"Shout it out, Jesus is alive!"

I was musing on the film The Passion of the Christ.  Do you remember the very end of the movie?  After the events of the crucifixion and burial, there was a black screen, and it seemed as the end credits were going to start rolling.  Instead, one last scene showed the truth: Jesus was no longer dead!  He got up, and walked out of His tomb!  Roger Carswell in his fine work What is a Christian? states, “The only biography of anyone that does not end with death and burial is Jesus’.  He did something no religious or political leader could ever do, because He is the God-man.”

The disciples were in the throes of being grief-stricken and heartbroken over the unexpected loss of their leader on a cross.  But Jesus showed up in their midst; as Luke records it “for forty days after His death He appeared to them many times in ways that proved beyond doubt that He was alive” (Acts 1:3; GNT).  In time, Jesus ascended to Heaven, but not before commissioning them to spread the truth of who Jesus is, and what He did (Acts 1:8).  They did just that.  Even though, as a result of this, they were persecuted, arrested, threatened, and eventually all of them were martyred (except for John, who was exiled to an island; see Revelation 1:9).

This special day really is, as I heard a worship leader once put it, "Super Bowl Sunday" for Christians.  And yet, I'm sure that somebody is reading these words, and you’ve inwardly wondered (and perhaps you’ve even expressed it verbally) why the resurrection of Jesus is so important.  There are several answers.  But for the sake of brevity today, let me give two reasons that you can begin to chew on.  Reason one is because the resurrection validates that Jesus isn’t just a mere man; He is God.

  

In John 11, Jesus declares, “I am the resurrection and the life.”  These words are so familiar to many of us that they don’t hit us like they should.  “I am the resurrection and the life” isn’t something a normal person says, and if they did, they would be in serious need of the help of a psychiatrist!  But Jesus, to the shock of everyone that day, backed up His words by giving life to a man (His friend Lazarus) who had been dead for four days.  In fact, it was that miraculous event that led the religious leaders to begin plotting to murder Jesus in the first place (verse 53).  And of course, Christ was eventually crucified.  But Jesus had already shown Himself to have power over death, an attribute that only God has.  By rising again, He demonstrated that He is not only fully human, but also fully divine.

Secondly, several Old Testament prophecies predict that the Messiah’s resurrection.  I really wish I could devote more space to this point; a lot of time could be spent here.  But to give just one example today, Psalm 16:10 says, “For you will not leave my soul among the dead; or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.”  This verse, in fact, is cited by the disciples in Acts 2.  The Apostle Paul also quotes it in Acts 13:35-37. “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren,” he said in verse 38, “that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all the things which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.”

I love the song Happy Day.  I love the celebratory mood of the song, as it proclaims the glorious Biblical truth of the resurrection of Jesus.  “The greatest day in history; death is beaten, You have rescued me.  Sing it out, Jesus is alive!  The empty cross, the empty tomb, life eternal, You have won the day.  Shout it out, Jesus is alive!  He’s alive.  Oh, happy day, happy day, You washed my sin away.  Oh, happy day, happy day, I’ll never be the same.  Forever I am changed.”

Kevin