Why did God raise the Lord Jesus from the dead?

Believers, see the condition for our salvation in Romans 10:9-10: "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ”

In order to be saved, one must confess with his mouth the Lord Jesus and believe that God has raised Him from the dead. But why was Christ raised from the dead? What did He accomplish for us in His resurrection? God raising the Lord Jesus from the dead was not just because He could. His resurrection is the divine receipt showing that we who believe have been forgiven of all of our sins and made righteous by His "single sacrifice for sins, good for all time" (Hebrews 10:12.) This according to Romans 4:25-

“Who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous."

See the TPT: “Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that He had made us right with God!”

Christ would not have risen from the dead if our lifetime of sins had not been forgiven and we had not been declared righteous by God. His resurrection is akin to seeing someone who went to serve a death sentence in an impregnable prison for the crimes of another walking free. As believers, we know that the wages of our lifetime of sins (death) have been fully paid and we have everlasting righteousness because Christ is risen.

Remember Romans 10:10 "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Only when we believe that we have been made righteous in Christ and apart from works, believing in our heart and confessing with our mouth that He is "The Lord our Righteousness" are we saved.

But many in the church still believe that in order to be righteous before God and make it to heaven, Christians still have to keep the Ten Commandments and do good things in order to get right with God and enjoy His blessings. Not so, beloved of God. Using the law and good deeds as one's standard of righteousness might make a good impression on man but before God, it is an effort in futility. See what Isaiah 64:6 says about our efforts at doing righteous acts: "

"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."

We are made righteous by Christ's obedience (Romans 5:19.) All of the fasts, donations, good deeds, obeying the Ten Commandments, IF DONE IN A BID TO ATTAIN RIGHT-STANDING WITH GOD, are like "a menstrual rag" and a testament to unbelief in the finished work of Christ in making the sinner righteous through His obedience, as it is written in Romans 5:19- "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

Even we would balk at the thought drinking seemingly clean water with just a tiny dash of a menstrual rag in it, yet many boast in how they offer these very things- how their days of fasting, obeying the law, good deeds and tithe payment is their hope of salvation from hell and earthly ills.

But all have sinned. Such who depend on their own works for salvation (from lack, sickness, poverty, etc and hell) have no idea how much God hates sin. God hates sin so much that He cannot abide just one tiny sin in oceans of law-keeping and good works done to get right Him. James 2:10 says "For whosoever shall keep the law yet stumble at one point, he is guilty of all." Romans 3:20 shows us the futility of trying to be righteous through human effort at obeying the law-"For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands...”

God hates sin because sin destroys the world that He so loved, akin to but infinitely beyond how a loving dad hates the cancer that is destroying his beloved child; so John 3:16 and 2 Corinthians 5:21- "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

It's either one is righteous by Christ's obedience or not righteous at all. Without Christ's gift of righteousness, even those who can prophesy and cast out demons in Jesus' name are not known to Him and are "the wicked," hence Matthew 7:

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’"

He never knew them because they depend on their own works and law-keeping for salvation and not Christ! Sheep that have their own torchlight (righteousness from works of the law) who reject the Light of the world (the righteousness that is from Christ's obedience)

Bear in mind that "the will of My Father in heaven" above is not vague in any way. It is clearly stated in John 6 and it has got nothing to do with offering "a menstrual rag" of good deeds and obedience to the Ten Commandments to God as many believe. See the will of God and the works He wants us to here - http://rightbelieving101.blogspot.com.ng/2017/03/what-is-will-of-god.html?m=0

Believers, let us not be found among those who reject Christ's gift of righteousness for that which proceeds from human effort at obedience. Such levy the flock with obeying the Ten Commandments to attain righteousness, contradicting Romans 5:19 which says we are made righteous by Christ's obedience; and ask people to do things like fast and sow seed in exchange for God's blessings and deliverance from sickness and oppression, contradicting Romans 8:32- "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"

Their way is not of Christ. Check out Christ "the same yesterday, today and forever" throughout the gospels. From Zacchaeus the tax collector and the woman caught in adultery to the centurion with the sick servant and the Canaanite woman with the demon-possessed child, Jesus never first asked anyone if they were obeying the Ten Commandments or paying their tithes regularly before He healed, saved or delivered them from oppression. Even the woman caught in adultery who was at the point of death was saved without terms and conditions. It is Christ's "Neither do I condemn you" that makes us "go and sin no more."

Beloved of God, only the Righteousness that proceeds from the obedience of Christ (Romans 5:19) suffices for God the Righteous and it is free for all who believe. See Romans 3:20-28:

"For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. 21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are..... 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."

This is the gospel: Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says- "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Christ took all the bad that we deserve so that we can keep on getting the good that He deserves. Our lifetime of sins were punished in His body when He took our place on the cross. The wages of sin is death. He knew no sin (2 Cor. 5:21,) did no sin (1 Peter 2:22-23) and in and in Him there is no darkness at all [no sin, no wickedness, no imperfection] (1 John 1:5.) It was our sins that He was punished and died for. He paid the wages of our sin (death,) procuring our forgiveness and was raised from the dead as proof that all who believe in Him have everlasting righteousness (Romans 4:25)- His righteousness, not ours.

Believers, Jesus Christ "our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time" (Hebrews 10:12.) Our past, present and future sins are all overpaid. We are forever made perfect by His one offering. See verses 14-17:

"For by that one offering He forever made perfect those who are being made holy." 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For He says,

16 “This is the new covenant I will make

with My people on that day, says the Lord:

I will put my laws in their hearts,

and I will write them on their minds.”

17 Then He says,

“I will never again remember

their sins and lawless deeds.”

In Christ, God does not remember our sins. The wages of sin is death and Christ died that death- "a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time." With Him as our righteousness and strength, we get the "goodness of God" that we do not deserve, EVEN WHEN WE SIN, because He got the bad that we deserve.

This is where many religious people lose it and act like everyone except them is just looking for an excuse to wallow in sin. But most sinners are looking for the Way out of sin. In many places of worship these beloved of God who are held captive by sins are told to try harder to stop sinning and obey the law "better" by those who think they have some good in them and think that they can keep and transform sinners with the law. This only causes sin to have dominion- "For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Romans 6:14. It is also the way to get cut off from Christ, "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace." Galatians 5:4.

But this "goodness of God" is not a license to sin. It is the Way to right living: it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance. We see this in Romans 2:4- "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?"

Even when we sin, we remain righteous in His sight; not because God has gone soft on sin (He will punish sin to the uttermost) but because Christ paid the price for our sins. GOD PUNISHED OUR SINS UTTERLY IN HIS BODY. But in Christ, we do not continue to live in sin! When we receive God's abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ, we get to live in triumph over sin and death. See this in Romans 5:17-

"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."

This is the only way to live in triumph over sin and death. The letter kills. Try to obey the law and sin will have dominion.

For all who believe, Christ is "The Lord our Righteousness." God cannot punish the same sins twice- in the body of our Saviour and a second time in the believer. He corrects/chastens us when we err but never with the punishment that Christ took for us (death and all of its symptoms of fear, anxiety, stress, sickness, oppression, lack, earthly ills, etc.) According to Hebrews 12, His discipline is so that we might "live," "share His holiness" and that we might "yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness." His discipline brings life and causes us to live right, never death.

This is Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. Grace is for sinners, not those who can save themselves from their sins or obey the law in order to earn a ticket to heaven.

Come to Christ with your baggage of sins and experience what He came to do: "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21. Why don't you ask Him to rid you of every wrong theology and wrong believing today? He will help you. He is Saviour.