This week in corporate worship we will be celebrating the resurrection of the Savior. As we are preparing for this Lord's day, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what this means both from a redemptive-historical standpoint as well as what this means for God's people today. First, I would like to consider the essentiality of the resurrection of Christ as it relates to 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 put it. The gospel (lit. good news) of salvation for sinners is only good news if Christ was resurrected from the grave. We must consider that if Christ stayed in the grave, he was no savior at all—sin and death reign supreme. Therefore, the resurrection is absolutely an essential work in God's redemptive plan. Last week, I mentioned that for Christ to save he must die. Likewise, for Christ to save he must be resurrected from death. Notice how Paul phrases this for us in the book of 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 core 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 we have left in the grave. Rather, let us proclaim our omnipotent resurrected savior who has power over death—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 standpoint, let us now consider what the resurrection means for God's people today. First, it means eternal life in Christ Jesus. Peter illustrates this for us in the book of 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" that Peter speaks of? It is Christ Jesus himself—co-creator God who put on flesh to offer himself as a sacrifice for those that are by nature hostile to him. If you are united to Christ by faith, He is your inheritance and through the resurrection you are assured that this inheritance is "imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you." (1 Pet. 1:4b) Additionally, the resurrection of Christ not only assures us of Christ himself, but it also assures us of our own resurrection. Paul explains this for us 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 the resurrection of Christ God's people are assured of their own resurrection with Christ himself! It's no wonder that 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 death, bodily death, and spiritual death.
As we contemplate the resurrection and prepare for this week’s worship, I want to leave you with this quote from Augustine on how the resurrection of Christ anticipates our own resurrection: “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.”