The Message of the Resurrection

The message of the resurrection is not just to be preached to the lost; it is a truth to be repeated, remembered, and reflected on again and again among believers. It is the heart of the Christian message and the greatest revelation of the Christ we serve. All of our hope is rooted in Him. Jesus said to His first followers, “because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19).

If you stood at the foot of the cross, listened to the buzz around Jerusalem or sat outside the garden tomb you would not have had much hope of a future for Jesus. Yet real hope is not rooted in earthly realities but spiritual ones. The condition of our country and the decay in our world does not bode well for the future of the church…but we must see more than present circumstances.

Look carefully. Beneath the surface the human race is actually in much worse shape than even the news can report. Behind ever increasing wickedness an intense spiritual war is raging. And beyond it all there is a triune, thrice holy God who is able to raise dead people! The Resurrection gives me hope for revival in a dying world.

Three Reminders from the Resurrection

The Resurrection gives me hope for revival because it reminds me of who the Father is.

The God of the Bible is the God of life. He who spoke the world into existence, who held the first man in His own hand, and who breathed the breath of life into man surely has the power to give life again. His Word, His hand, and His breath are just as powerful as they were when Adam walked the earth. When the second Adam lay in a grave it was the Father who spoke life. The Son never did anything without the Father, and neither can we…”Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)” (Galatians 1:1). When His Son’s body lay lifeless in a tomb the Father was still on the throne. The Resurrection proved it. It gives me hope to know that the One who gave life can give it again.

The Resurrection gives me hope for revival because it reminds me of who the Son is.

We know that before He ever went to the cross our Lord said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). But what did He do after the cross? Romans 14:9 says, “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.” Notice the double emphasis on His resurrection. In a chapter dealing with debate, discussion, and divisions it is the gospel that brings clarity. The Holy Spirit says He “revived” – literally, life came again. What Christ did physically He can do in us spiritually! Revival power is resurrection power. Revival is only necessary after death, it is only possible through Christ, and it is only accomplished so that He will be glorified. The empty tomb gives me hope that He is able.

The Resurrection gives me hope for revival because it reminds me of who the Spirit is.

Revival, like resurrection, is the work of the Holy Spirit. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:11). Soon we will either experience or witness resurrection power at the coming of Christ, but we can know His reviving power now. The same Holy Spirit that was in the garden that first Easter morning is at work among His people today.

Our Hope for Revival

Our hope for revival is not based on who we are but in who God is!

On this Resurrection Sunday my prayer is that of the Apostle Paul. After thirty years of walking with Christ he declared that his greatest desire was “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11). To know the risen Christ at work in us, to experience resurrection power every day, this is the meaning of revival. And it is just as possible as He is powerful.