Purposes of Resurrection

Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day. This happened in the history. The resurrection of Jesus is the· foundation of the gospel. It is also an important truth in Christian doctrine. Let us study some of the purposes of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

1. To prove Jesus’ deity: Jesus was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead. (Rom. 1:4).
2. To guarantee the salvation of believers: Jesus is alive and intercedes for those who come to God and is able to save them completely. (Heb. 7:24,25)
3. To guarantee the resurrection of believers: Believers will be resurrected because Christ was raised as ‘first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.’ (1 Cor. 15:20; Acts 26:23)
4. To help us to live like Jesus: Believers can live like Christ (1Pet.3:21) due to their union with Jesus in His resurrection (Rom. 6:5) and with the help of the Spirit who raised Christ from the dead (Rom. 8:11).
5. To fulfil the Scripture: “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for  Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.’” Luke 24:45,46.
6. To justify the sinners: Jesus was ‘delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.’ Rom. 4:25.
7. To guarantee the coming judgement: “He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Acts 17:31.
8. To set Him on David’s throne and fulfill Davidic covenant: Jesus Christ was raised from the dead to sit on the throne of David (Acts 2:30-32, 2 Sam. 7:12-16, Ps. 89:20-37, Is. 9:6,7, Luke 1:31-33).

So Christianity is built on the doctrine of resurrection about which John Locke, the famous British philosopher, said, “Our Saviour’s resurrection … is truly of great importance in Christianity; so great, that His being or not being the Messiah stands or falls with it.”

(Dr. C Barnabas, Translated from True Discipleship Mar-Apr 2000)