The resurrection of Christ formed the core of the first apostolic sermons… because it represented the vindication of all that had gone before in the earthly course of our Lord. His teaching and claims, and His ‘obedience unto death’, as well as His disciples’ faith and hopes, were all vindicated by this act of the Father in which Christ was shown victorious over every hostile power, whether man or demons or death itself.
1. First of all, then the resurrection is the vindication of God’s faithful Servant, the crucified One. as ‘Lord and Christ’, the promised Messiah of God. As such it provided attestation of His deity, and also confirmed His designation as the final Judge of all men.
2. As the mark of divine approval of the suffering Servant, the resurrection also stamped God’s imprimatur upon the service of His obedience and death, as a complete atonement for sin and as the fulfillment of the promises made to the fathers. As a result, salvation and forgiveness of sins are now proclaimed in the name of Jesus. The resurrection was thus the motive centre in the evangelization of the ancient world.
3. The resurrection confirmed believers in their faith in God and His power, and gave assurance of their ultimate full salvation. Not only does it certify the saving value of Christ’s death, it also persuades us that ‘if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life’. Christ’s risen life continues to save us, as the life of the eternal High Priest who has entered into heaven for us, ever to intercede for us and to perfect the work of redemption in us.
4. Christ’s resurrection is the sign and pledge of the resurrection of the body for all who are in Christ, and so determines the Christian’s new attitude to death and transforms his hope.
5. Together with the ascension and exaltation, the resurrection completes the pattern of death-resurrection-exaltation which constitutes the spiritual initiation of believers in their identification with Christ. Like and with Christ, the convert becomes ‘dead to sin’ and ‘alive to God’, a passage from death to life the is sacramentally set forth in baptism. Consequently the appeal for sanctification becomes a summons to those who ‘have been raise with Christ’ to ‘set their minds on things that are above’, and dying to self and living to God form the daily experience of the Christian.
Sunday, June 11, 2023 at 7:48AM 
