The bedrock of Christian faith

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. (Ephesians 1:7 KJV)

The significance of the resurrection in Jesus’ day was that it validated that Jesus was who He said He was. Before the resurrection, the disciples didn’t fully understand the things Jesus had told them about His death and resurrection. However, after He rose, during the forty days before He ascended into heaven, He explained the Scriptures to them and they then understood.

The realization that through Jesus’ Incarnation, death, and resurrection, salvation was available to all, was the reason the apostles preached about the resurrected Christ throughout the book of Acts. It’s why the New Testament writers wrote about the significance of the resurrection, stating that it proved He was the Son of God, that we are born again, that we have assurance of our salvation, and that without it our faith would be in vain.

For the disciples then, and for us now, Easter is the bedrock of Christian faith and hope. The early disciples, while initially faced with crushed hopes due to their expectations, soon came to see that because Jesus arose, what He did, said, and promised are true. That carries down through history to us today. The risen Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, gave proof of His divinity by dying for our sins and rising from the dead.

Let’s rejoice in the significance of Easter—yesterday, today, and forever. [1]

The Easter mystery of Christ was a complete victory of love over all the forces of evil that were unleashed against him. - Albert Vanhoye

[1] Anchor Easter—Yesterday, Today, and Forever!