What a great day it was for mankind when Jesus was born.  It was a day of rejoicing because it was the arrival of the Savior of the world.  An angel of the Lord appeared to some shepherds in a field and said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

While the birth of Christ was a long-awaited great day, Jesus came into this world for the sole purpose of dying for our sins.  Speaking about His death, Jesus said, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour” (John 12:27).

The death of Christ was not the end of the story.  In what is the foundation of our hope, Jesus was resurrected by the power of God.  Peter wrote of it in the following words:

1 Peter 1:3 (ESV)
³  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Why is the resurrection foundational to our hope?  It is because it proves that we, too, will be raised if we die before Christ comes back.  Jesus is the firstfruits of those who will rise from the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:20 (ESV)
²⁰  But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Since the resurrection of Christ is one of the reasons for our hope, someone may ask how we can be so sure that Jesus has really been resurrected.  Let me give you a couple of reasons.  First, He was seen by a multitude of people after He was raised.  He appeared, not only to His apostles after His resurrection but, on one occasion, He appeared to more than 500 people at once (1 Corinthians 15:4-6).  Did all these people lie about seeing Jesus, or were they all having hallucinations?  Not likely.

Second, we can be sure about the resurrection of Christ because we have the testimony of Paul.  The story of his conversion is told three times in the book of Acts (Acts 9:1-19; 22:6-21; 26:12-18).  While his conversion was completed when he was baptized in the city of Damascus, it began when he saw the glorified Christ on the road there.

There are very few reasons to deny the story of Paul’s conversion, and none of them are good.  Paul was either telling the truth about seeing Jesus, or he lied.  To conclude that he lied, one would have to come up with an explanation for why he would do so.  If He lied about it, would he have given up everything of value in his life, to follow Jesus (Philippians 3:7-8)?  Of course not.  The only other explanation would be that Paul went crazy, but the writings he produced after his conversion suggest otherwise.  His story is true—Jesus has risen.

Thank God Jesus lives.  His life is the hope of our salvation and our eternal home in heaven after a while (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; Titus 2:13; 3:7).

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.