The resurrection changed everything…
Everything we believe as Christians hinges on this truth: Jesus rose from the dead.
Let that sink in for a moment. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ rose from the dead! Muhammad is still in his grave, so is Buddha, as well as Joseph Smith and countless others who have started false religions. None of them were more powerful than death.
Jesus is the only one who, not only died to pay for the sins of His people, but rose out of the grave for them, too.
The resurrection secures final victory once and for all. Because of Christ’s miraculous triumph, our lives and futures are forever changed. The grave no longer has a hold on us. Because Christ rose from the dead, we can rise out of our graves of sin into a new life and embrace lives full of promise, hope, and an amazing future. Tomorrow never looked better. Because of the resurrection, we no longer need to fear the future because we know who is already there. Through the lens of the resurrection, we can more accurately view our lives. Our earthly death is not our final destination, but instead, our beginning.
What does the resurrection mean for us? Paul spells out three life-changing points in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.
Christ died for our sins.
There is not a sin God does not already know about or a sin He is not willing to forgive. Christ laid down His life for you and for me. He became the ultimate sacrifice. Because of Him, we can now have eternal life. Because Christ paid the ultimate price for our sins, we can now live in freedom from guilt, addiction, sin, fear, and shame.
Christ was buried.
Our Savior was buried (Matt 12:40), but death could not keep Him down. It can not hold us, either. Sin will try to bury us. Shame will try to nail our coffin of regrets shut. Fear will try to keep us from truly living and will try to bury us alive. But because of Christ’s resurrection, we too can rise again!
Christ was raised on the 3rd day.
Death does not have the final say, Jesus does. As Christians our death is not our final destination: heaven is, and we carry this hope of heaven in our hearts. The same power that rose Jesus from the dead resides in us, too. We serve a risen Savior.
“And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised.” – 2 Corinthians 5:15
The resurrection changes us from the inside out. Christ shed His blood for us all. He died for the sins of the lady down the road and the one in your home. He died for the drug addict and the wayward son. He died for the prideful man and the ex-con. He died for people in every country on this beautiful planet. We are all in need of a Savior who can’t be held by death. Because of Christ’s resurrection, we no longer have to fear death because we no longer live for ourselves. We no longer live for our glory, our wants, our desires, or our own names.
We live for His.
The resurrection changes us in the most beautiful way as we lovingly lay our lives down to follow our risen Savior.
Love God Greatly!