Listen to Nancy’s answer recorded live on Moody radio, here:


The idea of a man being pronounced dead and coming to life after being buried in a tomb for three days is humanly impossible. It is the main reason why so many people today do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus. What they do not understand is that Jesus is no ordinary man. He is the Son of God. 

For a man to die and then come back to life, never to die again, he would have to be God. Jesus claimed to be God and predicted that He would be killed and rise again after three days. 

John 2:19-21 states, “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking about the temple of his body.”

The prophet Isaiah spoke 800 years before Jesus’ death on a cross about why it matters. 

“Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4,5).

If Jesus did not bodily rise from the grave, then the words of Jesus and the prophets who predicted His death and resurrection would be frauds, lunatics, or liars. 

Paul says it best in 1 Corinthians 15:12-21, “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.”

Because Jesus died and rose again, we have peace with God. Jesus paid the price for our sins. When we believe in our hearts and soul that He died and rose again, we will not have to pay the price of eternal death for our sins. We receive God’s complete pardon. Instead of being enemies of God and deserving condemnation, we are reconciled to Him and become His child because of our faith in Jesus, our Savior. That’s why it matters.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1,2). 

Because of our belief that Jesus is the Savior of the world who died for our sins, we access God’s grace, not by works but by faith. As Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness, God’s grace and pardon are given to us. That’s why it matters.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

It matters because when we believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we also have hope, meaning the assurance, and certainty, that when we die, we will go to heaven and be with Jesus, in perfect peace, for eternity. 

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you” (Romans 8:11). 

 “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3–4). 

 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

That’s why it matters!