“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” ―1 Corinthians 15:20-22.
A PART from the fact of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, Christianity would be just another religious system, or philosophical speculation. It is because of His triumph over death that our great High Priest is able to save to the uttermost ail those who come unto God by Him (Heb. 7:25). That which converted Saul of Tarsus and changed him to Paul the apostle was the revelation that Jesus, who had been crucified, is now alive in highest glory. He had seen Him and heard His voice, and he never doubted afterward (1 Cor. 15:8). Everywhere he went he preached Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 17:18). A message that sees in the cross simply a martyr’s death is not the Gospel. The good news revealed from Heaven is that Christ died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3) and that He has been raised again for our justification (Rom. 4:25). The same gospel is today the power of God unto salvation when proclaimed with no uncertain sound in the energy of the Holy Spirit,
“Once we stood in condemnation,
Waiting thus the sinner’s doom,
Christ in death has wrought salvation,
God has raised Him from the tomb.
Now we see in Christ’s acceptance
But the measure of our own;
Him who lay beneath our sentence
Seated high upon the throne.
Quickened, raised and in Him seated,
We a full deliverance know,
Ev’ry foe has been defeated,
Ev’ry enemy laid low.
Now we have a life in union
With the risen life above,
Now we drink in sweet communion
Some rich foretaste of His love.”
―G. W. Frazer.