The Necessity of the Resurrection

“Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained: whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.”  Acts 17:31

Just how important is the resurrection of Jesus Christ?  Without His resurrection, there is no eternal life.  When Jesus was obedient to His Father and died upon the cross of Calvary, the sacrifice of His suffering, His blood, and His life was in full payment of the penalty that God had ordained to pay for the sins of men and women.  But God’s plan of salvation didn’t stop there.  Since Jesus paid it all, there had to be a way whereby God would show His approval of His Son’s sacrifice and to reward Him for His selfless obedience to God’s command.  This He did by raising Jesus from the dead and making it possible for men and women to also be resurrected to live in eternity with Him.  Without the resurrection of Christ, no one could receive new life.

Paul wrote in Romans 4:24-25 that those who believe on God who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead have the righteousness of Christ imputed to them.  Imputation is an accounting term.  When a business sells on credit, the sale is recorded in the time period in which the sale was made even though the money hasn’t yet been collected.  In the same manner, interest earned in December but not received until January is recorded as income on the books in December.  When a man or woman repents of sin and places faith in Jesus Christ, His righteousness is “imputed” to him or her, that is, put on his or her account even though they didn’t or couldn’t earn it.  Paul also wrote that Jesus was raised again for our justification which means that our sins are not held against us because we have the righteousness of Christ.  When God looks at a sinner who has received Christ as Lord and Savior, He doesn’t see the sins of the repentant sinner; He sees the righteousness of His Son which has been imputed to the sinner.

In this passage of Acts 17, after Paul had made the statement about Christ being raised from the dead by God, some of those to whom he was speaking mocked and others wanted to hear more at another time.  There were some who believed at that time.  I suppose those are the three responses to the gospel that are most common:  rejection, or “maybe later”, or ‘I believe”.  In I Corinthians 15:12-20, Paul addressed a group of Corinthian church members, some of whom were like those in Acts, that is, they didn’t believe in the resurrection.  He then stated that if there is no resurrection, then Christ did not rise from the dead, and consequently the preaching of the gospel and one’s faith are in vain.  How could someone be a believer in Christ and not believe that He rose from the dead since His resurrection is the entire basis for salvation and the forgiveness of sin leading to eternal life?  If God did not raise Jesus to life again, how could He have shown His acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice to pay man’s penalty for sin.  What is the result of that?  Would it not be that there would be no forgiveness, a continual living under the curse and bondage of sin, no relief from guilt, and then hell?

Paul completed his argument against the belief that there is no resurrection by saying that if men’s hope was in Christ only in this earthly life, we would indeed live in misery.  We wouldn’t have the Holy Spirit to bring comfort and guidance.  Life would just be an existence with no real joy or hope for the future.  Jesus would still be in a tomb and unable to be our Mediator before the Father.  He would have died in vain.  But thank God, He did rise from the dead and became the “firstfruits” of all who die in the Lord.  Then comes the end, and He will deliver up the kingdom of God, putting down all rule, authority, and power.  All enemies will be destroyed, including the last enemy, death.  No one will be sick, in pain, in sorrow, or die for all who know Christ in the free pardon of sin will be resurrected to new life.  Is the resurrection important?  You bet it is!