The death of Jesus was indeed a victory for mankind. The perfect sacrificial lamb had been offered to save us from death. In fact, Paul refers to Jesus as “our Passover” who “was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Just as the body and blood of the Passover lamb saved the Israelites from the death of their firstborn, the body and blood of Jesus Christ can save mankind from spiritual death. Peter builds on this analogy in 1 Peter 1:18-19: “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” However, God took that victory one step further. Not only did He sacrifice His Son for the sins of mankind, He also raised Him from the dead.
What does Jesus’ resurrection mean for us?
It Further Proves that Jesus Was Who He Said He Was
What was the purpose of the miracles that Jesus performed while he was on earth? Certainly He performed miracles of healing out of compassion. Yet there is a deeper significance reason to Jesus' miracles: they confirmed that He and the words He spoke were from God. Jesus Himself tells us this in John 5:36-37: “But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me . . .”
On Pentecost, Peter referred to Jesus as “a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst” (Acts 2:22). Jesus was proven to be from God by the miracles that He performed. Also, John tells us in John 20:30-31, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
What better way for God to prove that Jesus was the Messiah than to raise Him from the dead?
It Manifests the Power of God and of His Word
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:4 that Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God: “For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God . . . .” Just as the other miracles of Jesus were a manifestation of God’s power, so the resurrection of Jesus’ shows us how awesome and powerful is our Creator.
Additionally, Jesus’ resurrection proves the power of the Word of God and the surety of His promises. The resurrection of Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament by (among others) David (Psalm 2:7, 16:10) and Isaiah (Isaiah 55:3). Jesus Himself also prophesied His own death and resurrection in Matthew 16:21 and John 2:19. The fact of Jesus’ resurrection manifests the power and immutability of God’s Word.
It Gives Us a High Priest and Advocate Before God
Under the Old Testament Law, the High Priest was responsible for presenting the blood of the sin sacrifice to God in the Most Holy Place. Since Jesus was the perfect sin sacrifice, there had to be a High Priest to present His sacrifice to God. If the perfect sacrifice was offered, there also had to be a perfect High Priest to present it to God. The writer of Hebrews tells us that that High Priest was Jesus (emphasis mine):
For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever (Hebrews 7:26-28).
But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption(Hebrews 9:11-12)
Through this we understand that without Jesus’ resurrection, there would have been no High Priest worthy to present His sacrifice to God. Without His sacrifice being presented to God, there would be no forgiveness of sins, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:16-17: “For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!”
Furthermore, the High Priest was the one appointed to make intercession for the people before God. Again the Scripture reveals that Jesus was raised to perform the same function for His people:
- Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us (Romans 8:34).
- Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).
- My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1).
It Gives Us a Hope of Our Own Resurrection
In overcoming death, Christ became “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20); that is, Jesus was the first of those who belong to God who was raised never to experience death again. Jesus' resurrection gives us a hope of our own resurrection, never again to experience death. How will this be accomplished?
In the resurrection, our natural bodies will be replaced with an incorruptible body: “The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body . . . And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 49).
Not only will this new and incorruptible body be given to those who have died, but also to those Christians who are still living when Jesus comes again:
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory, O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:51-55)
Peter tells us that that those who receive these incorruptible bodies will receive an incorruptible inheritance in heaven. How is this made possible? It is because of the living hope we have been given through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3-4).
How wonderful to consider that this life is just a way-station before the next life . . . to realize that this life is just a blink of an eye in comparison to the eternity that awaits God’s people . . . to think that God manifested His love by overcoming death for us through the resurrection of His Son . . . to think that He has prepared an incorruptible body for me . . . to think that Jesus has gone to prepare a place in Heaven for me . . . to know that Jesus is in Heaven right now interceding for me before the Father. How could I NOT have hope?
And yet, as wonderful as God’s sacrifice and His victory over death are, He didn’t stop there in manifesting His love for me.
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