The Significance of the Resurrection

By Dr. Jeff Thompson

 

And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain: ye are yet in your sins.

I Corinthians 15:17

 

The bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the single most important event in all of human history. The question of whether Jesus came out of the tomb seventy-two hours after He died by crucifixion is the single most important question any human being will ever face. Jesus of Nazareth was only one of many acclaimed “Messiahs” who were crucified by the Roman government. Many of the others also claimed Divine authentication. However, Jesus is the only one to claim He would rise from the dead and then to actually make good on that claim!

The resurrection of Jesus is not merely a theological issue that Christians are obliged to believe because it is in our various doctrinal creeds. Now what we do with the resurrection and how we allow it to affect our lives involves a whole host of theological issues. But the resurrection itself is not merely a theological issue. It is an historical issue. It either occurred in the realm of human history or else it did not. Don’t dismiss the resurrection out of hand, simply because of a preconceived bias against the supernatural and the miraculous. You owe it to yourself to at least spend a few hours examining the existing body of evidence and settle the question for yourself. Many have already investigated the existing evidence, some in an attempt to disprove the resurrection, and have come to the conclusion that, taken as a whole, the existing evidence points to the conclusion that Jesus Christ did indeed rise from the dead!

But now that Christ is risen, what does the fact of the resurrection of Jesus mean to us?

Most importantly, the resurrection of Jesus means that everything He said about Himself is True! Jesus made astounding claims about Himself, leading one contemporary apologist, Josh McDowell, to conclude that, based on what Jesus claimed, He must either be a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord! We cannot simply dismiss Jesus as another “good and wise Teacher.” Even the religious leaders of Jesus’ day recognized that His claim of Deity, if not true, was blasphemous (John 10:33). When pressed to demonstrate a “sign” to validate His outstanding claims, Jesus simply offered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). You see, Jesus staked the integrity of His entire life and ministry on the resurrection. One of the claims Jesus made was that He was the ONLY way to God (John 14:6). If Jesus did indeed rise from the dead, then His Name is indeed the ONLY Name whereby men must be saved (Acts 4:12). The resurrection of Jesus means that there is only ONE way to God, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ!

The Apostle Paul also staked all of Christianity on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He said that Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God…by the resurrection” (Rom. 1:4). It was the resurrection that demonstrated Jesus to be exactly who He claimed to be. Then Paul said that “if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, you are yet in your sins” (I Cor. 15:17). According to the Apostle Paul, there is no Christianity apart from the literal bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity is not merely another human religion founded on the philosophical teachings of a great spiritual leader. No! Christianity is founded on an historical event, the resurrection of Jesus, and is ultimately meaningless without it.

Christianity as a whole stands or falls on one thing and one thing alone. Seventy-two hours after He was declared dead and buried, the Lord Jesus Christ arose victorious over sin, sickness, death, hell and the grave. He is alive today, and He loves you with a love that is unconditional and eternal. Call upon Him today!