What Good Is a Dead Savior?

Resurrection Sunday. I used to wonder why, if Good Friday was the day, the remembrance of all that Jesus did for us, the commemoration of our salvation purchased at the cross, the celebration of the complete cancellation of our debt -- if Good Friday was so good, what was with all of the commotion on Easter Sunday. Well, let me just throw a few quick points and send you on your way to continue your celebrations.

1. If Jesus didn't fulfill the prophecy of His resurrection, He either didn't have the power to back up his prediction, or He was a liar. If He didn't have the power to follow through, how can I trust He will have the power to follow through on anything else He has said will come to be? If He was a liar, I can't believe anything He said.

2. If His sacrifice was to atone for the sins of the world, and I understand the principle of sacrifice and propitiation correctly, what makes His sacrifice any better than a goat or a bull? To atone for past, present, and future world sin comprehensively, the sacrifice would have to be perfect, supernatural, divine -- like no other! How would I know, but for a divine resurrection, something truly miraculous, His sacrifice was sufficient?

3. If He is who He says He is, if He is God, He's got to be better than me, right? Holier, mightier, wiser, fairer -- at least. And if I am to expect His work at the cross to be sufficient because He is God, what sort of guarantee should I expect from a god who is as limited by death as I am? I mean, He can hardly set me free if He can't get free. I can't overcome something God can't overcome.

4. And the "new life" thing. How can I expect a new life if He can't even have it for Himself? If His death is the end, how can He share with me the power and promise of something He can't obtain for Himself?

5. If Jesus remained in the grave, if He didn't obtain for me the power to rise, what is my motivation to live a different sort of life? How has my life been made new? What is the endgame if this life is all there is? Why wouldn't every saint in history -- myself included -- simply eat, drink, and be merry, overindulge, do all of those "victimless," epicurean things that suck every last bit of pleasure out of this life with no thought for eternity? If Jesus remained in the grave, there is no eternal life, no reward, no glorious rejoicing with fellow saints in the presence of the One we serve. If Jesus remained in the grave, why even spread the good news of salvation -- for that's all it is, salvation from hell to...

6. ...to what? Saved from sin and it's penalty, to what? No afterlife? No heaven? Jesus' resurrection and ascension to heaven is His guarantee the same will be true for His followers. 

7. Lastly, Jesus' death on the cross was the Father's victory, His victory for all of His creation. The very beings He sentenced to death in accordance with His righteous and just nature, were redeemed. The beings He loved, He created with purpose could now be guiltless and live in His presence for all eternity. But why put His Son through all of that if not for some future, greater glory? What good is a dead Savior? Animal sacrifices were consumed by fire and eaten; what couldn't be used for other purposes was simply discarded. There would be no glory in the body of His Son decaying in a tomb; it would simply be as any other corpse, left to rot. How could the Savior of the world be left as any exclusively human being, to become a part of the earth? God's glory was gained through His grace, through His mercy, through His love, through His need for justice and the complete satisfaction of His righteous wrath. And God's glory was gained through death's defeat and the resurrection of His Son. That is the glory our God deserves, that is the glory of which our God is capable.

Happy Resurrection Sunday!