He is Risen! — He is risen indeed! But Does the Resurrection Matter?
In my video “Did Jesus Literally Rise from the Dead?” we saw from Scripture that Jesus did indeed literally rise from the dead. Not figuratively. But literally. But does the resurrection matter?
Is it just a fun fact? Or does Jesus’ resurrection make a difference in our lives and in the world today?
This is the subject of today’s video.
Does it matter if Jesus did or didn’t rise from the dead? The New Testament sure spends a lot of time talking about it. Jesus spent a lot of time talking about it. And the Old Testament gave us many pictures that pointed to the resurrection. Think about Jonah. Jonah spent three days in the belly of the fish and then “rose again.”
Why does the Bible focus so much on the resurrection?
What if the Resurrection Didn’t Happen?
If the resurrection did not happen, as I see it, it would have to be because of one of three possibilities.
Possibility #1: Christ was Actually Only a Man—Not God
He wasn’t divine. He wasn’t God. This would mean that He was incapable of purchasing our salvation on the cross because, well, He was a sinner in need of a Savior just like us.
Only a guiltless man could pay for the sins of another.
Only a sinless man can serve as the once-for-all-time sufficient substitute to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Possibility #2: Christ was God but Mistaken or Lied About Rising Again
If the resurrection didn’t happen, it could be theoretically possible that Christ was indeed God in the flesh but He was mistaken—or He flat-out lied—about rising again from the dead.
Either way, if Jesus was mistaken or He lied, He couldn’t be divine. He couldn’t be God, because God cannot lie, and He never makes a mistake.
Possibility #3: Jesus’ Sacrifice Was Not Accepted by God.
If Christ didn’t rise again from the dead, His sacrifice on the cross was rejected.
The only times that God rejected sacrifices in the Old Testament was when they were either brought the wrong way or they were the wrong sacrifice.
If God rejected Jesus’s sacrifice, Christ either came the wrong way, or He wasn’t the right sacrifice. Therefore, if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, He was either a powerless sinner or a mistaken or lying Lord.
Any of these three possibilities would have made Christ unqualified and incapable of defeating sin and death and being accepted by God as the perfect sacrifice. Of being the resurrection and the life.
So, yes! Yes! Yes! It matters deeply if Christ rose from the dead.
Christianity Rises or Falls on the Resurrection
Without the resurrection, Jesus is a forsaken fraud, and we are doomed in our sin forever, condemned without any chance of hope.
Our eternal souls depend on Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, but also on His resurrection.
The reliability of the whole New Testament hangs on the resurrection. In fact, the whole Bible hangs on it.
Every writer of the New Testament wrote of a risen Christ, and the entire Old Testament pointed to the eternal kingdom of Christ—the living risen Christ.
Without His resurrection well, I guess we could just believe in Jesus all we want, but it wouldn’t matter because we would still be in our sins.
We would still die without hope.
His resurrection proved He defeated sin and death, and that God accepted His sacrifice. He proved He is the sinless Messiah.
And because He rose from the dead, all who repent of their sin and trust in Him as the only means for their salvation will rise again bodily and live and reign with Him in His eternal kingdom.
So, yes! Yes! Yes! it matters.
It matters deeply whether Christ rose from the dead. And praise God that He did!
Now that we know for certain that it matters if Christ rose from the dead or not, we’re going to look at the question in my next video of how we can believe the testimony that Jesus rose from the dead. We’re going to look at much of the evidence of the resurrection. Not all of it, because there’s just way too much evidence, but we’ll look at that in our next video.
If you found this post and/or video helpful, share it with a friend and subscribe to my channel. Click on the little bell to be notified whenever I post something new and check out some of my other videos. And remember, it is all about Him.
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
