Jesus’ Resurrection, Our Hope

As the Easter season approaches, let us remind ourselves that Jesus’s resurrection is the foundation of our hope and the cornerstone of all that we believe. Paul told the Church in Corinth, that if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised, our preaching is in vain, our faith is futile, we are still in our sins and all those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. But, then he writes: Christ has been raised from the dead, He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. And just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. The resurrection of Jesus is our assurance that God the Father has accepted the payment for our sins and death has been defeated.

Some one said to me recently “we just don’t know what happens when we die?” And my response was, “yes, we can absolutely be sure what happens to us when we die?” “How” he said. I replied, “when Jesus died, he entered death and because He rose from the grave he has the authority and experience to declare to us the truth about death and life”. You see our ultimate hope is not in Jesus’s teaching or miracles, or even his death alone. Without the resurrection, the death of Christ is either the heroic death of a gallant martyr or a pathetic death of a deranged madman and/or fraud. It was His resurrection that gives us the assurance that everything Jesus ever said was true and all that he did was accomplished. Paul said it this way in Romans 1:4, Jesus “was declared (authenticated-determined) to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead”. Let us gather this Easter season with full assurance and worship the Victorious Risen King!