Investigating Jesus - Part 21

Investigating Jesus Part 21

Who did Jesus say that He was?
The Resurrection and the Life

1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard:
my loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.
3 ‘Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?
5 Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled.
6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds not to rain on it.’
7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
Isaiah 5:1-7

This passage from the Old Testament book of Isaiah starts out as a love song between God and Israel. Israel was to be a vineyard, and despite all the love God had given tending to her, she had only produced bitter, sour fruit. This bitter sour fruit is described in Isaiah 5:8-25. Therefore, God will abandon her. So, if this vineyard is abandoned, will God raise a new vineyard?

25 Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ 27 ‘Yes, Lord,’ she replied, ‘I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.’ (John 11:25-27).

This exclamation by Jesus is highlight of this passage of Scripture. Lazarus has died (John 11:15) and will be raised back to life again (John 11:43-44). Why does Jesus say that he is the resurrection and the life? He is the giver of life itself. He gives eternal life to all who will believe in Him. Resurrection and life are inextricably tied together. Resurrection and life harmonize each other because resurrection precedes life and the new life of a Christian disciple is the result of resurrection. Remember Jesus’ mission was to go to his death on the cross and be resurrected three days later. Not a resurrection like that of Lazarus, who would later physically die again. No, Jesus’ resurrection, as we will look at in a later study, is one where death is ultimately conquered and Jesus has a glorious new body.

Only those who choose to follow Jesus, to be Christian Disciples by faith in the risen Christ, have new life because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after his death on the Cross. That is why Jesus can exclaim with authority that he is both the resurrection and the life. Moreover, this resurrected life is not just for the future but it is also for the present, and only through the risen Jesus Christ.

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