The Resurrection and Its Importance

[HKHaugan]

The Resurrection of Jesus is the most important, significant and dynamic event in all of human history. The brutally crucified itinerant rabbi-carpenter from an obscure province and an obscure people rose from the dead to be the central focal point in all of human existence. There is nothing that supercedes Him. All human existence, past, present and future, has to be sifted through Him, who He is and what He came to do. Our perception of life, its meaning, structure and purpose, can never find satisfaction until we view it through the lens of Jesus. He is the microscope to see its detail and the telescope to grasp its length and breadth.

The Resurrection of Jesus forces us to consider the claims Jesus makes about Himself. “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” This means there is no mystery to the beginning of the universe and the origin of mankind. He is the functional beginning, center and end of all things. Only how the Father worked through Him is a mystery. The point is all Creation came to be through Him, God the Son.

"I am the way, the truth and the life,” He says. His mind, His heart and His Spirit settle all questions of existence intellectually, relationally and spiritually. Everything Jesus claims about Himself challenges, changes and charts the way we view our past, present and future.

What Jesus says about Himself is that He brings the spiritual dimension into clarity. He is the One who rules, explains and demonstrates spirituality as ultimate reality that existed before the universe and will be there after all we know as the universe disappears. ‘I am the good shepherd,’ ‘I am the bread of life,’ ‘I am the light of the world,’ ‘I am the gate for the sheep,’ ‘I and the Father are one,’ ‘before Abraham was, I am.’ Each of these expressions from the Gospel of John is Jesus’ understanding of Himself. They define and forward a spiritual reality that was, is and will be eternal, forever and everlasting.

In this one significant act of the Resurrection, all human thinking apart from God about history, life, death and existence loses credibility as ultimate truth. This means that all that passes for religion, science, political systems, education and philosophy must be weighed in terms of who Jesus is, what He taught and how He lived. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the starting gate and the final statement about everything. Nothing escapes its overriding authority for thought and behavior.

More on the Resurrection….stay tuned………