Hope in the Resurrection
by Daniel Carandang
written by Ana Andres
The highlight of the holy week is really about Jesus Christ’s resurrection rather than his death but the question still lies; is the resurrection really important?
The answer to that is YES, because if Jesus is dead then who are we worshipping?
JESUS IS ALIVE. Let’s take a look at God’s Word which reveals the evidences of Christ’s resurrection;
“After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
Matthew 28: 1-7
Here we see the first affirmation that Jesus has truly risen. The angel supernaturally rolled back the stone (as it takes two people to be able to roll the stone) not to let Jesus out, for He had a glorified body, but for Mary and the others to see that the tomb was empty and that indeed, Jesus has risen. Although the guards were deeply traumatized by the angel— guards who were tough looking, muscular men— the angel told the women not to be afraid as the empty tomb shall bring joy and must be made known to others.
“So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Matthew 28:8-10
And there, they received the ultimate affirmation that truly and indubitably, Jesus is alive.
Despite all these evidences, many people still contest the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The top 3 excuses of people who don’t believe in the resurrection are; 1) He merely passed out. This excuse is far-fetched as Jesus was intentionally positioned on the cross to restraint him from breathing. He was literally out of breathe! 2) A twin or a look-a-like died in His place. I don’t know about you but this just sounds utterly ridiculous. 3) Jesus’ body was stolen. Again, this excuse is far-fetched as the guards were very much on the alert as, if Jesus’ body gets stolen, they are to pay with their lives.
Ultimately, if you come to think of it, if the disciples knew that this merely was a lie, why would they give up their life standing for this truth? They all died a martyr’s death and I believe that no one in their right mind would go that far for a lie.
But so what, right? So what that Jesus resurrected? How should this impact us?
His resurrection impacts us greatly. Because of it, we can now have...
1. Hope in His Word
*verse on the prophecy of Jesus’ resurrection* (mali yata yung na-note down ko, Matthew 10:32-34? Pa -ask nalang po si Kuya Dan kung anong verse) Because this came true, we can now be sure that the rest of His word is true. We can rest in the hope of His promises and continue to trust His word and allow it to penetrate our lives.
2. Hope in this life
We have all been tempted, fallen short and sinned. This is because naturally, we are sinners and hence it takes a supernatural resolution to overcome this and that is what exactly God provided through Christ and faith in Him; He supernaturally took away our sins and supernaturally gave us the power to say no to sin and yes to life. Yes, He gave us that power but the question is whether we deny this power or we appropriate it. The word “power” originated from the greek word, “dunamis” which means dynamite. Just like when a dynamite is used, when we appropriate this power, it’s something you can’t help but notice therefore you will see a difference in a christian’s life.
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.”
Ephesians 1:18-20
3. Hope for our future
“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
1 Corinthians 17-20
I’m pretty sure we’ve all had that notion that in order to go to heaven after death, we must have been “good” while we were living. If that’s the case, no one will ever go to heaven as the standard of good is the holiness and righteousness of God, meaning we must have NEVER sinned. As I’ve mentioned earlier, we all have sinned and fallen short but thankfully Jesus Christ took the penalty of our sins and through Him, we are made holy and righteous. Jesus is the first fruit of those dead to be resurrected. His resurrection precipitates and guarantees that all those who have believed and died will be resurrected again and hence this gives us hope for our future.
Resurrection and life is a person. When we have Jesus in our lives, we will be resurrected.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN IT?
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