The Resurrection And The Life*

Back in 1966, The New York Times had a headline that read, "God is Dead...". Just this Passover and Resurrection weekend, the same newspaper ran an op-ed piece suggesting, "Lets get rid of God". We live in times when we are witnessing the end time signs prophesied in scripture, such as wars and pestilence, causing such great damage to the human race. The resurrection of Christ is not only the central truth of Christianity, but of the Bible in its entirety. Paul wrote: "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins...But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become firstfruits of them that slept." (1 Cor. 15:17, 20). Scripture holds that not only did Christ rise, but His rising causes all who believe to rise with Him. From the beginning, in Gen. 1:1, scripture has borne witness to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Genesis 1 begins with the expression, "In the beginning God...". The Hebrew word for "beginning" is Bareshiet. In the pictographic Hebrew letters used to construct this word, bareshiet means: "the Son crushed, His hand upon the cross". "God" as translated in this same verse is written as Elohim Aleph-Tav in Hebrew, or "God, the beginning and the end, the first and the last". This is how Jesus refers to Himself in the Book of Revelation (see Rev. 1:8, 17, Rev. 22:13), and also as translated into the Greek letters, Alpha and Omega. The LORD revealed His unpronounceable name to Moses as YHWH, or I AM THAT I AM (Ex. 3:13-14). Again, the pictographic letters of the Name in the ancient Hebrew would have the meaning: "Behold the hand, behold the nail". The Lord has brought back the pure language (Zeph. 3:9), Hebrew, for a reason in these end times. There are clear prophecies that specifically point us not only to Messiah, but Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. His prophesied suffering and death are identifiers to us. Psalm 22, written by David, gives the details of crucifixion, specifically Christ's crucifixion as described in the gospel accounts, many hundreds of years before crucifixion was invented as a means of execution. Isaiah 50:6, and 53:9 not only describe the purpose and details of Christ's death, but in Isa. 52, a prophecy is given regarding physical evidence of the event that would survive afterwards: "As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. So shall he sprinkle (Nazah) many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider." (Isa. 52:14-15). Paul was involved in an example of this very thing several years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, as he testified before a king (Acts 26:1-28). As the scriptures prophesy about Judah and Jerusalem being the center of turmoil, the Prophet Zehariah also wrote: "...and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." (Zech. 12:10). I am convinced that the physical evidence that people are prophesied to see is the Shroud of Turin. All of the details found on the Shroud confirm the gospel accounts of the physical injuries suffered by Jesus, as well as His condition just after death. Having personally examined the Shroud, and also having participated in the many tests that were done on the Shroud as part of the original STURP team that traveled to Turin, Italy, I am very familiar with the results and observations. While there is blood on the Shroud, there is no evidence of paint or dyes present. No brush strokes exist on the Shroud. Only the very top fibers of the threads of the linen Shroud are dehydrated and discolored, creating the image of a scourged, beaten and crucified Middle-Eastern Jewish Man between the ages of 30-35. The evidence is on the Shroud that the Man wore phylacteries on His head and arm, in accordance with Jewish practice. It was not Jewish burial custom to wrap a body like a mummy, as was done by the Egyptians, but to lay the body on a length of fabric, and then fold and lay the fabric over the head and top of the body. The position of the image on the Shroud reflects this Jewish burial custom. The pollen on the Shroud reflects plants found in Jerusalem, and from plants found where the Shroud was later known to have been transported. The image threads of the Shroud are stable both in water, and chemicals. The image on the Shroud is a negative image, and can only be seen as a positive image when a photo is taken of it. The image is a three dimensional image. Although Carbon-14 tests done afterward by a different group purported to show that the Shroud dated from the middle ages, later examination of the results by experts (Ray Rogers and others) showed that the fibers that were initially C-14 tested were cotton fibers, and not linen. It was then concluded that the fibers taken for the original testing were taken from an area of the Shroud that had been repaired later in history using cotton thread. For these reasons and more, I believe that the Shroud is genuine evidence of the resurrection, and I would be remiss not to tell others, especially in these end times. The Shroud, as someone once said, is "God's love letter in linen to all mankind". There is a link on my Facebook page (see Kenneth E. Stevenson Jr) to a Shroud presentation I conducted, and you can also find the video on You Tube (see eagleeye1015 channel). As I have said many times, the Shroud of Turin is not the basis of my faith in Jesus Christ, but it is a confirmation of the truth of the gospels, particularly the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. My prayer concerning all who see or hear this message is that you not let this day pass before searching the scriptures, and that you call out to the Lord who died for you. I pray that blind eyes are opened that all might see, in Jesus' name, AMEN. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 4/17/2022 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and endtimeschool.com.