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Easter 2024
John 20:9 For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. 10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
Introduction
This morning, as we come to celebrate Easter, I want to ask just one basic question:
· Why is the Resurrection so important?
Now I think if we stopped people as they were going into church and asked them why the Resurrection is important, they might respond because it is a miracle. And they would be right.
In fact, the Resurrection is the chief miracle in the entire Bible. Every other work of God from the Old Testament to the New is what it is and takes its bearings from the Resurrection (be it the parting of the sea, Noah’s ark, Jesus feeding the 5000, or His healing the lame- the Resurrection is the chief miracle to which every other miracle points) FN#1.
Others might respond that the Resurrection is important because it proves that Jesus is God and the promised Messiah. Again they would be correct. Scripture says that very thing.
However, what I want us to see this morning is why. Why is the Resurrection the chief miracle among all miracles? How does it prove that Jesus is God and the true Messiah? In short, why is the Resurrection so important?
I. Why is the Resurrection so important?
A] First and foremost the resurrection is so important because the resurrection is literally the salvation and new life that Christ came to accomplish for His people
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Importance: over and again throughout Holy Week and Lent we have stressed the fact that Salvation is a twofold transaction. That is, salvation is a matter of both what God has taken from you and what God has put in its place. Notice then, if the Cross is what Christ took from you (Christ took your unpaid penalty for sin and your unfulfilled obligation to obey God and He satisfied them both), then the resurrection is the completed salvation, new life, and healing that Christ accomplished for you on the Cross and has put in place of your brokenness. FN#2
Romans 4:25 He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, was raised because of our justification.
Notice the result: notice what this exchange (this two-fold nature of salvation) tells you about the Resurrection and about your standing before God: FN#3
B] First, the Resurrection is proof that God accepted Christ’s sacrifice as payment for all your sins. How? Remember: the penalty of sin is death. As long as there is sin, death applies. Therefore, if Christ failed to pay for even one of the sins He bore, that sin would remain, and therefore death (the penalty for that sin) would still be in force. As such, Christ would still be in the grave. The resurrection then is proof that sin and therefore its wage (death) are completely removed. Where no sin remains, there is no penalty for sin.
Acts 2:24 “God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it.
But that’s not all. Remember, there are two aspects of what the Cross removed (both your unpaid penalty for sin and your unfulfilled obligation to God). Notice then:
C] Second, the Resurrection is proof that Christ’s perfect obedience has fulfilled for you all that God requires of you FN#4. How? Remember, it is not enough just to have our sins forgiven. The reward of new life also demands the perfect fulfillment of all God’s requirement. Notice then the Resurrection (the reward of new life) is not merely proof that God has accepted Christ’s payment for our sins, it is also the reward/proof that God has accepted Christ’s perfect obedience as fulfillment of all that is required of us as well.
Romans 5:19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
Bottom line: the Resurrection is the new life that Christ has achieved for His people. As such, the Resurrection certifies that Christ has accomplished the whole of our salvation. In other words, Christ is the source of both my forgiveness and renewal (the grace that saves me is a grace that changes me)
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.
Footnotes
1] Think about it: throughout the whole of Scripture God is preparing His people to understand the salvation He is sending His Son to accomplish. The parting of the Red Sea and the corresponding parting of the Jordan River provide the chief Old Testament picture of the salvation that Christ (the true Passover Lamb) will provide. Peter tells us point blank that the Ark points to the Church and those baptized in to Christ’s resurrection (I Pet 3:20-22). In turn, the miracles Jesus did (be it healing the lame, casting out a daemon, or raising one who was dead) were never mere magic tricks nor were they simply promotional stunts. Instead, each one provided a snapshot, demonstration, and a foretaste of the new life and deliverance that He had come to accomplish. Thus, quite literally, every work of God and every miracle in the Bible ultimately points to and is what it is because of the resurrection and the salvation that God’s Son would accomplish for His people.
2] Another way to put this is this: the Cross is how Christ accomplished your salvation; the Resurrection is what Christ accomplished. The Resurrection then is the very salvation and new life that Christ’s perfect payment and perfect obedience on the Cross secured for His people
Romans 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
3] Another point that should be added to all that we will say is that throughout Acts, the Apostles and the early Church point to the Resurrection as God’s testimony and validation of Jesus’ Messiahship. Jesus is God’s Son sent as the singular promised savior for mankind
Acts 5:30 “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. 31 “He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
Romans 1:3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, 4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,
4] The Resurrection is proof that God has not only accepted Christ’s perfect payment on your behalf (i.e. counted it for and applied it to you); the Resurrection also is proof that God has accepted Christ’s perfect obedience on your behalf. The Resurrection then is proof of both of these key and necessary elements of your salvation because it is the result (the new life, the healing, the grace) that Christ’s perfect satisfaction on the Cross secured for all who believe.