`Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. . . . but He spake of the temple of His body'

(John 2:19-21).

Not only was the truth of His death and resurrection a stone of stumbling to His enemies, but His own disciples

failed to grasp the significance of these great truths.

`And as they came down from the mountain, He charged them that they should tell no man what things they

had seen, till the Son of Man were risen from the dead. And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning

one with another what the rising from the dead should mean' (Mark 9:9,10).

But the most majestic reference to the truth of His resurrection during His earthly life was given by the Lord Jesus to

a sorrowing woman, distraught with grief at the loss of a loved one. `Thy brother shall rise again' (John 11:23) was

the greatest comfort that He could give to Martha on the death of her brother Lazarus. Then followed: `I am the

Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live' (25). To the believer who

is instructed in the Word, this has always been the only ground of his hope for time and for eternity. `Because I live,

ye shall live also' (John 14:19). After the glorious statement of John 11:25 which proclaims Him to be the I AM -

Jehovah of the Old Testament - Who has the keys of death and the grave we come to the opposite extreme in verse

thirty-five which is the shortest verse in the Bible. `Jesus wept'. Here we have the sublime mystery of godliness -

God manifest in the flesh. He Who was truly God was also truly human and only as such could He be the Redeemer

of sinners.

(2) Resurrection and the Gospel.-In the fifteenth chapter of first Corinthians Paul gives the basis of the gospel

that he preached `how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He

rose again the third day according to the Scriptures' (3,4) and in Romans 4:24,25 he declares that the righteousness

of God is `for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the

dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification'. It is evident that the

resurrection of Christ held a vital place in the gospel that the apostle ministered. While it is important to stress the

death of Christ as the one offering for sin - for `the wages of sin is death' (Rom. 6:23).- yet this is only half the truth,

for of what use would a dead Christ be as a Saviour? The pouring out of His precious blood on Calvary's Cross

would be valueless apart from His present resurrection life.

`I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore,' (Rev. 1:18).

`Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost (literally to all perfection or maturity) that come unto

God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them' (Heb. 7:25).

He has entered into heaven itself `now to appear in the presence of God for us ` (Heb. 9:24).

Many a Gospel message has been spoiled and robbed of its power by omitting the great truth of resurrection.

To multitudes of unbelieving people Jesus Christ is merely an historical figure Who walked this earth some 2000

years ago and is now dead, buried and finished. In testifying to the gospel of His grace we must present Him as a

living Saviour, One Who is vitally interested in each person and One to Whom all shall one day give account (Rom.

14:10-12). In Romans 10:9 the apostle states `If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe

in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved'. While we have no mention of Calvary

here, it must be included, inasmuch as the lesser is included in the greater. It is possible to present the work on the

cross without resurrection, but it is not possible to set forth the resurrection of Christ without implying all that was

accomplished on the cross for sinners.

When we come to the types of atonement and cleansing in the Old Testament it is manifestly impossible for an

animal to represent at one and the same time both the death and the resurrection of the Lord. Consequently we have

two types in Leviticus 14 and 16 to set forth this double truth. In the case of the cleansing of the leper, two birds

alive and clean were to be brought to the priest. One was to be killed and then we read:

`As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hissop, and shall dip them

and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water ... and shall let the living bird

loose into the open field' (Lev. 14:6,7).