I remember singing the celebrated hymn, “Because He Lives” as a child. The final line of its chorus ardently declares: “And life is worth the living, just because He lives.” Why is this the case? What does His resurrection mean for the believer? It is multi-faceted in its achievements. Be blessed as you read through the points below.
It verifies his victory over sin and death
His resurrection proves that our Jesus had achieved through the cross the objective of the Trinity. The sins of the world had been wholly judged in the body of Christ. His perfect offering had been accepted by the Father and was deemed sufficient to satisfy the demands of justice. Amen! Since death is the penalty and consequence of sin, His resurrection proves that victory had been accomplished over sin and therefore, death and the grave as well. “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” Jesus declared in Revelation 1:18 (NIV). Sin did not conquer the Sinless One and hence, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13). Speaking about God imputing righteousness to those who put their faith in Him, Paul wrote in Romans 4:24-25, “It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” Raised because of our justification. His resurrection means that faith in Him does indeed result in true, eternal, irrevocable forgiveness. 1 Corinthians 15:17 affirms this by teaching us that “if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!”
It demonstrates His divinity and substantiates His sinlessness
His resurrection proves that Jesus was indeed the sinless Son of God. He was “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” we read in Romans 1:4. Jesus could rightly bear the sins of the world and be judged in our place because of His sinless perfection and divine capacity. If He had been an ordinary man, born under sin, His death would have achieved nothing. He would not have been able to save Himself from death and eternal damnation, let alone anyone else. Hades – the realm of the dead – could not hold Him. It had no right to His sinless, divine self. Speaking about Jesus, Peter declared: "But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power” (Acts 2:24, NASB).
It was the first obvious step in His exultation
In Philippians 2 we read regarding our Jesus: “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:8-11). In reality, His exultation began from the moment of His death, His descent into Hades being victorious in nature. However, for His disciples, it was His resurrection that made His exultation apparent. Thereafter, His ascension seated Him at the right hand of the Father. “Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” we read in Acts 5:31. A dead Saviour is a powerless Saviour. Calling on someone for deliverance who themselves was conquered is a pointless exercise. No. The name of our Jesus is above every other name and He is well able to deliver us from any foul thing. Hallelujah!
It establishes the eventual resurrection of our bodies
His resurrection sets a pattern that believers will follow. The broken body of Jesus was transformed into a glorified body, never to die again. It has – and still has – the same nature as the bodies that we will receive upon our own resurrection. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Our Jesus was the first to be given such a body and this is why He is called in Scripture the firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15:20). After we die, we will go to the place of departed spirits. As believers, this will be heaven and the physical presence of Almighty God. When Christ descends from heaven as described in the above passage from 1 Thessalonians, we will descend with Him and our bodies – having since returned to their natural elements – will be put back together again and reunited with our spirits. Those believers who have not yet died at His coming, will be transformed in an instant. The Bible calls our new physiques, heavenly bodies. They will still be bodies, created using our earthly bodies as seeds, so-to-speak, but they will have an incorruptible, unchanging, spiritual nature (1 Corinthians 15:42-49). It will be on this day that we will rejoice and proclaim, “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). Hallelujah!
On a side-note, if you have not yet downloaded my FREE e-booklet, “Judging Jesus” from the ebooks section of this blog, please do so. It will help you understand what took place on the cross between Father and Son, deepening your revelation of salvation.