No event has had a greater impact upon the history of mankind than the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We know that the Bible speaks of this event, but sometimes I fear that we fail to see just how vital it is to our faith. Consider the following:
1. It Proves Jesus is the Christ. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead was the crowning piece of evidence to mankind that Jesus was who He claimed to be.
On one occasion, when Jesus had cleansed the Temple, His critics approached and asked Him, "'What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' Then the Jews said, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?' But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said" (John 2:18-22).
His disciples did not understand what He meant by this statement until after His resurrection. It was then that they believed.
In Deuteronomy 18:22, Moses told the children of Israel how to tell if a prophet was indeed from God. "When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him." Jesus said that He was going to be raised from the dead (Matt. 16:21, 17:22-23, 20:19). If He hadn't raised from the dead, then He would have failed the test that Moses gave, and no one would have a reason to listen to anything else He had said. However, since what He said about His resurrection did come true, we must accept everything He has said, including His claim to be the Son of God.
2. It Gained Victory Over Sin and Death. When Jesus died on the cross it appeared that Satan had won. Death came into the world because of sin. Death was the greatest power that the devil had, but it was not powerful enough. Peter says that God raised Jesus up, "having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it" (Acts 2:24). When Jesus rose from the dead, He gained victory over the devil and all his power, including sin and death.
We can share in this victory as well. Paul says that Jesus "was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification... For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Rom. 4:25, 5:10).
3. It Validates Our Faith. The whole of Christianity rests on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. In First Corinthians 15, Paul spoke about the reality of our future resurrection from the dead. He said the assurance of this promise is found in our Lord's own resurrection. Notice how much our faith depends upon the resurrection of Jesus from the dead: "And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty... And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable" (vs. 14, 17-19).
If Christ did not rise from the dead, then everything about Christianity is a lie, because all of Christianity is based upon the resurrection. The Lord's resurrection was a major theme in the preaching of the gospel in the New Testament (Acts 2:24-32, 3:15, 10:30, 13:33, 17:31; 1 Cor. 15). Without it, there was no reason to believe or obey what the apostles preached.
4. It Assures Us of Judgment. Paul told the people of Athens, "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead" (Acts 17:30-31). A day is coming in which every person will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, give account of themselves, and receive from the Lord according to what they have done (Rom. 14:10-12, 2 Cor. 5:10). Paul says that the proof that this will happen is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. If we believe that Jesus rose from the dead, we must also accept the fact that we will be judged. Assurance of this fact should move all men everywhere to repent.
It has been observed that more people attend worship services on Easter Sunday than on any other Sunday of the year. People obviously think there is something special about Easter Sunday. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead should motivate people to do more than just attend one church service a year. It should move people to repent of their sins, change their life, and faithfully serve the Lord every day until He returns.
Conclusion: The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is very important. Without it, Jesus is just another dead prophet. However, He did rise from the dead. If we accept that Jesus rose from the dead, we must also accept the fact that He will return to judge the world in righteousness. Are we ready?