Resurrection of Jesus Christ

 ²⁵ Jesus told her (Martha), “I AM the resurrection and the Life. Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying. ²⁶ Everyone who lives in Me and believes in Me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” John 11:25-26

 

Resurrection of Jesus Christ! No topic in the Holy Scriptures is more important than Jesus’s resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus deserves our particular attention because Jesus’s resurrection is the majestic hinge on which Christianity turns.

 

The death and resurrection of Jesus is Good News (Gospel) message for ALL PEOPLE and not just Christians (see e.g., Luke 2:10-11; 1 Corinthians 15:1).[1] At the heart of the Good News (Gospel) stands the message of Jesus’s atoning and sacrificial death as God’s Passover Lamb and His resurrection from complete death for the sins and salvation of the world (e.g., see John 1:29, 36; Romans 1:3-4; Romans 5:8-10; Romans 6:5-11; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 Timothy 2:8). This Gospel is the same message promised long ago through God’s holy prophets of the Old Testament (Romans 1:2; see also Luke 24:25-27, 44-47; Acts 26:6; Galatians 3:8). The Good News is about God’s Son, Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior (see e.g., Romans 1:2-3, 16-17).

 

The Good News message teaches that Christ Jesus voluntarily lied down His life and died for our sins on Calvary’s Cross (tree), was buried in Joseph of Arimathea’s new tomb, and He was raised from complete death on the third day by God’s Spirit, just as the Old Testament prophets predicted long ago (see e.g., Psalm 16:9-11; Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Zechariah 13:7; Matthew 27:57-60; John 10:18; Acts 2:24, 32; Acts 10:39-40; Acts 13:27-29; Romans 3:24-25; Romans 5:6-8; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 12, 20; Galatians 1:3-4; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10). On Calvary’s Cross, Jesus the Messiah personally carried our sins, curses, and shame in His body and shed His precious blood so that we can REPENT, TURN from sin and darkness, and LIVE for what is good, holy, and right (see e.g., Isaiah 53:4-6, 11; Romans 4:25; Romans 6:2-7, 11-12; 2 Corinthians 5:20-21; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 3:13; Hebrews 9:14-15, 28; 1 Peter 2:24-25; 1 John 3:5).

 

Here is more Good News! God the Father raised His Son Christ Jesus from complete death through the Holy Spirit (also known as God’s Mighty Power) after Jesus died for the world’s sins as the Passover Lamb on Calvary’s Cross (see e.g., Matthew 28:6-7; Acts 2:24, 32; Acts 3:15; Acts 5:30; Acts 10:39-42; Acts 13:32-37; Ephesians 1:19-20; 1 Corinthians 15:15; Philippians 3:10). Jesus promised during His earthly ministry that He would raise from the dead after three days once He had suffered for the sins of the world (see e.g., Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:22-23; Mark 8:31; Mark 10:33-34; Luke 9:22; Luke 18:31-33; Luke 24:46-49; John 2:18-21). If there is no resurrection of Christ Jesus, then our faith is useless and we are still guilty of your sins (see e.g., 1 Corinthians 15:16-18).

 

Significantly, Jesus’s resurrection from complete death proved that He is the Messiah and the Son of the living God (see e.g., Acts 5:30-32; Acts 13:33-35; Romans 1:3-4). In Jesus’ earthly life, He was born into King David's family line (see e.g., Matthew 1:1, 6; 16-17; Luke 1:31-33; Romans 1:3; 2 Timothy 2:8). However, Jesus was shown to be the Lord, the Son of God, and Great Shepherd when He was raised from complete death by the power of God’s Holy Spirit (see e.g., John 20:28; John 20:30-31; Acts 2:36; Romans 1:4; Ephesians 1:20-22; Hebrews 13:20). Now, Jesus lives and reigns as the Resurrected Messiah and King with His Father – the Sovereign LORD God of heaven and earth (see e.g., Romans 6:19; Revelation 1:5, 18; Revelation 5:6-13; Revelation 19:13, 16).

 

The New Testament gives many accounts of what followed Jesus’s resurrection and victory over complete death. There were no human witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. However, Jesus’ tomb was found empty, and no one ever located Jesus’s body (see e.g., Matthew 28:5-7; Mark 16:5-6). Moreover, the Holy Scriptures unanimously declare the personal and bodily resurrection of Jesus from complete death by the Mighty Power of God – the Holy Spirit (e.g., see Acts 2:24; Acts 4:10; Acts 10:40; Ephesians 1:19-20; Romans 1:4; Romans 8:11; Colossians 2:12).

 

After the resurrection, many of Jesus’s disciples and apostles witnessed the Resurrected Jesus (see e.g., Mark 16:12-14; Luke 24:36-42; John 20:19-29; Acts 1:3, 11; Acts 10:40-41; Acts 13:31). First, Jesus’s disciples and apostles saw Jesus’s empty tomb outside Jerusalem early Sunday morning (see Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-9). Also, Mary Magdalene witnessed the Resurrected Jesus at His empty tomb (see Mark 16:9-10; John 20:11-18). Later, the Resurrected Jesus appeared to two travelers on the Emmaus Road (see Mark 16:12; Luke 24:13-32). Moreover, the Resurrected Jesus appeared to the Apostle Peter in Jerusalem (see Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5). Furthermore, the Resurrected Jesus appeared to His apostles in the Upper Room (see Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-31; 1 Corinthians 15:5). Several days later at daybreak, the Resurrected Jesus appeared to His disciples fishing on the Sea of Galilee (see John 21:1-23). Furthermore, the Resurrected Jesus appeared to His apostles on the Mount of Galilee and later at the Mount of Olives, and He commissioned His disciples and apostles to take His Good News message of forgiveness and reconciliation with God through faith in Him into all the world (see Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:15-18; Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:3-8). Sometime later, the Resurrected Jesus appeared to the Peter, James, and more than 500 of His followers (see 1 Corinthians 15:5-8). Notably, the Resurrected Jesus appeared to the Apostle Paul in His glorious Light on the Damascus Road to appoint Paul to take His Gospel message to the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel (see Acts 9:3-8, 15-16, 20-22; Acts 18:28; Acts 22:6-21; Acts 26:12-20; 1 Corinthians 15:8-11; Colossians 1:23). Finally, the Resurrected Jesus appeared to John in the book of Revelation to reveal the apocalypse at His second coming (see Revelation 1:1, 9-11).

 

These disciples and apostles that witnessed the Resurrected Jesus became fearless and courageous evangelists of the Gospel message of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection (see e.g., Mark 16:15; Acts 4:33). The Holy Spirit empowered Jesus’ disciples and apostles to proclaim His Good News message (see e.g., Luke 24:46-49; Acts 1:8). For example, the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Rome to continue to spread the Good News about Jesus (see Romans 1:1, 7). Through Christ Jesus, God gave the Apostle Paul and many faithful others the privilege and authority as apostles to tell everyone throughout the world what God has done through Jesus, so that everyone will believe and obey Him, bringing glory to His Name (see e.g., Romans 1:5-6).

 

Everyone who accepts Jesus’s resurrection is changed, transformed, and empowered by Jesus’ living giving Spirit (see e.g., Romans 6:4-6; 2 Corinthians 5:17). This Good News message of Jesus’s death and resurrection is the power of God that brings salvation, inner heart change, and new life to all who wholeheartedly believe in Jesus’s atoning death and resurrection for their sins (see e.g., Acts 4:10-12; Romans 1:16-17; Romans 10:9-13; 1 Corinthians 1:18, 30; 1 Corinthians 15:2). God sent His Son Jesus to save and bless everyone who believes in Him and to call everyone to REPENT by turning away from sin, darkness, and wrongdoing (see e.g., Matthew 1:21; Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:14-15; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:26; Ephesians 1:3; Titus 2:11-14). Through our repentance and belief in Jesus’s resurrection, believers of Jesus receive new life, salvation, and forgiveness sins by God’s Holy Spirit (see e.g., John 3:3-8, 16; John 20:29; Acts 13:38-39; Romans 8:11; Romans 10:9).

 

Believers of Jesus have been buried, baptized, and resurrected with Jesus to new life (see e.g., Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 2:20-21; Ephesians 2:5-6, 8-10; Colossians 2:11-13). Faith and obedience in Christ Jesus bring new and abundant spiritual life NOW in the present from heaven and for all eternity (see e.g., John 1:4; John 5:21, 25-29; John 10:10, 28; John 17:2-3; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Ephesians 1:3; Colossians 2:12; Colossians 3:1-4; 1 John 5:11-12). Jesus declared that resurrection from the dead and life are so closely tied to Him that resurrection and life are embodied in Him and can be found NOW in the present through our faithful relationship with Him (see e.g., John 6:33, 39-40; John 11:25-26; John 14:6; Acts 3:15; 1 Corinthians 15:21, 45; 2 Corinthians 1:9-10; 1 John 1:1-3).

 

The Holy Scriptures proclaim that believers in Jesus are united with Him in His sacrificial death and raised to a new life in Him through our faith and union to Jesus (see e.g., Romans 6:5, 8, 11). Jesus’s resurrection from death allows believers of Jesus to live new resurrected and victorious lives through our faith in Him (see e.g., Romans 6:4, 9; Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 6:14). Through our faith and union to Jesus, our old sinful lives are crucified with Christ Jesus so that we are SET FREE and REDEEMED from the power of sin in our lives by God’s Mighty Power – the Holy Spirit (see e.g., Matthew 20:28; Matthew 26:28; Romans 6:6-7; Ephesians 1:7, 19-20; Colossians 1:14; Titus 2:14). Jesus is a life-giving Spirit (see e.g., John 10:28; John 17:2-3; Acts 3:15; Romans 5:17; 1 Corinthians 15:45; 1 John 1:1-3; 1 John 5:11-12). Only our belief and union to the Cross of Christ Jesus and His resurrection save our souls from sin and wrath (see e.g., John 3:36; Romans 10:9-13; Galatians 6:12, 14).

 

The Sovereign LORD God so loved the world that He gave His Son Jesus as an atoning sacrifice (propitiation) for our sins (e.g., see John 3:16; Romans 3:24-26; Romans 8:32; Ephesians 5:2; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10). Christ Jesus propitiated or turned His Father’s wrath away from sinners by dying on Calvary’s Cross and enduring God’s wrath and punishment for our sins and wrongdoing so Jesus could break and defeat the power of death, darkness, and sin in our lives (see e.g., Isaiah 53:5; Romans 6:10; Romans 8:3; Hebrews 9:25-28). Christ Jesus’s resurrection overcame and defeated the powers of evil, darkness, and death. Moreover, Christ Jesus canceled or expiated our sins, wrongdoing, and crimes by becoming sin and absorbing our sins in His body on Calvary’s Cross so that we can live for goodness, holiness, and righteousness (see e.g., Romans 8:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24).

 

Because of Christ Jesus’s death and resurrection, God made His Son Jesus our Lord and Savior (see e.g., Matthew 1:21; Luke 2:10-11; Acts 2:36; Acts 13:23, 26; 1 John 4:14). Jesus is the Head and Savior of the church, which He purchased with His precious blood (see e.g., Acts 20:28; Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 5:23, 25-27; Colossians 1:18). Now, Jesus is sitting on the throne at the right hand of His Father – the Sovereign LORD God – in heaven as our Prince and Savior to lead everyone to REPENTANCE, goodness, and forgiveness of sins (see e.g., Psalm 110:1; Mark 16:19; Acts 5:30-31; Ephesians 1:20; Titus 2:10-14). At the Sovereign LORD God’s right hand, Jesus makes intercession (intervention and negotiation) for the church of believers with His Father (see e.g., Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).

 

In our present age, Jesus is King and Lord because His Father – the Sovereign LORD God – has given Him all power and authority in heaven and earth (see e.g., Matthew 11:27; Matthew 22:44; Matthew 28:18; Luke 10:22; John 3:35; John 13:3; Acts 2:22, 36). For Christ Jesus must reign and rule as King and Lord with all authority and power given from His Father until He humbles and destroys all His enemies, including the final enemy – death (see e.g., 1 Corinthians 15:25-27; Ephesians 1:22). At the end of the age, Christ Jesus will turn the Kingdom over to His Father, the Sovereign LORD God, because He has now destroyed every dark and evil ruler, authority, and power (see e.g., 1 Corinthians 15:24, 28). So, let everyone be strong, immovable, and always working enthusiastically for the Lord Jesus, for we know that nothing we do for Him is ever useless (see e.g., 1 Corinthians 15:58).

 

Jesus has become the first born of the dead and first fruit of the great harvest of all who have died (see e.g., 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23; Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5). Sadly, death entered the world because of Adam and Eve’s sin, disobedience, and rebellion against God and His commands (see e.g., Genesis 2:17; Genesis 3:6, 19; Romans 5:12-17; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22). Resurrection and new spiritual life have now entered the world through our wholehearted faith, union, and belief in Jesus – the Second Adam (see e.g., John 5:21-29; Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 45).

 

Jesus’s resurrection is the foundation for all future resurrections (see e.g., Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 2 Corinthians 4:14). In between death and the resurrection, a person lies in an intermediate state awaiting “the redemption of our bodies” to be transformed into our new heavenly bodies (see e.g., Romans 8:23; 2 Corinthians 5:1-5). The Holy Scriptures promises resurrection from death for all people – young and old – when Christ Jesus returns at Second Coming (see e.g., Acts 24:15; 1 Corinthians 15:15, 23, 29; Philippians 3:21; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20:12-15). The Holy Scriptures promise the same Resurrected Jesus will return to earth in glory cloud at His second coming (see e.g., Matthew 16:27-28; Matthew 24:30; Matthew 25:31; Mark 14:61-62). 

 

Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried in the dust of the earth will rise at the end of the age, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace (see e.g., Job 19:25-27; Isaiah 26:19; Ezekiel 37:1-4, 12; Daniel 12:1-2; Matthew 22:31-32; Mark 12:26-27; John 5:25, 28-29; Acts 24:15; Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 20:12-15). God promises a second death into a fiery lake for the wicked who follows the evil deeds of Satan because their names are not written in the Book of Life – Jesus, who is Life (see e.g., John 1:4-5; John 14:6; Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:14-15; Revelation 21:8).

 

However, everyone whose names are written in the Book of Life – Jesus, the Sovereign LORD God promises to bring the dead back to life and transform those dead bodies into a glorious new and strong body to live forever (see e.g., Ezekiel 37:3-6; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 1 Corinthians 15:38, 42, 52-53; Philippians 3:21). This new body from God will spiritual and heavenly without brokenness, weakness, and corruption (see e.g., Mark 12:25; 1 Corinthians 15:43-44, 48-49). Moreover, this new spiritual body will inherit the Kingdom of God and be transformed into immortal bodies that will never die (see e.g., 1 Corinthians 15:50, 53-56).

 

There is NO CONDEMNATION for those who belong to Christ Jesus (see e.g., John 3:18-19; John 5:24; Romans 5:1; Romans 8:1-2). The Sovereign LORD God gives everyone victory and peace through faith and union to His Son, Jesus the Messiah (see e.g., John 15:4-5; John 16:33; Romans 8:37; 1 Corinthians 15:57; 1 John 5:4-5). Through our faith and union to Jesus, believers of Jesus are reconciled to the Sovereign LORD God and declared righteous because of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on Calvary’s Cross (see e.g., Romans 1:16-17; Romans 5:10; Romans 10:3-4; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Philippians 3:9).

 

EVERYONE – Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) – that confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe with their whole heart that the Sovereign LORD God raised Jesus from the dead will be saved and made right by the Sovereign LORD God (see e.g., Romans 10:9-13). Through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection believers also receive new life and become one with Him and His Father through the Holy Spirit (see e.g., Romans 6:2-6). Genuine and wholehearted faith in Jesus brings you into union and fellowship with God and His Son, Jesus.

 

Jesus died for our sins so that we may receive and be included in His new life – a resurrection life – and no longer live for selfishness, wrongdoing, and sin but instead live for Him and His glory (see e.g., Romans 6:2-4, 11-12; 2 Corinthians 5:15, 17; Galatians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:24). Before our faith in Jesus, we were dead because of our sins but we are now ALIVE AND FORGIVEN through our faith in Jesus (see also Colossians 2:13-14). God placed ALL our wrongdoings, sins, and crimes on His Son Jesus so that we would be made right and good with Him (see e.g., 2 Corinthians 5:21).  

 

Through our faith and union with His Son Jesus, the Sovereign LORD God of heaven and earth has poured into our lives His abundant grace, kindness, forgiveness, and peace, and we have now been adopted into His heavenly family by the Holy Spirit (e.g., see Luke 24:47; John 1:12-14, 16; Acts 10:43; Acts 13:38-39; Romans 5:1-2; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:2-3, 13-14; Ephesians 2:4, 7-9; 18; Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 4:14-16). Faith in Jesus frees us from Satan and a life dominated by darkness, sin, and death. We find lasting joy, peace, and love through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord and made right with God (see e.g., Romans 5:1-5; Romans 7:24-25). REPENT and come to the Light of God and away from Satan and darkness (see e.g., Acts 26:13, 18, 19-20, 23; Romans 6:1-2, 12-18).

 

God’s grace found in Jesus Christ NEVER permits believers to keep on sinning! Instead, God through Jesus calls everyone to walk in goodness and turn away from Satan’s darkness, deceit, and destruction. Christ Jesus came into the world that we may live for His glory and no longer for sin, rebellion, and lawlessness. Since God loved us by sending His Son Jesus, we should love and care for one another and not hate one another. (see e.g., Romans 8:35-39; 1 John 3:23-24; 1 John 4:7-11, 16, 20-21). REPENT AND TURN TO JESUS and become ABUNDANTLY FREE of sin (see e.g., Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19).

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[1] The Gospel and the Good News are used interchangeably when referring to Jesus the Messiah (Christ). Christians use the word Gospel or Good News as the message of God's saving activity through the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of God's unique Son, Jesus.