#100 – The Resurrection

Published by Ben Stahl on August 23, 2020August 23, 2020

So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out.

II Kings 4:37 NKJV

Every building that is expected to stand for a long time and resist the forces of wind and weather, the weight of snow and ice, must have an exceptionally strong foundation. No matter the visible grandeur of the construction, if the foundation is not strong, the building will not last. Take One World Trade Center in NYC for example. It stands more than 1,300 feet above street level even before taking into account its 400 foot spire. But you cannot see its foundation that descends 110 feet into the ground. As a strong tower must have a strong foundation, so the Christian faith must have a strong foundation if it is to stand the tests of time, the opposition of false religions, the doubters and deniers, and the devil who would oppose it. 

Praise be to God, the Christian faith has a strong foundation, and its cornerstone is no mere rock or steel-reinforced concrete that can be broken but the eternal living and true God Man Jesus Christ. The core message of this faith is what Paul preached first, “That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…” (I Cor. 15:3-4). 

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the heart of Christianity, and without these there is no hope in this life and we are of all men most miserable for we have believed in vain. But the Lord is zealous throughout Scripture for His people to believe with certainty that Jesus did rise from the dead. Because He rose from the dead He has become the first fruits of them that sleep. Just as Christ rose from the dead, so He shall raise us up from the dead at the last day. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the heart and foundation of Christianity!

We have spent nearly 20 devotionals on the account of the Shunammite woman and her son, culminating in the Lord raising her son. What a great comfort and picture of what the Lord will do at the last day! However, the comfort of the Shunammite’s raised son will fall short because eventually he died again. He is not with us now but fell asleep again many years later. The same can be said of all others whom the Lord raised from the dead in the Old and New Testaments. But the same is not the case for Jesus Christ. He who laid down His life and took it up again did not rise to mortality but to immortality. He rose to glory. He rose to power. He rose to intercede for us in Heaven from where He shall come again at the last day. 

The resurrection of the Shunammite’s son is not the center of the Christian faith. It is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that we find at the center. It is the center of all the apostles’ teaching and the center of our lives. So central is it that on the day of Christ’s resurrection, the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day, we come into God’s house to worship Him each and every week. 

It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to overstate the importance of the resurrection of Christ. In the many sermons found in Acts, every single one makes its focus either explicitly or implicitly on the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the heart of the Christian faith and the gospel message, that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again from the dead. 

Is the resurrection of Jesus Christ the foundation of your life? Do you live your life believing that because Christ rose He will also raise the dead at the last day along with you and your loved ones if you die before He returns? Without the resurrection, the cross is worthless, for Christ would still be paying for sin. Without the resurrection, the virgin birth is meaningless because the sacrifice of the perfect Jesus did not yet make payment for our totally depraved bodies and souls. Without the resurrection, the Word of God is of little value because the promises have limited weight and glory behind them. Without the resurrection, there is no Christian religion or salvation. 

“But now Christ is risen from the dead….” With the resurrection of Christ, all the work Christ came to do was completed. Salvation has been gained to the uttermost. Death is swallowed up in victory through the Lord Jesus Christ so that we can say with Paul, “O death where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” (I Cor. 15). With the resurrection of Christ, all power has been given to Christ in Heaven and on Earth so we can go forward, confessing Him before men, and serving Him without fear of the world, for He has overcome the world. Because Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life everlasting , He who believes in Christ, though may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Him shall never die.

Do you believe this?