What is the significance of Jesus rising from the dead?
Jesus’ resurrection is the achievement that separates Him from any other religious leader who has ever lived or will ever live.
But why exactly did He have to be raised from the dead?
What makes this event about Christianity so important and so significant?
Here’s my brief attempt at explaining it.
Jesus was raised from the dead to show His victory over sin and death
‘Jesus died for our sins’, the famous statement I’m sure we’ve all heard a million times. But also crucial for the forgiveness of sin, Jesus rose, displaying that sin’s damning hold over humanity was conquered once and for all.
In other words, if Jesus never rose, then he wouldn’t have finally dealt with sin and the cross would have proven insufficient.
A dead Saviour cannot save, but we have a living Saviour who justifies us and makes intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). So yes, He died in our place, but he also rose to display that the work of salvation was truly finished (as he said it was in John 19:30).
2. Jesus was raised from the dead to fulfill the scripture
Several verses in the Old Testament prophesied the resurrection of Christ, a popular one is Isaiah 53:12 below:
I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier
because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
Jesus Himself even prophesied His resurrection in Mark 8:31. The fact that Jesus rose again confirms His claim to be God and the fact that we can trust the Bible.
3. Jesus was raised from the dead to complete salvation
Jesus’ coming back to life shows us that the work of salvation is complete. He has conquered sin forever. Therefore for those who trust Jesus, sin no longer has the final say. Jesus does. He wins. And He rose to show that this is true. Sin couldn’t keep Him dead, and it can’t keep us dead either (Romans 6:14). We know that for those who are in Christ, we too will be raised to life, to enjoy living a sinless life with our Lord forever.
We can now rest knowing that Jesus is real. He lived. He died. He was raised and He is—present tense—alive (Romans 8:34).
