As we are in both the
Easter and Passover seasons right now, like many my thoughts get very
reflective towards the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This past Wednesday night at our midweek service, I was meditating on these
things and was drawn to this Scripture:
“And with great power the apostles gave
witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was
upon them all.” Acts 4:33 NKJV (emphasis
mine)
The fact struck me the Apostles
gave witness not to just Jesus, but to the resurrection of Jesus. Secondly,
they did so with great power. Why would great power be needed to bear witness
to the resurrection? Let us really simplify this text and boil it down to two
basic points: WORDS & WORKS.
In our text, it states
they gave witness. Other translations use the word testimony or testify. The
Greek word used in this text is Strong’s # 3142 and really is better-translated
testimony. The English dictionary defines testimony as:
·
A declaration or
affirmation of fact or truth.
·
Any evidence in
support of a fact.
·
A public
declaration regarding a religious experience.
In other words, the
apostles spoke about not just Jesus, but about the resurrection of Jesus.
“He looked ahead and
spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO
HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY. This Jesus God raised up again, to
which we are all witnesses.” Acts
2: 31 & 32 NASB (Peter’s sermon
on the Day of Pentecost) (emphasis mine)
"So, having
obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and
great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take
place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His
resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to
the Jewish people and to the Gentiles." Acts 26: 22 & 23 NASB (Paul before King Agrippa while in prison) (emphasis mine)
We must declare the
resurrection, because without the resurrection we are just another
religion…but, Jesus has risen and is alive forevermore. Telling folks about the
goodness of Jesus and His miracles is not enough; it is His resurrection that
is the anchor of our faith and the hope of our resurrection.
“And if Christ
has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also
is vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God,
because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise,
if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even
Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is
worthless; you are still in your sins.” 1 Corinthians 15: 14-17 NASB (emphasis mine)
In our text, it states
that the witness the Apostles gave was with GREAT POWER.
The word for power used in
our text in the Greek is Strong’s #1411, a word which many of us are quite
familiar with, it is the word Dunamis. Dunamis is defined in the concordance
as:
·
Inherent power.
·
Power for
performing miracles.
Paul uses this same Greek
word – Dunamis in Philippians 3:10 where he speaks about the Power of the
Resurrection.
“That I may know Him
and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His death.” Philippians
3:10 NASB (emphasis mine)
The apostles not only
testified or spoke about the resurrection; they demonstrated it by the power to
perform miracles.
“At the hands of the
apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and
they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico. And all the more believers
in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their
number, to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the
streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least
his shadow might fall on any one of them. Also, the people from the cities
in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were
sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.” Acts 5: 12, 14-16 NASB (emphasis mine)
“God was performing
extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or
aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left
them and the evil spirits went out.”
Acts 19: 11 & 12 NASB (emphasis mine)
From these simple
thoughts, we can draw the conclusion that to be a witness of the resurrection
we must tell it and show it, or like the old kindergarten game we played in
school: ‘SHOW AND TELL’. This is a concept the New Testament bears out quite
well.
“For I will not presume
to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting
in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of
signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from
Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the
gospel of Christ.” Romans 15:
18 & 19 NASB (emphasis mine)
“And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with
superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words
of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your
faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2: 1, 2, 4 & 5 NASB (emphasis
mine)
