Resurrection of Jesus Christ

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very foundation upon which the Christian Faith is built. Christianity stands or falls with the resurrection of Christ.

Revelation 1:18: "I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death."

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very foundation upon which the Christian Faith is built. Christianity stands or falls on the resurrection of Christ. The angels told the women at the tomb, “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said” (Matthew 28:6).

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’” - John 11:25-26

Do you believe this? Do you believe that Jesus is the Giver of Life??? This is big news! It was not until AFTER the resurrection that the apostles began going out to share the Gospel. It says in Acts 4 that people were “greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead” (Acts 4:2), so they arrested the apostles. Religious leaders tried to stop the spreading of the news, “but the word of God is not chained” (2 Timothy 2:9). Following the resurrection and Pentecost, the Gospel message spread wide and far, just as Jesus said that it would. 

So, why is the resurrection so important?? 

Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 15:12-22:

“Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up-if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.”

Without the resurrection, there would be no Christianity. The Body of Christ (the Church, all believers) was built on the Resurrection. Romans 4 talks about the faith of Abraham and that it was counted to him as righteousness. Verse 24 and 25 says, “It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” In other words, through both Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have been justified; God has given us Christ’s righteousness in place of our dirty rags. The writer of Hebrews even said that we should not “neglect so great a salvation” that the Lord spoke of and confirmed through “signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit” (Hebrews 2:1-4). The resurrection is a distinguishing event that confirms what Jesus taught and who He is, the Son of God (Romans 1:4). Why does this single event confirm this? Why is it not enough that He just died on the cross? Why did He have to rise from the dead?

When Jesus rose from the dead, God the Father showed his approval of Jesus’ sacrifice for the sins of mankind, and, therefore, made a way for all people to be resurrected unto life rather than unto death and hell. This act is the victorious moment over death itself; a person can live forever with Christ because they will be resurrected with him!

All will be resurrected, it is just a question of whether one will be resurrected to life with God forever or an eternity in hell. In a defense in the presence of Felix, Paul proclaimed, “I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust” (Acts 24:15). Again, in John 5:26-29, Jesus says, “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth-those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” Will you be raised to life or death (See the article on Salvation for more information). 

Is there any evidence for the resurrection?

The seal: In Matthew 27:62-66, we see the religious leaders confronting Pilate, saying that Jesus claimed that He would rise from the dead; therefore, the tomb should be sealed. Pilate gave them permission to make the tomb secure. It says, “they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.” This is important for the proof of the resurrection. The disciples could not have taken the body of Jesus. They sealed it, and there would have been a death penalty for breaking it!

Prophecy: David prophesied of the Holy One saying, “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption” (Psalm 16:10). When the women went to the tomb, they found the stone rolled away and angels spoke to them saying that Jesus was risen! They told them to remember what Jesus had said, that “‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’” (Luke 24:7). Then they remembered. Prophecy of the Promised Messiah goes back to the Garden of Eden. God cursed the serpent saying, “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel’” (Genesis 3:15). Jesus is the promised seed. He fulfilled prophecies that are scattered throughout the Old Testament. Even the Feasts of the Lord are prophetic of His coming. Colossians 2:16-17 says that they are “a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” In the Old Testament, the Exodus is also a shadow, an event pointing to the coming of Christ. The Lord instructed the Israelites to kill a young sheep without blemish and to put the blood on their doorposts for the angel to pass over the home and not kill the firstborn son. This firstborn lamb was in place of the son. This is what Christ was for us. He was the Lamb, the firstborn of creation, slain in our place! When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he proclaimed, “‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Furthermore, Paul encouraged the church in Corinth to “purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7). At Passover, the people were to eat unleavened bread, no leaven was to be found in it. Similarly, in relation to Christ, we must not allow the leaven of sin to contaminate us as we are a new lump. We are new in Christ. Continuing on the topic of feasts, in the above passage (1 Corinthians 15), Jesus is said to be the Firstfruits. In the Levitical law, the Israelites were instructed to have a Feast of Firstfruits to celebrate the first of the harvest. This is new life from the ground. Jesus was resurrected at the Feast of Firstfruits! In other words, He was the first of a great harvest! He was the first raised to life, just as we will be through faith in Him alone. Everything in the Old Testament pointed to Christ.

Witnesses: Let’s read 1 Corinthians 15:3-8: “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.” Cephas is the Aramaic name of Peter, one of the twelve disciples. This verse is referring to the first appearances of our Lord, that very first resurrection day. This passage was written sometime between AD 54 and 56, about 20 years after the Resurrection. This means that there must have been people still living at the time of this account who had seen Jesus. They were eyewitnesses to this incredible event!

A lie: People tried to say that his body was simply stolen! One gospel records this spreading of false information: “Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, ‘Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.’ So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day” (Matthew 28:11-15). Why would they need to bribe people unless this was the truth?

Where did Jesus go when he died?

Ephesians 4:7-10 says, “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: ‘When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.’ (Now this, ‘He ascended’ - what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)”. Jesus descended to preach to the captives before He ascended. His body went into the tomb, but his spirit went to Hades. There are two parts to hell. If we look at Luke 16:19-31, Jesus tells a story about a man who is in Hades and who can see Abraham on the other side. This is likely a sort of holding place prior to the “second death” (Revelation 20:14). The second death is when “anyone not found written in the Book of Life” will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). There are different views concerning what happened when Jesus was in the grave, but according to Ephesians 4, he descended to the “lower parts of the earth” (likely Hades). Also, 1 Peter 3:18-20 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.” Jesus preached to spirits in prison who were formerly disobedient. Again, Jesus had some interaction with the dark side of eternity. 

Who raised Jesus from the dead?

Let’s look at John 2:19: “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’” Again, in Acts 13:29-30, it says that Jesus was taken down from the tree, buried, and raised by God. Romans 8:10-11 says that the Spirit raised Him up. The cross and the resurrection were not a surprise to Him. John 10:17-18 says, “‘Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.’” This was a work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! 

The Gospel

“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you-unless you believed in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:1-2). The Gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. The resurrection is of great importance! Hebrews 2:9 says, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” And according to 2 Timothy 1:9-10, He has “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” When talking about the resurrection of the dead with the Sadducees (who claimed there was no resurrection), Jesus said, “‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living’” (Matthew 22:32-33). Jesus is our Living Hope (1 Peter 1:3). Even though He never sinned, He still died for OUR sins, but death could not hold Him! Peter preached saying, “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it” (Acts 2:23-24). 

We hold fast to the hope that we have been given! I love how Peter phrases it: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5). 

Romans 10:9-10: “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Jesus’ death and resurrection is our hope for today and for our future in eternity with Him! We are partakers of the resurrection life! Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Know that he says, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). We can have hope in He who is faithful.

What do we do about it? How should it change how we live life today?

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 summarizes the answer to this question: “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”

I’ll leave you with Romans 6:5-11 which talks about our death to sin to live to Christ. “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,” (v. 5). And here on earth, we must remember: “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 10-11). So, if you are a born again believer, know that this life is not your own. We are alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. May you live as though you have been resurrected, restored, renewed, redeemed.