The importance of the resurrection

“From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for God’s good news. God promised this good news about his Son ahead of time through his prophets in the holy scriptures. His Son was descended from David.” (Romans 1:1-3 CEB)

Who was Jesus? The world struggles with who this first century teacher could be. Was he just a very good Jew who lived during Roman times and nothing more? As Paul wrote, “If Christ hasn’t been raised, then our preaching is useless and your faith is useless…If Christ hasn’t been raised, then your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins…If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve to be pitied more than anyone else” (1 Corinthians 15:14,17,19). Strong words, but so true. If Jesus was just a man who lived and was executed (and didn’t come back to life after death) and we are placing our hope in him, then that faith is worthless and we deserve to be pitied – if he were nothing more.

Who Jesus was and what would happen to him was something that had been written about long before he was born. There is a picture being filled in that flows through the Jewish scriptures. The seed of woman would come to crush the serpent’s head – the serpent representing Satan (Genesis 3:15). As Eve was the mother of all living, that could apply to anyone at that stage. Later Abraham was told that it was through his seed that all the families on the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). Paul identified this ‘seed’ as the Messiah (Galatians 3:14-16) who is Jesus. The Messiah was to be a descendant of Abraham, a Jew.

This promised lineage was further narrowed down when David was promised that it would be one of his descendants who would have an eternal throne (1 Chronicles 17:13). The coming Messiah would be the rightful king. When we look at Jesus’ ancestry he was descended from David (Matthew 1, Luke 3). The prophets then added many details to this coming Messiah: who he was and what he would do.

The coming Messiah was good news! He would come to deal with sin. Jesus was the one that all of these prophecies pointed towards. But how do we know Jesus was more than just another Jew who was executed by the Romans?

“He was publicly identified as God’s Son with power through his resurrection from the dead, which was based on the Spirit of holiness. This Son is Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 1:4)

Although Jesus’ death was vital, because through his death we have forgiveness, it is his coming back from the dead, his resurrection, that showed who he was. It identified him as God’s Son with power and showed that he was the Messiah. It is the resurrection which identified him for who he really is. This is the good news which saves us and gives us hope.

“Brothers and sisters, I want to call your attention to the good news that I preached to you, which you also received and in which you stand…I passed on to you as most important what I also received: Christ died for our sins in line with the scriptures, 4he was buried, and he rose on the third day in line with the scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:1,3-4)

How do we know he came back from the dead, that he was alive again? Because there were witnesses to it – and not just one or two, but hundreds!

“He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, and then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once—most of them are still alive to this day, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me, as if I were born at the wrong time.” (1 Corinthians 15:5-8)

We can be confident that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God!

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Readings for next week: Hebrews 10-13; Romans 1-2