“And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith”…”And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1Corinthians 15:14, 17).
On Good Friday, we answered the question, “What is good about Good Friday?” The question for today is, “What is glorious about the Resurrection Day?”
Jesus rose from the dead; God showed His power; heaven opened again and heavenly beings visited the earth; sadness and tears were transformed into joy and laughter; despair made room for hope. Hope was rekindled!
The cross event became the empty tomb event. The scandal of the cross: Jesus’ passion and death became the glory of the resurrection: Jesus’ glorious rise from death. Night gave way to morning.
“And there was night, and there was morning…” (Genesis 1:5).
Many aspects of the Christian faith rest on the reality/truth of His resurrection.
Without the resurrection, the sacrifice offered on our behalf becomes ineffective. No resurrection – No forgiveness.
If the resurrection is a myth, we are still in our sins.
Here we have clear connection between resurrection and our forgiveness of sins. We understand from Paul’s words that the resurrection signalled God’s acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice.
He came as the Lamb of God to the cross and His sacrifice was accepted at the exit from the tomb. The wages of our sins have been paid…we stand forgiven…at the empty tomb.
Without God’s acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice, Paul says, we would still be in our sins, no hope, awaiting the day of God’s wrath.
But, with the forgiveness of sins comes the hope of eternal life…the hope of our own resurrection. The confidence of our resurrection rests on Jesus’ resurrection. “By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also” (1Corinthians 6:14). Christ has risen!