Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Jesus came to save our souls from the wages of sin, that is, death (Romans 6:23). To truly appreciate the meaning of this, we have to return to the Old Testament.
1 John 3:4 tells us that sin is the transgression of God’s holy law. Breaching it not only subjects us to physical and spiritual death but also makes us unholy: ‘We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags’ (Isaiah 64:6).
As Adam and Eve’s story demonstrates, sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2) because he is holy and cannot be in the presence of unholiness (Leviticus 19:2). However, because he loved the Israelites, God made a way for their souls to be cleansed and saved so they could enjoy a relationship with him. This was through the sacrificial law, wherein clean animals suffered death in place of the sinner and paid the price for the sin the human soul had committed.
Leviticus 17:11 says: ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.’
Here, ‘life’ doesn’t refer simply to physical existence, but comes from the Hebrew word nephesh, which means ‘soul’ and is the same word used for soul throughout the rest of the verse. In other words, the shedding of blood allowed the animal to give its life—its soul—to satisfy the debt of sin, while the person who had sinned could be restored to right standing with God. Their soul was made holy once more.
To be acceptable to God, these animals had to be without blemish (Leviticus 22:20). The clean had to pay for the unclean or ‘the just for the unjust’ (1 Peter 3:18). In the same way, Jesus— ‘a lamb without blemish and without spot’ (1 Peter 1:19)—offered his perfect soul as a propitiation (atonement) for ours (Isaiah 53:10). He gave his soul through the shedding of his blood on the cross, paying the price for all the sins our souls have and will commit, and becoming the ultimate sacrifice in our place. This not only fulfilled the sacrificial law but made way for all souls to receive salvation and return to God’s holy presence (1 Peter 1:8-9).
As the Bible says: ‘Almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission’ (Hebrews 9:22). It was because God wanted us to be restored to him that he sent his own Son to make it possible. That is, ‘to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God’ (Romans 3:25).
Now when we need to restore our standing with God, we need only to confess and ask for his forgiveness. As 1 John 1:9 records, ‘if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’.
In this way, Jesus’ death was powerful. But when he rose again, he proved something equally essential. He didn’t need to remain in death because the debt of sin had been paid in full. His resurrection was the receipt or proof of payment.
Through his death, Jesus reconciled us to God (Romans 5:10). Through his resurrection, he gained power over death: ‘We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him’ (Romans 6:9-10).
It was only by Jesus’ victory over death that we can hope to have the same. He paved the way for our mortal bodies to have the opportunity to one day be transformed to immortal (1 Corinthians 15:52-53) and for us to receive the redemption of the body (Romans 8:23). As John 3:16 records: ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ Through Jesus, we are moved from sin to eternal life and from separation to restored fellowship with God.
This is why we celebrate Resurrection Sunday. Jesus’ rising from the dead is not just an event in history, but the living proof that sin and death have been defeated, and that through him we can receive an immortal life with God
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