“He (Jesus) is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead” (Matthew 28: 6, 7 KJV).
The church has been celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week for many years. There is nothing that can be said this upcoming Resurrection Day that hasn’t already been said. And yet the Resurrection of Christ from the dead is the continuous message of the church. His Resurrection is our message of hope, and by it, we have salvation.
The foundation of Christianity rests on the fact of the Resurrection of Jesus. “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1 Cor. 15: 17).
The proof of the deity of Jesus depended on His Resurrection from the dead. He declared that he would die, be buried, and would rise again on the third day (Matt. 12: 39-40; 20: 17-19; 26: 30-32; Luke 18: 31-33; John 2: 19-22). The Resurrection of Jesus demonstrates that He is the Son of God — “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1: 4).
When Jesus rose from the dead the stone was rolled away from the tomb, not in order that Jesus might come out but that men might look in and see that it was empty (John 20: 1-10).
On the day of His Resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples five times (Jn. 20: 11-18; Mt. 28: 9-10; Lk. 24: 13-35; 36-48). Jesus also showed Himself to 500 brethren at once (1 Cor. 15: 6). 27 years later, when the book of 1 Corinthians was written, the greater part of those 500 that had seen Him were still alive.
On Sunday, some figure it to be, April 9, A.D. 30, the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea where Jesus was buried was found empty. The most thorough examinations have been carried out into the evidence of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and declared it flawless.
Clarence Larkin says, “The Standard of God’s Power in the Old Testament was the Exodus. The Standard of God’s Power in the New Testament is the Resurrection of Jesus.”
In observation as a testimony to the fact of the Resurrection of Jesus, the 1st century church began meeting, and the church today meets on the “first Day of the Week” (Mt. 28: 1; Mk. 16: 9; Lk. 24: 13-15; Jn. 20: 1, 19; Acts 20: 7; 1 Cor. 16: 2; Rev. 1: 10, 11).
The fact that the Church observes the ‘First Day of the Week’ as the day on which Jesus rose from the dead, as a day of rest and worship is also a proof of the Resurrection of Jesus.” But more importantly, there is the change that takes place when one puts their faith and trust in the risen and living and soon returning Lord.
