Some context from earlier in Genesis:

• God promised Abram numerous decedents who would inherit the land.
• AND THEN God renamed Abram as "Abraham", meaning "Father of nations".
• AND THEN God made a self-sacrificial covenant with Abraham, promising to personally pay the consequences on Abraham’s behalf if Abram failed to keep his promises.
• AND THEN God miraculously enabled Abraham and Sarah to have a son called Isaac, even though Sarah was well past child bearing age.
• AND THEN God tested Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice his beloved one and only son, his heir and the one hope for the fulfilment of God’s promises.

We explored that rather shocking story last week and discovered together that it’s real purpose is not for a moment to suggest that God is okay with child sacrifice but actually to demonstrate that he is different from the gods people believed demanded such horrendous acts.

God was never looking for a sacrifice from Abraham. God was looking for faith. He would provide the sacrifice himself and all he wanted was for Abraham to trust him through this trial. Abraham puts his faith into action AND THEN God dramatically intervenes. That’s the story so far.

“Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead”

● The book of Hebrews was originally written in Greek and scholars tell us the word often translated as “reasoned” actually means he was persuaded. It wasn’t just something he thought was plausible, it was something he actually believed and acted upon.
● A reasonable faith should be logical but it should not merely change your beliefs. When you are persuaded that something is true, it naturally leads you to act differently, to demonstrate your confidence in its integrity by allowing it to govern the way you live.

Abraham reasoned that nothing is impossible for God, even raising the dead. That faith led to his actions in a very difficult situation but, in his mercy, God intervened

● Thousands of years later, the disciples of Jesus found themselves in a situation even more impossible, a situation that no one would have believed was redeemable, a situation where it seemed God had not intervened.
● Jesus, the man of signs and wonders they had all placed their hope in, had been crucified and buried in a tomb and all hope seemed to be lost. To his disciples, it was hard to understand God’s plan in anything that had happened in the last few days.
● AND THEN God proved Abraham’s faith filled theory correct- that he was even able to raise the dead. Peter, an early disciple of Jesus tells the story in the book of ACTS 2:22-24

● Believing that Jesus was literally raised from the dead a few thousand years ago in a land most of us have never even visited, as witnessed by a bunch of people we have never met may seem unreasonable to some. Furthermore, allowing this strange belief to affect the way you choose to live your life today may appear quite ridiculous. Perhaps you’re here today and that’s how you feel about the claims Christians make about Jesus, that they are either unreasonable or irrelevant.
● If you don’t believe in the existence of a God that created everything, I can totally appreciate your logic. Dead people stay dead right? That’s been the norm throughout human history. So why do Christians actually think that it’s reasonable to believe Jesus came back to life? Well, the answer is actually quite simple.
● On the basis of the complexity, design and order we see in the universe, Christians believe everything around us, including ourselves had to have been created by someone with immense power and creativity beyond our wildest imaginations. We do not believe you or I are an accident. We do not believe that the big bang was a random event in an eternal universe governed by nothing but chance. We believe the big bang was the result of the plan and purpose of God, the creator and sustainer of all life and all things. We believe that the book of Genesis which we have been studying in this series is ancient wisdom meant to point people to the evidence all around us that makes a case for a creator. And if you believe that there is a God who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them including humankind, that worldview changes what is reasonable to believe.

● If the Judeo-Christian God is real, if the story of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis, whether literally or figuratively points us to the explanation of the world’s complexity being that it was created by God, then what’s more reasonable to believe?

a) That the God who created all life could raise the dead, or
b) That death is something he can’t reverse, even though he formed our bodies and gave life to them in the first place?

● If you believe in the Creator God, then it’s suddenly not irrational at all to believe that he has the ability to raise the dead.
● Furthermore, if you believe the author of Genesis wants us to understand the creator of everything is willing to show mercy to imperfect people, as we see in the stories of Noah and his family being rescued from a flood, Abraham’s family being rescued as the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, and God providing a substitutionary sacrifice to save Isaac from death, then surely it’s not unreasonable to believe that God could provide a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins too.
● Even in these weird and often awkward stories in the book of Genesis, over the last four weeks we have observed God’s mercy weaving its way like a crimson thread which leads us from the very beginning of human history all the way to Jesus.

● Jesus of Nazareth is recorded in secular history books as well as in the Bible as a man believed by many to have performed merciful miracles, a man who claimed to be God’s son and acted with compassion, a man who predicted his own death and resurrection and told his disciples that God’s plan for him was to lay down his life for us. He was an innocent man put to death by wicked people with self-serving agendas. All of this is verifiable historical fact. However, the remarkable claim about Jesus that started in Jerusalem and has spread all over the world is that over five hundred witnesses claimed he came back to life.
● If you take this story by itself, it may seem strange, awkward, or unbelievable, but if you take it in the bigger context of faith in a creator God, the God whose existence and mercy is spoken of throughout the book of Genesis, then it is not unreasonable to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God. Having seen the crimson thread of God’s mercy weaving it’s way through his life, Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead. Christians believe Jesus proved Abraham right!

APPLY IT TO YOUR LIFE & TAKE A NEXT STEP

● I hope it’s obvious to you this this story cannot possibly be irrelevant to you if it is true. If it’s true, not only is there a God who created all things and for whom nothing is impossible, but he is also merciful, faithful to his promises and willing to sacrifice himself on our behalf if we can believe it and trust him! That is the kind of good news that changes everything!
● It changes how we respond to our mess ups and guilt because we can’t sweep them under the carpet but we don’t have to either. We can have confidence that we can confess our sins to God and ask forgiveness, AND THEN he will forgive us and show us mercy.
● It changes how we see our circumstances because we remember how things often things have seemed hopeless AND THEN God did something remarkable!
● The only question is, do you believe in a creator God who gave us all life and is therefore able to raise the dead? If you do, then live as AND THEN people who remember that God can do anything and the story isn’t over till God finishes writing it.

Whatever our situation, God in his mercy is able to say, “AND THEN…” and in an instant the impossible becomes the remarkable as God does the incredible!

If you don’t believe it, I completely understand your scepticism but my challenge to you would be to re-examine the evidence for a creator and let it lead you to who Jesus Christ claimed to be. Jesus could change the way you see absolutely everything as the crimson thread of God’s mercy becomes a part of your story too.

● Looking to Explore? If you've got questions about life, faith and meaning, try Alpha. Find out more and sign up at the HUB & NextSteps area today to avoid disappointment!
● Looking to Connect? If you've come to a place in your life where you've come to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and you intend to follow him as Lord, why not demonstrate that commitment and faith by getting baptised?
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● Looking to Lead? Read Christine Caine's "Unstoppable" and reflect on what the resurrection of Jesus says about the new life and power that God is working out within you through the Holy Spirit in order to serve others in ways you might never have imagined you could.