The Resurrection

On the night before the Jewish feast of Passover, Jesus gathered with his disciples and shared a final meal, often called the Last Supper. Afterward, Jesus and the other disciples walked to the Garden of Gethsemane. While Jesus was praying, Judas led a group of Jewish religious leaders and soldiers to the garden, and they arrested Jesus. He was beaten, ridiculed, and sentenced to death. Jesus was crucified around noon on the day following his arrest. He was nailed to a cross and publicly hung from it until he died.

Death is the greatest tragedy that human beings experience, and the worst manifestation of sin in this world. But the good news is that God’s anointed Christ conquered death for all of us.

God’s plan to redeem humanity and the rest of creation depended on him fulfilling his covenant promises to establish his kingdom on earth under the kingship of a descendant of David, otherwise known as the Christ. But he couldn’t do this if Jesus remained dead. In this sense, Jesus’ resurrection was a critical step that enabled God to fulfill his covenant promises.

When he rose from the grave through the power of the Spirit, he proved to all creation that he really is God’s favored Son and the heir to his kingdom. And even more wonderful than this, he ensured the future resurrection and blessing of all his faithful followers.

This is one of the reasons that the New Testament calls the resurrection an affirmation of Jesus’ role as Christ, as we see in Luke 24:45-46; and Romans 1:1-4.

The New Testament associates Jesus’ resurrection with a wide variety of blessings we receive as part of our salvation. It results in our justification, which is the forgiveness of our sins. It’s the source of the regeneration of our spirits, and it opens the door to our eternal inheritance. It produces good works and a true witness to Christ in our bodies and lives. And it’s the source of the future bodily resurrection of believers, when we will have glorified bodies just like the one Jesus has. Although Christians rarely think of it in these terms, Jesus’ resurrection is essential to many of the blessings of salvation we already enjoy, as well as to those we’ll receive in the future.

The resurrection gives us incredible hope for the future. We see in Jesus’ resurrection God’s pledge that death is not the end. After the grave comes new life — resurrection, bodily life. And that, of course, for Christians throughout the generations, has given incredible hope as they, we, face human death. It’s trust in Jesus that he will bring us through death into his life. [Dr. Peter Walker]