Ten Wonderful Truths About Christ's Resurrection

It is one thing to say that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. It is another to understand the significance of this resurrection. In preparation for this year’s Easter celebration, I wanted to look afresh at how Christ’s apostles understood His rising from the dead. As they wrote to the new Christian communities they had founded, what did they say about the resurrection? I uncovered these 10 wonderful truths about Christ’s resurrection in their writings. (Note that I specifically chose not to use the four Gospels. I restricted my study to the New Testament letters only).

TRUTH #1: CHRIST’S RISING IS HISTORICAL FACT

1 Co. 15:4-7 -- "that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born."

The first Christians were adamant that their belief in Christ's resurrection was based on reliable eyewitness accounts. These accounts were put in writing as we have them in the New Testament. This is in marked contrast with the myths of many other religions that proliferated at this time.

This is our answer to those who deny the resurrection: We take our stand on the factualness of the New Testament eyewitness accounts. Nothing of what Scripture says about Christ's resurrection (the empty tomb, the guards on duty, the rolled up face cloth, etc.) will persuade anyone unless he is first convinced that the Scriptures can be trusted as a reliable account. The miracle of Christ's resurrection is only convincing if the Scriptures are convincing. And convincing they are.

TRUTH #2 - TO REJECT CHRIST’S RISING IS TO LOSE EVERYTHING

1 Co. 15:14,17 -- “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith . . . And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”

Romans 4:25 -- "He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification."

Martin Luther occasionally referred to the resurrection of Jesus as the "chief article of our faith." He meant this in the sense of Paul's words quoted above. Christ's resurrection from the dead means that His mission was successful and that our sins were forgiven on the cross. Christ's resurrection means that God did declare us righteous (justify us) through the death of His Son. But if Christ had not risen from the dead, then He would have failed to do what He claimed He had come to do: to be a ransom for the sins of many (Mark 10:45). And if He has failed in His mission, our sins are not forgiven and there is no Gospel and no Savior to have faith in. Thus our faith is useless. It is for this reason that Christ's resurrection, even more than His crucifixion, was at the heart of the Apostolic preaching (as it is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles).

TRUTH #3: IT WAS PROPHESIED IN OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE

1 Co. 15:4 -- “that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

The Apostles, in faithfulness to Jesus' teaching, understood Christ's rising from the dead to be a fulfillment of prophecy. This is what Paul means when he writes that Christ rose "according to the Scriptures." The risen Jesus pointed this out at some length. For example, he chastised the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, "'O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?' Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures." Psalm 16:8-11 is an example of an Old Testament prophecy that the Apostles believed referred to Christ's resurrection (see Acts 2:25-33).

TRUTH # 4: ALL THREE PERSONS OF THE TRINITY WERE INVOLVED IN THE RESURRECTION

1 Peter 3:18 -- "He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit;"

Gal. 1:1 -- “and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;"

Rom. 14:9 -- "Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord.”

Though the Apostles most often say that "God" raised Jesus from the dead, occasionally they are more specific. As the above verses show, they make each Person of the Trinity the subject of the resurrection. Far from being a contradiction, rather, this is an incredible testimony that the entire Godhead was intimately involved in causing the resurrection of Christ our Savior to happen.

TRUTH # 5: BAPTISM MAKES CHRIST’S RESURRECTION AND NEW LIFE OURS

Rom. 6:4 “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

Colossians 2:12-13 -- "having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions."

1 Peter 3:21 -- "and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,"

Baptism mysteriously unites us with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It takes the miracle of Christ's saving resurrection and brings it into into the present, into our lives. Those who are baptized, as Paul tells us, are buried with Christ and are also raised up with Christ to newness of life. In other words, their sinful nature is put to death and buried, and they are spiritually raised up as new creations, forgiven of all sin. Baptism accomplishes all this, but as the Colossians passage points out, only for those who have faith.

TRUTH # 6: THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN RAISED WITH CHRIST IN BAPTISM SHOULD NOW LIVE FOR HIM (NOT THEMSELVES) AND FIGHT AGAINST SIN

Romans 6:1-4, 11-14 -- "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life . . . In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."

2 Co. 5:15 -- “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."

In Baptism we are buried and raised up with Jesus Christ: our sinful nature is put to death and buried and we are raised to a new, forgiven life. After having been saved so graciously and wonderfully, therefore, it is unthinkable for Christians to live for themselves or to give themselves willingly to sin. Just the opposite should be true. Since they died to sin in Baptism and have been raised up in Christ, Christians should constantly be fighting against sin and should be unwilling to let sin reign over them. All Christians sin, but Christians through Baptism should not let sin reign over them as master. Rather we should we live for Jesus -- we should constantly be offering our bodies and lives in service to God as instruments of righteousness.

TRUTH #7: JUST AS CHRIST'S BODY WAS RAISED, SO SHALL THE BODIES OF THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN HIM

1 Co. 6:14 -- “By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.”

1 Co. 15:20 -- "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."

1 Thess. 4:14.16 -- "We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him . . . For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first."

Jesus' bodily resurrection from the dead was the first of its kind but it will not be the last! This is one of the great joys of Easter. Easter declares that Jesus' resurrection is the firstfruits. Because He has been raised we shall be raised. His triumph over the grave insures our triumph over the grave. His victory over death assures our victory over death. In emphasizing this great future certainty the Apostles were merely repeating the clear teaching of Jesus Himself: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies" (John 11:25). As the great hymn has it, "Jesus lives! The victry's won! Death no longer can appal me; Jesus lives! Death's reign is done! From the grave Christ will recall me. Brighter scenes will then commence; This shall be my confidence" (The Lutheran Hymnal, #201).

TRUTH #8: CHRISTIANS WILL RISE WHEN CHRIST RETURNS

1 Co. 15:23 -- "But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits ; then, when he comes, those who belong to him."

1 Thess. 4:16-18 -- "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words."

The Apostles were clear about the "when" of our resurrection from the dead. The Scriptures clearly declare that the dead will be raised when Christ returns on the clouds of heaven on the last day.

TRUTH #9: OUR RESURRECTED BODIES WILL BE AWESOME!

1 Co. 15:42-44, 49-54 -- "So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body . . . And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. 50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

Phil. 3:20-21 -- "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."

What will our bodies be like when they are raised from the dead? Though all our curiosities are not satisfied, the Apostles do give us an answer to this question. In short, our resurrected bodies will be awesome! Paul makes it clear that our bodies will be instantly changed (1 Co. 15:51) when Christ returns. What kind of change? First, our resurrected bodies will be "imperishable" and "immortal" which means they will be free from sin and the corruption of death. And if there is no sin or death in our bodies, it follows that there will be no aging, no sickness, or no deformities, all which come about from sin. For the first time we will have bodies that are truly alive!

Furthermore, our resurrected bodies are described as being "glorious," "powerful," "spiritual," and "heavenly." We cannot fully explain what these words mean but they should fill us with joyful anticipation! Perhaps helpful in understanding what these words mean is Phil. 3:21 which says that the Lord Jesus Christ "will transform our bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." In other words, our resurrected bodies will be like Christ's resurrected body. His resurrected body was not totally changed. In other words, the same body that died was raised. He bore the holes in his hands and feet. His disciples recognized him (usually!). The resurrected Jesus was not given a brand new face or hair. Yet some changes do seem to have occurred. After the resurrection, Christ's body did things it hadn't before, such as appearing suddenly in a room without opening the door, exiting the tomb without the stone being rolled away, and ascending into heaven. True, this could be due to the Personal Union of His divine and human natures, but it could also be due to now having a glorified body.

TRUTH #10: THE RISEN CHRIST LIVES TO INTERCEDE FOR US ALWAYS

Romans 8:34-35a -- "Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

1 John 2:1-2 -- "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

Heb. 7:25 -- "but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them."

The resurrected Jesus ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. There, according to the Apostolic writings, He intercedes for us before the Father. What does this mean? The Greek word that is translated "intercede" in the above passages also means "to plead." So the resurrected Jesus constantly pleads to God in our behalf. As our high priest Jesus asks God to forgive us when we sin, reminding God of His once-for-all atonement on the cross. A beautiful example of Christ interceding to the Father is His prayer in John 17.