Easter 2024
Introduction
Significance of the Resurrection
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is that central moment in human history that serves as the foundational doctrine of Christianity. After having truly assumed human nature and submitted to an agonizing and shameful public death, the eternal Son of God was truly raised from the dead in his glorified physical body, no longer subject to decay and death. His resurrection validates his identity as the divine Son of God, demonstrates his irrevocable victory over death and the grave, and secures both the present salvation and future physical resurrection of believers.
Events of the Resurrection
Context of the Resurrection
Daniel 12
Job 19
Lazarus
At the time that the events of the New Testament occurred, the resurrection of the dead was a concept very familiar to the Jewish people, who anticipated that it would take place at the end of all things (Dan 12:2–3).
In fact, Martha believes that Jesus is referring to this resurrection when he explains that her brother Lazarus “will rise again” (John 11:23). Undoubtedly having heard the same reassurance from others offering their condolences, Martha replies that she knows “he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (John 11:24). The weight of Jesus’ response, that he is “the resurrection and the life,” must have increased once Martha saw her brother, dead by then four days, walk out of his tomb (John 11:38–44).
Just as with the story of Lazarus, the enigmatic promises in the Old Testament of the Messiah’s resurrection were brought into sharp focus after the event had taken place (John 20:9). In fact, Jesus’ revelation to his disciples on the road to Emmaus shows that the death and resurrection of Christ is a central proclamation of the Old Testament (Luke 24:25–27). In addition to the Old Testament prophecies, the resurrection of Christ was repeatedly and specifically proclaimed beforehand several times by the Lord himself (Matt 12:38–40; Mark 8:31; 9:34; 10:34; Luke 9:22), and even when the disciples find the tomb empty, they must be reminded of what Jesus had said concerning his own resurrection (Luke 24:6–7). When the disciples finally encounter the resurrected Christ, they find his body not to be a phantom or a mirage, but truly flesh and blood: he insists that Thomas physically touch him (John 20:24–29), and he eats regular food (John 21:9–14). The “heavenly” body to which Paul refers in 1 Corinthians 15:40 is the resurrected body, one beyond the reach of death.
Implications of the Resurrection
Jesus is the Son of God.
John 6
1 Cor 15
Rev 1
Eternal Salvation
Jesus Demonstrates Our Future
Summary
The New Testament insists that Christ’s resurrection bears strong and everlasting consequences. It validates Christ’s claim to the be the Son of God (Acts 2:22–36); it also validates his teaching as being from God (Matt 12:38–40). The resurrection event also stands as evidence of the Lord’s victory over death and the grave (1 Cor 15:54–55; Rev 1:17–18), and it secures our salvation (Rom 4:25; 10:9–10; Heb 7:23–25; 1 Pet 1:3). As such, the resurrection of Jesus serves as the precursor for the resurrection of believers (1 Cor 15:20), who have been “buried with him in baptism” (Col 2:12), will be raised with him (2 Cor 4:14), and “will appear with him in glory” (Col 3:1–4), having been made “like him” (1 John 3:2).
The resurrection of Christ holds a central place in Christian theology: everything is built upon this foundational event. Without the reality of the resurrection our salvation is nothing but a sham, the proclamation of the gospel is utterly pointless, and Christians are to be pitied (1 Cor 15:14–19). But, as Paul reassures us, Christ has indeed been raised from the dead (1 Cor 15:20) and his union with believers ensures our own future physical resurrection (1 Thess 4:13–18). The early church testified to this connection between the Lord’s empty tomb and our own with the final lines of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting.”