Perspectives

A few thoughts on the resurrection of Christ

By Shane Legler
Posted 4/14/22

Easter is upon us again.

When I was a child, I looked forward to dying eggs at my grandmother’s house, the egg hunt on Easter and the massive chocolate bunny that I would surely get to …

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Perspectives

A few thoughts on the resurrection of Christ

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Easter is upon us again.

When I was a child, I looked forward to dying eggs at my grandmother’s house, the egg hunt on Easter and the massive chocolate bunny that I would surely get to eat. (Of course, I felt robbed if it was hollow.) As a child, I had no idea what Easter was about. Now, I know better: It is the time when Christians celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Of course, every Sunday is, in truth, a celebration of the resurrection. It stands at the center of our world. Although that is as it should and must be, things that are ever before our eyes can become common. Like a favorite shirt, they can become faded with the wearing. Therefore, it is good that we set aside one Sunday a year to focus specifically, deliberately and prayerfully on our Lord’s triumphant resurrection so that its significance is refreshed in our minds.

Let us remember first and foremost that without the resurrection, there could be no forgiveness for sins. As the Lord’s word proclaims, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:17-19).

As it has been said by many before me, the whole of the Christian faith hangs on the actual, historical and physical resurrection of Christ.

It is the resurrection of Christ that proves all. In that he was able to take up his life again, we may have full confidence that he is, in fact, who he claims to be: namely, God in the flesh. God the son became man, suffered and rose from the dead so that repentance and forgiveness of sins could be proclaimed to all people.

Dear reader, Jesus died for you, and that makes you, objectively, priceless. What are you worth? To God, you were worth dying for.

That is but one more reality that the resurrection proves, and you may have forgiveness for your sins if you will but turn from your way and follow Christ in his way. My resurrected, living, and reigning Lord has the power to forgive. He has the power to restore. He has the power to heal. He has the power to straighten what is crooked and make right what is wrong. If you are weary of your way, turn to him and live, because Jesus’ resurrection gives us hope upon hope.

God’s word says, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22).

Ephesians 2:6 adds, “All who believe on Christ shall live in Christ. All who live in Christ are raised with Christ.” As many as love him shall be made alive with him.

It is the reality of the resurrection that has allowed and compelled Christians of every age to proclaim the Gospel with boldness.

It was Mary Magdalene laying hold of the feet of the resurrected Jesus, Thomas feeling the places where the nails and spear had pierced his living Lord, all the other disciples speaking with him and eating with him, and his appearing and speaking to hundreds of others after he rose from the dead that drove those first Christians to hazard torture and death to proclaim his gospel throughout the earth. It compelled them to proclaim his victory over sin and death. It compelled them to proclaim his kingdom, his reign, and his everlasting glory.

It is because Christ did, in fact, raise from the dead that our calendars are split in half. To the Christians of the West, the two halves are properly called ante Christum natum and anno Domini, but the world now divides the halves as Before Common Era and Common Era. Nonetheless, it is the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ that stands at the center of the timeline, whether one would or would not have it so. The kingdom of the resurrected and reigning Christ has indeed filled the earth.

To the glory of his everlasting and incomparable name, representatives of all nations have flowed into his kingdom. Though the world has rarely been grateful, the citizens of his kingdom — following the example of the God who causes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good (Matthew 5:45) — have provided it with orphanages, hospitals and universities. They have given his hope to the hopeless, and they have shined his light in the darkness. They have proclaimed meaning when all seems senseless and order in the midst of confusion.

The foolish and senseless may wish to go back to the way things were before the birth of Christ, but Christ has come, Christ is risen and Christ reigns. There is no going back. Post resurrection, things cannot and will not ever be the same. Hallelujah!

(Shane Legler is pastor at Garland Community Church of God.)

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