Praise the Lord, Christ is risen, and that is what we remember today. The last few weeks we have looked what the death of Christ means for us, but this morning I want us to ponder a few questions, “What did the resurrection of Jesus Christ mean? What did it verify? What did it accomplish? What did it prove?” Well, I want us to look at several realities that are proven by the resurrection.
1. The resurrection proves the truthfulness of God’s Word. Peter in his sermon, post the birth of the Church in Acts 2:25-28, quotes David from Psalm 16. The key verse mentioned is verse 27 where it says, “you will not abandon my soul in Hades, nor will you permit your Holy One to experience decay.” In this verse David is prophesying of the resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ and Peter confirms it in Acts 2. Now if the Messiah did not rise from the grave, the Scriptures would be lying, but praise the Lord that is not the case, the resurrection proves the truthfulness of the Word of God.
2. The resurrection proves the deity of the Son of God. Jesus Christ’s rising from the dead is the most monumental thing that He did to verify that He was God; for only God can give life, and only God can conquer death. If we look at Romans Chapter 1 in verse 1, we’re introduced to the phrase “the gospel of God.” Verse 2 says, “God promised it through the prophets.” Verse 3 says it was the gospel of God “concerning God’s Son.” Then verse 4 says it was the gospel of God concerning His Son “who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.” What more evidence do we need? Nothing.
3. The resurrection proves the completion of our salvation through justification and thus grants us eternal life. Romans 4:25 says, “He was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.” In order for God to justify or to declare us righteous, He had to raise Jesus from the dead. God raising Christ from the dead affirmed that what He did on the cross satisfied God’s holy justice. If He didn’t rise, then His death would be nothing more than the death of an ordinary man with no saving value. If He never rose, He wouldn’t be alive. If He wasn’t alive, He couldn’t give us life. But He did arise, and He said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in Me even though he dies, shall live again.” So our justification and eternal life is dependent upon the resurrection. Let these truths motivate us in worship of our RISEN Saviour this morning.
Contributed by Alex Townsend