Resurrection Hope
Doctrine is important. But I suppose we ought to define what I mean by that at the outset. When I say “doctrine,” I am simply referring to a set of beliefs that pertain to biblical Christianity. One’s doctrine is the set of beliefs one holds when it comes to a particular worldview. For my purposes, when I state that doctrine is important, an even more accurate statement would be: Christian doctrine is important.
There are many doctrines presented in Scripture, many things which we must consider and think correctly about, some of which are “secondary” issues (which are still important but not make or break issues) and other things are “primary” (which must be viewed properly in order to maintain the gospel as presented in Scripture.) Christian doctrine addresses everything from the character of God, to the proper use of the spiritual gifts, to creation, to sovereignty, to the virgin birth of Christ, to the sacrificial atonement of Christ, to the second coming. There are plenty more where that came from. But have you ever considered the power of the doctrine of the resurrection?
As Christians, we proclaim and believe some pretty radical things. We believe God created all things from nothing. We believe He sent a flood to cover the entirety of the planet, with the exception of the human beings and animals He chose to save. We believe He caused a giant fish to swallow a man whole and that said man survived in the inmost parts of said fish for 3 days. We believe He caused the waters of the Red Sea to part and stand up like two walls, facing each other and waiting for God’s command to be released over the hopeless pursuing soldiers under Pharaoh’s command. We believe that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation for ruined sinners, which encompasses the whole human race, with not one exception.
As Christians: we believe things that are almost unbelievable, in every sense of the word.
And yet, there is one thing that we believe that defies human logic in its fullness and messes with our senses but also alters our expectations in a way that we cannot quite comprehend. There’s one thing that both challenges us and transforms us. Because we believe that Jesus Christ, an actual human being (fully God and fully man)…really died and really rose from the dead to be fully alive again. We really believe it. And we believe it, not because we’ve seen it, but because God declares it to be true in His infallible and inerrant written Word. Our belief stems from the Spirit’s work in our hearts, to regenerate us and cause us to believe something that, without the Spirit’s help, we would never believe. Because it’s that crazy. It’s that unbelievable. It’s that far-fetched. And yet: I believe it.
Though there are many doctrines that are of primary importance and many doctrines that, were we to lose them or change them, we would lose the gospel, the gospel of the resurrection of Christ from the dead is literally the difference between life and death. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul reminds the Corinthian church of the gospel he once preached, the gospel that centers on the birth, life, death and resurrection of one man: Jesus Christ. Heresy began to infect the Corinthian church, particularly causing people to believe that humans simply cannot and will not rise from the dead to share in resurrection life with Jesus. So Paul responds. And in 1 Corinthians 15:13–14, Paul puts it this way:
“But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”
Whoa. Paul corrects their general understanding and worldview using this equation:
(A) You do not believe people can be raised from the dead. + (B) Jesus was a person. = (C) Therefore, you do not believe Jesus was raised from the dead and have no hope and no solid ground on which your faith can rest. This is no small miscalculation. A misunderstanding or disbelief in resurrection results in a gospel that has no resurrected Savior. And a gospel with no resurrected Savior is no gospel at all.
If Christ was not raised, then all preaching, all gospel-declaring, all truth-telling concerning the things of God, and all faith in the God-man, Jesus Christ, is in vain. Because He would be just another man with another life, another routine death, with absolutely nothing to give anyone hope. If Christ is still in the grave, then your body and mine will go no further than that either.
If, however, as Scripture teaches, Christ is raised from the dead and has been “raised…from the dead and is seated…at his right hand in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:20) then this means that everything is his footstool and He is the head over all things, and His rule and reign extends over all authorities and all powers and all dominions, both in heaven and on earth (Ephesians 1:21–22). If Jesus is no longer in the grave, then He has eternally secured the salvation of God’s elect people and He is an actual Savior, one who is able to save to the uttermost those who put their hope and trust in Him. That’s cause for hope and rejoicing. Because Christ has been raised, the ultimate end for all people who have ever had breath in their lungs will look like one of two things: either eternal rejoicing and service and worship of God in the new heavens and new earth, with our bodies made new as well (glorified), or torment and agony and pain and separation from God for eternity, based on the wrath of God for sinners who did not repent and trust in Jesus.
But what cannot be true is that the grave is all we have in store. Because Jesus is alive.
A gospel without the resurrection is a gospel that is not strong enough to save and is not worth our time. But if Jesus is alive? That changes everything.
