Focus: Reason For The Resurrection

Text: Phil.2:8

"And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

The resurrection is the gospel. Take the resurrection out of the equation, then Christianity loses its power and appeal. The resurrection is crucial and central to the Christian faith. What makes Christianity unique is the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. He ascended because He resurrected. He resurrected because He died; and He died because He was born into the human family. It's all connected. 

If Christ could be born, then He could die. If Christ could die, then He could rise from the dead; and if Christ could rise from the dead, then He could ascend to heaven. 

Everything about Christ's mission on earth is connected to the love, wisdom and power of God.

The cross is a demonstration of the sacrificial love of God, a manifestation of the wisdom of God, and a revelation of the power of God in action. When you look at the cross you will see the love, the wisdom and the power of God.

Now let us look at the reason for the resurrection.

Christ was born holy into the human family. We are born sinners. We are by nature sinners. The birth of Christ was unique. Christ was born holy and described in Luke as "that holy thing" (Lk.1:35). He was the holy seed of Abraham. In Acts of the Apostles, the church in prayer to God refers to Christ as "thy holy child" (Act.4:27,30). At birth and in infancy He was holy. In His adolescence and adulthood, Paul tells us that He "knew no sin," and Peter adds that He "did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth" (2Cor.5:21;1Pet.2:22). 

In His trial at the courts, Pilate says to the chief priests and the people, "I find no fault in this man" (Luk.23:4). In verse 14, he says, "Behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him." In John, he says, "I find in him no fault at all… Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him… Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him" (Jh.18:38;19:4,6). 

Christ committed no crime at all. He was faultless and flawless in words and in deeds.

In Matthew, Pilate says, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it" (Mt.27:24). Judas Iscariot says to the chief priests, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood" (Mt.27:4). In His earthly ministry, the demons in a mad man say, "Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the HOLY ONE of God" (Lk.4:34). Peter in his preaching says, "But ye denied the HOLY ONE and the JUST, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you" (Act.3:14). 

The author of Hebrews says concerning the priestly assignment of Christ, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, YET WITHOUT SIN" (Heb.4:15). He became one of us, felt our pains and limitations, but never got involved in our sinful ways. Christ was absolutely sinless. At the cross, a centurion declares, "Certainly this was a righteous man" (Lk.23:47).

Christ was holy and righteous. David says prophetically concerning the death of Christ, "Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine HOLY ONE to see corruption" (Act.2:27). Do you see the reason behind the resurrection? Christ was too holy to disintegrate in His grave. Christ's holy body could not suffer corruption or disintegration. Sin kills and corrupts our human body, not Christ's.

Finally, our text says that Christ was obedient to His Father even to the point of death. He died in obedience to His Father's will. Therefore, the resurrection was the reward for His obedience. Not only did God resurrect Him; God also exalted Him. Paul says, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name" (Phil.2:9). 

God rewards and blesses the obedient. No one obeys God in vain.

By the cross He ended the old creation and by His resurrection He started the new. He is "the beginning of the creation of God," and "the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence" (Rev.3:14; Col.1:18).

Christ was innocent, holy, righteous, faultless, guileless, sinless, and obedient to God, and that is the reason for the resurrection, and the fact that He is the beginning of a new creation.

Whoever is in Christ is a new creation. He is the beginning of a brand new humanity. The resurrection makes sure of it. New creation is not possible without the resurrection. The holiness and obedience of Christ are the basis for the resurrection. His death was an injustice; His resurrection was a reversal of that injustice.

May the Lord open your heart and eyes to encounter Christ afresh! He is our life. He is our peace.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter