Jesus Christ put to death through lawlessness but God resurrected Him to eternal life.

Acts 2:22-24

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.” Acts 2:22-24

Peter speaks to the Jewish culture about Jesus of Nazareth. Nazareth was thought of by many people as being a bad neighborhood, as quoted, “Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” John 1:45-46 The Jewish people probably turned sour when Peter said what he said. Today, that is what the born-again experience is all about, bringing people from a bad lifestyle into a life based on faith in Jesus Christ with a heart full of the Holy Spirit. Our circumstances do not define us in the eyes of God but what is happening within us is what He looks at.

God provided many proofs of His Spirit working through our Lord Jesus by miracles, wonders, and signs performed among the Jewish people. Even though He was from Nazareth, the Spirit of God was on Him but the Jewish leaders wouldn’t believe, as quoted, “And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, “It was never seen like this in Israel!” But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.” Matthew 9:33-34 As followers of Jesus Christ, we know how He changed our life, our heart, our way of thinking, our attitude, and made us willing to be separate from today’s culture to live for Him. Even then, the testimony of Jesus is opposed in today’s atheistic society and considered to be a plague on their culture, which is global.

The determined purpose and foreknowledge of God for Jesus Christ was for Him to be “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29 This is quoted in this verse, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 How Jesus arrived to be crucified on the Cross, beside criminals, is on the hands of the Jewish leaders. They chose to conspire to kill Him instead of choosing to say “Yes” to Him as Lord and Savior. They took Jesus by lawlessness to have Him put to death, as quoted, “But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should rather release Barabbas to them. Pilate answered and said to them again, “What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?” So they cried out again, “Crucify Him!” Then Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, “Crucify Him!” Mark 15:11-14 They preferred to have a lawless murderer and rebel released, which is what Barabbas was.

Today, the governing authorities and the community culture prefers to crucify Christianity and to put it to death as they serve the beast that gives them what to speak, do, feel, and think. The will of the masses has become the law, which is lawlessness towards belief in God, acknowledging the need for Jesus Christ, and welcoming the presence of the Holy Spirit. Click here for a post on the extinction of Christian births from Revelations 12.

Jesus died on the Cross to atone for sin, but He was not left in the grave because God raised Him up. The sting of death has been removed because it is not possible that death can hold Him down, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” Revelations 1:18 “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 His victory and power over death is what gives us the resurrection within our born-again experience and is the proof that we will also be resurrected from the dead into eternal life.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11