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.

1 Peter 1:3 (ESV)

The resurrection of Jesus Christ was such a significant historical event that it altered the course of human history and destiny.

The gospel we preached and shared would be indistinguishable from other faiths if Christ had not been raised from the grave. This is because the gospel's witness begins with an empty tomb, indicating that Christ died and rose again.

The miracle of the resurrection was witnessed by all four gospel accounts. At first, hardly everyone (including the disciples themselves) believed Jesus rose from the dead three days later. But, forty days after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to many people and provided compelling proofs of His identity. In total, about 500 people saw Jesus alive before He ascended to heaven.

Jesus died for our sins and He triumphantly rose for our justification. His resurrection assures us that our sin problem has been permanently resolved. This gives us the confidence to approach God with complete confidence, knowing that He will lavish us with His grace and mercy in our hour of need.

According to the Apostle Peter, it is because of Jesus Christ's resurrection that we have the hope of eternity with our Father God. Because Jesus lives forevermore and has defeated death, we have assurance of our future resurrection in Him. Just as we died with Christ, we will also be resurrected with Him and receive a glorious body in the same way.

Christ's resurrection has established us in a new and eternal covenant relationship with God. This is the promise of His sacrifice and victory at the Cross. As we pray with this understanding, we are no longer praying in desperation, but with the revelation of our identity as sons and daughters of God. Knowing that we have all things in Christ, let us learn to pray with all the right and privilege that is ours through the new covenant— and with all the authority and power that comes with it.