As a young man who had recently rededicated his life to Jesus, I attended a meeting that featured David Wilkerson and Nicky Cruz, with music by Dallas Holm. I will never forget Reverend Wilkerson’s challenge. I can’t quote it verbatim, but basically, he said, “If you are a Christian, then live like Christ.”
Christ Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18). “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:45)
Now, if all goes well, we know that the very first cell (i.e., the zygote) that is grown in a woman when she becomes pregnant contains two sets of 23 chromosomes, one set from the father and one set from the mother. Inside that first cell is the DNA uniquely for that person, and that DNA will be replicated exactly in each of the trillions of cells in the baby’s body.
When Jesus shed His blood for us, it was absolutely unique blood, blood that never had been and never would be again. Christ’s blood was Emmanuel, “God with us.” At the most intimate level possible within a person, God was with mankind.
In the blood is life (Leviticus 17:11). Each cell of Christ’s blood was the Son of Man and the Son of God; not half man and half God, but fully man and fully God. How God made Jesus’s DNA, I don’t know, but I do know who Jesus is.
Christ’s blood poured out from the crown of thorns on His head, from the whip marks on His back, from the nails in His hands and feet, and from the spear in His side. He had surrendered His Spirit, died, and was buried. God’s gift to us seemed to have been wasted.
But, Jesus told us ahead of time, in John 12:24, “..unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” And that is what God has done and is doing. Presently, there are about 2.9 billion people that identify themselves as Christians in this world.
Then, on the third day, Jesus arose! God made forgiveness available to us through the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, and we received the hope of resurrection into the kingdom of God when Jesus rose from the dead.
Dallas Holm had not yet written “I’ll Rise Again” when I heard him sing at that revival all those years ago. But, I can’t close without bringing it to our remembrance:
Verse 1
Go ahead, drive the nails in My hands;
Laugh at me, where you stand.
Go ahead, and say it isn’t Me;
The day will come, when you will see.
Chorus
‘Cause I’ll rise, again,
Ain’t no power on earth can keep Me down!
Yes, I’ll rise, again,
Death can’t keep Me in the ground.
Image by Lisa Johnson from Pixabay