The words of the angel to the women at the tomb of Jesus Christ on that first Easter morning still ring true today:

Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.—Matthew 28:5–6

Jesus Christ is alive and His resurrection is paramount to our faith in Him. Every truth seeker must come face to face with the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The credibility of Scripture is seen in the fact that Jesus prophesied both His own death and resurrection during His earthly ministry (Matthew 12:39–40; 17:9, 22–23; Mark 10:33–34; Luke 9:22; John 2:19–21; 10:17–18). In addition to these verses, we can add more such as Matthew 20:18–19; Mark 9:31; Luke 18:31–34; and John 16:16.

Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is no Christianity, as Christ would have been an imposter instead of deity. His resurrection actually served as the foundation for the preaching in the book of Acts (Acts 2:24, 32; 3:15, 26; 4:10; 10:40; 13:30–37; 17:31) as well as of the Apostle Paul’s letters to the first century churches (Romans 4:24; 6:4–9; 7:4; 8:11; 10:9; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 15:1–4, 14, 17; 2 Corinthians 4:14; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 2 Timothy 2:8).

In His resurrection, the work of salvation is completed and people everywhere can believe on Christ and be saved. Without that documented fact, there is no completed salvation and thus, no Christianity.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ absolutely guarantees the resurrection of every believer in Him. He became “the first fruits” (1 Corinthians 15:23), and thus paved the way for every Christian believer to anticipate the resurrection of the body. The hope of every born-again believer is based on the fact that he has believed in the one who rose from the dead as Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so then also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”

So, as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, let us be assured of the truth of this fact and rejoice in our future resurrection to come.