Happy Easter! Today, we’re gathered to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection is the most important event in human history. It was the first and only time that someone was raised from the dead never to die again.
To get started with today’s message called “Death Defeated,” let’s watch a short video about Jesus’ death and resurrection called A Tangible Passion. Why is the resurrection so important for this world and everyone living on it? We’ve already said that the resurrection is a one-of-a-kind event in world history. Let’s look at some other reasons why the resurrection is important to each one of us. Jesus Himself prophesied many times that he would rise from the dead.
Matthew 17:22b-23a (ESV) … Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.”
If Jesus had stayed dead, he would have been a false prophet. It would have called all of his other teachings into question. The resurrection is important because a person must believe in the resurrection in order to be saved.
Romans 10:9 (ESV) if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
That verse is pretty clear about the resurrection. In fact to say that Jesus is Lord means that He’s alive today, which could only happen through the resurrection. Without the resurrection, there could be no forgiveness of sin and no hope of eternal life. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then He himself would not have eternal life. We would have no hope of an eternal life with God after death.
1 Corinthians 15:14 (ESV) And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
Without the resurrection, faith would have no object and Christianity would never have begun. But the good news is that Jesus was raised from the dead. Nothing else fits the eyewitness accounts in the Gospels about the resurrection. Nothing else explains the explosive growth of Christianity on the death of its leader, unless He was still alive.
The resurrection impacts not only our salvation, but our daily lives with the Lord. Because Jesus is alive, He continues to pour out of His Spirit on us. So, today, we’re going to see how Easter 2000 years ago can impact our lives today and into eternity. Let’s see how the resurrection is relevant for you and me today in the year 2021.