Resurrection is the key to Christian faith

Why is the resurrection the key to Christian faith?

1) Just as He said, Jesus rose from the dead, "For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead" (John 20.9). We can be confident, therefore, that he will accomplish all he has promised.

2) Jesus' bodily resurrection shows us that the living Christ, not a false prophet or impostor, is ruler of God's eternal kingdom.

3) We can be certain of our own resurrection because Jesus was resurrected. Death is not the end - there is a future life.

4) The divine power that brought Jesus back to life is now available to us to bring our spiritually dead selves back to life.

5) The resurrection is the basis for the church's witness to the world. For we partake in that same life - resurrection life.

Eternal resurrection life was imparted at John 20.23 when Jesus was resurrected, "Then He breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit'." God breathed the breath of life into man to create a soul life (Gen. 2.7) which made us different from all other forms of creation. Now, with the breath of Jesus came the power to do God's will on earth by the indwelling Holy Spirit that was received.

Before the veil was rent, the Holy Spirit could only come upon men, guiding them intermittently, but today, the Holy Spirit lives in the believer's spirit to provide continual revelation. This is not to say men were not saved before the veil was rent (before Jesus died on the cross), but that they could not have had the Spirit indwelling. People were saved prior, since John the Baptist and David and Moses were saved. They had new life which was eternal life, but could not know resurrection life since it was not yet available to mankind.

Resurrection life is available today to all whom would receive God's saving grace. It should be noted that today a person can not be saved by merely the Holy Spirit coming upon the person to move them either by common grace or limiting the movement of the unsaved. Just as during the dispensation of the law, salvation requires repentant believing - whether a look to the cross from the OT or back at the cross from the NT. One needs to be born-again when looking back at the cross. When looking to the cross from the OT time period, one receives new life, but they are not born-again are they? To be born-again is to have died on the cross with Christ and resurrected with Him in His baptism of the Holy Spirit for the Holy Spirit to indwell the regenerated spirit. If I am wrong about this, please correct me.

May I say this has been my experience which bears out in the Word and testified by the Holy Spirit in my spirit and in fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ.

Today when one believes, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell the believer. In the OT period, when one was saved, the Holy Spirit did not indwell the believer, yet they were given eternal life and would be resurrected at the last trumpet (1 Thess. 4.15-17).