What's the Point of Easter: Exploring the Impact of Jesus' Resurrection

Jon

Hey, welcome to That's a Good Question, a podcast of Peace Church and a part of Resound Media. You can find more great content for the Christian life and church leaders at resoundmedia.cc. That's a Good Question is a place where we answer questions about the Christian faith in plain language. My name is John. I get to serve as a pastor as well as a part of this podcast. I'm here with Mitchell Leach, who is our producer.

Jon

You can always submit questions at peacechurch.cc. Today, we get to talk about the topic of the Resurrection and we get to let the cat out of the bag, which is that it's all made up.

April fools! April Fool's. I don't know when you're listening to this, but right now in real life while we're recording it, it is April Fool's Day. It's the day after Easter. So, that is an April Fool's joke. It's not true. The resurrection is true. It's real. And we're going to talk about it. It's an important part of our faith.

Mitchell

Yeah, for sure. All right, here we go. Here's our first question. Why is the resurrection a big deal? Theologically, we say that Jesus declared it was finished on the cross.

That was him saying that he had paid for sin fully. So why is the resurrection such a big deal and not the crucifixion? Why do we celebrate Easter as the highlight of the church calendar and not Good Friday? Right, right, right. Yeah, I've been asked that question many times, actually, because we talk about the cross so much and rightfully so, because the cross is so important. So on Good Friday, Jesus dies in our place for our sins.

Jon

And then, yeah, that's often the question I hear is, well, Jesus died for my sins. So that's it. You know, why did he have to raise from the dead? I'll give a couple answers. One is just kind of a plain looking at the Bible and looking at what Jesus said. If Jesus doesn't raise from the dead, Jesus is a liar. So that's a problem. You know, Jesus claimed and said, I'm the Son of God, I'm the author of life. He said, I will die, and on the third day be raised from the dead. And so, man, if Jesus doesn't rise from the dead, then it's all a lie.

It's not true. So that's a huge problem. Theologically, there's also the issue of, so the way we think about the resurrection is that the resurrection is how we know that God the Father accepted Jesus' sacrifice. So Jesus goes to the cross as a substitute for us, in place of us, for our sin. That's a sacrifice and the Father has to accept that sacrifice. He has to say this does satisfy justice, this does do justice. I accept the sacrifice and that's how we know that's the case, it's through the resurrection. Yeah, absolutely. I think thinking about it, the crucifixion is only one half of the idea of imputation. Imputation is a theological concept where we describe that Jesus gets all of our sin, he takes all of our sin on himself, and then through that we get all of his righteousness. It's like this trade. So the crucifixion is Jesus taking all of our sin, but it's not until the resurrection that we get his righteousness.

Mitchell

If Jesus only were to have died and suffered for our sin, we would still be left wanting before the Father. And it is only through his resurrection that we are imputed or we gain all of the righteousness, all of his work, all of his miraculous works that he did on earth, his obedience to the law, that's, we are counted as righteous by his resurrection. I'm also thinking of a couple of passages, think of in Romans 4, it says that he was delivered over, he died for our sins, but it says he was raised for our justification, so passages like that tie our salvation right there, those two elements together, the cross and the resurrection.

Jon

I also think of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 where he talks about if, man, if Jesus isn't raised, then we are still in our sins. If Jesus isn't raised, then our faith is futile. I mean, he says that the resurrection is the very core of the Christian faith. Christianity is a religion that relies on a historical fact.

If the resurrection is true, Christianity isn't true. We've staked our faith on a historical fact that Jesus rose from the dead. Yeah, which is a really beautiful truth, right? That's something that differentiates us from every other religion. Every other religion is a philosophy, right?

Mitchell

Where ours is history. Which, in just even saying that, that describes the difference between Christianity and everything else. Every other religion says, you've got to do this, or you've got to obey this, or you've got to follow these rules in order to reach either enlightenment or a right state with God. And Christianity says, you just have to believe this because it's already happened. The action is on Christ, where every other religion says the action's on you, which is comforting for people who are Christians. We can know that it's already been paid in full. It's already, we are already counted as righteous because of our faith, because of what Christ has done. Let's move into our second question. What was Jesus like after he was resurrected? You mean like what was his sense of humor like and that kind of stuff? What did he eat? Actually, we know a little bit of what he ate.

Jon

We've got some records of that. But like, was he a ghost? Was it just the same body?

Mitchell

What was he like?

Jon

Right, right. No, that's a good question. So, after the resurrection, Jesus is both body and soul reunited. He is fully God, fully man. You know, some of the, I think actually the gospel accounts go to work to make sure that we know that. You know, you have Thomas putting his hands in the holes in Jesus's hands and in his side. You have him eating, like we talked about, that kind of stuff. The Gospels go to kind of show us and prove to us that Jesus has a body, that he's not a ghost, that he's not an immaterial soul, that he hasn't been separated now, his soul, from his body, but he's both. He's a picture of, well, he's the first of the resurrection that we will one day receive. When Jesus returns, when all things are made new, we will be body and soul put together. Yeah, and that's important because if he was just spirit or if this was some sort of ghost, we could say, well, where was this body? He didn't really raise from the dead, right? But there's also some kind of weird stuff that happens in the later part of the Gospels where he kind of seems to like be able to walk through walls or there's some like supernatural, there's something different about Jesus. He's still fully God, fully man, but there's some some sense that he's already been or maybe taken a step into his glorification. There's some supernatural thing that he's doing. He's gone to that next level, the level of glorification.

Mitchell

Yeah. Here's our third question. How was the resurrection God's answer to his promises? Yeah. Most basically, again, it's like we said, that he promised he would raise. So, you know, he's a liar and he hasn't kept his promises if he doesn't do that. So it proves that what he said while he was on earth is true. But it also, in many ways, is the fulfillment of the entire Bible.

Jon

That this is him, you know, going back to Genesis chapter 3, in the garden, you know, Adam and Eve and the snake, and there's the promise that someday a child of the woman is going to crush the head of the snake. Well, on Good Friday, it actually looks like the snake won, that Jesus is crushed. I mean, Jesus is crushed for our sins. But on Easter Sunday is when we find out that Jesus has ultimately crushed the head of the serpent. He won. He won that victory. Death could not hold him. He conquered. And so, really, it's the fulfillment of everything that God has been promising throughout the entire Bible. Yeah. It seems like the ultimate brag, too. He raises from the dead, and it's like, you know, that fulfillment of that promise.

Mitchell

It's like, oh, that was just a bruise, right? You know, I crushed the snake. It wasn't me that got crushed. I just got a little bruised. And I think that's such a cool, it's not like improper for that to be a brag that Jesus has. It's an ultimate thing that he did. It's amazing. Yeah, totally. Yeah, I think also thinking about what happens with even the covenant promise to Abraham, the idea that Abraham would be a blessing to all the nations. We see kind of a glimpse of that with Sarah and Isaac and the physical promise being delivered in through an offspring, through an heir, but then in the resurrection we see the ultimate fulfillment of that. That it's not just through that son that comes from Sarah, but it's through the Father, you know, God the Father, His Son was sent to be a true and ultimate blessing to all the nations. Yeah, so like in Romans 4, you know, you get that sort of hint at that when, you know, Sarah's womb is barren and then life comes from it, it's like a resurrection.

Jon

So it's kind of a hint of that. Also, when Isaac is about to be sacrificed, you've got kind of that hint that it's like Abraham was basically expecting that he was gonna kill Isaac and Isaac was gonna be raised from the dead, but then God spares Isaac and provides a ram in his place. So you've got kind of another hint of resurrection, and then the real thing, the real thing comes in Jesus. He's the ultimate fulfillment. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's such an amazing theological truth, but I think practically, how does that work for us? What kind of comfort does this give us as Christians, knowing this, seeing this promise being fulfilled in Christ?

Yeah. So, our series right now at Peace Church has been called Always Yes, All the Promises of God are Yes in Jesus. And I think that is the primary comfort that we get from the resurrection. We know that because Jesus was raised, we can be raised with him. We will have a resurrection like his. Yeah, if Jesus has overcome death, then those who have their faith in Jesus will also overcome death.

Mitchell

God is not a liar, he is a promise keeper. God has provided the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. God has raised Jesus, and in the same way, he will raise us. We will have victory and conquer and have eternal life because of what Jesus has done in the resurrection. All throughout the Old Testament, we see this word pop up. It's one word in Hebrew but usually two words in our English Bible: God's steadfast love or his covenantal love. God is a God who makes true on his promise of his covenant to his people and wecan know that he is steadfast, that he's faithful, and that when he makes a promise, he's gonna come through on it, which is I think for me personally, it's really comforting knowing that you see Jesus being resurrected. We read about that in the Gospels, and we can know that all of God's promises are going to come true. So when he promises that he's gonna come back, we can know that's not an empty promise, but that's one that's coming true.

How about this question?

Where did Jesus go after he ascended? So, Jesus was on earth after the resurrection for 40 days, and then he ascended into heaven. I guess, you know, where is he? What is he doing? What, you know, what's going on with that? Yeah, totally. Yeah, so passages like Romans 8 or Hebrews chapter 4 talk about Jesus as our High Priest, as Him interceding on our behalf, that He is at the right hand of the throne of His Father.

Jon

And so, he's taken on—he's always had that role—but he's taken on that role in a new and unique way of sitting at the right hand of the Father as our mediator, as the one who is hearing our prayers and taking them before the Father and being there on our behalf. So that's where he's at, he's with his father.

Mitchell

Yeah.

What does that mean, sitting at the right hand? Is that a question we can go into a bit of a rabbit trail? No, I mean, in the ancient world, the right hand of the throne is the highest place of honor. So Jesus is at the highest place.

Jon

There's nobody greater than Jesus besides his father. And obviously you've got, you know, a Trinity kind of conversation there, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are all one. Three persons, one God. So, I would say that's essentially what it means. What would you say to that?

Mitchell

I've heard people say that his act of sitting down means he's no longer active. His work is completed.

Jon

Yeah, in some sense, he's completed the work for our atonement, but yet he's not done working. You know, the Westminster talks about Jesus being our priest, that he is continually interceding for those who believe. So, his sitting down doesn't mean that he's done; he's still the sovereign God of the universe. Yeah, and he sends his Holy Spirit, so that's actually— to give it away, this Sunday I get the privilege of preaching from John 14, which is Jesus talking ahead about after he's gone, what's happening, and what's happening is the Holy Spirit's coming. And so, yeah, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is the one who is with us, in us, here. But he's still in control. He's still doing stuff. It's amazing.

Mitchell

How about this? How do we know that the resurrection actually happened?

Jon

Yeah, totally. So, I think there's several ways. I'll try to list a few here. So, let's just start with this one. One of the ways that we can know the resurrection is true is from the manuscript evidence.

So, when we think about historical events—and like we said already, the resurrection is a historical fact that Christianity is based upon—any historical fact relies on the written record, the documents, the manuscripts. And the New Testament is the best-attested ancient manuscript we have, period. You use all the rules that scholars have for testifying how valid this document is. You talk about the number of copies we have; we have more copies of the New Testament than any other historical document. When you talk about the consistency of those copies, you know, has the record stayed the same across the copies? You know, pre-printing press, these records had to be hand-copied. And so, how consistent are they from the oldest ones to the newest ones? And the New Testament is the strongest on that. It's so consistent all the way across it. How old are the copies of the documents? The New Testament has the closest record to the actual historical event of anything we have records of. So, just by all the measures as a historical document,the New Testament, the Gospels in specific, are so strongly attested. If they didn't contain religious truth claims or supernatural things, it would just be a given fact, right? If it was a record of some kind of ancient war or an ancient person's biography, it would just be assumed by everybody, "This is absolutely true, period." But because it includes religious truth claims and supernatural acts, that's, of course, why people doubt it. But it has so much verification to it. It's actually astounding in comparison to other ancient texts, how many not only copies, but how close it is to that actual date.

Mitchell

I mean, it's just unparalleled in terms of ancient documents. I mean, even like, somebody like Shakespeare, who's in the scope of history, he seems almost close to us. Some of his plays were only found—the earliest copies we can find are 200 years after he's done. And nobody questions whether that's written by Shakespeare or if that was actually what he said.

Jon

Right. And the New Testament may be out within 50 years. Yeah, within 50 years. Some say even closer. But yeah, at least within 50 years. Yeah, and it's almost silly to think there are people who question the validity of the New Testament against ancient texts. It's almost silly. Totally. We've got other historical attestation too. You know, there are other records of guys like Pontius Pilate, guys like Herod, events that happened during that time. That's one of God's genius moves, if I could say it that way, in the New Testament. It records some of these names of other people and other things that were going on at the time.

And you sort of think, "Well, why? I don't care about that detail." But it was there, and it's just another historical thing that we can validate through other records. We can say, "Oh yeah, the Roman records also say that this happened at this time and in this place."

And so it just validates the New Testament. One more I'll say is the eyewitnesses themselves, the fact that the disciples witnessed the resurrection and then died for it, suffered for it and died for it, I think is a big statement. If I were one of the 11 disciples after Judas, and I wanted to make up the fact that my hero had died and rose from the grave, as soon as you start beating me with a club or put a knife to my throat, I'm probably going to just give up. I'm going to be like, "Okay, you know what? You got me. It's a lie. I made it up. The joke's over," right?

Mitchell

I mean, if this was the ultimate April Fool's joke, when your feet are held to the fire, it's like, "Okay, we're done."

Jon

Yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to put my life on the line, but the fact that 11 guys did. Yeah. They suffered persecution and eventually death for simply the fact that they claimed that Jesus rose from the grave. I mean, they died for that historical fact.

Mitchell

Yeah. And the fact that they did, I think, is a huge witness to its truth. I think that he appeared to over 500 people as an incredible witness to the New Testament too, right? If this hadn't happened, there would be people who were saying, "No, this never happened." But there were people who were saying, "No, no, I was there." Think about the early church. Those 500 people could say they saw this happen. There were people who were backing this up. There were no claims in the early church to the Like there were people who were backing these up. That's why Paul will say and he'll mention people by name or that they were the son of certain people or even the man who carried Jesus's cross. I can't remember his name right now. But he's talked about like these are his children or this is his parents or this is where he's from, to say that this is a guy that the early church would have known, kind of fits in that same, those 500 people that saw him, his resurrected body, this was a historical reality. Amen

Jon

So Easter Sunday is not an April Fool's joke. Actually, I remember it was like five years ago or something, some years ago, that Easter did fall on April Fool's Day. I remember as a pastor getting ready to preach that morning and debating, do I use an April Fool's Day joke? Do I not? I'm pretty sure I didn't. I think that just didn't seem like the moment. So, to everybody listening, Easter Sunday is the day for Christians. I know some of you talk about, is it Christmas or is it Easter? Now, this is a little bit like the chicken and the egg argument, right? Because Christmas has to happen for Easter to happen. Jesus has to be born before he can die and rise from the dead. So, they are both crucially important. You can't live without either one of them. But Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, is the historical fact that the Christian faith is built upon. And so, that's my argument for why Easter actually takes the number one seed.

Mitchell

 I think I agree with that. In fact, I think sometimes weromanticize Christmas. I'm not. I love Christmas. Christmas is amazing. There's so many great and wonderful things about Christmas, but if I can maybe put it into a little bit of perspective of why Easter is so amazing. Christmas is an act of judgment on God's end. It's Him having to send His Son because we couldn't figure it out. The incarnation is a wonderful gift, that's why we do presents, but it's also, it's a curse to those who won't receive it. Like in the parable of the tenants, is kind of what you're thinking, yeah.

Yeah, like it's almost like, if you're a parent you'll recognize this,it's almost like hearing your kids downstairs and saying, don't make me come down there. And then at some point having to come down there. That's Jesus coming down, he had to come down because things were so wrong and so messed up that he had to make it right.

And that's the good news of Easter is that when he's resurrected, everything can be made right now. That's right, he is making it right.

Jon

Awesome, well hey, thanks Mitch for your conversation.

Thanks everybody, hope you have an awesome week after Easter.