The power of God

 

1 Cor 16:14

And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.

The Shroud of Turin is an ancient piece of grave cloth with markings on it that resemble the body of a man that has been crucified and then wrapped up in it before burial. Research on this cloth has been ongoing for many years, as the images found on it matches the events described in the Bible as to what happened to the body of Jesus Christ perfectly – it shows the blood stains of a crown of thorns on the head, of holes in the wrists and ankles, of a wound in the side, a beard that has pieces ripped out, and also of a body scourged and whipped extensively.

Irrespective of what your opinion about the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin is, it cannot be denied that the latest findings produced by AI research and published by scientists recently, has certainly taken the whole debate into another realm, quite literally!

They considered the fact that the image was burned into the cloth, but without scorching the fabric deeper than a tiny layer of the uppermost fibres. Their explanation for this is that the fabric was hit by a burst of light, and this suggests something incredibly powerful, something untraceable. They surmise that it was a burst of radiation from the body that lasted only a tiny fraction of a second, which allowed the atoms of the body to disappear from our perception of reality into an altered dimensionality. They made a point of explaining that the body did not go from one stage of existence to another through the mass of his body turning into energy, because that would have created a nuclear explosion a thousand times larger than the largest nuclear weapon ever set off – it would have destroyed the cloth, Jerusalem, and most of Israel!

To my mind, we as believers have a perfect explanation for what happened – Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God! Jesus is the Light of the world, (John 9:5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”) Paul mentions that as imitators of Him, our bodies will be transformed into glorified bodies in the time it takes to blink (1 Cor 15:52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.)

Pearls to ponder:

Consider the power of that burst of light. Know that it is larger than the power that any other earthly method by which the body could disappear, would generate, which already is a thousand times larger than the largest nuclear bombs? And then consider the fact that Jesus says this power lives within us! (Eph 1:19-20 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms). Why do we ever believe that we are hopeless against the enemy and his defeated army of darkness?

That's the Power