The resurrection, you see, is the validation by God of His saving work. Romans 1:4, “He was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.” He was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.
Revelation 1 similarly says that He is dead once, but alive forever more and therefore He has the keys of death and Hades. The Lordship of Christ is secured by His resurrection. You remember that He humbled Himself, Philippians 2, all the way to death, even death on a cross, but God highly exalted Him, raising Him from the dead, giving Him a name above every name, the name Lord and at that name, we all bow. If He didn’t rise, then there’s no sense in preaching about His resurrection, there’s no sense in preaching about His death because His death was all there was. And there was no divine validation in resurrection. All gospel preaching then is empty, useless, it is a sham, it is a hoax, there is no good news. Jesus did not accomplish our redemption, He did not conquer sin, death and hell, and the angels lied when they announced that His birth, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy,” the news is all bad, just another failure. . . .
http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-408 |
