Matthew 28:1-7
Revelation 1:18
Romans 10:9-13
Topic: The Greatest Resurrection of all time
In the bible, there are true factual stories about how God had raised some people from the dead. For example:
In I Kings 17:17-24, we see how God had raised the dead son of the widow woman of Zarephath back to live again through the prophet Elijah.
In II Kings 4: 1-37, we see how God had raised the dead son of the Shunammite woman back to life again through another prophet by the name of Elisha.
In II Kings 13:14-21, we see how God raised a dead man back to life again when he was cast into the tomb of the prophet Elisha, and when the dead man touch the bones of the prophet Elisha, he was miraculously brought back to life again.
In St. Matthew 9:18-25, and St. Mark 5:21-42, we see how Jesus Christ our Lord had raised the dead daughter of Jarius back to life again.
In St. Luke 7:15, we see how Jesus had raised the dead son of the widow woman in Nain back to life again.
In St John 11:1-45, we see how Jesus had raised Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, back to life again.
In Matthew 27: 52-54, we see how the bodies of the old testament saints had risen from the dead when Jesus Christ was crucified and died upon the cross.
In Acts 9: 36-42, we see how God had used Peter to raised a dead woman whose name was Dorcas back to life again
Yes, throughout the bible we see and read that God had raised many individuals who had died back to life again. But yet the greatest resurrection of all time is when God raised His own son, Jesus Christ our Lord, back to life again. His resurrection surpasses all other resurrection that is found in the Word of God because there is saving power, healing power, salvation power, forgiveness power Now a question is being asked: What makes the resurrection of Jesus Christ the greatest of all time?
Well, first of all, the reason why Jesus Christ resurrection is the greatest of all time is because everyone that God had raised from the dead, with the exception of Jesus Christ, had died again, and did not rise back to life again. But Jesus Christ is a different story because in Revelation 1:18, the Lord Jesus Christ says, “I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen; have the key of hell and of death. Yes, Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead just like the rest of the people whom God had raised from the dead in the bible, but the difference is that Jesus is alive for evermore. He did not, will not, and can not die anymore because He has the power over death and hell. He conquered death and hell when He rose from the dead with all power in his hands. That is why in Colossians 1:18 where it is says, that Jesus Christ is the “first fruits from the dead” because Jesus Christ is the first and only person in the bible who died, and was raised from the dead, and was to never die anymore.
Secondly, the reason why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest of all time is because when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, He fulfilled his own prophecy. You see, in Psalm 16:10 it prophesied about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It says, “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” Jesus Christ is the Holy One in Psalms 16:10 who did not see corruption. You see, when a person dies, his body decomposes and starts to smell after 4 days. In other words, that dead person body becomes corrupted. But Jesus Christ body did not see corruption because His body was raised from the dead in three days instead of four days.
Jesus also prophesied about his death and resurrection from the dead in the New Testament when He told his disciples in Matthew 16:21 that “He was going to suffer many things of the elders and the chief priests, and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day.”
Also Jesus told the Jews who challenged his authority for cleansing out the temple of the money exchangers who were hindering the people from worshipping the Lord and cheating people out of their money and they demanded that he show them a sign. And Jesus said to them in St. John 2:19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
And in St. John 2:20-22 it says, “Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead. His disciples remembered that he said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.”
Now the reason why Jesus was able to fulfill his prophecy concerning his death and resurrection because Jesus said this in St John 10:17-18 “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down, and I have the power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”
You see, Jesus Christ is more than just the Son of God. He is God in human flesh. He is the second person in the triune Godhead. In the triune Godhead, you have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. These three are one in God. And as the second person in the triune Godhead, as God in human flesh, He willingly laid down his life for us on the cross to be crucified, and in three days, He rose up out of the grave with all power in his hands.
Hebrews 2:14-17 says, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise too part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethern, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."
And because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead just like He said He would, Philippians 2:9-11 says “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Because Jesus Christ has performed the greatest resurrection of all time by dying on the cross, being raised from the dead, and to being alive forevermore, He is worthy of all of our praises, and worship.
Thirdly , the reason why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest of all time because it is through Jesus Christ’s resurrection that we have the hope of eternal life. In I Corinthians 15:14-21, says, “If Christ be not risen , then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ; whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, and ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man(Adam) came death, by man(Christ) came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
You see, if Christ had not risen from the dead, our hope is in vain. There would be no eternal life, no abundant life, no salvation, no forgiveness of sins, no church services, no deliverance, no redemption, no nothing! But Jesus Christ says this about himself in St. John 11:25-26, “I am resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live again. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this?”
Because Jesus has risen from the dead, because He is the resurrection and the life, we do have the hope of salvation, eternal life, abundant life, forgiveness of sins, deliverance, redemption in the name of Jesus Christ. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” You see, it is not the resurrection of Lazarus that saves us. It is not the resurrection of Jarius daughter that saves us. Nor it the resurrection of the widow’s son of the Shunammite woman that saves us. It is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that saves us and gives us salvation. It is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that saves us. It is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that gives us eternal life. It is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that gives us the forgiveness of sins.
