The Importance of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

The Importance of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Foundations of Pentecostal Theology

 

It seems almost incredible that a fair-sized branch of the Christian Church sees little or no significance to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, unless it be as it affects Him personally. As we pursue this study we will see how essential and how glorious is the fact of our Lord’s Resurrection.

1.     The importance of the Resurrection of Christ.

a) It is one of the two primary doctrines of the Gospel.

“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel … how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:1–4). It is impossible and useless to try to determine which is the more important: His Death or His Resurrection, for the one without the other could never have been sufficient for the salvation of men. If Christ had remained in the grave, His Death would have been no more than that of any martyr for the Christian faith. He could have given us nothing better than a philosophy. Yet, without the vicarious sacrifice of His Death, His Resurrection would have presented no saving power.

It was His Resurrection which demonstrated that He was the Son of God. “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:3, 4). His Resurrection proves that His Death was of sufficient value to God to cover all our sins, for His Sacrifice was the sacrifice of the Son of God.

b) It was the foundation stone on which the Church was built.

The Apostles gave it the place of greatest importance. In the famous passage from 1 Corinthians chapter fifteen, verses 13–19, is found “one of the most potent negative suppositions that can be made in connection with the Christian faith.” Paul lists five negative facts which, if they were true, would divest the Gospel of all its power and blessing:

(1) Our preaching is vain.

“If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain” (v. 14). Our Gospel is robbed of its note of joy and is changed into a funeral dirge. It would become a gospel of death, a mere biography of a man that lived an extraordinary life, but died an ordinary, though ignominious, death—“even the death of the cross.” Our Gospel would be emptied of its power. Unless Jesus gained a victory at Calvary, as evidenced by His Resurrection, over death, hell, and the grave, then we are still victims. It took the victory of the open tomb and the power of the Risen Lord to give effectuality to the Gospel.

(2) Faith is vain.

“Your faith is also vain” (v. 14). All that you have accepted by faith as a free gift from God, through Jesus Christ—divine sonship, eternal life, justification, sanctification, glorification, and a home in Heaven, you did not receive at all. If Christ be not risen these are not yours. Paul repeats the same in verse seventeen. Faith is always impotent unless its object gives it power.

(3) The Apostles are false witnesses.

“Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not” (v. 15). An essential qualification of apostleship was that he be a witness of Christ’s Resurrection. “Wherefore of these men which have companioned with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection” (Acts 1:21, 22). In selecting a successor to Judas, one of the prerequisites was that he be a witness of Christ’s Resurrection. These men were false witnesses if Christ is not risen. The apostles of truth are found to be the apostles of falsehood. If Christ be not risen, the whole fabric of scriptural authenticity breaks down and leaves us without a shred of scriptural authority.

(4) Believers are yet in their sins.

“Ye are yet in your sins” (v. 17). “For there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). But, if Christ is not risen, He possesses no more saving efficacy than that of any other great character from history. It took the Resurrection of Jesus Christ to show the justifying value of His Death.

(5) Those who have died are perished.

—“Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (vv. 18, 19). It is better to sorrow as those who have no hope than to sorrow as those who have a false hope. The hope that sustained the martyrs in their sacrifice and that sustained multitudes since who have died in the faith was a false hope, “if Christ be not risen.” But away with the thought. Paul triumphantly declares: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20).

One cannot but be impressed, as he reads the early chapters of the book of Acts, with the prominent place given by the Apostles to the truth of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The very first sermon preached after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost is almost entirely on the theme of the Resurrection of Jesus (Acts 2:22–36). The second great recorded sermon, preached by Peter from Solomon’s porch of the Temple, again mentions this great fact: “And killed the Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses” (Acts 3:15). Speaking later before the Sanhedrin, Peter does not let the opportunity pass without bearing witness that Jesus lives again. “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole” (Acts 4:10). There was hardly ever a message preached, either to one person or to a multitude, which did not mention Christ’s Resurrection. Acts 4:33 summarizes the entire early ministry of the Apostles: “With great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.” See the following as examples of this in the Apostles’ and Paul’s ministry: Acts 2:24, 32; 3:15, 26; 4:10; 10:40; 13:30–37; 17:31; Rom. 4:24, 25; 6:4, 9; 7:4; 8:11; 10:9; 1 Cor. 6:14; 2 Cor. 4:14; Gal. 1:1; Eph. 1:20; Col. 2:12; 1 Thes. 1:10; 2 Tm. 2:8; 1 Pt. 1:21.