Jesus' Resurrection: Why is the Resurrection Important?
A big question! Why is the resurrection important? And one I honestly didn’t give a second thought.
But I do now. And the truth of the resurrection brings hope that I so easily failed to grasp.
We celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection on Easter Sunday but the hope it brings to your life and mine goes beyond Easter morning. I want to draw attention to the joyous resurrection and what it means for you and me each and every day.
The resurrection brings new life. Jesus’ resurrection brings the hope and promise of the future resurrection when He will come back and make everything new (see Revelation 21 The New Heaven and the New Earth & Revelation 22).
When you are finished reading this, I hope you are captivated by Jesus’ resurrection and have a renewed hope for the future resurrection and life to come. This post does not focus on Easter and the resurrection in it’s entirety but there are two areas I want to focus on regarding Jesus’ Resurrection:
1. Jesus After the Resurrection
2. Why is the Resurrection Important Today
Jesus After the Resurrection
A lot of what I share today I learned in a Bible study on this very topic – why is the resurrection important. My husband and I participated in a Bible study called “Surprised by Hope” with Pastor Adams and our Bible study group back in 2014. It’s a Biblical study that teaches the power of the resurrection and follows the book Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright. I am currently reading it again. It’s that good!
Prior to that perspective-changing Bible study, I hardly gave a second thought to Jesus after the resurrection beyond believing that He rose. But if you take time to think about it and study it, it’s eye-opening. In the Surprised by Hope Bible study, N.T. Wright pointed out this fact which really struck me:
“..one thing you would expect to find is the risen Jesus shining like a star…But none of the gospels say this about Jesus at Easter. Indeed, he appears as a human being with a body that in some ways is quite normal and can be mistaken for a gardener or a fellow traveler on the road.” (N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope)
“Jesus said her, ‘Women, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” John 20:15
Mary Magdalene thought He was a gardener at first!
So why is this important? Jesus was fully risen in His body. He had risen! And He rose in His glorious body. A body that looked fully human just like they did – just like a gardener.
N.T. Wright points out that our culture today often portrays Heaven like “floating on clouds” “playing harps” sort-of-thing. That image was never very appealing to me quite honestly. But again, I didn’t give it much thought until my husband and I participated in that Bible study. And the “floating on clouds” imagery is not at all a Biblical perspective as is discuss in Surprised by Hope.
But the resurrection as Jesus rose – in His glorious state – points to our future resurrection! He did not rise and appear to Mary Magdalene in a form we cannot even grasp or understand.
We are told in Philippians that we will be transformed just like Jesus: “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” Philippians 3:20-21
We will rise like He rose!
Like. He. Rose. He rose first. We will rise second. Just like God says in His Word. His Word is always true.
“But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:23
It is not possible to cover every detail regarding the resurrection here, but I love how N.T. Wright sums up the powerful news of the gospel. He says this: “…the gospel, in the New Testament, is the good news that God (the world’s creator) is at last becoming king and that Jesus, whom this God raised from the dead, is the world’s true Lord.” (N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope).
Why Is The Resurrection Important Today
So why is the resurrection important today? Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday that defeated death points to the future resurrection when He will come back and make all things new – the New Heavens and the New Earth (see again Revelation 21). Those who believe in Jesus as their Savior will rise on the last day, Jesus will come back, and He will make all things new. We will rise to life. To life. We will rise to live.
The resurrection means new life. We have new life in Christ who rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. Jesus himself tells us in John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Life abundantly. Now. And in the life to come.
Another great source of the promise and hope we have in the future resurrection is the two very Creeds we say in church: The Apostles’ Creed and The Nicene Creed. We say either of these Creeds almost every Sunday. But do you think about what you’re actually saying or have you said it so many times you don’t give it a second thought? I didn’t think much about the very words we say until God changed my perspective on the importance of the resurrection. At the end of the Apostles’ Creed we say it this way:
“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.” (last paragraph of the Apostles’ Creed)
We also say the Nicene Creed in church. The promise and hope of the future resurrection we state this way:
“And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. (last paragraph of the Nicene Creed)
“and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”
The life of the world to come.
The life of the world to come. Talked about in Scripture and also right there in both the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed. (Both Creeds in their entirety can be found here: Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed.
Hope For You If Easter (and Holidays) Are Emotionally Hard
I want to touch on this quickly, because Easter (and other holidays) can be really tough for those who lost loved ones. And with the joy Easter brings, a deep pain and grief for the loved one you lost can be present at the same time.
First of all, it’s okay to grieve. When you miss someone deeply that you’ve lost, it’s because you’ve loved them deeply. What a gift that is to have loved them so. To have really known them.
If you have lost a loved one and Easter brings with it a hole of hurt and sorrow as you grieve spending the holiday without them, I want you to hang on to God’s promise that you will see them again. And know them. At the promised resurrection.
If it was not life He was making all things new for, He would not have said it. God’s Word is always true.
Jesus’ first resurrection points to the second resurrection.
We are promised at the second resurrection that those who have fallen asleep in Him will rise.
“But we do not want you to be uniformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
Your loved ones who have fallen asleep in Christ – you will see them again at the promised resurrection.
At the promised second resurrection, God will restore all things. Hold on to that promise.
He will make all things new.
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” John 11:25
Yet. Shall. He. Live. Just like Jesus Himself tells us in John 11:25.
May you be filled with the joy of Jesus’ resurrection each and every day. And hold on to the hope of the promised resurrection and the life to come.
He is Risen!
I love the reminder that he came back in his human form. The humbleness of it all just shows His love for his creation.
The humbleness of it all – yes!! Thank you, Stacy!