The Power of Jesus' Resurrection in 7 Dimensions

Introduction

We're in the Easter season, and Pastor Stéphane Burgos wants to talk to you about the resurrection of Jesus, specifically about the power of his resurrection. There is a power in the empty tomb. There are even several dimensions to it. Drawing from Psalm 16:10-11, Peter's speech at Pentecost in Acts 2:27-36, and the angel's announcement in Matthew 28:5-7, this message opens up seven concrete dimensions of that power, seven consequences for your life as a disciple, today. Seven certainties to make your own, day after day, as you walk with the risen Lord.

Message Outline

1. The resurrection of Jesus is a victory over death

• If Jesus rose again, it's because he conquered his own death. And because he conquered it, he offers everyone who believes in him the hope of eternal life. Every time you say "Jesus Christ is risen," it's as if you're saying "I will live forever." If my Lord conquered his death, I too will conquer mine. If his tomb is empty, then my tomb, on the day I die, is destined to be empty too.
• Pastor Stéphane puts it with a striking image: "Jesus is the needle and we are the thread. The needle pierced through death, and the thread follows the needle." On the day Jesus returns, the dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thessalonians 4:16). That's not a nice idea, it's a promise.
• So you can say it in your heart this morning: "Jesus conquered my death." My Lord is alive, so I will live. My Lord is risen, so I will rise. My Lord is eternal, so I will live eternally with him.

2. The resurrection of Jesus is the justification of believers

• Paul writes in Romans 4:24-25 that Jesus "was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification." Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was accepted by God, validated, approved, declared sufficient to cover your sins. And the proof of that acceptance is the resurrection.
• In the Old Testament, sacrifices had to be offered every year, and people were never truly cleansed. Jesus, the spotless lamb, offered himself once for all. If the slightest sin had been found in him, God would not have raised him. God raised him because he is the perfect, sacrificed lamb.
• Here's more good news: the resurrection shows that you don't need to die to be holy. You are a living saint. His resurrection made you holy. His resurrection made you righteous before God. Every time you say "Jesus is risen," you can add: "I am justified."

3. The resurrection attests to the divinity of Jesus

• The empty tomb doesn't only attest that Jesus was a great man, a great prophet, or a great teacher. It attests that he is God. This is exactly Peter's reasoning at Pentecost: David died, his tomb is still there, the prophets are in their graves. But Jesus' tomb is empty. Jesus is more than any prophet. Jesus is more than any man. Jesus is God.
• How can the Son be God if the Father is God? Pastor Stéphane explains it with a simple picture, pointing to his own son Victor: "I am a man, my son is a man. We share the same nature. But I am a father, he is a son; we don't have the same position." God is one nature; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are positions within that nature. The Father and the Son are both God.
• Practical consequence: you don't pray to an angel or to a man. Your salvation doesn't come from a man, your salvation doesn't come from an angel. Your salvation comes from God alone, from Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Through his humanity, he experienced death. Through his divinity, he experienced resurrection.

4. The resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith

• Without the resurrection, the Christian faith would be worthless. No resurrection, no faith. If Jesus had simply been born, lived, and died without rising again, how would he be any different from Abraham, Moses, or Paul? Where would we place our faith?
• It's the resurrection that gives immense value to his birth, his life, and his death. It's the resurrection that validates all his words and all his promises. If he hadn't risen, he wouldn't be alive. If he weren't alive, he wouldn't come back. No return, no wedding of the Lamb, no resurrection of the dead, no eternity. But he is risen, and so everything holds together.
• Pastor Stéphane confesses simply: "I don't need to go to Jerusalem to see the empty tomb in order to believe. I know it's empty because it is written and I trust God's word. I know he is alive because I live with him, he's at work in my life, he pulled me out of the mud of this world." Jesus is the rock of your faith.

5. The resurrection gives us access to the presence of the Father

• Hebrews 6:19-20: "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil, where as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." Through his resurrection, Jesus entered the Most Holy Place, and he brought you in with him.
• Aaron's high priest entered the Most Holy Place once a year with the blood of an animal, in fear of dying, for a temporary forgiveness that had to be repeated every year. Jesus, on the other hand, high priest after the order of Melchizedek (greater than Abraham, than Levi, than Aaron), entered once for all with his own blood. And at the moment he died on the cross, the thick veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, not by a human hand, but by the hand of God.
• The result: Jesus became the one and only mediator between you and God. You don't need anyone else to pray. Pray in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus alone. "He is the way, the truth, the life."
• The pastor returns to the image of the anchor. When the storm threatens, you drop the anchor: it sinks into the depths, invisible to our eyes, and it settles on a rock. The boat will not move anymore. Jesus is your anchor. He entered the Most Holy Place, into the presence of the Father, and that anchor is fastened to your heart. You don't hold on by your own strength, you hold on because your soul is firmly fastened to the One who sits at the right hand of the Father.

6. The resurrection leads us to live in holiness

• To understand sanctification, you have to understand the relationship. The church is the bride, Jesus is the groom. The wedding of the Lamb hasn't happened yet: it will take place in heaven, after the rapture. What does a bride-to-be do while she waits for her future husband? She gets ready. That's sanctification.
• Pastor Stéphane compares this to a long trip. If you're leaving for several weeks in Japan, China, South Africa, or Brazil, you don't leave at the last minute: you pack your bags, you prepare your clothes, you learn the language and the culture, you check your flight time so you're ready when it's time. We don't know the day or the hour of the Lord's return, which is why sanctification means being ready all the time.
• Jesus will not come to fetch an unworthy, unfaithful bride who isn't ready, in order to present her to his Father. He will come to fetch a faithful, worthy bride. Every time you say "Jesus is risen," you can add: "I am walking in sanctification, I am getting ready." He is risen, so what he said, he will do: he will return, and he will come back for you.

7. The resurrection gives you the promise of eternal life

• In eternity, you won't have this body. You will receive a glorified body. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:16: "Though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day." And in 2 Corinthians 5:1: "If the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens."
• A body without disease, without infirmity, without aging, incorruptible, eternal. "If I die with an infirmity, I will rise without infirmity. If I die blind, I will see. If I die deaf, I will hear."
• Pastor Stéphane compares the resurrection to a seed planted in the ground: what was hidden in the small seed is later revealed in the plant, in the tree. Don't grieve for the dead in Christ: they are planted seeds. One day, what is in them will be revealed. One day, Jesus will return, and the dead in Christ will be raised. That's why a Christian isn't afraid of death, because to die is to sow. For a Christian, death isn't an ending; it's a beginning.

Key Takeaways

• The resurrection is a victory over death. Jesus' tomb is empty, and if you die in Christ, your tomb, one day, will be empty too.
• The resurrection is a justification. It proves that Jesus' sacrifice was accepted by God and that you are righteous before him, holy and alive in Christ (Romans 4:24-25).
• The resurrection attests that Jesus is God. The prophets are in their graves; his is empty. Don't pray to an angel or a man, pray to Jesus alone.
• The resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith. Without it, everything collapses. With it, Jesus' birth, life, death, and promises carry their full, eternal weight.
• The resurrection opens the Most Holy Place to you. Jesus, high priest after the order of Melchizedek, is your one and only mediator, and your soul is fastened to him like an anchor (Hebrews 6:19-20).
• The resurrection calls you to sanctification. You are the bride getting ready for her groom. Be ready all the time.
• The resurrection promises you a glorified body and an eternal home (2 Corinthians 5:1). For a Christian, to die is to sow.

Personal Application

1. Am I really living like someone who has conquered death in Christ? What fear of death, or what grief, needs to be brought into the light of the empty tomb?
2. Am I still trying to justify myself through my own efforts, or am I receiving the justification God gave me by raising Jesus (Romans 4:24-25)?
3. When I pray, am I praying to Jesus Christ, God himself, or am I placing my trust in something else: a man, a ritual, an object?
4. Would my faith hold up if the resurrection were taken away? What "rock" is my life really built on today?
5. Am I living with the awareness that Jesus is my anchor in the Most Holy Place? What, this week, is trying to make me drift?
6. Am I preparing myself like a bride for her groom, in my thoughts, my words, my relationships, my choices? Where do I need to adjust?
7. How does this promise of a glorified body and an eternal home change the way I live through trials, sickness, or aging today?

Verses Cited

• Psalm 16:10-11: you will not abandon my soul to Sheol
• Acts 2:27-36: this Jesus God raised up
• Matthew 28:5-7: he is not here, for he has risen
• Romans 4:24-25: delivered up for our trespasses, raised for our justification
• 1 Thessalonians 4:16: the dead in Christ will rise first
• Hebrews 6:19-20: an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast
• 2 Corinthians 4:16: our inward man is renewed day by day
• 2 Corinthians 5:1: an eternal home in the heavens
• Genesis 14: Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the resurrection of Jesus so important for my faith?

Because without it, the Christian faith would be worthless. Pastor Stéphane Burgos puts it plainly: if Jesus had died without rising again, how would he be any different from Abraham or Moses? The resurrection gives immense value to his birth, his life, and his death. It proves that his words are true, that his promises hold, that he is alive, and that he will return. It's what makes him the solid rock on which you can build your whole life.

How does the resurrection of Jesus justify me before God?

Romans 4:24-25 says that Jesus "was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification." In other words, the resurrection is the visible proof that God accepted Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for your sins. If the slightest sin had been found in him, he would not have come out of the tomb. He came out because he is the spotless lamb, and because God declared his sacrifice sufficient. So you are declared righteous before God, not by your own efforts, but because a Living One offered himself for you.

What does "Jesus is our anchor" mean in Hebrews 6?

Pastor Stéphane Burgos develops this image with great force. Just as an anchor dropped from a boat sinks into the invisible depths until it finds a rock, our hope is already secured in the Most Holy Place: Jesus himself entered it through his resurrection, as high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Your heart is firmly fastened to him. When the storm comes, you don't hold on by your own strength; you hold on because your soul is anchored in the presence of the Father, in the risen Christ.