John Hagee - The Two Resurrections
Here is the resurrection story. Late Thursday night, 2,000 years ago, following the Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus of Nazareth was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Just outside the Eastern walls of Jerusalem, his disciples slept as great drops of crimson blood formed on his brow. He was carrying the weight of your sin and my sin on himself at that time. In agony, he looked toward God the Father and said, "If it is possible, let this cup pass from me". And then he said, "Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done".
You are never going to accomplish anything truly in life until you decide to live by God's will, and not yours. Your will must be crucified. His will must live. Jesus went to his disciples, who were sleeping, and he asked a question, "Why could you not watch with me for one hour"? The point is the disciples were sleeping in history's most dangerous hour. Are we not doing the same thing right now in America? America is in a moral, spiritual, political crisis, and the church of Jesus Christ is sleeping. Church of Jesus Christ in America, listen to me from coast to coast, all 50 states. It's time to wake up, and to stand up, and to speak up for Jesus Christ, our blessed hope.
Suddenly, through the olive trees, there are seen 500 Roman soldiers in full battle gear. They surrounded the Lord of glory. They charged into the garden saying, "We seek Jesus of Nazareth". And Jesus simply said, "I am he," and they fell to the ground like dead men. Think about that. Jesus said, "No man takes my life, I lay it down". Rome could not convict him. The cross could not conquer him. The grave could not contain him. Satan could not defeat him. Why? Because he was, and he is, and always shall be king of all kings and Lord of all Lords: the conqueror of death, hell and the grave! Give him praise in the house of God!
Jesus is standing, and the Romans, all 500 of those battle-geared warriors, are laying on the ground, powerless. Who's in charge here? I assure you it was Jesus Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus was and still is the mighty conqueror. Judas, the deceiver: Judas, the devil's advocate: Judas, who cherished money more than his relationship with Jesus: Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Peter slashed off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Why? Because the servant of the high priest was a Jew. And according to the law of Moses, he could not serve in the temple with a physical defect. And with that physical defect, Peter had just destroyed his career.
Is it not true that we, as Christians, are most often offended and wounded in the house of our friends? Jesus' response was, he healed the ear of that servant, which was his last miracle. He restored his career, and he said to Peter, "Put up your sword". I think if the Lord Jesus could speak in a lot of pulpits today, he would say, "Put up your sword". "I have not come to destroy with a sword. I have come to bring hope, I have come to bring peace, I have come to bring joy one for the other". The power of life and the power of death is in the tongue. And the message to the church should be, because we are peacemakers. God knows America needs more peacemakers, because the Bible says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God".
It's high time for the church to stand up and speak up for righteousness and reclaim the moral foundations for this nation! Jesus was taken to Pilate, whose men of war slapped him on the face. They spit on him. They gave him a crown of thorns. They ripped off his seamless robe, and mocked him with a scarlet robe, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews"! Jesus was sent back to Pilate now a second time where he was beaten with a cat-of-nine-tails with 39 stripes. It was 39 stripes by Roman law, because it was considered a death sentence if you received more stripes than that.
Listen. In the theater of your mind, as you hear the Roman cat-of-nine-tails, the whip that's laced with bone and steel rip open the back of the Son of God. It was for you, and for you, and for me, and for those of you who are watching by television across America and around the world. The crimson stream of blood that flowed down his back onto the cobblestone floors, "By his stripes, we are healed". Say that with me. "By his stripes, we are healed". Hallelujah to the Lamb of God, that the healer is alive and well and in this church!
He was sentenced to death by crucifixion. An old-rugged cross was placed upon his bloody back, and he dragged it through the cobblestone streets of Jerusalem. As Jesus was dragging his cross to Golgotha, he saw Jewish mothers weeping for him beside the road. And he said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves, and weep for your children, and weep for your children's children". Because Jesus being God, looked into the future, and he saw the future. He saw that the Romans, 37 years later, were going to surround Jerusalem, and one million Jewish people would die. He saw the eight crusades sponsored by the Roman Church that, from Europe to Jerusalem and Jerusalem back to Europe, were destined to slaughter and to steal from the Jewish people. He saw the Spanish Inquisition. He saw the horror of the holocaust where six million Jews were systematically slaughtered.
Up the bloody slopes he climbed to the place called Calvary where atheistic hands nailed the precious hands of the Son of God to the cross. Get this timeline. Friday afternoon, April the 3rd, 33 A.D. at exactly 3 o'clock, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, bowed his blood-soaked head, adorned with a crown of thorns, and he shouted, "It is finished"! And he bowed his head, and he died. What was finished? Satan's power to control your life was finished. Death had lost its power to control you. Demon powers lost their power to control you. Because of the cross, there is now total redemption.
I don't care what you have done. The blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse you, and give you a new beginning, and give you a brand-new start. Because of the cross, there is total forgiveness. There is mercy with the Lord. And for those of you who feel self-righteous that you don't need mercy, the Bible says, "God renews his mercy every day," because everybody here fouls up at least once a day. There is a new beginning. There's hope for tomorrow. There's peace in the midst of the storm. There's joy that's unspeakable and full of glory. Now the seed of the woman has crushed the head of the serpent, and as promised in Genesis 3:15. Satan, his angels and Archangels, all of his demonic forces have been totally defeated. They are bound in chains by the Son of God, who has defeated him at the cross! Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!
Before sundown on the sabbath, which was Friday, his followers took down his blood-soaked body from the cross, and wrapped it in burial clothes with 100 pounds of spices, and laid him in a borrowed tomb of Joseph in Arimathea. Think about this: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who has and controls all the riches in the world, who created the world, when he died, was buried in a borrowed grave. All night Friday night, Saturday and Saturday night, the giver of life lay dead in a tomb. Demons rejoiced that he whom they feared was now dead.
Politicians, especially the Romans, gloated, "We have shut up that troublemaker from Galilee, his jabber about an eternal kingdom, his jabber about being king of the Jews. Who does he think he is? Who does he think he is"? America is asking this question today. Who does he think he is? So listen up, you Godless legions that are listening right now. He's the conqueror of death, hell and the grave. He is the great physician. He is the waymaker. He is the chain breaker. He is the Lamb of God slain from the foundations of the earth! He is the lion of the tribe of Judah! He's the judge of all the earth! And he's going to stand on Judgment Day, and let you give an account for your life.
But the greatest question that you must answer: is Jesus Christ the Lord of your life? Does he live in you? Death was still all powerful. The grave was dark and gloomy, and an unconquered pit. Follow this timeline. Then came the morning of the third day, Friday, from 3:00, it began. He was taken down from the cross before sundown, which would be 6:00. Saturday, from 6:00 in the morning to 6:00 at night, was the second day. Sunday, after sunrise, began the third day. It was on the third day that he was to rise. The third day was the rosy Dawn of hope itself. The third day was the resurrection morning. On the third day, the angels swooped from the balconies of heaven, and rolled the impossible stone away.
And if there are impossibilities in your life, recognize that the risen Savior gives you the power that nothing is impossible to you. On the third day, a blinding flash of light, a massive earthquake, and the Roman soldiers are again falling on the ground like dead men, trembling in terror! On the third day, out of the darkness of the borrowed tomb, walked Jesus Christ, the light of the world. He came out as the Lord of glory. He is the Lamb of God. He is now the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the fairest of 10,000. He is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last. The one who was dead is now alive: the conqueror of death, hell and the grave! Give him praise in his house!
The prophet Hosea, in chapter 6:2, says, "On the third day, he will raise us up (the resurrection), that we might live in his sight". Follow with this verse: "A day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day". That's how God measures time. So day one, beginning from a.D. And b.C., from year one to 1,000 is day one. From 1,000 to 2,000 is day two. From 2,000 forward is the third day. And on the third day, he's going to come and to receive us unto himself. How do you know, preacher, that's true? There are about 12 real-solid reasons that take a book to tell you. But let me give you three in 30 seconds. Israel has been reborn, Jerusalem has been reunited with the Jewish state, the knowledge explosion that Daniel spoke of "Being the end of days," has happened. Ladies and gentlemen of the church of Jesus Christ, look up, pack up, and pray up, because we're going up in the twinkling of an eye! Give the Lord praise!
The angels asked the troubled followers of Jesus, "Do you remember what he said"? "Do you remember what he said"? The angel said, "He told you that he would be delivered into the hands of sinful man, be crucified, and on the third day, he would rise". "Then," the Bible says, "They remembered all of these things". Get this: for three days, they had been weeping. They had been feeling defeated. They had been disillusioned. If only they could have remembered what Jesus said. Listen. Before there is a resurrection, there has to be a crucifixion. Before there is a sunrise, there has to be a sunset. Before there is a victory, there has to be a fight. Before there is a crown, there has to be a cross. Before there is a purchase, there has to be a cost. "Do you remember what he said"?
In times of stress, we forget the sweet promises of God, and there are 3,000 of them in the Bible, telling you how much God wants to do for you. How sweet life could be if we could just simply remember what he said. When you feel lonely, when you feel rejected, when you feel abandoned, remember that he said, "I will never you, nor forsake you," even to the ends of the earth. "If your mother and your father forsake you, I will lift you up". Are you suffering in your health? Remember what he said. "These signs shall follow them that believe... In my name, shall they lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover". He is still the healing Jesus, and he can heal you, and the healer is in the house today! Give him praise in this place!
The resurrection story is the story of faith over failure. The resurrection story is how to turn your worst day into your best day. Focus your attention to the thief on the cross. He's one heartbeat from hell. He's been a criminal all his life. And he hears Jesus talking about a kingdom. And he simply says, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom". And Jesus said, "This day you shall be with me in paradise". I want to tell you something, church. We've made coming to Jesus entirely too complicated. Entirely too complicated. God gave his son, that every one of you may have eternal life. But you must confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life before that eternal life becomes yours. That thief, this was his worst day. But he made it his best day, because the moment he closed his eyes, he opened them in heaven, in paradise.
Think about that. For 100 years, Good Friday was called Black Friday. It looked like the worst day in history for Christianity because Jesus Christ, the giver of life, was dying. The healer was called a heretic. The deliverer was said to be a demonized deceiver. The great shepherd was involved in great scandal. The Lord of glory was called a liar and a lunatic by the Roman government. I will tell you, the Roman government had their fake news, and so does America. You start doing anything that really pleases the Lord, and you're going to make somebody unhappy in the fake news division. It was called Black Friday. It appeared to be the worst day ever. At 3:00 p.M. In the afternoon, the black clouds were boiling in fury over the cross. The ground shook, and dead men walked out of their graves in Jerusalem. Jesus wasn't the only person who came alive on the resurrection morning. The people in Jerusalem walked out of their graves, so that the whole city would know that resurrection was for every man who would receive Jesus Christ!
The veil of the temple was split in half, meaning that now, you gain access to God by yourself. You do not need a priest to help you reach God. The veil is ripped, and you can go directly into the throne of God the Father, in the authority of Jesus' name. Forked tongues of lightning splashed the black heavens. The Son of God, who commanded winds and waves: the Son of God, who healed lepers with a touch of his hand, who raised Lazarus from the dead with three simple words, he was hanging from a Roman cross. He's caked in blood. He is naked, in shame and disgrace. The high priest mocked him, saying, "If you are the Son of God, save yourself". And he didn't, because he couldn't save you, and you, and you and me, and save himself. Had he saved himself, there would be no salvation for us. He would just have saved himself. But he was the lamb slain for our redemption. When you close your eyes in death, you wake up in heaven, because Jesus has paid the price for your eternal salvation. Give the Lord praise in the house!
There are people who say, "Well, if the resurrection is such a wonderful story, why isn't it in the Old Testament"? It is in the Old Testament. If you would read it as much as you read the newspaper, you'd know it's there. The story of the resurrection does not begin at the garden tomb. It begins in the first covenant we call the Old Testament. Job received this Revelation. He said, "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the last day upon the earth. After my skin has been devoured by worms, yet in my flesh, I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall not behold another".
That's the story of the resurrection from the dead, and totally recovered. Daniel received the Revelation of two resurrections. Listen closely, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine with the brightness of the stars forever," Daniel 12:2 and 3. Jesus gave the Revelation of two resurrections. He said in John 5, "For the hour is coming in which all who are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth. They that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation".
There are two resurrections. The resurrection of the just, those who have received Jesus, and the resurrection of the unjust, those who do not receive Jesus. That resurrection is 1,007 years after the return of Christ. The issue is, you must know the Lord. The most important thing in your life is, do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? Because the 70, 80, 90 years, 100 years, 120 years, Moses lived that long. Compared to eternity, it's a snap of your finger. The day will come when all you will have is what you've invested in the Kingdom of God.
The message of the resurrection changed the world. The message of the New Testament church, and with great power, gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, acts 4:33. Why were so many thousands coming to the church? Because of the resurrection story. The message of the 1st century church, Christ has risen, and Jesus Christ is Lord. Say that with me. Christ has risen, and Jesus Christ is Lord. The message of the 21st century church, at Cornerstone Church, is exactly the same. Jesus Christ has risen. He is alive. He is my personal Savior. Do you know him? What changed the lives of the disciples? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. Give the Lord praise and glory!
How many of you can say, "Pastor, like the thief on the cross, I have made some bad decisions. And I want to invite Christ into my life today, as Savior and Lord, because when I breathe my last breath, I want to open my eyes in his presence, and know that I'm going to be there forever". The thief did it with one simple statement. "Remember me when you come into your kingdom". You're in this room, and you're not certain that you would see Jesus Christ if you died today, I want you to slip your hand up, because we want to pray with you and for you, that you get to go to heaven with us. Slip your hand up. Thank you. congregation, pray this prayer with me:
Heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I receive you as Lord and Savior. I ask you, Father God, to release the power of your promises in my life. I want you to be the Waymaker and the Chain-breaker in my own life. I want my life to be victorious and happy. In your authority, I receive that today. Amen.