The Resurrection Changes Everything
Written by: Don Straka
When Jesus rose from the dead, everything changed. Really. Everything. Many of us rightly understand how Jesus rising from the dead achieved the forgiveness of our sins, but Jesus’s resurrection secured so many more promises. We have recently been working through a mini-sermon series looking at some of these promises. We have seen that Jesus rose to answer doubts, he came to secure the bodily resurrection of all believers, and he came to call his new family into action.
When Jesus rose from the dead, he rose with a mission to answer doubts. He had a group of disciples who had lost faith, saying things like,
“We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21 ESV).
Jesus’s death had left them hopeless and stuck in their doubts. Jesus’s mission was to refuel their hope by appearing to the hopeless. Andrew rightly summarized that this appearing was as much for these disciples as it is for us today: “This is for you!!! I want you, and countless generations who read this record, to know ‘I have not left and I am alive and will be with you.’”
Jesus’s resurrection not only answered our doubts, it also paved the way for the resurrection of all believers. Paul says,
“Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20 ESV).
Believers in Christ will follow Christ’s lead. He is the first fruit. We are the second fruit. Just as he rose, so will we. Christ’s resurrection not only secured the forgiveness of our sins, it showed us an example of the glorious, bodily resurrection that we get to look forward to. Furthermore, this precious reality moves us to glorify God in our bodies now because we know they have been created for God’s praise both now and in eternity.
Jesus did not only appear to comfort us and to secure our future resurrection, but he also rose to send us out on mission. “Feed my sheep.” “Become fishers of men.” These calls became possible for all believers to pursue once Jesus rose from the dead. His resurrection meant the power and peace required to be on mission were ours. His resurrection proved he could stand by his parting words,
“Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 ESV).
Many in Paul’s day denied the resurrection of the dead, including Jesus rising from the dead. Paul had no tolerance for this. Paul knew that if Jesus never rose from the dead, we might as well throw our whole faith away because it would be meaningless (1 Corinthians 15:17 ESV). But Jesus has risen from the dead, and because of this great truth, we have so many precious promises we can claim as our own. I pray that as you look to the resurrection of Jesus that you would see your own doubts answered, you would recall the precious promise of a bodily resurrection and live accordingly, and that you would be bolstered in the promises of God to go out and live on mission.