Significance of the Resurrection

As you are reading this after Easter, I hope you were impacted by the significance of Resurrection Sunday. For if the resurrection of Jesus is true, then everything we know about death has changed.

Its truth means you don’t have to live like “you only live once,” trying to check off every item on a bucket list before your time runs out. If you belong to Christ, death is not the end of your story—it’s not even the main theme. When you place your trust in Christ, you can afford to give your life away in love, in service, in sacrifice, knowing that endless joy awaits you in the life to come. Resurrection means your story continues—beautifully, endlessly, gloriously.

When we were young, we often acted casual about death, even defiant. But once death comes near you are never the same.

For me, that moment came nearly 24 years ago on what began as a beautiful September morning. The morning was bright and sunny as I boarded my flight from Detroit to Baltimore Washington International. It was going to be a good day, and I was filled with excitement to close a large business contract then head south for a conference in Florida.

How quickly would things change as many people discovered a brutal truth on that September 11th morning: the truth that no one lives forever. Not even the ones you love most.

Death comes for all - the young, the wealthy, the powerful—it came for those who walked into their New York offices that Tuesday morning, not knowing that they’d never walk out again. It came for those at the Pentagon and those on Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania. In the end, 2,996 souls left this life. And death came for many more first responders who succumbed later from injuries sustained during their rescue efforts.

Two thousand years earlier, Jesus walked up a hill outside Jerusalem and was publicly executed—by 3 p.m. that day, He was dead. The religious elite mocked Him, saying, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself!” And then He breathed His last. A Roman soldier thrust a spear into His side. He was wrapped in linen, sealed in a tomb, and declared dead by every standard of His time. In moments like these, it seems as if death has the upper hand.

If the story ended there, the religious leaders would have been right. If Jesus couldn’t overcome death, how could He offer life?

But the story didn’t end there. Because He didn’t end there.

The Gospels, the apostles, the explosion of the early Church, and the transformation of those who had been hiding in fear all cry out with one voice: Jesus is alive.
He didn’t escape death—He defeated it.

Over the next forty days, the risen Jesus appeared not just to a few individuals, but to crowds. He spoke. He ate. He was touched. This wasn’t a vision. This wasn’t a metaphor. This was resurrection—bodily, physical, undeniable.

And if that’s true—if death couldn’t hold Jesus—then death can’t hold those who belong to Him.

So, what does resurrection change?

• To our fear that we can’t be forgiven, it says: the debt has been paid, and the receipt is the empty tomb.
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• To our regrets about the past, it says: your best days are not behind you—they are ahead.
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• To our anxiety about the future, it says: the worst thing that could happen to you—death—has already been conquered.
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• To the loss of jobs or security or dreams, it says: the truest treasure is already yours, and it cannot be taken.
• To the aches and aging of our bodies, it says: resurrection is coming. These broken vessels will be made new, stronger than ever—more radiant than you can now imagine.

And to the pressure to “live it up now” or make every moment count because time is running out, it says: no, you are not running out of time. You are stepping into eternity. You can spend your life, not hoard it.

If you’re in Christ, then your future is bound to His. Just as His grave was not the end, neither will yours be. First Corinthians 15 declares that His victory over death is also ours. Our bodies will be raised. Our lives will continue. Not as ghosts, but as glorified, resurrected people in a resurrected world.

And this doesn’t just change our personal destinies. The resurrection is a promise to the whole cosmos.

“Behold,” Jesus says, “I make all things new.” (Revelation 21:5)

This broken world will be restored. All creation will be set free from decay. The resurrection of Jesus is the first spark of a coming fire—the first bloom of a new spring.
If you love Jesus—the One who walked out of His own tomb—you will truly live. Not just after death, but even now. Because the resurrection doesn’t just change what happens after we die.

It changes how we live before we die.

Lord God, thank you that we could celebrate Easter and the triumphant victory of Jesus Christ over death and hell and sin. In humility we fall down before You and worship You and cry “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing!” You are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who has won the victory and conquered death! Amen


Credit: Ron Kelley