Updated for this first question: Which is more important, the empty cross or the empty tomb (you can answer the question without denying the other).
Question: "Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ important?"
Answer: The resurrection of Jesus is important for several reasons. First, it witnesses to the immense power of God Himself. To believe in the resurrection is to believe in God. If God exists, and if He created the universe and has power over it, He has power to raise the dead. If He does not have such power, He is not a God worthy of our faith and worship. Only He who created life can resurrect it after death, only He can reverse the hideousness that is death itself, and only He can remove the sting that is death and the victory that is the grave’s (1 Corinthians 15:54-55). In resurrecting Jesus from the grave, God reminds us of His absolute sovereignty over life and death.
Second, the resurrection of Jesus is a testimony to the resurrection of human beings, which is a basic tenet of the Christian faith. Unlike all other religions, Christianity alone possesses a founder who transcends death and who promises that His followers will do the same. All other religions were founded by men and prophets whose end was the grave. As Christians, we take comfort in the fact that our God became man, died for our sins, and was resurrected the third day. The grave could not hold Him. He lives, and He sits today at the right hand of God the Father in heaven.
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul explains in detail the importance of the resurrection of Christ. Some in Corinth did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, and in this chapter Paul gives six disastrous consequences if there were no resurrection: 1) preaching Christ would be senseless (v. 14); 2) faith in Christ would be useless (v. 14); 3) all the witnesses and preachers of the resurrection would be liars (v. 15); 4) no one would be redeemed from sin (v. 17); 5) all former believers would have perished (v.18); and 6) Christians would be the most pitiable people on the earth (v. 19). But Christ indeed has risen from the dead and “has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (v. 20), assuring that we will follow Him in resurrection.
The inspired Word of God guarantees the believer's resurrection at the coming of Jesus Christ for His Body (the Church) at the Rapture. Such hope and assurance results in a great song of triumph as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:55, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
How do these concluding verses relate to the importance of the resurrection? Paul answers, “...you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (v. 58). He reminds us that because we know we will be resurrected to new life, we can suffer persecution and danger for Christ’s sake (vv. 29-31), just as He did. We can follow the example of the thousands of martyrs through history who gladly traded their earthly lives for everlasting life via the resurrection.
The resurrection is the triumphant and glorious victory for every believer. Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose the third day according to the Scripture. And, He is coming again! The dead in Christ will be raised up, and those who remain and are alive at His coming will be changed and receive new, glorified bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ important to salvation? It demonstrated that God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. It proves that God has the power to raise us from the dead. It guarantees that those who believe in Christ will not remain dead, but will be resurrected unto eternal life. That is our blessed hope!
Recommended Resources: The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas and Logos Bible Software.
Question: "Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ important?"
Answer: The resurrection of Jesus is important for several reasons. First, it witnesses to the immense power of God Himself. To believe in the resurrection is to believe in God. If God exists, and if He created the universe and has power over it, He has power to raise the dead. If He does not have such power, He is not a God worthy of our faith and worship. Only He who created life can resurrect it after death, only He can reverse the hideousness that is death itself, and only He can remove the sting that is death and the victory that is the grave’s (1 Corinthians 15:54-55). In resurrecting Jesus from the grave, God reminds us of His absolute sovereignty over life and death.
Second, the resurrection of Jesus is a testimony to the resurrection of human beings, which is a basic tenet of the Christian faith. Unlike all other religions, Christianity alone possesses a founder who transcends death and who promises that His followers will do the same. All other religions were founded by men and prophets whose end was the grave. As Christians, we take comfort in the fact that our God became man, died for our sins, and was resurrected the third day. The grave could not hold Him. He lives, and He sits today at the right hand of God the Father in heaven.
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul explains in detail the importance of the resurrection of Christ. Some in Corinth did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, and in this chapter Paul gives six disastrous consequences if there were no resurrection: 1) preaching Christ would be senseless (v. 14); 2) faith in Christ would be useless (v. 14); 3) all the witnesses and preachers of the resurrection would be liars (v. 15); 4) no one would be redeemed from sin (v. 17); 5) all former believers would have perished (v.18); and 6) Christians would be the most pitiable people on the earth (v. 19). But Christ indeed has risen from the dead and “has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (v. 20), assuring that we will follow Him in resurrection.
The inspired Word of God guarantees the believer's resurrection at the coming of Jesus Christ for His Body (the Church) at the Rapture. Such hope and assurance results in a great song of triumph as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:55, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
How do these concluding verses relate to the importance of the resurrection? Paul answers, “...you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (v. 58). He reminds us that because we know we will be resurrected to new life, we can suffer persecution and danger for Christ’s sake (vv. 29-31), just as He did. We can follow the example of the thousands of martyrs through history who gladly traded their earthly lives for everlasting life via the resurrection.
The resurrection is the triumphant and glorious victory for every believer. Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose the third day according to the Scripture. And, He is coming again! The dead in Christ will be raised up, and those who remain and are alive at His coming will be changed and receive new, glorified bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ important to salvation? It demonstrated that God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. It proves that God has the power to raise us from the dead. It guarantees that those who believe in Christ will not remain dead, but will be resurrected unto eternal life. That is our blessed hope!
Recommended Resources: The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas and Logos Bible Software.
Projections by Pew Research: by 2050
ReplyDelete-- Atheists, agnostics and religiously unaffiliated people will increase in the United States from 16% to 26%
-- In the United States, Christians will drop from 75% to 66% of population. Muslims will surpass Jews as the largest non-Christian religion in the U.S.
Sorry but is this a political blog or not. I come here to get your political perspective, not to become a member of your own little "congregation." Thank god you don't do this often.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate your attendance, but this is my blog and my "political perspective" is borne of a certain Christian awareness, the same awareness as that of many of our Founders. At 70 years of age, I no longer care about discipling those who have no heart for my brand of faith. I allow for your disagreement, but I, also, don't give a care about your disapproval. I have known far too many folks who have lived extremely sad lives, all because they have no regard for the opinions of Christ. While there may be some who are "happy agnostics," I have only met three or four such persons. Of course, Christians can be failry miserable, too . . . . . . . . but that is not the case for me. Christ did - as a matter of sheer concern and courage - what our president does not have the courage to do, and that was this: Christ stood up for the weak and actually gave them a way to be responsible and "forgiven" at the same time. The stranger in our White House, functions as a coward (read "bully" if you will), is hardly forgiving in spite of his promise to bring the country together, and has offered the poor and the working middle class nothing that has made their life richer and more meaningful. Soory, but free phones and enough welfare as to render the recipients wholly unproductive and dependent on those who refuse to be beaten into submission by the cuyrrent leadership.
DeleteChrist would have told this phony to go to hell as he, Christ, actually expended his own life for a lasting solution. Whether you believe in His mission or not, makes little difference to me.
Christ was a liberal socialist. He gave to the poor and spoke against capitalistic greed. Religion does not make people moral.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.livescience.com/47799-morality-religion-political-beliefs.html
Conservatives give to the poor and those who need financial support more than liberals by a large margin, so does that make them "socialists?"
DeleteWas Christ a "liberal?" Well, he certainly was a reformer and, in a revolutionary way. Of course, the Left in our country, are hardly "revolutionary" unless you count anarchism as "revolution." For certain, they would have never organized and fought for the beginnings of a nation.
But his preaching ministry, the facts of his death and his resurrection, all make him something other than what you define "as liberal." A political "liberal", ala Progressive, is one who first lines his own pockets, threatens to jail or punish those who speak out against them, uses the the tax code and the powers of governance (the EPA, IRS, OSHA and the ATF) to take from those who are successful and give to those who would keep them in power such as unions, and groups who practice violence and mayhem. Any of this sound like Jesus Christ, to you?
What Christ did actually change the world. Obama only dreamed that was what he was doing (back on the campaign trail in 2008). You no longer hear this man-child preaching world change change, and, if conservatives win the 2016 elections, they will dismantle most of what this clown has down. You will have your excuses, but the fact of the matter is this: the dismantling will be done, much of it, without a vote of Congress, because that is how Obama managed his change.
Jesus fought for the minds and hearts of the people. Obama divided "the people," and lied to stay in power. Again, nothing like the ministry of Christ.
Finally, to argue that morality is not linked to religious fervor is just plain silly and I am not going to argue this point. It is simply too asinine to feature in a discussion.