This week in corporate worship, we will be celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. As we prepare for this Lord's Day, I want to take a moment to reflect on what this means both from a redemptive-historical standpoint and for God's people today.
First, let's consider the essential nature of Christ’s resurrection in God's plan of salvation. When Christians speak of the gospel, we often "leave Christ in the grave," as one of my seminary professors would say. The gospel—literally, "good news"—of salvation for sinners is only good news if Christ was raised from the dead. We must recognize that if Christ had remained in the grave, He would not be a savior at all; sin and death would reign supreme. Therefore, the resurrection is an absolutely essential work in God's redemptive plan. Last week, I mentioned that for Christ to save, He had to die. Likewise, for Christ to save, He had to be resurrected from death. Notice how Paul phrases it in Romans: "It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification" (Rom. 4:24b-25). At the heart of a biblical theology of the resurrection is the proclamation that Christ’s resurrection is integral to the gospel message and essential for salvation. May we always be careful never to proclaim a powerless Christ left in the grave. Instead, let us proclaim our omnipotent, resurrected Savior, who has power over death and is the very source of eternal life: "In him was life, and the life was the light of men" (Jn. 1:4).
Having considered the resurrection from a redemptive-historical perspective, let us now reflect on what it means for God's people today. First, it means eternal life in Christ Jesus. Peter illustrates this in 1 Peter: "According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you" (1 Pet. 1:3b-4). What is this "inheritance" Peter speaks of? It is Christ Jesus Himself—co-creator God, who took on flesh to offer Himself as a sacrifice for those who are, by nature, hostile to Him. If you are united to Christ by faith, He is your inheritance, and through His resurrection, you are assured that this inheritance is "imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you" (1 Pet. 1:4b).
Furthermore, the resurrection of Christ not only assures us of Christ Himself but also of our own resurrection. Paul explains in 2 Corinthians: "knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence" (2 Cor. 4:14). What a powerful truth to grasp—through Christ's resurrection, God’s people are assured of their own resurrection with Christ! It’s no wonder Paul says in Philippians, "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection" (Phil. 3:7, 10a). It is precisely the omnipotence of the Lord, displayed in Christ's resurrection, that assures us of our own resurrection from eternal, bodily, and spiritual death.
As we contemplate the resurrection and prepare for this week’s worship, I want to leave you with a quote from Augustine on how Christ’s resurrection anticipates our own: "The greatness of the power of the Lord, as He was made Man, in the virtue of the Resurrection doth appear. Think ye that this is the great thing, that He raised His own Flesh again? Did He call this ‘the power of His Resurrection?’ Shall there not be a resurrection of ourselves, too, at the end of the world? Shall not this our ‘corruptible body,’ too, ‘put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality?’ As He rose again from the dead, shall it not be so with us too, even in a more wonderful manner, so to say? For His Flesh saw not corruption, ours is restored from ashes."