Many years ago I had invited a 50 plus professional to give the Christmas message in the Remand Home for juveniles, where we were regularly ministering. He explained excellently the birth of Christ and movingly His crucifixion. “Jesus died for you” he said, “Jesus died for you. Accept Him as your Saviour.” Then — he sat down. The boys squirmed. Why would they accept a dead man as their Saviour? The room fell silent. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want the boys to think that the death of Christ was the end of His history. So I mustered enough courage to break the impasse by getting up and tactfully concluding with the resurrection and Second Coming of Jesus. We got the happy ending. All faces lit up like fireworks and the room began to sing again. What a great difference it made! It is the pivotal point in the history of Jesus and the hinge event in the history of our planet itself. Because He rose again, because He lives, my life is changed cent percent. What appeared to be the end was really a new beginning. Let’s see how our lives are influenced by Christ’s resurrection.

Because He lives, our preaching is fruitful. “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless” (1Cor 15:14). The death of Christ put a damper on the hopes of the disciples. Why would they preach? What would they preach? They huddled up behind closed doors. With their leader gone their self-esteem hit rock bottom. But when He rose again they were ready to kick into action. What is the point in proclaiming someone whose life was cut short? He will be one Mahatma Gandhi or Buddha or Confuscius. Our preaching will bring little more than a yawn. Now we preach the risen Lord in no uncertain terms and that’s why our preaching is the power of God to bludgeon sinners into submission. It has made us powerful crusaders for ridding the world of injustice.

Because He lives, our faith is alive (1 Cor 15:14). There is no monument built for Jesus. Think of putting our faith in dead idols which can neither see nor hear nor speak. We believe in a living God whose eyes are on us, whose ears are open to our prayers and who answers prayers. Why do Christians risk social ostracism and even die as martyrs? Repeatedly gunned down, beaten and arrested, they have never been completely vanquished. Why is it so difficult to shake the faith of Christians? It is because Jesus lives! Resurrection makes us cling to our faith even when every other reason for doing so is yanked away.

Because He lives, we have the hope of eternal life. Man will live for evermore, because of Easter Day! Easter is the death blow to death. Occassionally a feeling of utter hopelessness overwhelms me. I become paranoid and cry, “Lord, Your sea is so big and my boat so small!” Then the thought of Job flashes across my mind who had a prophetic revelation of Jesus and in his desperation uttered, “I know my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes — I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (19:25-27). It is as if someone had suddenly gripped my heart and given it a squeeze. At the graveside of Lazarus Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die” (John 11:25). The hole in the heart left by the death of Lazarus was healed when Jesus resuscitated him. The spectacle of resurrection unfolds before my eyes and I hear the rustling of grave clothes. Hope surges within me and with a spring on my feet and bloom on my cheeks I go ahead with life. As Marcello Marcheri put it: May death find us still alive and life find us not already dead!

Because He lives, we have a clear objective for our earthly existence. “If there is no resurrection...why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I die every day... If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’ ” says Paul (1Cor 15: 29-32). If there were no resurrection we just exist and disappear into oblivion. The days and nights will follow more days and longer nights, all empty, dreary, meaningless. But Paul says, “He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor 5:15). There is an urgent need to live for Him and proclaim Him. It is an itch I have to scratch. It drives me hard to live for Him and die for Him. It makes me a get-up-and-go-person. It consumes my thoughts every moment and my life is full and crowded because He rose again. It gives us the zest to beat the odds and survive.

Because He lives, we are delivered from our sins. The three hours on the cross pass by in a maddening blur. A gloom envelopes the earth for three days. And then like a lightning across a black sky comes the announcement, “He is not here; He is risen.” The doom of sin is past. “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost” (1 Cor 15:17,18). It is our faith in the risen Lord that lifts us out of our sins and those who died in Christ are absolved of their sins. The sting of death is sin. Because of the absolution we find in the risen Christ we can challenge, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?... Thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:54- 57).

Because He lives, we will see our loved ones and will be united with them. The breaking away process was hard on those left behind. But when Christ made His debut after resurrection what a happy reunion it was. The Spirit of Jesus is palpable even for us. I think of my parents, inlaws, my two little brothers and friends who are with the Lord now. Sometimes my heart aches for them. But the Bible says, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when He comes those who belong to Him (1 Cor 15:22,23). Christ rose first and therefore others. As Paul wrote in 1Thessalonians 4:13,14, “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.” What a relief! The thought of resurrection slays the demons of depression. I find myself grinning ear to ear and singing.

Because He lives, we are acquitted and face no charges..No one can condemn us. “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is He that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and He is also interceding for us” (Rom 8:33,34). Do not trample yourself for your past sins; God has justified you. Don’t allow your friends or anyone like Job’s friends to trounce you. Jesus rose again and is interceding for you from the right hand of God. Never allow Satan, the sly accuser to lambast you. God has chosen you and satan cannot bring any charge against you. We are guilt-free because Jesus rose again!
Jesus Christ Zindabad!