This is an excerpt from my book “40 Moments From Christ’s Final Days.” Click here to get it from Amazon using my affiliate link.
The immediate events of the resurrection are worth studying, but let’s end this by looking at the bigger picture of why Christ’s resurrection holds such significance. If Jesus paid for our sins on the cross, what’s the big deal with what happened next? The simplest answer is that if Jesus really accomplished His mission on the cross, the resurrection proves every hope we place in Him. The gospel writers give us a good look at what happened, but we get a clearer picture of why from other writers.
First, it gave us hope for eternal life.
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a corruptible body, it is raised an incorruptible body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15:42-44)
Jesus was the first of many bodies that will be brought back. While resurrections before Jesus simply restored life to a natural body, this new resurrection gives us a glorified body like Jesus. Those who trust in Him find not only forgiveness of sins, but also eternal life. This new life will be spent in a body that will not decay, age, or suffer any impacts of a world broken by sin. We won’t be like God, but our bodies will live eternally with our Savior in a body like His. Many from Old Testament Israel have already been raised, and we look forward to our glorified bodies when Jesus returns for His people.
Second, the resurrection gives us confidence that Jesus is God.
who was designated as the Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 1:4)
Jesus spent a lot of time calling Himself the Son of the Heavenly Father. John 5:18 clearly shows a time when Jesus Christ made Himself equal with the Father. But since no one is like God, this feat is only possible for a member of the Trinity. In Matthew 17:22-23, He boldly said He would resurrect three days after His death.
Of course, anyone can make whatever claims they’d like. But if Jesus made too much of Himself, God would have left Him to rot in the grave. Romans 1:4 above tells us that the Father confirmed everything Jesus said, especially that He is the Son of God, by raising Him from the dead. And if the Son truly is equal with the Father, we are confident that He is God.
Finally, the resurrection is our guarantee of salvation.
But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:6-7)
Early in His ministry, religious leaders accused Jesus of blasphemy for claiming to do something only God can do. Yet if Jesus truly is God, as the resurrection proves, we can only agree with these men. We can trust that He has forgiven our sins through His resurrection and our faith in His work on the cross. After all, He’s God, and who can forgive sins but God alone?
As I said, the simplest explanation for why the resurrection matters is that it gives us hope.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. (1 Corinthians 15:17-21)
Without a future resurrection, we may have eternal existence but not eternal life. If Jesus stayed dead, He would have been a man like anyone else. And if He was just a man, we have no hope of forgiveness of sins or being spared from God’s righteous judgment after death.
But Jesus was resurrected. He is God. And through Him alone we find our hope of salvation.
Jesus entered Jerusalem, even the world itself, with a mission. He was always moving toward an unjust death on a criminal’s cross, where Jesus would take our place under judgment. Those who trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins can be confident that if God’s wrath was satisfied on the cross, there isn’t a single drop of wrath left for us. Jesus paid it all on the cross and proved His victory three days later.
Stop and think: Jesus came to call the lost to repentance. He alone offers salvation. Doing good things didn’t save the Jews He encountered in His time on the earth, and good things won’t save us today. As you look at everything Jesus did during His time in Jerusalem, why can you have confidence that Jesus Christ can forgive, or has forgiven, your sins?
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