Easter can be an embarrassing time for some ministers. Across the nations many preachers are faced with the difficult task of proclaiming the blessings of the resurrection – without believing a word of it!

My wife once heard such a sermon (not by me!). The minister spoke highly of Jesus – how he was a great moral teacher and a wonderful humanitarian. But what a tragedy, he went on to declare, that Jesus had to die – in the prime of his life and at the height of his ministry.

Astonishingly, this minister used as his text Paul's classic passage on the resurrection found in 1 Corinthians 15! He spoke of resurrection as the idea that we can always have a fresh start and, a new beginning. Unfortunately for Jesus, his opportunity for a fresh start had run out.

What a sorry sermon! It is a complete denial of everything that 1 Corinthians 15 teaches. There Paul declares that without the resurrection, there is no gospel, for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the resurrection are inseparably connected.

Paul follows a very simple line of argument. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. But if Christ is not risen, there are several serious consequences. First, the teaching of the apostles is overthrown and their preaching is useless. More importantly, the word of God is overthrown, for denying the resurrection makes God a liar.

The result in both cases is the same: our faith is vain. It's an all-or-nothing situation. If our faith is vain, we are still in our sin. There is no forgiveness and no salvation; and those who have died in Christ are lost. That is why Paul concludes that if our Christian hope only applies to this life, we are to be pitied more than all men.

While Paul spoke theoretically about what might be if there is no resurrection, his clear testimony and the testimony of Scripture are that Christ has been raised. While Adam's sin brought death into the world, Jesus has brought life and immortality to light through his death and resurrection.

Just as all those in Adam shall die, all who are in Christ and belong to him (vs. 23) shall be made alive. But notice how carefully Paul connects the two resurrections: Christ is the firstfruits of those that have fallen asleep.

The firstfruits of a harvest were to be offered to the Lord as an expression of confidence that God, who had begun the harvest, would bring it to completion. In other words, the firstfruits anticipated the arrival of the completed harvest.

Christ's rising as the firstfruits of the resurrection harvest is the initial portion of the whole. His resurrection marks the beginning of God's work of resurrection that includes both Jesus and those who belong to him. In fact, Paul views the two resurrections not so much as two events, but as two episodes of the same event.

That is why the gospel is the resurrection. The good news is that God's work of resurrection has already begun. We can have confidence that we will be raised because the resurrection harvest has already started – the firstfruits are already in! By virtue of our union with Christ in his death and resurrection we have died to sin and have been raised to new life. And the life we now live, we live in anticipation of our own resurrection when the same power that raised Jesus from the dead will give life to these mortal bodies.

Praise the Lord for the resurrection of Jesus! There is no hope without it.