Why Consider It Incredible?

“Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?” (Acts 26:8, NIV 1984).

My Musings – Paul, testifying before King Agrippa (grandson to Herod the Great), as Jesus said He would. “This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.” (Acts 9:15, NIV 1984). Having appealed to Caesar, his right as a Roman citizen, He would eventually tell his story to the emperor in Rome. Again, just as Jesus said, “as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” (Acts 23:11, NIV 1984).

Jesus said that if we “believe in God; [we should] believe also in [Him],” (John 14:1, ESV 2016). That belief should extend to believing what would otherwise be “incredible” to believe, “that God raises the dead.” But to what end? For surely, “no man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him— the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough— that he should live on forever and not see decay.” (Psalm 49:7–9, NIV 1984).

There is a powerful dialogue in Tolkien’s “Return of the King” where Eowyn, shieldmaiden of Rohan, faces down the Wraith King of Mordor just before she slays him. Eowyn, clad in armor is not recognized for who she really is. Thinking she is just another warrior the Wraith King sneers, “no living man can may hinder me!” To which Eowyn replies, ” But no living man am I!”

For many, Jesus of Nazareth is not recognized for who He really is. God incarnate. Raised from the dead. No mere living man, but the risen LORD. “The ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough?” It is if that ransom is the Son that “God [raised from] the dead.” But not just “for a life.” For many. In HIs own words, “the Son of Man did not come [to save just a life, but] to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28, NIV 1984).

My Advice – “Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?’ Paul replied, ‘Short time or long—I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.'” (Acts 26:28–29, NIV 1984).

The “incredible” truth that God raised Jesus from the dead as “a ransom for many,” should be enough to “persuade [us all] to be a Christian.” The time is “short,” we mustn’t wait too “long.“