The Significance of the Resurrection

March, 2008

by: Brock Bolde

As we get ready to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ this Easter, I thought that it might be helpful to remind you of just a few of the reasons that Christ’s resurrection is so important. As parents, we must labor to ensure that our children understand the significance of such celebrations so that they never grow cold or indifferent to them. Helping our children to grasp the significance of Easter is foundational to their walk with our Risen Lord! To resurrect means to raise from the dead and this is exactly what happened over 2000 years ago when Jesus Christ broke the bondage of death, leaving the tomb empty. For the Apostle Paul, the Christian faith either stands or falls on the resurrection – and it does so for three basic reasons:

Reason #1 – Without the resurrection, Christ is still dead.

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. (1 Corinthians 15:13)

This is a critical point within Christianity – if Christ isn’t raised, then He’s dead. And if He’s dead, then what use is there in following Him? If He said that He would be killed and then resurrected on the third day (Matthew 16:21, 17:23, 20:19) but He wasn’t, then how could anyone believe the rest of His teachings? If the Jewish leaders wanted to put an end to this whole Jesus thing, and they knew about His third day claim (Matthew 27:63), then all they had to do was show the body and it was done. But they didn’t and the question we must help our children to answer is “why didn’t they?” If the body was still in the tomb, then why didn’t they just show it to everyone and put and end to it? Without the resurrection, “not even Christ has been raised!”

Reason #2 – Without the resurrection, the Bible is wrong.

and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; (1 Corinthians 15:14-16)

If the resurrection is not true, then the teachings of Paul and the other disciples are not true. Their words are nothing more than fairy tales or delusional babblings. Time and time again, we are told throughout the pages of Scripture about the resurrection of Christ. If the resurrection isn’t true, then our children would have to understand the need to remove all of the various books that make reference to it – the four Gospel accounts, the Book of Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Philippians, 2 Timothy, Hebrews, 1 Peter, and the Book of Revelation. All of these talk of the resurrection of Christ; all of them testify of the power of God; all of them offer great hope to those who place their faith in the Risen Savior. The Bible is grounded in the resurrection. Without the resurrection, the Bible is just another book that is riddled with speculation and error.

Reason #3 – Without the resurrection, we are still lost in our sin.

and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17)

Without the resurrection the Christian faith is worthless. Paul tells us that if the resurrection is not true, then Christians are to be most pitied of all people. If you take away the resurrection, you take away the very heart and soul of the Christian faith. The resurrection is central to the Christian faith – a dead Christ is powerless and thus His followers are powerless. But a resurrected Christ is full of power and thus able to bring sinful man back into a right relationship with God. A risen Christ is able to remove the sins that separate your children from our Heavenly Father. A risen Christ is able to justify your children in the sight of our gracious God. This Easter, let each of us do our part to teach our children the importance of the empty tomb so that they too might place their faith in the One that not even death could conquer.