April 9, 2004

            While a college student I gave being a salesman a shot.  It proved to not be one of my most successful enterprises in life.  Frankly, it’s doubtful if I could sell a fire insurance policy to a man whose house is on fire.  

Still, with people running short on hope, wondering if all this talk about “faith” and “godliness” really means anything, and worrying about what tomorrow will bring, how can one not share with others about the significance of the resurrection of Jesus?  How could one not remind Christians of the implications of the resurrection for living life today?  And how can one not tell others who have yet to personally become recipients of that hope or not invite them to take that step of faith (no pun intended), trusting Him as their savior?

            The resurrection of Jesus Christ SHOULD have tremendous significance to you.  Why?  Well, without the resurrection, our faith in Jesus is vain.  While that may sound sacrilegious to you (though it is more sacrilegious in my mind to disbelieve in the resurrection), consider that the Bible itself declares in 1 Corinthians 15:14 & 17, “… 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.”

            First, the fact of God’s restoring Jesus to life authenticates God’s promises of forgiveness of sins for all who will believe.  In other words, the resurrection is a physical demonstration of God’s satisfaction with the His Son’s atoning sacrifice.  “Jesus paid it all… Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow,” we’ll sing.  In Isaiah 53:10-12 (written about 500 years before the life of Christ) the Bible says, “Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the LORD makes His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in His hand.  After the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life, and be satisfied; by His knowledge My righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities.  Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.  For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

            Secondly, the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ validates the significance of the Gospel itself.  Gospel means, “good news”, but without the resurrection of Jesus, there is no clear sense that there really is any good news.  Without the resurrection, we have no proof that Jesus’ words were anything more than “good words” and “nice teachings.”

            But with the resurrection, His words thunder with clarity and power and echo in our hearts when we grasp for hope!  God is alive and well today ready to bring men and women, boys and girls into a right relationship with Himself.  When we pray, as Jesus taught, “Our Father…”, we may be free from the millstone of condemnation that is unforgiven sin and unashamedly enter His presence in prayer.  Our own eternal destinies become clear, too, as we trust Jesus as our only means of entering God’s favor, and Heaven, as promised by God, is guaranteed.  Good news indeed!

            Finally, the resurrection of Jesus associates the love of God with practical living so that it transcends mere rhetoric.  It isn’t just a lot of mumbo-jumbo about something that happened two-thousand years ago, nor is it merely a lot of hooey about something that we tell people happens when you die in order to placate them.  It means something about how we live our lives now, too.

            “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4).  God’s intent for you and me is to “live a new life” here on earth.  The power of sin and the dread of death have been defeated by Jesus through His work on the Cross and His conquest of the Tomb.

            Are you living a new life today in Christ?  If not, will you yield your will to Him and surrender pride, fear, anger and selfishness to Him?  Will you allow Him to “raise you up” with Christ in that newness of life?  As the sun rises this Easter morning, celebrate the rising of the Son of God.  Let this be a time for God’s love to dawn in your life today.

(Thom Mollohan has ministered in southern Ohio the past eight years and is currently the pastor of Pathway Community Church.   He and his wife are the parents of three children.   He may be reached by email at pastorthom@pathwaygallipolis.com).