The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that Calvary worked, that Calvary covers it all, that the sins of man were taken care of by the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross. And His resurrection proves that Calvary surmounted the opposition of Satan, and forever demonstrated the love of God.

So look: if you’ve asked the question, “Does God love me? Has He made provision for me? Is He for me, rather than against me?” here’s what you do. You look back at the world’s most important miracle, the miracle of the resurrection, and then you can say, “God is good.”

By the way, we have a little expression going in Christianity, that talks about “God is A good God,” and “God is A God that does this and that and the other thing.” Well, it’s OK but it’s not great. God is not A God. God is The God. No other gods in the universe exist. There are no such deities as those imaginary things worshiped by the so-called great religions of the world. God alone presides above history. And God loves you with an everlasting love, and He proved it by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross. The Bible says: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

And the Bible says this is the Gospel. When you believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, you not only believe in the authority, the proof of the truth of Christianity, but you believe unto everlasting life. You believe unto the transformation of your own soul. We celebrate the fact that that resurrection not only proves the cosmic truth of the reality of God, but also has a profound personal result in your life and mine.

Many people will say, “I believe in what Jesus did on the cross. And I believe that He rose again. But how, over the span of 2,000 years, does that have any effect on my life whatsoever?” There is a beautiful answer to that question. And the answer is a multiple one. Think for just a moment. The resurrection of Jesus Christ, first of all, and maybe most of all, proves that you and I are forgiven of every sin. Christ was “delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25).

By the way, what does the word “justification” mean? It means to be declared righteous. It does not mean to be made righteous. It means to be declared, seen as, righteous. It means righteousness is ascribed to you, ascribed to me, committed on my behalf, placed in my account. All of that, Jesus did, when He died on Calvary’s cross.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ not only means the forgiveness of every sin when I believe the Gospel. But it also means that I have a new life to live. Jesus said a very interesting thing when He talked about His death, and then His resurrection. He said, while addressing His disciples: “Because I live, you shall live also” (John 14:19).

“Because I am alive forevermore, you, too, have everlasting life, by faith in Me, and by faith in the work of Calvary’s cross.” That is one of the most astonishing suggestions ever made to the mind of man. The Son of God has said, “The very life that brought again this body from Joseph’s tomb is your life.” So the Bible tells us that the resurrection of Jesus Christ produces a kind of life that is unlike the life that we knew in days gone by. The instant I believe the Gospel, the Bible says I am a new creation: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

There is a vital difference between the man who knows Christ, and the man of the world. The man of the world is just operating on the basis of carnal capability. The man who knows Jesus Christ as personal Savior is walking with heaven’s ability, every day that he lives. Why? Because Jesus Christ lives within his life!

But also, remember something else. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means the forgiveness of every sin. It means a new life to live, but it also means power equal to any challenge in all of life.

“Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead” (Ephesians 1:15-20).

The very power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead in that day, the Bible says, becomes your power and mine. “That’s what I want,” says the Apostle Paul. “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (Philippians 3:10).

The Apostle Paul realized that he was dealing with a subject so staggering, the power of the resurrection of Christ—yes, the power that made the universe—that he said, “That’s what I want: ‘That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection.’” The capability that brought Christ back from the dead—that’s what I want to know in my life!

The implication is that we dont’t know it all at once. The implication is that capability in life comes: “precept upon precept...line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:13).

The Apostle Paul knew he would have to face gigantic odds. He knew the whole Gentile world would oppose him, but it was his job to reach them. Could he do it by himself? Of course not. But he said: “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). He never would have been able to say that if Jesus Christ were just a body in a grave somewhere. But he could say that, because he knew that Christ was ever and each moment fulfilling His promise: “lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). We need Christians in the world, but we also need Christians who are distinguished citizens of the Kingdom of God, who walk the high road of spiritual capability, who see fulfilled in their lives the promise made to Joshua: “No one will be able to oppose you as long as you live, for I will be with you just as I was with Moses; I will not abandon you or fail to help you” (Joshua 1:5) (TLB).

There’s an intimation in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is absolutely fabulous to think about. Christ made a number of promises during the day of His earthly ministry, did He not? He said that He would build His Church. He said that He would reach out across the world with the Gospel, and commissioned us to do it.

One of the great hopes and never-failing visions of the Church has been the consummation miracle, in a very real sense, of the Church Age—the return of Jesus Christ.

So, that great miracle that is yet to come is the miracle of the Rapture of the Church, the return of Jesus Christ for His own. Back in the days of His earthly ministry, He implied this. You recall that, in the Gospel of John, He spoke to His disciples. He said, “Look, you live in a troubled world.” We still do today, do we not? But: “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, And if I go. . . I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3).

From the writings of Dave Breese

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