“Can money conquer death?” That headline caught my eye last June. The subtitle: “How wealthy people are trying to live forever.” The Los Angeles Times covered the founder of XPrize, Peter Diamandis. He spends $120,000 a “year to live as long as possible”—plasma “treatments, superfoods, pills, powders, med spas, biometric screenings.” Diamandis holds to a theory called “Longevity Escape Velocity,” believing that advancements in medicine will extend human lifespans faster than they age.[i]

Another article caught my eye in Time Magazine. Title: “The Man Who Thinks He Can Live Forever.” It covered the 47-year-old, Bryan Johnson. He spends $2 million a year keeping his body like that of an 18-year-old. He submits to an anti-aging algorithm. He and his chief marketing officer, Kate Tolo, “think of themselves as a sort of futuristic Adam and Eve.”[ii] His documentary on Netflix is called Don’t Die.

But I had to chuckle at these lines from the Time article as well: “Experts strongly disagree. ‘Death is not optional; it’s written into our genes,’ [says one doctor]. [Another says], ‘If you want immortality, you should go to a church.’” People will take extreme measures to avoid death. As one writer describes it, “Death is a catastrophe, an obscene enemy, a poisoned arrow piercing the eye of creation, twisting history and nations, bereaving lovers.”[iii] So, of course we fight against it…

But to no avail. Even Bryan Johnson drives 16mph to work each day, fearing he could be sideswiped by a truck. At most, he can only delay the inevitable. We are truly powerless before death. From a Christian perspective, death is not something in our control. It’s God’s judicial sentence against sin. All people die, because all people sin. Neither money nor science can conquer that more fundamental problem.

But in the Bible’s storyline, there is one man who conquered both sin and death; and crucial to that victory was his resurrection. Jesus did what no other man had done or could do. He entered death and then rose again bodily never to die again. That’s what resurrection means. It’s not a state you enter immediately following death—it’s new bodily life after a period of being dead. It differs from reincarnation—Jesus rose with his own physical body. And it was no mere resuscitation. Jesus rose with an immortal body, a body no longer subject to death and decay…at least that’s the testimony of Scripture.

Now, that might seem far-fetched to some of you visiting with us today. But I’d ask that you at least give the Gospels a fair hearing. I imagine there are many things you haven’t witnessed firsthand, and yet you hold them to be true based on the trustworthy testimony of others. Just pick any historical event—your access comes through the witnesses that were present and the testimony they left behind. Our access to the resurrection of Jesus is no different.[iv]

In the first century, the most trustworthy historiography was based on eyewitness testimony. The Gospels exemplify the best eyewitness testimony, with multiple eyewitnesses and named eyewitnesses—such that others at the time of their writing could cross-examine their accounts.[v] Also, we’re not left with just the open-ended testimony that the tomb of Jesus was empty. We also have the complementary testimony that many people saw the resurrected Jesus. They heard him, touched him, ate with him. And then there’s the integrity of the eyewitnesses themselves. In Luke 24:11, when the disciples hear that Jesus rose from the dead, they admit their initial skepticism. It “seemed to them an idle tale.” But later their minds were opened to the truth. Jesus “presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs” (Acts 1:3).

The truth was undeniable. No longer skeptics, they gave their lives to announcing Jesus’ resurrection. At great cost and persecution, they could not stop speaking about Jesus’ resurrection. Not as a mere religious idea. Not as a myth full of great symbolism. Not as what Jordan Peterson would call an ultimate Hero archetype. No, Jesus’ resurrection is a historical claim that everyone must face. Either Jesus rose from the dead or he didn’t; and if he’s risen, that changes everything.

That’s what I want to talk about today. Last Sunday, we considered the glories of the cross. Today, for Easter, I want to consider the glories of the resurrection. What made Jesus’ resurrection such urgent news? I have eight glories to cover.

God Is Faithful to His Word

Number one, Jesus’ resurrection means God is faithful to his word. Acts 13:32, “We bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus.” God promised Jesus’ resurrection. You get hints of this in Genesis—the seed of the woman crushing the head of the Serpent. Abraham, in Genesis 22, believes that God could raise his seed (Isaac) from the dead.[vi] Then later, in 2 Samuel 7, God promises David a forever king on a forever throne.

Isaiah 53 speaks of a special Servant. He would suffer and then die in the place of sinners. But that Servant doesn’t stay dead. By the end of Isaiah 53, the Servant receives the spoils of his victory; he claims his offspring. Or we could think of Jonah: just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so Jesus was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt 12:40). Psalm 2 promised a King to rule the nations; the ends of the earth would be his possession. Psalm 118—that same king would be tossed aside, but little did the builders know he would be the cornerstone.

God raised Jesus from the dead to say, “This is my promised King. This is my promised Servant. He is the fulfillment of all my promises.” Beloved, what has God promised you? “Blessed are you who mourn, for you shall be comforted.” “I will never leave you or forsake you.” “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace…will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.”

All those words are true and dependable, because Jesus is risen. Not one of them will fail. In times of doubt, in seasons of depression, in relational confusion, through political turmoil, when facing the uncertainties of health—Jesus’ resurrection means you have a rock for your feet. Your faith isn’t a blind leap; it’s linked to a historical person who is the risen seal of God’s faithfulness to his word.

God Vindicates Jesus

Number two: Jesus’ resurrection vindicates Jesus. Not only are the claims of Scripture true; the resurrection means the claims of Jesus are true. What was it that Jesus kept telling his disciples? “That he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”^[vii] If Jesus stayed dead, it would’ve meant he was a liar or a lunatic—to borrow from C. S. Lewis’ trilemma. But the fact is, he was killed on Friday. He rose on Sunday. And that means he was telling the truth. Jesus is Lord.

Tim Keller once put it this way: “Sometimes people approach me and say, “I really struggle with this aspect of Christian teaching. I like this part of Christian belief, but I don’t think I can accept that part.” I usually respond: “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not [Jesus] rose from the dead.”^[viii] Jesus’ words are true.

But something else: Jesus’ life is true. The resurrection vindicates Jesus’ obedience, his righteousness. Remember, death is God’s judicial response to sin. Death holds people in the grave because people are sinners—and that’s been true since Adam sinned. As long as Jesus stayed dead, his righteousness was in question. When the world said, “Crucify him, this blasphemer, this criminal!” did they get it right? The resurrection says, “No, the world got the verdict wrong.”

He was not guilty; Jesus was truly innocent. That’s why Peter says in Acts 2:24, “God raised up [Jesus], loosing the pangs of death, because it was impossible for [Jesus] to be held by it.” Then he quotes from Psalm 16, “You will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.” Death couldn’t keep Jesus’ body in the grave because Jesus never shared Adam’s sin. If Jesus’ body decayed in the grave, it would prove that he was guilty of sin. But he didn’t stay dead because he was in fact righteous. The resurrection vindicates Jesus as the Holy One. It’s God’s way of saying that his Son was in fact righteous in all that he did as a man.

God Justifies Sinners

What does that mean for you? Let’s find out with number three: Jesus’ resurrection means God justifies sinners. If Jesus’ resurrection proves his righteousness, why, then, did he die? Romans 4:25 will help us. It says, “[Righteousness] will be counted to us who believe in [God], who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord. [Jesus] was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”

Why did he die? Not for sins that were his own. We violated God’s moral standards—that’s what “trespasses” are. Just like criminals suffer a penalty for breaking the law, we deserved a greater penalty for breaking God’s law. But God delivered up Jesus for our trespasses. He took the penalty we deserved. As we discussed last Sunday, he became our substitute. Through his death, the penalty for our sins was laid on him.

But that’s not all: “[he was] raised for our justification.” Justification is a legal term. When speaking about God saving us, it has to do with God making a legal declaration in his court of law. God declares a verdict of “righteous” upon those who, in themselves, are guilty. But how can a just God ever declare ungodly people righteous? He does it by “counting” his own righteousness to those united to the Righteous One. Jesus’ vindication as Righteous One becomes the justification for all who believe in him. Meaning, what God declares of Christ in his resurrection body (“This One is righteous!”), he also declares of you when you put your faith in him.

In other words, Jesus doesn’t simply take away our penalty in death; in resurrection he becomes our perfection. That’s good news. But it’s only good news for those who believe in Christ. If you’re trusting in yourself to make it, depending on your own good works, if you’re trying to clean up your act by coming to church today—you will not stand before God. He will sweep you away with the rest of the wicked. But if you place your trust in Christ, he will be your righteousness. No matter what you’ve done or where you’ve been or who you’ve slept with, faith in Christ alone means God declares you righteous. So, come to him as you are. You need his righteousness.

And if you’re already a Christian, never turn to trusting in anything except Christ’s righteousness. Don’t start believing that your justification depends on how well you perform, or how together your marriage is, or how smart you are, or how unwavering your church attendance is. Your ground for righteousness is Christ and Christ alone.

God Empowers Newness of Life

Number four: Jesus’ resurrection empowers newness of life. Our culture often views freedom as doing whatever you want whenever you want. For many, freedom is being your own authority, writing your own morals, determining your own identity. But from the Scripture’s vantage point, that outlook is bondage. True freedom is the freedom to do what is right as God’s image bearers. Self-rule is always bondage, because we were made to flourish under God’s rule. What enables that freedom?

The resurrection. Listen to Romans 6:4, “We were buried therefore with [Christ] by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Then 6:10, “For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Did you catch the past and present dynamic? There is a historical reality—Christ died and was raised. But then there’s the present effects in the life of a Christian. His death to sin becomes our death to sin. His living to God becomes our living to God. Newness of life is living to God; and that’s all made effective by Jesus’ resurrection.

But how many Christians will often stop short of this. Functionally, we often live according to half the gospel. Jesus died for our sins—we know that. He forgives us—yes, that too. But do we truly embrace the new life made possible through resurrection? Perhaps we fall into long periods of self-pity, thinking that our sin is just too much. Perhaps we think that the new life is just impossible—“we’re always going to be this way;” and so, we just throw up our hands and quit. Or maybe it’s a passive attitude of, “If God’s going to change me, that’s up to him;” and we just sit on our hands.

But the glory of Jesus’ resurrection is that when you’re united to him, moral transformation occurs. He sets you free to live as you ought. His resurrection gives you the want to obey God, the compulsion to love what he loves. Sin no longer reigns in your mortal body; Jesus does. The resurrection says, “You can overcome sinful anger. You can say No to temptation. You don’t have to give-in to lust. You don’t have to take another drink. You can walk away from greed and harsh attitudes with your wife. You can replace wayward attractions with rightly ordered ones.” You can keep loving that person and laying down your life for them. The resurrection empowers newness of life—and not simply from a distance, but because the risen Jesus living in you.

God’s Forever Priest Is Your Forever Help

He’s also doing something else for you—number five, Jesus’ resurrection means he’s interceding for you. He is your forever help. Hebrews 7:23-25, “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he’s able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, because he always lives to make intercession for them.”

What does that mean? It does not mean that Jesus is “pleading his blood” before the Father. That’s a popular way to talk about Jesus’ priestly work. But it’s wrong. The Father doesn’t need any further convincing. The Father, in love, gave his Son in the first place. And Jesus’ atoning work was complete. God is perfectly satisfied.

What, then, is this intercessory work? Hebrews 2:18, “he is able to help those who are being tempted.” When you face temptation, Jesus is present to help you. Or Hebrews 4:16, “Let us…draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Jesus gives us access to God’s throne; in him, we find mercy in times of need. Or Romans 8:14 mentions Jesus’ intercession in the context of suffering—our sufferings will not separate us from the love of God.

Jesus’ intercession applies the benefits of his finished work by the Spirit. Believer, that’s why you will make it to the end—Jesus is risen as your forever help. He always lives to make intercession for you.

God Guarantees Our Resurrection

Number six: Jesus’ resurrection guarantees our resurrection. You’ll often read words like, “Christ was raised from the dead” or “God raised him from the dead.” What comes to mind when you hear, “from the dead”? It’s common to think, “Jesus was raised from the state of death?” But the apostles are claiming more. In Greek, “the dead” is plural—Christ was raised from all the dead ones. Jesus didn’t just beat death; he also beat everybody else out of the grave. In the words of Colossians 1:18, “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” He is the first of the new humanity. The long-awaited resurrection has already started in him.

Or take 1 Corinthians 15:20. “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” What are the firstfruits? It was the first part of the harvest. It represented the harvest as a whole; and it implied that more fruit was coming. Jesus not only represents what each member of the harvest will look like (in our new bodies); he’s also our forerunner. He’s our assurance that God will raise us.

Do you believe that God will raise the dead? Do you know that Christ will raise your body to be like his glorious body? That has huge implications for the way we live. For starters, it shapes how we view our bodies. Some religions break the universe into spirit and matter. The spirit is good, they say, and matter is evil. But a future resurrection of the body says just the opposite. Resurrection means your body is good. As Christians, we can never say, “It doesn’t matter what I do with my body.” God is for the body he blessed you with; and we know that because he will raise it.

Jesus’ resurrection also reminds us that God won’t leave us as disembodied spirits in heaven. Our final salvation is not mere escape from this world. “I’ll fly away O glory, I’ll fly away”—catchy tune but has the theology of a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Jesus is coming back here; and he will raise us bodily to be with him here on the new earth.

That also means death is not the end of life. Every wrinkle in your skin, every trimmer in your hands, every new pair of glasses, every bulging disc in your back, every report from the MRI, every loss of a loved one—they’re all reminders that death is still in our bones. But when you’re in Christ, those reminders of death now come with a hope in God who raises the dead. The grave will cause grief. But we don’t grieve as those without hope. Death will not have the final say. Jesus has already passed through death. He stands victorious on the other side. If death has no power over Jesus, it has no ultimate power over those he represents. Christian, you don’t have to fear death anymore.

God Ensures Final Judgment

Number seven, Jesus’ resurrection ensures final judgment. Acts 17:30-31: “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising [Jesus] from the dead.” You can’t approach Jesus neutrally. The world is accountable to him.

The resurrection is not something early Christians invented to soothe their grief, to fabricate some hope in this troubled world. If people wanted soothing, why would they dream up a Lord who will call them to account for their sins? What’s happened instead is an encounter with the truth of the risen Jesus.

That means that everything matters—from the way we treat our wives, to the way we labor, to the way we eat and drink, to the way we paint a canvas, to the way we write, read, speak, laugh, to the way we spend our money, to the way rest and celebrate. Everything matters, because Jesus is bringing the world to judgment.

It also means that that good will ultimately win. Justice will finally prevail under a good and righteous Judge. All that is wrong will be made right. Right now, we cry out with the saints of old, “Why, O LORD, do the nations rage? Why do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”[ix] All the injustice you see, all the evildoers who keep getting away with their abuse of power, all the wrongs done to you—God has an answer in judgment; and we know that because of Jesus’ resurrection. In his jealousy for what is good and true and beautiful, Jesus will get the final word.

God Begins the New Creation

That leads us to one final glory: Jesus’ resurrection begins the new creation. 1 Corinthians 15:45, “Thus it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam [i.e., Christ] became a life-giving spirit.” The world has suffered a curse since Adam plunged humanity into sin. But the Bible promises a day of future glory, a day when the curse is lifted, a day when thorns and thistles give way to a new creation.

Jesus’ resurrection inaugurates that new creation. He is the new and better Adam. He represents a new humanity coming into existence. That has personal dimensions—2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” It also has cosmic dimensions—Romans 8:21, “the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” As believers, we’ve already entered the new creation—in some sense. At the same time, we’re also waiting for the finalization of that new creation.

But here’s the deal—the key move has already been played. I love playing chess. My sons defeat me all the time now. But I always know when the end is inevitable—and they get that little smirk on their face once they know I’m trapped. Some of my pieces are still on the board, but that key move has been played, and the victory has already begun. That’s what happened when God raised Jesus from the dead. We still see the remnants of the old order all around us. But the key move has been played: God raised Jesus from the dead, beginning his new creation order.

Perhaps you look at the cultural landscape and become worried. Maybe the economic uncertainties have you anxious. Maybe you’re just tired of the relentless brokenness of this present age. Even the things you turn to for refreshment end up failing. You turn on the grill and the rusty bottom falls out; you open a book and paper-cut your hand; you turn on the fan and the motor burns up. Maybe you miss laughing with a loved one. Or maybe you miss just laughing at all as the depression stubbornly won’t go away.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus’ resurrection has inaugurated the new creation. Hebrews 2:8-9 says that “at present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to man. But we do see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus—we see him crowned with glory and honor.” He is risen to bring us a new world: “He will wipe away every tear from [your] eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore.” “He who sits on the throne will shelter [you] with his presence…he will guide [you] to springs of living water.”

Conclusion

We’ve only scratched the surface today. These glories made the resurrection such urgent news for the disciples. If Christ has not been raised, our faith is futile and we are still in our sins. We are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead; and that changes everything for humanity. Jesus “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

No wonder Paul writes to Timothy in the midst of his sufferings, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.” Timothy is an evangelist—he’s talking about Jesus all the time; yet he still needs to be reminded. And we do too. Brothers and sisters, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.” The key move has been played.

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[i] Andrea Chang, “Can money conquer death?” Los Angeles Times (June 12, 2024), accessed at https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2024/06/12/can-money-conquer-death-how-wealthy-people-are-trying-to-live-forever/.

[ii] Charlotte Alter, “The Man Who Thinks He Can Live Forever,” TIME (September 20, 2023), accessed at https://time.com/6315607/bryan-johnsons-quest-for-immortality/.

[iii] Douglas McKelvey, Every Moment Holy, vol. 2 (Nashville: Rabbit Room, 2021), 134.

[iv] E.g., Luke 1:1-4; John 21:24.

[v] There’s also the testimony of several named women. If you were fabricating a story and really going to sell it in the first century, you would’ve chosen men as the first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. But that’s not what the Gospels do, because that’s not what happened. They tell it as it happened.

[vi] Rom 4:17; Heb 11:19.

[vii] Matt 16:21; 17:9, 22; 20:19.

[viii] Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (New York: Dutton, 2008), 202.

[ix] Ps 2:1; 10:1.