Day 4 Resurrection of the Dead

Jesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. (John 11:25-26)

The meaning of the word "resurrection" is a raising or rising up. It means to cause to rise or raise up from the dead.

"What is more important, the death of Christ or His resurrection?"

The death and resurrection of Christ are equally important. Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplish separate but necessarily related things. The death and resurrection of our Lord are really inseparable, like the warp and weft of cloth.

The cross of Christ won for us the victory that we could never have won for ourselves. “Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15).

On the cross God piled our sins on Jesus, and He bore the punishment due us (Isaiah 53:4–8). In His death, Jesus took upon Himself the curse introduced by Adam (see Galatians 3:13).

With the death of Christ, our sins became powerless to rule over us (Romans 6).

 By His death, Jesus destroyed the works of the devil (John 12:31; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8), condemned Satan (John 16:11), and crushed the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15).

Without the sacrificial death of Christ, we would still be in our sins, unforgiven, unredeemed, unsaved, and unloved. The cross of Christ is vital to our salvation and was thus a main theme of the apostles’ preaching (Acts 2:23, 36; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 2:2; Galatians 6:14).

But the story of Jesus Christ did not end with His death.

The resurrection of Christ is also foundational to the gospel message. Our salvation stands or falls based on the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, as Paul makes clear in

1 Corinthians 15:12-19 - The Resurrection of the Dead

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. ESV

Without the resurrection, we are still sitting “in darkness and in the shadow of death” waiting for the sunrise (Luke 1:78–79).

Because of Jesus’ resurrection, His promise holds true for us: “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19).

• Our great enemy, death, will be defeated (1 Corinthians 15:26, 54–55).
• Jesus’ resurrection is also important because it is through that event that God declares us righteous: Jesus “was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25).
• The gift of the Holy Spirit was sent from the resurrected and ascended Lord Jesus (John 16:7).

At least three times in His earthly ministry, Jesus predicted that He would die and rise again after three days (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34). If Jesus Christ had not been raised from the dead, He would have failed in His prophecies—He would have been yet another false prophet to be ignored. As it is, however, we have a living Lord, faithful to His Word. The angel at Jesus’ empty tomb was able to point to fulfilled prophecy: “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said” (Matthew 28:6).

Scripture links the death and resurrection of Christ, and we must maintain that link.

 Jesus’ entrance into the tomb is as equally important as His exit from the tomb. In 1 Corinthians 15:3–5, Paul defines the gospel as the dual truth that Jesus died for our sins (proved by His burial) and that He rose again the third day (proved by His appearances to many witnesses).

This gospel truth is “of first importance”

1 Corinthians 15:3-7

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.  ESV

It is impossible to separate the death of Christ from His resurrection. To believe in one without the other is to believe in a false gospel that cannot save. In order for Jesus to have truly arisen from the dead, He must have truly died. And in order for His death to have a true meaning for us, He must have a true resurrection. We cannot have one without the other.

1 Corinthians 15:51 (The Mirror Bible)

Look! A Mystery! And no one will die; and everyone will be changed.

If our hope in Christ was restricted to only benefit us in this life then imagine the severity or our disappointment if it all had come to an abrupt end when we died. However this very moment the risen Christ represents everyone who has ever died; exactly like the first fruit would represent the complete harvest (1 Corinthians 15:19-22)

The same humanity who died in a man was raised again in a man. In Adam all died; in Christ all are made alive. (See 2 Corinthians 5:14). The love of Christ resonates within us and leaves us with only one conclusion: Jesus died humanity’s death; therefore in God’s logic every individual simultaneously died (See Hebrews 9:27,28). The same goes for everyone: man dies only once and then faces judgment. Christ died once and faced the judgment of the entire human race! His second appearance has nothing to do with sin but to reveal salvation for all to lay ahold of him. He appeared as High Priest before the Throne of Justice once, with his own blood to atone for the sins of the whole world. In his resurrection he appeared as Savior of the world! Sin is no longer on the agenda for the Lamb of God has taken away the sin of the world! The same High Priest who atoned for mankind is now also their Advocate (Lawyer)(1 Corinthians 15:3-5, Romans 4:25, Acts 17:30,31, 1 John 2:1) (Comments in 1 Corinthians 15:51 – The Mirror Bible)

Discussion Questions:

Day 4 – Resurrection of the dead

• Why is the resurrection of Jesus important?

• How are we connected to the resurrection of Jesus?