Transcript
Stephen:
Whenever you look at the account of the early church in the book of Acts, one thing really stands out. The resurrection is at the very centre of their message. The death of Christ is there, but there is a strong emphasis on the resurrection. For example, when Paul comes to Athens, we read that he preached Jesus and the resurrection. So why is the resurrection so crucial to the Christian message?
Joel:
That is a really good question. If you look at the history of that period and region, Jesus of Nazareth was not the only self-proclaimed Messiah. There were a number of men, mostly political figures, who set themselves up as messianic leaders.
These men all died. They were either killed in battle or executed by the Romans. When they died, their movements died with them. People went home because there was nothing left to follow.
Names like Theudas, Judas of Galilee, and Bar Kokhba are mostly forgotten, buried in history. But one name is still known, even 2,000 years later. One person continues to shape history, and that is Jesus of Nazareth. Why? Because he rose from the dead.
If someone is sceptical about the resurrection, they need a historically plausible alternative explanation for the birth of the church. Why did these people go out and preach as they did if Jesus had not risen?
In Acts, you see this intense movement spreading from one room in Jerusalem across the Roman world. At the heart of it is the message that Christ is alive.
Stephen:
Let me push into that a bit. There were others raised from the dead before Christ. There was the twelve-year-old girl, and Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. So was Christ’s resurrection unique?
Joel:
Yes, in a number of ways. First, he rose never to die again. There are at least six people in the Bible who were raised before Christ, three in the Old Testament and three in the New. All of them eventually died again.
Second, they were all raised by someone else. In the Old Testament it was Elijah or Elisha. In the New Testament, those you mentioned were raised by the Lord Jesus himself.
But in Christ’s resurrection, while the apostles preached that God raised him, there is also the truth that he rose in his own power. In John 10, he said he had authority to lay down his life and authority to take it again.
Just as he uniquely chose to lay down his life, he also took it up again. That shows he is victorious over death. He has defeated it.
Stephen:
I want to explore more of what the resurrection proves. It confirms his identity, that he is who he claimed to be, the Messiah, the Son of God. It shows his victory over death, which is described as the last enemy. It brings hope into every part of life because Christ has risen.
But help me understand more about what the resurrection means for our salvation.
Joel:
There is significance in relation to him, it vindicates his person and his message. He is the Son of God, the sacrifice for sin, the Saviour of the world.
But there are also implications for us. It is not just that Christ died for us, he also rose for us. In Romans 4, Paul says he was delivered for our offences and raised for our justification.
If you like, the death of Christ is the payment for sin, and the resurrection is the receipt. It is the proof that the payment has been accepted.
Imagine you are in a shop and you are accused of taking something. You show the receipt to prove it has been paid for. In the same way, we have no right in ourselves to enter heaven, but the resurrection is the proof that our sins have been dealt with.
It shows that Christ is victorious over sin, death, and hell. All our guilt, fear, and anxiety are swallowed up in the triumph of the resurrection.
Stephen:
The wages of sin is death. If Christ had not risen, you could ask whether he was still paying that price. But the fact that he rose shows the payment is complete.
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says that if Christ is not risen, our faith is empty and we are still in our sins. Those who have died in Christ have perished. If our hope is only for this life, we are to be pitied.
Joel:
Exactly. Without the resurrection, there is no hope. Hebrews says that through death he destroyed the one who had the power of death, that is the devil. The resurrection is the proof of that victory.
It also shapes our future hope. Because of the resurrection, death cannot ultimately touch the believer.
Psalm 23 speaks about walking through the valley of the shadow of death. I used to wonder what that meant, since people do actually die. But the point is this. Because of Christ’s resurrection, a believer does not experience death in its full reality, only its shadow.
D. G. Barnhouse illustrated this by saying that if a lorry is coming towards you, you might also see its shadow on the road. You would rather be hit by the shadow than the lorry. The shadow passes over you but does no harm.
That is what death is like for a believer. It is real, but it has no lasting power. It is momentary. There is no final impact because the believer will rise again in Christ.
That is only possible because of the resurrection.
