Jesus Fooled the Devil

Who is the fool? Scripture says we are either fools for believing Jesus defeated death, or the devil is a fool for killing him.

Consider first what the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 (NCV),

12 Now since we preached that Christ was raised from the dead, why do some of you say that people will not be raised from the dead? 13 If no one is ever raised from the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is worth nothing, and your faith is worth nothing. 15 And also, we are guilty of lying about God, because we testified of him that he raised Christ from the dead. But if people are not raised from the dead, then God never raised Christ. 16 If the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith has nothing to it; you are still guilty of your sins. 18 And those in Christ who have already died are lost. 19 If our hope in Christ is for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone else in the world.

As Christians, we preach Christ was raised from the dead! If Jesus never defeated death, then what we preach is meaningless. Paul was arguing against those who were trying to claim there is no resurrection. Here is another translation, 

12-15 Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as a resurrection? If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection. (1 Corinthians 15, MSG)

Of course, Paul responds with,

But Christ has truly been raised from the dead—the first one and proof that those who sleep in death will also be raised. (1 Corinthians 15:20, NCV)

So then, as he wrote earlier, it is not the Christians who are fools, but rather the ruler of this age, the devil.

None of the rulers of this world understood it. If they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:8, NCV)

Jesus had to be crucified. The events of this Holy Week have to take place, but nobody knew it at the time. Nobody had considered the Messiah coming to die, and yet, this was God’s plan.

He came to die, but even more so, to defeat the power of sin and death! 

10 Yes, when Christ died, he died to defeat the power of sin one time—enough for all time. He now has a new life, and his new life is with God. 11 In the same way, you should see yourselves as being dead to the power of sin and alive with God through Christ Jesus. (Romans 6, NCV)

Blessings,

Pastor Matt