Easter 2026

Introduction

After the Greeks defeated the Persians in the Battle of Marathon, Pheidippides was tasked to take the message of the victory to Athens.

Pheidippides ran the entire distance back to the city - around 25 miles.

He entered the Senate, shared the message, “Rejoice, victory!”

And he fell down dead.

Today is the day we celebrate the resurrection of the Son of God, Our Savior. And our message is the same as Pheidippides. REJOICE! VICTORY!

The resurrection is the single greatest event in human history.

From it, the world has been forever changed. For a start, our calendar forms around the person of Jesus. The disciples and the church charged forward from the resurrection with such force that the world as it was known, changed forever. The resurrection was the gas in the tank and the wind in the sales.

Christians introduced the concept of hospitals and organized charity in the Roman Empire.

Christian missionaries are one of the greatest recorded contributors to global literacy rates the establishment of their schools.

The teaching that all people are created in God’s image influenced the abolition of slavery, fought for women's rights, and strengthened the concept of human rights.

The belief in an ordered universe, designed by a creator, helped spark the scientific revolution, fostering the idea that examining the world is a valuable endeavor.

The church remains the largest non-government provider of education and healthcare globally, running over 5,000 hospitals and 150,000 schools.

From the resurrection, the Kingdom of God has begun to surge forth with a RISEN Savior.

What is the message that supersedes all messages for the Christian. Paul tell us in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5.

Read 1 Corinthians 15:3–5 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”

Explanation

Of first importance

People who have contemplated their death have a real clarity with the focus of their lives.

Paul Kanalithi was a neurosurgeon who was diagnosed with a terminal lung cancer in 2014. Kanalithi was an atheist who grew up in his childhood days as a Methodist.

His life was the pinnacle of success, but it was turned upside down with this reality that he had that was soon to end on this earth. And he wrote a memoir of his life before his death entitled, “When Breath Becomes Air.” This book is a grappling with the book of Ecclesiastes and his pursuits being a “striving after the wind.”

He described the process of his changing priorities like this: “The tricky part of illness is that, as you go through it, your values are constantly changing. You try to figure out what matters to you, and then you keep figuring it out. It felt like someone had taken away my credit card and I was having to learn how to budget with my remaining time. You may decide that you want to spend your time working as a neurosurgeon, but two months later, you may feel differently. Two months after that, you may want to learn to play the saxophone or devote yourself to the church. Death may be a one-time event, but living with a terminal illness is a process.”

Kanalithi eventually gave his life to Jesus. And he writes in his book about his end, ““We shall rise insensibly, and reach the tops of the everlasting hills, where the winds are cool and the sight is glorious.”

Paul understands that his time is limited. Every so often, Paul had a brush with death in sharing the gospel. So his message here is distilled - Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again.

If someone was to look at your life and listen to your words and ask summarize it with an , “Of first importance,” would it sound like Paul’s.

You know what is so curious about Phiedippides’s words? It has some similarities to ours.

We only have a limited amount of breath left, so let us be intentional with our words.

We are called to deliver the message that is most important - if Pheidippides had asked a question or shared another detail, the message would not have been shared.

Jesus died to redeem your life. He died to save you.

In Auschwitz (the imfamous Nazi concentration camp) during World War II, a prisoner escaped. In retaliation, ten men were chosen to die by starvation. One of them cried out, “My wife… my children…” Maximillian Kolbe stepped forward and said: “I will take his place.”

He wasn’t selected. He wasn’t guilty of anything tied to the escape. But he walked into the starvation bunker so another man could walk out. “I will take his place.”

Our lives were worthy of death, but Christ took our place. His life for mine. And friend, if it was only you. If it had only been your sin, Jesus would have still come. It’s easy to see Jesus coming to the world. But it’s sometimes hard to believe that Jesus came for you.

Why did Jesus die? His life for mine. As Spurgeon states, “Christ is what we ought be, so that we can be what He is.”

Jesus was buried in the grave.

At first glance, this does not seem like a big detail, BUT it is very important.

It is important, because it helps us with the physical details of Jesus death. Men who were trained with great skill under penalty of death stated that Jesus had died and had buried him.

Not only this, but this “supposedly dead” Jesus revealed himself to the disciples and followed by over 500 people. This spread throughout the ancient world to such a point that other adjacent authorities - not believers in Christ - commented that something happened that day.

1 Corinthians 15:5–7 “and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.”

The Roman Centurions counted him dead.

The five hundred men (not counting women and children) who saw him believed him risen - not simply limping around from the crucifixion.

If you are a skeptic here today, I want to welcome you. I truly mean this: I am glad you are here. The Bible is full of skeptics.

I believe our faith is intellectually rich. Some of the greatest minds the world has EVER seen come from the Christian tradition.

I also believe that our faith is verifiably provable. In fact, brilliant people from multiple walks of life… medicine, science, law, journalism, academia, etc. have thrown their weight against the historicity of the resurrection and become Christians.

Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. The Bible is a book of resurrection.

Christ’s physical resurrection gives teeth to the fact that He gives spiritual resurrection.

God tells the prophet Ezekiel to go out into a valley of a long-ago fought battle. The valley was full of dry bones. And God tells Ezekiel, “Prophecy to those bones that they would live.”

Before your physical resurrection, you need a spiritual one. And until you see your life as dry bones, you won’t see the life that Jesus brings alone.

I want to promise you something today, “You haven’t lived until you have lived for Jesus. That emptiness, that listlessness, that pain, that wanting more… nothing will solve it but Jesus.”

It is because you are dead and you need life.

Christ’s resurrection validates his claims.

If Jesus rose from the grave, it doesn’t matter what you say. He IS God.

When someone says, “If I disprove the resurrection, I can disprove Christianity! So that is what I am going to do.

Great, Let’s get the baptistry waters ready, because I will see you in a few months.

Historians, lawyers, scientists, investigative journalists have thrown the weight of their skills against the resurrection only to be conquered by it.

In a social media/AI age, where nothing is validated and you cannot know if something is true or not, rest your soul on the one who rose from the grave! What more validation do you need.

Christ’s resurrection guarantees victory over death for believers.

If Jesus is dead, we can’t win. But if Jesus is alive, we can’t lose!

John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,”

Invitation

I’m dancing in the grave that I once lived in! Some of you just need to worship. You once were dead, but now you are alive.

Lee Strobel, “Faith is only as good as what it’s invested in!”