Why All of This Talk About the Resurrection?

A popular statement that is often heard during the Easter (and Christmas) holiday season is for people to understand “the reason for the season.” We hear of it more during Christmas when we are making reference to what Christmas is all about.  More than just holiday shopping and exchanging presents, “Jesus is the reason for the season.”  The same also applies to Easter, which brings about cards, pastels, candy, colored eggs, and the famous bunny rabbit.  But while we talk about Easter as being about Jesus Christ, we need to be even more specific about Easter in that it is all about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The resurrection, Jesus Christ’s keeping of His promise that He would return from death to life was the culmination of Jesus’ reason and purpose for coming to earth and His ministry here on earth.  His life, His death, and His burial are just part of the story.  His resurrection proves that He is the eternal God who is Faithful and True and that He is the living Word of God (Revelation 19:11, 13) and that He had planned from the very beginning to save mankind with His eternal sacrifice.  Without the resurrection, we would not have eternal life as it is an essential part of the gospel message (1 Corinthians 15:3-8).

What is the significance of the resurrection to the believer in Jesus Christ?  For one, it brings peace to the believer and discourages the efforts of Satan to bring about fearfulness in proclaiming the gospel (John 20:19-21, Acts 4:2).  We are not to be fearful of anything because we have the presence of Christ in our lives.  Next, along with peace, He gives power and grace to the believer (Acts 4:33).  Last, but not least, his resurrection defines our witness in our identification with Christ (Acts 1:22, Romans 1:4-6).

When examining the distinctive elements of the world’s most famous religions, there is one distinction that separates Christianity from all of the others…the teaching of Christ’s life, death, burial and resurrection.  The resurrection means that our God is a living God and not a dead prophet or a series of random philosophical teachings.  Without the proof of His resurrection, Jesus’ life is no more than that of Mohammed, Buddha, Moses, Confucius, or the inspiration of Hinduism.  It is the proof that we, as believers in Jesus Christ, are not abandoned and left to our own accord in the building of our faith.  He is our faith and eternal hope!