SUNDAY THE RESURRECTION DAY OF THE LORD YESHUA

TNDL: "BUT WHAT IT HE WAS NOT RISEN, WOULD HIS FOLLOWERS HAVE ANY HOPE? SUNDAY THE RESURRECTION DAY OF THE LORD, YESHUA THE HEBREW MESSIAH."

The resurrection of Jesus, or anastasis, is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day[note 1] after his crucifixion,[1] starting – or restoring[web 1][note 2] – his exalted life as Christ and Lord.[2][3][web 2] According to the New Testament writings he was firstborn from the dead, ushering in the Kingdom of God.[4][web 2] He appeared to his disciples, calling the apostles to the Great Commission of proclaiming the Gospel of eternal salvation through his death and resurrection,[note 3] and ascended to Heaven.

For the Christian tradition, the bodily resurrection was the restoration to life of a transformed body powered by spirit,[5][6][web 3] as described by Paul and the Gospel authors,[7][8][9] that led to the establishment of Christianity.[10] For Christians, his resurrection is the guarantee that all the Christian dead will be resurrected at Christ's parousia (second coming).[11] In Christian theology, the death and resurrection of Jesus are the most important events, the foundation of the Christian faith,[12] as commemorated by Easter.

In secular and liberal Christian scholarship, the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus are explained as visionary experiences[13][14][15] that gave the impetus to the belief in the exaltation of Jesus[16] and a resumption of the missionary activity of Jesus' followers.[13][17]Jewish–Hellenistic background

Five part resurrection icon, Solovetsky Monastery, 17th century

Jewish

See also: Jewish eschatology and Resurrection of the dead

In Judaism, the idea of any resurrection at all first emerges clearly in the 2nd-century BC Book of Daniel, but as a belief in the resurrection of the soul alone.[18] Josephus tells of the three main Jewish sects of the 1st century AD, that the Sadducees held that both soul and body perished at death; the Essenes that the soul was immortal but the flesh was not; and the Pharisees that the soul was immortal and that the body would be resurrected to house it.[19][20] Of these three positions, Jesus and the early Christians appear to have been closest to that of the Pharisees.[21] Steve Mason notes that for the Pharisees, "the new body is a special, holy body," which is different from the old body, "a view shared to some extent by the ex-Pharisee Paul (1. Cor. 15:35ff)."[22]

The evidence from Jewish texts and from tomb inscriptions points to a more complex reality: for example, when the 2nd century BC author of the Book of Daniel wrote that "many of those sleeping in the dust shall awaken" (12:2), he probably had in mind a rebirth as angelic beings (metaphorically described as stars in God's Heaven, stars having been identified with angels from early times); such a rebirth would rule out a bodily resurrection, as angels were believed to be fleshless.[23] There was in fact a plethora of opinion regarding the afterlife within Second Temple Judaism, ranging from Daniel's heavenly exaltation of disembodied spirits to the more traditional view of a shadowy existence in the underworld.[24] Within this spectrum, a resurrection of the flesh was a marginal belief.[2READ

Matthew 28

New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Has Risen

28 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

The Guards’ Report

11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

The Great Commission

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”