You Can Know You Have Eternal Life
#70 – King Jesus of Nazareth
King Jesus — God, Myth, or Mere Man? (13)
Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? (6)
The Jews’ Conversion:  Crucial Testimony of Jesus’ Resurrection
by Jim Mettenbrink

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     This is the final article considering evidence as proof of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  One other factor serves as corroborating evidence that Jesus arose from the dead and thereby, giving mankind the anticipation of life after death.
     Through the 1500 years before Jesus’ death, the Israelite’s (Jewish) national identity was preserved by their unique socio-religious structure:  (1) They sacrificed animals for the atonement of sins.  (2) They taught that obedience to God was by following the covenant given by Moses on Mount Sinai about 1400 BC.  (3) The Sabbath (Saturday) was a holy day where work for personal gain was prohibited and violations were punished by death.  (4) They believed God was just one person.  (5) The Jews of the first century looked for a political Messiah to reestablish Israel as an independent nation.
     Yet, on Pentecost (a major Jewish feast in Jerusalem), 50 days after Jesus died, 3000 Jews, who had crucified Jesus, radically changed their lives, rejecting the Jewish system and adapting what would be known as Christianity.  Within weeks at least 10000 people, including Jewish priests also became Christians (Acts 2:41; 4:4; 5:14; 6:7).  (1) They no longer believed in animal sacrifices, but that Jesus died for their sins.  (2) They no longer believed the Mosaic covenant (Old Testament) was valid, but that they were under a new covenant (New Testament).  (3) Sunday, the day Jesus rose from the dead, was the day to meet rather than the Sabbath.  (4) Although God is one deity (divine essence), God is three persons, Father, Word (called the Son – Jesus – when He was manifested in the flesh [John 1:1, 14, 18]), and Holy Spirit, all having the same divine essence.  (5) The Messiah died to save man and establish the spiritual kingdom of heaven rather than an earthly kingdom.
     What caused so many Jews, in such a short period of time, to reject the Old Covenant and social structure of their national identity to become Christians?  The only major event just prior to such a controversial revolution was the claim that Jesus rose from the dead.
     Jesus of Nazareth is the king of His kingdom.  What is the significance of His resurrection for each one of us?  What is the significance of His kingdom?

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      © Jim Mettenbrink; used by permission; courtesy of the Brookings church of Christ. rev.070519
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