The Importance of The Resurrection
I hope you had the opportunity to attend an Easter service over the weekend. In light of the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection, I’m reposting an excerpt regarding the Resurrection. We really can’t repeat or remind ourselves enough about the importance of the Resurrection. And not only on Easter Sunday, but everyday.
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If we look closely and are open to it, we should understand that Jesus’ miracles are proof that He is unique in possessing the power of the Creator Himself. Certainly, of all the miracles Jesus performed the greatest must be the miraculous power over death. We read in the Gospels that Jesus raised others from the dead. Amazing! Three times, as we have it recorded in the Gospels, Jesus raised others from the dead. (1) What if it ended there? Amazing miracles, true, but would it really matter to us, today, right now?
We might look back and talk about Jesus as a prophet and teacher who had amazing power. He would be a man who had amazing power during His time but that would probably make little difference in our lives today. It is His personal death and subsequent resurrection that changes everything.
If He died and rotted in the tomb His power would have ended there. Yes, a good teacher with amazing power to be revered in history, a great man that we might even desire to emulate, but nothing more. Without the resurrection we would be left with an empty faith. The Apostle Paul says without the resurrection our faith would be “useless” and we are to be “pitied.” (2)
Thank God that is not the case. Jesus’ greatest miracle is not the healing of the lame, giving sight to the blind, feeding thousands of people, or even raising others from the dead. As amazing as all those things are, Jesus’ greatest miracle is His own resurrection. It is in His resurrection that the promise of our eternal life and Jesus’ full deity rests. The book of Romans says it this way: “[Jesus] through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead.” (3)
We cannot ignore the fact that the resurrection of Jesus is the central tenet of the Christian faith. If we don’t accept the fact of the resurrection, we cannot call ourselves Christian at all. Of course, I say “we cannot” but, people do. They refer to themselves as “Christian” and perhaps even attempt to live in a way that Jesus’ life and teaching would dictate. Some may be offended at the thought, but that Christianity is merely another humanitarian approach to life. It makes us feel better about ourselves and motivates us, to some degree at least, to help others. Not bad things, of course, but it limits those attempts to our own ability and power and to making this life better. It is the resurrection of Jesus that changes everything! It is Jesus’ resurrection that gives us hope in our eternal destiny. What’s more, it is Jesus’ resurrection that gives us, through the Holy Spirit, the ability to live in a way which makes a difference in this world. (4)
Even those Jesus raised from the dead during His life on earth died again. It was miraculous, and amazing, and a proof of Jesus’ authority. Still, it was temporary. Those people lived out longer lives but they still died. Jesus’ resurrection provides the power and assurance of eternal life for all who trust Him. Then, now, and forevermore. This is what Jesus taught and the apostles preached from the very beginning.
Jesus’ own disciples misunderstood this at first. They thought that Jesus’ death was the end of the story. A violent end to their greatest hopes. After Jesus rose, He came upon two of His disciples walking along the road. They were walking and talking about the things that had happened when asked, “What are you discussing together?” Their response is telling. Not just the words but their body language as well. When asked, “they stood still, their faces were downcast.” (5) Have you been there? Have you been so sad or disappointed that your body shows the signs? You stumble for words as you stand there. The sadness and disappointment are overwhelming.
When they find the words they say, talking about Jesus, “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed … and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” (6) They were mistaken, just like so many today, thinking that Jesus was a prophet who did great things but He died, end of story. There is no hope in that! The hope that we have rests in the fact that Jesus conquered death.
In His encounter with these two misguided disciples, Jesus explained the truth. Everything that happened was just as the scriptures had said it would happen. The coming of the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior, was foretold centuries in advance. From the fall of man, God began to reveal who the Savior of the world would be and how we would recognize Him. Jesus’ resurrection is the greatest sign of them all. His greatest miracle. The prophet Isaiah said:
He will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the
tears from all faces;
He will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken. (7)
Everything changed for Jesus’ disciples in those first days when they understood that Jesus was alive. Crucified in a horrible death but raised again to life. Not like those others he had previously raised. Yes, they rose to live again but also to die again. Jesus’ resurrection is eternal and so the Hebrew writer explains, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (8) Not just a “prophet, powerful in word and deed” but God Himself conquering death to give us eternal life.