What the Resurrection of Christ Attests

Let us, then notice carefully what the Word of God tells us about this glorious truth.
First: The resurrection of the Lord Jesus attests the truthfulness of His claims concerning His divine person and mission. To His enemies He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." But He spake of the temple of His body. To His disciples He declared, "No man taketh it (my life) from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." He definitely told them that the Son of man must be betrayed into the hands of sinners, and. He added, "They shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again" (Luke 18:33).
Therefore if He failed to come out of the tomb in a resurrected, physical body of flesh and bones, all that He claimed regarding Himself and His saving power was invalidated. But He did not fail! It was not possible that He should be holden of death. He fulfilled His Word by rising again on the third day.
Second: His resurrection attests the truth of the prophetic scriptures. The Old Testament abounds in prophecies of Messiah's death and resurrection. In Psa. 16, David foretold concerning Him, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (Sheol, or Hades, the abode of the dead); neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." Both Peter and Paul show us that this passage had its fulfillment in the resurrection of Christ.
Isaiah wrote seven hundred years before His birth, "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand" (Isa. 53:10). Here is a remarkable statement. Death was not to end the activities of Jehovah's Servant. After He had given His life as an oblation for sin, He was to prolong His days, and so in resurrection be the Administrator of God's great plan for the blessing of mankind.
Third: The resurrection of the Lord Jesus was the display of omnipotent power on our behalf. In Eph. 1:17-23 we have the apostle's prayer for all believers. He asks that the eyes of their hearts might be opened, in order that they might know the hope of His calling; the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints; and the "exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which ha wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead." The same mighty energy that was put forth to revivify the body of Jesus, and raise Him from among the dead, is the power that quickens dead souls into newness of life and energizes children of God so as to enable them to live even here on earth a heavenly life of victory over sin, while they walk in fellowship with Him under the control of His Holy Spirit.
Fourth: The resurrection of Christ is the proof that the sin question has been settled to God's satisfaction. On the cross our sins were laid upon Him. He voluntarily accepted responsibility for them. He bore them in His own body on the tree. "He was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for (or, on account of) our justification" (Rom. 4:25). When God raised His Son from death it was His way of expressing His recognition of the perfection of His finished work. If sin had not been forever put away, He would never have come forth from that grave; but having paid for us the uttermost farthing, death had no claim upon Him. By raising Him God declared to all created intelligences His full approval of and His acceptance of the work of His blessed Son.
Fifth: Christ's resurrection is therefore the believing sinner's assurance that his record is now clear. God Himself has no charge against him who puts his trust in Jesus. So we read in Rom. 8:32-34: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that, condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Observe that no voice can now be raised to condemn the one who rests in Christ's finished work. His death and resurrection effectually forbid the raising of the sin question again, as far as any believer is concerned. The resurrection is like a receipt for full payment made. On the cross the mighty debt we owed was settled. A. risen Christ tells us that every claim has been met and God holds nothing against the believer.
“Now we see in Christ's acceptance
But the measure of our own,
He who lay beneath our sentence
Seated high upon the throne.”
Sixth: His resurrection is the token that through Him God will judge the world. That judgment is based on man's attitude toward the One whom the Father delights to honor. If men receive Him as Lord and Saviour they will never have to come into judgment for their sins, because He was judged in their room and stead. But if men refuse Him and spurn His grace, they will not only have to answer before Him for all their sins, but in addition to all the rest, they will be judged for rejecting Him who died to save them.
Lastly: It is His resurrection which alone gives validity to the gospel message and delivers the believer from the fear of death. Turning now to 2 Tim. 1:8-10, we read this important admonition: "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
Do not, I beg of you, read these words carelessly. Go over them again and again, until their force and their solemnity and their preciousness have gripped your soul. Our entire salvation hangs on the truth that our Saviour, Jesus Christ, has abolished (that is, annulled the power of) death, and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. He went down into the dark stream of death. All its waves and billows rolled over Him. But He came up in resurrection life never to die again. And so for us the waters of this Jordan have been rolled back, and there is a dry way through death for all who believe. Listen to His triumphant words, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this?" (John 11:25, 26.) Does not your heart reply, "Yes, Lord, I do believe; I rest my soul forevermore upon Thy sure testimony, and I confess Thee as my Saviour and my Lord"?