Victory
Easter is often called Resurrection Sunday, but what if we called it Victory Sunday?
What we’re really celebrating is victory. That’s what happened. Jesus paid the price. He defeated death. He crushed the head of the serpent, as we read about in Genesis 3:15. It was a victory over those things. And because Christ won, we as believers get to share in that with Him.
1 Corinthians 15:57 “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
As you know, life is hard – sometimes it feels like we’re losing, but Paul is talking about winning not just today, but when you finish this race called life. We don’t want to just collapse across the finish line and into the heavenly realm. We want to finish well.
No matter what background baggage you have, the loss or struggle you’re carrying – you can have victory over it because He won for you and you get to be part of that victory.
Christ won the victory so that you and I could have three things:
- We can receive the Gospel
- Doubt would be erased, especially concerning the Resurrection
- Death would no longer have victory over you
In 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 Paul writes:
“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.”
As we see in these verses the victory Jesus achieved in the Resurrection gives power to the Gospel. That is the first importance. It gives us the opportunity to have access to God through faith and forgiveness of sin. The resurrection – Paul sees it as the linchpin that holds together the gospel message, in which we find Salvation.
If the resurrection didn’t happen, then the cross is all but meaningless. Jesus is just another person who died a torturous death under the Roman Empire. But, He did rise from the dead. Paul summarizes the Gospel in verse 3 and 4 again:
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”
Because He did rise, the power of the cross was released by God into this world, made accessible to us, and by His Spirit, through repentance and faith, you can receive it.
Resurrection Gifts
The first gift of the Resurrection is the gift of Salvation. We often say “saved”, but in Greek the word is “soso”, which means to be rescued from death. This isn’t just physical death, it means a rescue from eternal, spiritual death.
“23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.”
This gift of the Resurrection can only be received, not earned through trusting in Christ and asking Him to help you believe.
The second gift of the Resurrection is the gift of endurance. Remember in verse 1 Paul said – this gospel that I preach to you, this gospel that saved you, this gospel that you received is also the gospel that you should be standing firm upon.
Stand means to be placed – firmly and unmoved. Not only does the Gospel save you, it also gives you the endurance to make it through this crazy world. We must not remember the Resurrection and Gospel just on Easter, but every day of the week as it is the Gospel that helps us to not crumble and fall in this world.
The Gospel not only saves us, but it also helps us make it through.
