Acts 3:15 (NLT) You killed the author of life, but God raised Him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!
The Resurrection was the game-changer. It was not a tag-on. No, it gave meaning to the crucifixion. It brought resolution to it. It turned grief into celebration. It was the “rest of the story.” Without the resurrection, the story of Jesus ends in tragic death; but salvation does not end at the cross, the place of death. We must follow it to the empty tomb, the place of life. The cross and the empty tomb are inextricably connected. We need to understand the relevancy of the resurrection for us today. It was central in the theology of the early church and in the writings of the Apostle Paul for a reason. And it is the highlight of our faith to this day. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile (I Cor. 15:17a). But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead (vs 20). Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, and that encounter revolutionized Paul’s life. We also can experience a transference of divine life through our own individual encounter with the living Christ. Jesus said: I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life (John 5:24). What do you believe?