We recently examined seven signs that Jesus rose from the dead. With these facts in mind we are left with one question: Why is the resurrection important today? What difference does it make? Because He is risen, we concluded that Christ affects every part of our life: past, present, and future, the reasons why are shown below!

One – Our Past 
Scripture tells us that we are separated from God because He is holy and we are not—we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We cannot measure up to His standard and we cannot get to heaven in our own imperfection.
But Almighty God devised a plan of redemption—He would send His only Son, Jesus Christ, to this world to live a perfect life, and He would ultimately go to the cross to pay the penalty for our sin.

What does this mean?
Some wonder, How could one man do that? And the answer is: No mere man could, but this man was the Son of God. He was God in the flesh, and only through Him can we come to God fully justified. Jesus Christ Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Only by placing our trust in Him for the forgiveness of our sin can we go to heaven. And because Jesus Christ came back from the grave, demonstrating the reality of His words and the truthfulness of His statements, we know that His words are true. Our past is cared for.

Two – Our Present
Most people are surprised that the resurrection has anything to do with the present, but the Bible tells us that because Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the grave, He now gives us the same power that was used to bring Him back from the dead so that we can live our lives every day in resurrection power.
Over and over again, we read that Jesus Christ has given us the power to live a special life. One especially encouraging passage, Ephesians 1:19-20, says, “What is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.”

What does this mean?

That means we have the same power available to us to live the Christian life that God used to bring Jesus Christ out of the grave.
We struggle when we try to live the Christian life in our own power, in our own strength. But if we will depend on the power of God for help, He will give us the strength and power. We’re sinful, but He saves us. He changes us from being cruel, mean-spirited, hateful people, and we discover a desire to be kind, and loving, and gracious. We’re lustful and immoral, and He takes those emotions and those desires and changes them by the power of God in us. We become different people.

The Bible says, “Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). How does that happen? It happens because Almighty God comes to live within us and fills us with the power of the resurrection.

Three – Our Future

Thirdly, not only does Christ’s resurrection affect our past and present, it’s the guarantee of our future.
Because Jesus rose from the grave, He became for believers the guarantee that, one day, if we should die before He comes back to this earth at the Rapture, we too shall come back from the grave.

The Bible says that Christ is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). And in 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 we read:
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

What does this mean?
That’s the guarantee we have as believers, and it’s all hinged on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Christ hadn’t come out of the grave, we would have no hope at all. We would die in despair; and many people die in despair today because they refuse the truth of the Risen Savior. But when we place our trust in the Lord Jesus and ask Him to forgive us of our sins, to save us and to come and live within our lives, we receive the gift of eternal life and the guarantee of heaven (Romans 6:23).
As Christians, we no longer have to fear death, because we have an incredible hope—the hope that one day we will be with God forever. And it’s not a “hope so” hope; it’s a “know so” hope.
“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.I Corinthians 15:55-57

Conclusion
The resurrection is not just something we celebrate once a year at Easter with our families. The resurrection is the most important doctrine of the Bible, because if Jesus didn’t do what He said He would do, which was to come back from the grave after three days, we can’t believe anything that He said.

But Jesus did what He promised He would do.
We have a unique Savior—unique in the fact that He came from God in His origin, unique in the fact that He was born of a virgin, unique because He lived a life without sin, and unique because He came out of the grave victorious over death. And the same uniqueness that is in Jesus Christ is available to all of us to help us live a life that honors Him. With Almighty God in our heart through Jesus Christ, we have victory: over our past, in the here and now, and for eternity

Written by Dr. David Jeremiah