By Dr. Thurman R. Hayes Jr.

One of the most important chapters in the New Testament is 1 Corinthians 15. Toward the beginning of it, the Apostle Paul says, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4a).

Many scholars believe Paul is stating an early Christian creed in those verses, and he views this truth as of “first importance.” Why? Because it is the core of the Christian message. It is the gospel, the “good news,” that Christians believe. And what is that good news?

First, that “Christ died for our sins.” In the first two chapters of the Bible we learn that God created a world without sin, a world without death, a world in which his creatures enjoyed unalloyed fellowship with him.

But God’s perfect creation and the harmony of his people with him is marred by the entrance of sin in Genesis 3.

From that time on, we have had a sin problem. And the problem is not simply that we commit sins. The problem is that we are sinners. Deep within our natures something has gone wrong, something has gotten twisted. We sin because we are sinners. Moreover, our sins separate us from God, who is perfectly holy.

But here is incredibly good news: God loved us so much that He became a human being Himself, lived a perfect life in our place, and died in our place. He allowed our sin to converge on him, absorbing the penalty for it as our substitute. Christ “died for our sins.”

But if the cross were the end of the story, Christ would simply be another martyr who died for a cause. It is His resurrection that vindicates His claim to be God in the flesh and our Savior.

That is the second part of the good news, “that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day.” This is no “spiritual” resurrection. It was real, bodily resurrection.

Now how does that translate to you and me? In 1 Corinthians 15:20 the Bible says, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

The “firstfruits” were the first part of the harvest, and the guarantee that the rest was going to follow. Again, this is wonderful news for us: The resurrection of Jesus guarantees that the resurrection of all believers in Jesus is coming.

This does not mean that we simply “go to be with God when we die.” It means that Jesus is coming again to raise His people, and we will have new resurrection bodies, bodies no longer subject to aging or cancer or sin or death.

God’s original creation was marred by sin, and death was the result. But the new creation God launched with the resurrection of Christ reverses all that sadness. This is the glorious truth of Easter.

In The Return of the King, the Christian writer J.R.R. Tolkien affirms it like this, in a conversation between Sam and Gandalf:

“Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue?”

Because of Jesus … yes!

Dr. Thurman R. Hayes Jr. is senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Suffolk. Follow him on Twitter at @ThurmanHayesJr.