What Does The Resurrection Mean For Us?

What does the resurrection mean to us? What happened to Jesus during this time? Was it something that was predicted or bound to happen? What was God’s purpose for all of this? Let’s have a closer look!

Easter is fast approaching, which means that many of us Christians will be spending this time of the year focusing on the life, death and resurrection of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is a special time for us to truly reflect upon what Jesus did for us: why He came to Earth, what He did when He was here, what happened on the cross, and after He died and was buried.

Jesus came to earth to be the messiah, the propitiation for all of our sins (1 John 2:2). God sent His one and only son into the world to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins, for the sins of the whole world. He came down to earth, in the flesh, and preached the truth of His creation, of sin, forgiveness, repentance, reconciliation, and most importantly, perfect love.

There were many messianic prophesies in the Old Testament that spoke about Jesus Christ; His birth, life and death. God always planned for this to happen , for He foreknew what was going to happen since the beginning of His creation (Revelation 13:8). God loved us so much that He sent His one and only son into the world to be our savior, and to fulfill the messianic prophesises. His perfect love and selflessness has given us all a chance of redemption, repentance, and reconciliation with our Creator. Most importantly, through His son Jesus, we can receive the free gift of eternal life, if we believe on Him (John 3:16).

In accordance to the Gospels, we know that Jesus was born of a virgin, in a manager, and was visited by three wise men. His parents were Joseph and Mary, with Mary being the virgin woman who was conceived through the Holy Spirit, to give birth to Jesus (Luke 1:26-35, 2:1-20). The three wise men received a sign from God (star in the east) to visit Jesus when He was born (Matthew 2:1-2). The name of Jesus and its meaning was prophesied in the Old Testament, to depict our one and only God, in the flesh.

Correlating the birth of Jesus Christ to the Old Testament, in the Book of Isaiah, we see that these prophesies had been fulfilled. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel… For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6).

When He was alive, Jesus came to Earth to do His Father’s business (Luke 2:49). What was His Father’s business though? Jesus came to fulfill God’s plan which was to save the lost. “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus’ ministry was to call people to repentance and to forgive sinners. His parable about the prodigal son teaches us that those who have a repentant heart and come to God, He will always welcome us with open arms no matter what (Luke 15: 21-22).

Jesus performed many wonderful miracles, had many followers and disciples, and truly did God’s Will whilst on earth to save the lost and teach about repentance. Many people believed on Him, knowing that He was the Messiah that was prophesied about in times past. Those who believed in Him would shout out blessed is He who comes in the name of The Lord! (Matthew 21:1-11; Zechariah 9:9).

But Jesus’ purpose on earth wasn’t long-lived. His ministry, and His life, soon came to an end, which was predicted. God’s Will was for Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice for all of our sins. Animals were used as sacrifices for our sins up until this point, “And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year without blemish:”(Numbers 29:2), however, God found the perfect solution to have a sacrifice that would cover the sins of the whole world: past, present and future. “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” (Ephesians 5:2).

King David wrote a psalm that represented the sacrifice of Jesus and the persecution and suffering that Christ endured for us in Psalm 22. For example: Psalm 22:7-8 with Matthew 27:41-43; “All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him…Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God”.

Psalm 22:18 with Matthew 27:35; “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture… And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots”.

And Psalm 22:16 with John 20:27; “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet… Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing”.

A more in-depth prediction and representation of what Jesus went through can be seen in Isaiah 53.Isaiah 53:3-12 “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORDhath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors”.

The persecution and suffering that Jesus endured for us, is just…wow. there’s no words that I can use to describe it. He paid the price on the cross for our sins, everyone’s sins. We don’t deserve to go to heaven or to be forgiven for what we have done, but God is so merciful and His grace can cover us all, if we believe in Him and what He has done for us. Jesus Christ was the sacrificial lamb, the fulfillment of the blood sacrifices from Leviticus. He is the lamb of God. “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Christ was not only meant to go through the severe persecution, and death for all of our sins, and be the sacrificial lamb. He was also to be the fulfilled prophecy of the restoration of Israel as depicted in Hosea 6:1-3. “Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth”.

After Jesus died on the cross, His body was taken to be buried in a sepulcher. “When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed” (Matthew 27:57-60). But His body did not remain there. As represented by Jonah in the belly of the whale in Jonah 2, Jesus was in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights (Matthew 12:40). After the three days had passed, Jesus was resurrected and He met with His disciples. His body was no longer in the tomb. He had risen. He told His disciples that He would be delivered into the hands of men, to be killed, but on the third day He will rise again (Matthew 17:22-23; John 2:19).

So what does all of this truly mean for us? This time should mean a whole lot to us as Christians, as we must acknowledge what God did for us, what Jesus went through, and how perfect and accurate The Word of God is, predicting the coming messiah, Jesus Christ, and all that He did and went through, for us, for all of us! Jesus is the resurrection and the life (John 11:17-44). For all of those who believe in Him, although we may die, we will live for eternity with Him in Heaven.

As such, we must stay focused on the truth of God’s Word and what is written about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and to reflect on, and share with others, the gift of eternal life that Jesus gave to us believers, and can give to other sinners, if they choose to believe on Him. So let’s use this time to do exactly that. After all, Jesus told us to go out into the world and preach to every creature (Mark 16:15-16).

It is rewarding to be able to preach the truth to the lost, following in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior who came to earth for the lost! Our God is perfect, and He has given us the most precious gift anyone could ever receive: eternal life through Jesus Christ, with our Father in Heaven.

God Bless.

 

 

Related Posts

---