The Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a Truth to Declare All-Year Round

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Today is Easter Sunday where it's better called as Resurrection Sunday. The declaration of Easter is to celebrate not a Savior who lives and dies all over again every year. Jesus doesn't die every Good Friday and rise again every Easter Sunday. Rather, the celebration of Holy Week and Easter signifies the very finished work on the cross. Jesus' triumphant entry on Palm Sunday showed that a New Testament was coming. Good Friday was the day when He finally offered that one sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 10:12-14) that was never to be repeated again. Black Saturday was when He was entombed. Why was it important for Him to be buried? It was prophesied that He would die among thieves yet be buried among the rich (Isaiah 53:9). The purpose of the burial was there to show that the grave couldn't hold Him because he's the King of Kings and Lord and Lords!

But should the declaration of the resurrection of Christ just be on Easter Sunday? God forbid because the declaration of the Scripture for salvation is found in Romans 10:10-13 - believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, in His death, burial and resurrection are collectively required for salvation. What's there to believe about the Lord Jesus? Do you believe that He is the eternal Son of God? The demons do believe and tremble. It's not enough to believe that He is the Son of God. One must believe upon Him and what He did - His finished work on the cross and that He rose from the dead. Paul declares in 1st Corinthians 15:14 that without Christ's resurrection then the preaching of the Gospel would be in vain. It would just be a vain fantasy. Yet, the proof is there but people just don't want to believe it.

Do you remember the first sermon Peter preached in Acts 2:14-40? It was the day after Pentecost. It wasn't Resurrection Sunday. In verse 24 He declares the risen Savior whom God the Father had raised from the dead. The very Gospel involves the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. If you are preaching another Jesus then you are not saved. The preaching of Jesus is that He is the eternal Son of God and the Savior and Lord of the world. Peter declared the very prophecies that came into fruition to the Jews. Many of the Jews who were preached to participated in the shenanigans that crucified the Lord on that Good Friday. Now, it was 40 days after the Resurrection which led to the Pentecost. You can see how the Gospel continuously declares a risen Savior.

It was important for Him to die a bloody, brutal death and to take all the garbage the world has to give because sin requires death. The penalty is death and Jesus lived that righteous life nobody can live by fulfilling the Law. The death on Good Friday paid for it. Black Saturday came it was the second day. He was buried in a rich man's tomb. He was confirmed dead when the centurion poked his side with a spear and blood and water flowed - showing that He indeed truly died! His human body was wrapped in grave clothes and spices and the tomb had no fresh air to revive a swooned man - these facts make the swoon theory impossible! The tomb was well-guarded and sleeping on duty had Roman soldiers executed - making the robbery theory impossible! The resurrection happened and the graveclothes were in place (John 20:7) - it wasn't a natural thing for them to become suddenly empty! That Sunday morning (which is still Saturday by Jewish time) or the third day - the rock rolled open giving proof of the grave clothes were still in place unwrapped proved that it was no normal event that caused the tomb to be empty. It was the supernatural work of God the Father! Yet many still want to explain away the resurrection because of the hardness of hearts with theories that just don't make sense one bit. Now who's being irrational and unscientific now huh atheist?

Let's think of whose tomb is now empty by supernatural means. Gautama Buddha was cremated and his ashes are still ashes. Confucius is dead and his tomb is still occupied. Lao Tzu is dead and his tomb is still occupied. The same goes for Muhammad, Felix Manalo and his son Erano Manalo, Joseph Smith (along with every successor of his who had died), Charles Taze Russell and other so-called last messengers - their bodies are still in the tomb! But Jesus' tomb is empty as ever. The angel rolled the stone to show that the body was there. I wonder why did the women think the body was stolen? I guess they were too emotional or forgot strict Roman protocol. Did they fail to notice that the grave clothes were still there in place? Did they forget the prophecies? The angel told them that He had risen. The truth is He has risen and after 40 days - He sat at the right hand of His Father. God the Son sits at the right hand of God the Father. The empty tomb is proof that He has indeed kept all prophecies! Later, the risen Christ would show Himself to Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9 to confirm that He did indeed keep all the prophecies.

The resurrection was necessary for this reason. It's not enough that Jesus died - He had to bleed. It was not enough that Jesus bled - he had to die. It was not enough for Him to die for the sins of mankind - He had to resurrect to fully conquer death and sin! The sacrifice was finished but to have Jesus still remain in the grave would defeat the purpose of the sin sacrifice. He conquered death to show that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. Without the resurrection, there would be no salvation. The Gospel always has the death and resurrection together - they can't be separated in the salvation message. He resurrected not as a zombie but in full bodily form that could interact with the others - the nail prints appeared as proof of His crucifixion and His healthy body as proof of His resurrection. The message is still He lives and that His resurrection makes salvation and new life possible and that He alone can pay for the payment of sin which is death and that He grants eternal life to all who believe.

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