"But now is Christ risen from the dead" (1 Corinthians 15: 20).
Christianity rests on the fact that Christ is risen from the dead. "If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. . . .ye are yet in your sins" (1 Corinthians 15: 14-17). The divinity of Christ finds its surest proof in His resurrection, since He was "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1: 4). Christ's sovereignty and deity depends on His resurrection, "for to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living" (Romans 14: 9). Our justification, that choice blessing of the covenant, is linked with Christ's triumphant victory over death and the grave. "He was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4: 25). Our very regeneration is connected with His resurrection. We are "begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1: 3). And most certainly our ultimate resurrection rests here. "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8: 11). If Christ is not risen, then we will not rise. But if He is risen, then they who are asleep in Christ have not perished, but in their flesh will surely behold their God. The silver thread of resurrection runs through all the believer's blessings, from his regeneration onward to his eternal glory, and binds them together.