What is the Resurrection and Why Does it Matter?

Last updated March 23, 2026. Originally published April 14, 2017.

No other religion rises or falls on a single moment like the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Not a teaching, philosophy, or even a moral system.

For over 2,000 years, Christians have staked everything on the claim that a real man—Jesus of Nazareth—was executed under Roman authority, buried in a tomb, and three days later walked out of it alive.

If that didn’t happen, Christianity collapses.

If it did, everything changes because the resurrection is a reality that demands a response.

Good Friday

To understand the resurrection, we have to go back to a very specific Friday afternoon. This is what the Christian church calls Good Friday, the day Jesus Christ was crucified.

This is the day Jesus received the full punishment of the death penalty. In the Roman Empire, that meant being nailed to a wooden cross.

Before that, he was brutally beaten.

Roman soldiers used a tool called a scourge, or flagrum, a club wrapped with leather and had long leather straps embedded with chunks of brass, lead, and bone.

The person receiving this form of punishment would be strapped face-down to the ground, tied to a post, or suspended in the air.

A Roman scourging with this device was 40 lashes on the back—extreme by any standards that many people did not survive.

The scourge was designed to shred and rip the body, often exposing muscle, bone, and even internal organs.

The scourging was so severe that it was actually illegal for a Roman citizen to receive this punishment. Many of Rome’s enemies never even made it to the crucifixion because they didn’t survive the scourge.

This isn’t the “away in a manger” baby Jesus. This is Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man willingly paying for the sin of mankind.

…his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being, and his form marred beyond human likeness… Isaiah 52:14

This is how serious sin is.

This is what it looked like when God took it upon Himself—when He bore it for you, for me, and for every man, woman, and child.

Crucified

After all of this, Jesus was ridiculed, spat on, slapped, kicked and stripped naked.

In public.

By now, his flesh was shredded, his face swollen, and he was covered in blood. He was unrecognizable. Then a crown made with thorns long enough to pierce his skull was forced upon his head.

But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man. Isaiah 52:14

Jesus was then forced to walk to a hill overlooking a well-traveled road that led into Jerusalem. And in his condition, he was forced to carry part of the wooden cross that he would soon be nailed to.

Most scholars estimate that a Roman cross weighed about 300 pounds (136kg). The horizontal beam that Jesus had to carry strapped to his now shredded back would have been between 75 and 125 pounds (34-57kg).

After the scourging, Jesus should have been barely able to carry himself the 650 or so yards to Golgotha. Not to mention with a beam of wood strapped to his bleeding and badly wounded back.

Once they reached the hill, the Roman soldiers would assemble the crossbeam and the main beam on the ground. They would then lay Jesus on it, strapping his wrists and ankles to the wood.

After that, iron spikes were pounded through his feet and through each hand, possibly just below the thumb.

The cross was then stood up and heavily and forcefully dropped into a hole so that it would remain upright.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace… Isaiah 53:5

The cross had a ledge built into it below the feet that the crucified would intermittently push up on. This was to raise themselves just a few inches in order to take a breath of air into their collapsing lungs.

Typically, a victim’s legs were broken after they would hang for so long. Then, no longer able to take that breath of air, they would suffocate and drown in the blood that filled their lungs.

This is where we find Jesus on that dark Friday afternoon.

What’s So Good About Good Friday?

That’s a great question.

Good Friday is “good” because it’s the day Jesus willingly endured everything you just read.

He did it out of love for you, for me, and for every person who has ever lived or ever will live. It’s a kind of love we can hardly comprehend.

In that moment, as Jesus gave His life, something remarkable happened:

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. Matthew 27:50-51

That day was “good” because the price for sin was fully paid. Through the death of the Son of God, the barrier between us and the Father was torn apart. There is no greater news than this: we can be reconciled to God.

It was both the darkest day in history…and the most necessary.

At the same time, not every culture uses the word “good” to describe this day. In some places, it’s called Holy Friday or Silent Friday. In Germany, it’s known as Karfreitag, meaning “sorrowful” or “mourning” Friday.

The Resurrection

In the Roman Empire, those who were crucified were often discarded in common graves, which were large pits where bodies were left to decay.

But after Jesus died, His body was placed in a tomb. A massive stone weighing up to two tons was rolled in front of the entrance, requiring several men to move it.

And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. Matthew 27:59-60

Roman centurions were then stationed at that tomb.

This wasn’t routine. The situation had become politically charged, involving the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, and the Jewish religious leaders led by Caiaphas.

Jesus’ body was in this tomb through the Sabbath. Because the Passover had begun Friday evening, no proper burial preparation had been completed.

So early Sunday morning, several women went to the tomb with spices to finish what had been started.

But when they arrived, the stone had been rolled away.

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Matthew 28:5-6

Confusion spread quickly and scandal erupted.

Blame was pointed in all directions as accusations were pointed at Jews, Christ followers, and Romans alike. But one truth stood above it all:

Jesus Christ had risen.

Why the Resurrection Matters

The resurrection means this: Jesus has conquered mankind’s greatest enemy—death.

Because He rose from the grave, death no longer has the final word.

Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting? 1 Corinthians 15:54-55

The bondage of death came into the world because of sin. So in defeating death, Jesus also secured victory over sin… once and for all.

You’ll see this clearly in John 20 and 21. Don’t skip it. Read it.

The resurrection of Christ is the lifeblood of the Christian faith. It defines who you are in Christ and it shapes your identity as a Christian.

Without Christ crucified, dead, buried, and raised again, there is no hope beyond this life.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 1 Corinthians 15:17

Look at every sermon, every letter, and every book written in the New Testament. the message is the same: Jesus Christ is risen.

Too often, we reduce the resurrection to one Sunday each year and call it Easter.

But the cross is empty and his tomb is vacant.

This is a daily reality for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ.