WHAT IS THE MEANING OF EASTER AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Raised with Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything is an expanded and revised edition of my first book, initially published by Crossway in 2010. It now includes study guide questions and an afterword by Charles Spurgeon and John Newton, updated into modern English. But how did the story begin?

I was asked to preach one Easter Sunday. Usually, I enjoyed preaching but I was busy, weary, and not looking forward to it. Shockingly, talking about Easter felt boring. I had preached on the cross many times. I believed in the resurrection, but I had assumed it.

I began studying the resurrection seriously for the first time. What I discovered unsettled me. In Acts, every recorded sermon centers on the resurrection of Jesus. Yet I realized that none of the sermons I had heard or preached had fully explained its meaning and implications.

At the time, I could not find many books on the subject. I became convinced I should write about the life-changing power of the empty tomb. Since then, it has been a joy to watch the conversation grow.

Christianity ultimately stands or falls on whether Jesus rose from the dead. The empty tomb, the resurrection appearances, and the explosive transformation of the early disciples demand an explanation. The Church did not create the resurrection stories. Instead, the resurrection stories created the Church.

But if Jesus truly rose, what did that achieve? Paul writes that Jesus was "raised for our justification" (Romans 4:25). Without the resurrection, the cross could not have secured our forgiveness. The cross and the resurrection are inseparably bound together in the doctrine of salvation.

The resurrection also declares that Jesus is "the Son of God in power" (Romans 1:4). If Christ is risen, then he is Lord and we are his children. This prompted me to create the following definition of a follower of Jesus that summarizes the historical view of every denomination:

A Christian is someone who believes in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ and lives in light of the implications of that event.

Those implications are profound. Resurrection power turns fear into love and despair into joy. It wipes away guilt and shame and brings forgiveness and freedom. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in every true Christian, awakening new life and relentlessly killing sin.

Christians will experience a bodily resurrection just like Jesus. Life is itself a terminal condition, so we might be forgiven for arguing that resurrection is the most important theme in the Bible, at least for our hope in the face of suffering and loss.

Years after writing this book, my confidence in this was tested by weakness and chronic illness. My body was not healed. Most of my life unraveled. I found myself asking: Do I really believe this?

Though my faith was faint at times, somehow my hope would not disappear. I found healing in worship, Scripture, and returning to the truths about the risen Christ I had written about here and in Hope Reborn: How to Become a Christian and Live for Jesus.

This book is for those intrerested in the evidence for Christianity, for believers who wonder if Easter has become overly familiar, for pastors who long to preach the resurrection with clarity and power, and for Christians who want to experience spiritual renewal.

If Jesus rose from the dead, it really does change everything. Just not all at once.

"Finally, a new generation of readers has a clear and highly readable book on the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
__Joni Eareckson Tada__