The Reality of the Resurrection

1Corinthians 15:13-14 -- "But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain."

This is the reality of Easter, the fact that Jesus rose again from the dead. How important is this? Well, without the resurrection Christianity never gets off the ground but it becomes nothing more than a man-made concocted religion that mythologizes a dead religious leader. Now, the truth is that Jesus rose again from the dead and the evidence is overwhelming. Paul gives a great list of eye witnesses in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8, starting with Jesus' Apostles and going on to over 500 witnesses who saw Him at one time. Now, a list is one thing, but a quality of a life that has seen the risen Christ and is living without a fear of dying for that truth is something else. These disciples who at one point fled the garden and even the cross to hide away in an upper room due to fear because of their association with Jesus of Nazareth are now preaching and proclaiming with boldness this Jesus as a resurrected Messiah who they had personally seen. People will die for a lie believing the whole time that it is truth but no sane person will die for a lie when they know it's a lie. Many of these disciples paid for their faith with their blood because the hope of the resurrection was so real once they had seen Jesus alive.

Let me add that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the validation of God upon His life. The cross was the place where He offered His blood for a ransom for the world of sinners and the resurrection is the assurance that His offering was worthy and accepted by the Father. When Jesus arose, God was demonstrating that Jesus was His Son and that all that Jesus claimed must be taken as the truth of God revealed to humanity.

Paul wrote: "...Jesus Christ our Lord...was...declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:3-4)." Easter holds such power significance for the world, because it offers the world hope through Jesus Christ...a hope that is eternal...a hope for forgiveness, restoration, healing and life everlasting, all through Him who told us that He alone is "the way, the truth and the life," and the fact that He rose again from the dead validates that His words are truth.