What is resurrection?
Well, my dear friend, by definition, the term means returning to life, or raising from the dead, or restoration to life. For Christians, this is our great and certain hope, but being raised to life is only possible because the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins. He has promised that whosoever believes on Him shall be raised up to life as we read in John 11:25-26: “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…” (see also John 3:16; Romans 8:11). Man, despite all his best efforts, cannot conquer death; only the Savior can. Mary and Martha witnessed this power and believed on the Lord Jesus as they watched Lazarus come forth from the grave, alive at the word of the Lord (John 11:43,44). At Calvary, Jesus conquered sin which leads to death, so that we who are dead in our sins can be forgiven and have everlasting life, but only through faith in him.
Now, I mentioned the “resurrection to life” above (see 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18); but Scripture tells of another resurrection which is for the ungodly. This is a resurrection to judgment and to the second death or “hell” (See Revelation 20:5,6; 11-15).
But let’s speak for a moment about the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, which opens the golden door to salvation for poor, lost sinners like you and like me, and which is the very pillar of the Christian faith. In 1 Timothy 1:15, we see that Christ came into the world to save sinners, and in 1 John 4:9-10 that God loved us and sent His Son “that we might live through Him” (verse 9); and that the Son might be “the propitiation for our sins” (verse 10). Propitiation means that a sacrifice was necessary to appease God’s wrath and judgment for our sins, and Christ Jesus was that “sin offering” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Now, Christ rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion, and this is a sign to all the world that Jesus was indeed the Christ, and that all that He said about Himself was true. And in particular, the empty tomb shows those of us who believe on Him, that is, born again Christians, that our sins are all forgiven, and we’re on our way to heaven. Now, some in Corinth did not believe in the resurrection, so the Apostle Paul responded that if Christ be not raised, then our Christian faith is not of any value. We read in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “…if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain”. But Christ Jesus did indeed rise from the dead, and the NT Scriptures are full of eyewitnesses to this fact; and along with this, the Scriptures have many proofs that Jesus is indeed the Christ (See 1 Corinthians 15:20 and also John 20:30,31).
I’ll close with that last verse I cited, John 20:30,31: “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name”. Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord? Do you know that you have life through His name? If not, I pray that you will believe on Him even now as you read this document. And if you repent of your sins and truly do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be born again, and you can be assured of being in the first resurrection, the resurrection to life! (SF) (536.6)