Christianity stands or falls with the fact of the Resurrection. Did Jesus rise from the dead or not? The Jews denied he rose, while Muslims are wont to deny that he was actually crucified. However, the witness of history is that he was crucified by the Romans, buried, and rose from the dead on the third day. The remarkable thing about his resurrection was that the disciples weren’t expecting it. His rise was an astounding surprise to them even though he had foretold the incident long before his death. They simply couldn’t figure it out. It had never happened before.

The resurrection of Jesus emboldened the disciples to proclaim his teachings. They now knew, without a doubt, that this was God himself. Of course, Peter had made the confession weeks earlier that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. But now it was beyond all doubt.

The Resurrection birthed the Christian church. After the incident, Jesus commissioned the disciples to teach all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). And this is the mission the church has been about till today.