The Importance of the Resurrection

Why did Jesus have to suffer and die?

This Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is one of the most important days in the church calendar. On this day we often tend to sing some old hymns that we’ve heard since childhood: “He Lives”, “Up From the Grave He Arose” etc. They remind us of the power and importance of the resurrection.

As I study the book of Acts, I can’t help but notice the message of the early believers. Wherever they went they proclaimed the resurrection. Check it out: “This man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.” (Acts 2:23-24 NASB).

“But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.” (Acts 3:14-15 NASB)

And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. (Acts. 4:33) See also Acts 10:39-41 and Acts 17:2-3.

The message that the apostles proclaimed was a message of hope, and that hope is anchored in the resurrection of Jesus Christ

The Resurrection confirmed the deity of Christ—Romans 1:4.

This verse says that “He was declared with power to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead.” The fact that the grave could not hold Him affirmed that He really was the Son of God. He had claimed to be God’s Son (John 5:17, 18), and this amazing display of power in breaking the bonds of death vindicated that claim.

The Resurrection provided justification for us—Romans 4:25

“He (Jesus) who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”

Remember that to be justified means to be pronounced righteous. When we trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God sees us in Jesus and pronounces us righteous. As Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” There are no charges against us because Jesus took our place on the cross and died for us. Our debt is settled. So now we can know that we are justified by faith. The whole of Romans 4 demonstrates this quite well. In fact, if we look at the context of Romans 4:25 we notice that leading up to the verse Paul is talking about justification by faith. He sets Abraham before us as a model and an illustration of justification by faith. Then in chapter 5:1 (the very next verse after 4:25) he says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

What makes our justification work is the resurrection. It proves that Jesus really accomplished what He set out to do. The resurrection not only proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the Son of God, it also verifies that his sacrifice on our behalf was accepted. We can be assured that we truly are justified because Jesus arose from the dead.

Christ’s resurrection secures our resurrection—I Cor. 15

I Corinthians 15 is sometimes referred to as the resurrection chapter. It’s a long chapter—58 verses long in fact. And it deals entirely with the resurrection. It may be the richest treasure trove of information on the resurrection in the whole Bible. One of the arguments that Paul uses in this chapter is simply this: If God couldn’t raise His own Son after Jesus had paid for our sins on the cross, what hope do we have? (See vv. 12-19) As he says in verse 17: If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins (NASB). Paul makes sure that we see that our hope of resurrection is tied to Christ’s resurrection.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ enables us to walk in the Newness of Life—Romans 6:4

In this context Paul is warning against thinking that since Christ pours His grace out on us, we can just go on living in sin. He says emphatically, “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” He then explains that we have been joined to Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. Because we are joined with Him in His death, we are dead to the person that we used to be and sin no longer has power over us. And because we are joined with Him in His resurrection, “we (can) walk in the newness of life!”

When Jesus went to the funeral of His good friend Lazarus, He told Mary (Lazarus’ sister), “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

The resurrection is important. It is not just historically important; although it is very historically significant. It is not just important theologically, although it is theologically very important. It is important practically, as it gives us hope as nothing else can, and power to live fully in these difficult times.