It’s time to preach the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Actually, every Sunday is the time to preach the resurrection, but Easter is when we focus especially on the resurrection of Jesus. If someone asks, “What will you preach on for Easter?” the answer should be obvious.
Even so, preparing to preach on Easter Sunday brings specific challenges. First, Resurrection Sunday may disrupt your current sermon series. It’s not always easy to coordinate a preaching schedule with the lunar calendar. Second, Easter is usually the highest-attended Sunday service of the year. While this is a blessing, many who haven’t yet come to believe in the gospel will be in attendance. This makes Easter Sunday a unique evangelistic opportunity. Third, we have so many passages in Scripture that relate to the resurrection of Jesus. It’s hard to decide where to focus. So how should we preach the resurrection of Jesus on Easter?
Examine Old Testament prophecies
When we survey the Scriptures, we find passages that relate to the resurrection of Jesus in five ways. First, some Old Testament prophecies look forward to resurrection in general, and some refer specifically to the resurrection of the Messiah. The most famous in this category is Psalm 16:10, “For you will not abandon me to Sheol; you will not allow your faithful one to see decay.” The Apostle Peter applies Psalm 16:10 directly to Jesus in Acts 2:25-28. Passages like Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14 look forward to the end of death and are connected to Jesus’s resurrection by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:54-55. Passages like Daniel 12:1-13 look forward to a literal resurrection of the saints to eternal blessing, of which Jesus’s resurrection is the basis and first fruit.
A second group of passages in the OT that relate to Jesus’s resurrection are two healings by the prophet Elisha in 2 Kings. In 2 Kings 4:1-37, Elisha raises the Shunnamite woman’s son from the dead. In 2 Kings 13:21, a dead man’s body is thrown on the prophet Elisha’s decomposing bones, and the man comes back to life. These two death-defeating events associated with Elisha remind Israel of the power of God ministered through the prophets—power that raises the dead. Just as the prophet Elijah is a type of John the Baptizer, the prophet Elisha is a type of Jesus who raises the dead.
In Luke 7:12-17, Jesus raises the widow of Nain’s son from the dead. After that miracle, the crowd refers to Jesus as “the great prophet,” perhaps alluding to the Elisha account (Luke 7:16). Not only that, but Jesus is the Greater Prophet who defeats death by dying and rising himself (whereas Elisha remains dead). Sermons on these somewhat obscure OT events shed additional biblical light on Jesus’s defeat of death.
Turn to the narrative accounts of Jesus’ resurrection
Of course, we can and should preach on the narrative accounts of Jesus’ resurrection in the gospels. In each gospel, the resurrection is related in a few key episodes.
Or, if time allows, preach on each gospel’s presentation of the resurrection in a four-week series. These may be the most familiar resurrection passages, but don’t let familiarity with them detract from their beauty and helpfulness to the church.
Fourth, some passages in the New Testament explain and apply Jesus’s resurrection to believers. In Romans 4:25, we read that Jesus was “raised for our justification.” That short clause packs a considerable punch! God declares us righteous in His sight not only because Jesus died for our sins but also because He rose from the dead. In 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul argues that Christians would be fools and wasting their lives if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead. In verse 20, he specifies that Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruits of ours to come.
Even in Revelation, we find a vision of Jesus where he says to the Apostle John, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Revelation 1:17-18). Here our resurrected Lord offers hope to John in exile and churches seeking to follow Him in a culture where Christians were out of step. If your church needs encouragement, consider these passages as a great way to see the current benefits of Jesus’ resurrection in our lives.
Examine our spiritual regeneration and future physical resurrection
Finally, some NT passages apply Jesus’s resurrection to our spiritual regeneration and future physical resurrection. In Ephesians 2:5, we learn that we are made alive with Christ by faith. In 1 Peter 1:3, we are encouraged because, by God’s grace, we have “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Many other passages fit into this category, such as Galatians 2:20, Romans 6:1-4, Colossians 2:11-13, and more. In some sense, this group of passages focuses on the future benefit coming to us because of Jesus’s resurrection. That hope helps us today as we navigate life in a broken world.
We who serve the church by preaching have a tremendous privilege on Easter Sunday. As you exercise that privilege, consider some of the many ways God’s Word sheds light on the resurrection of Jesus for us. In the first century, Clement of Rome observed that reminders of the resurrection are all around us—even in agriculture. Note how he uses the growth cycle to illustrate how Jesus’s resurrection will bear fruit: “Let us behold the fruits of the earth, how the sowing of grain takes place. The sower goes forth, and casts it into the ground; and the seed being thus scattered, though dry and naked when it fell upon the earth, is gradually dissolved. Then out of its dissolution the mighty power of the providence of the Lord raises it up again, and from one seed many arise and bring forth fruit.”
May God bless the proclamation of Jesus’s resurrection and cause it to bear fruit!
Related:
8 Daily Devotionals from Palm Sunday to Easter
Ten Ways a Pastor Can Prepare for Easter
The Importance of Expository Preaching
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