next thing to do is to attack baptism. We have discussed several attempts along these lines during the past five weeks (November 21 to December 19, 2021). “Christian” writer after “Christian” writer has denigrated baptism in an effort to keep people from doing it (“you can go to heaven without it,” they claim) or from doing it properly (“sprinkling or pouring are great ways to baptize”).
Would we have the doctrine of the resurrection if Jesus had remained in the tomb? What would have happened to Christianity if the soldiers on the first day of the week had broken the seal and moved the stone in order to find Jesus still there—dead? They would have marched into the city and confided the news to the elders and the chief priests, who would have undoubtedly rejoiced.
How can those desiring to be Christians be raised up from the dead if they are never buried? Those who have water sprinkled or poured on them are not being buried. Only when people are immersed can they be said to be buried. Infants should not be baptized because they are not dead. What sins have they committed for which they need to be buried (Rom. 6:2)? Only those who recognize they have sins to be washed away can be baptized.
“That's a relief! When I was baptized, I was immersed.” Great! But for what reason? Almost without exception, anyone baptized in a denominational or non-denominational church was saved first and then baptized, which is backwards. “I was born again and then baptized.” Which does society generally do: bury the dead—or newborn, live infants? The sinner steps into the waters of baptism with his sins, and they are washed away by the blood of Jesus as he is buried. But if he claims to have been born again already, then he takes no sins into the water with him. In fact, he had no reason to be baptized.
The Gospel
Jesus gave a great commission to His apostles. They were to preach the gospel. But what is the gospel? It is just what Paul was describing in Romans 6:3-6. He defines it specifically in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, which is called what? Yes, the “resurrection” chapter! Paul wrote: “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He arose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”
When the Lord, therefore, told His apostles: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” this is the message that they should preach—the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. “But,” someone protests; that message does not say anything about baptism.”
Try the next verse: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16). Remember that baptism is the way we get into Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3-6).
On another occasion before Jesus ascended into heaven, He commanded His disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: (Matt. 28:19). Once again, this command concerns preaching the gospel. Those who believed were to be baptized.
Peter preached the first recorded gospel sermon on the Day of Pentecost, ten days after Jesus ascended into Heaven. He was taking advantage of the opportunity to speak to those gathered together on that occasion. Peter preached that Jesus had been crucified by those present—with lawless hands (Acts 2:23). He showed that Jesus had been buried but did not remain in the tomb (2:30-31). The Christ was not only resurrected; He was resurrected as a fulfillment of prophecy. Furthermore, He had ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of God (2:32-35).
Peter was doing what the great commission called for—preaching the gospel. Many believed his message and asked what they should do. Would he mention baptism as Jesus had mentioned in Matthew 28:19 and Mark 16:16? Would he present baptism the way Paul explained it in Romans 6:3-6? Or would he omit it altogether the way most “televangelists” and modern websites do?
He unashamedly answered their question by saying, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). How would the multitude respond with no one there to tell them they had already been saved the moment they had heard and believed the message? What would they do without anyone to tell them they could go to heaven without being baptized? How would they understand the link Peter made between baptism and the forgiveness of sins? Today, some would cringe in horror at the suggestion that baptism would wash away or forgive sins (Acts 22:16), but that's what Peter preached, and that's what Saul of Tarsus was told.
In the absence of any objector to the contrary, those who gladly received the apostle's word were baptized (Acts 2:41). These three thousand were added to the church, along with others who were being saved daily (Acts 2:47).
If Satan cannot destroy Jesus' being raised from the dead, he will do the next best thing by talking people out of joining in the Lord's death, burial, and resurrection. Persuading people to not be baptized for the right reason or with the proper mode is the same as getting them to deny the resurrection (as it pertains to them and their salvation).