It was still dark on Sunday morning, the first day of the week, when Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Salome, carried spices to anoint Jesus’ body. As they walked, they wondered how they would gain access, but found an open tomb. The bolder had been rolled away. Looking inside, they saw that Jesus’ body was gone. Angels appeared to them to say, “He is not here: he has risen!” The women ran to tell the disciples. Unable to believe the women, Peter and John ran to the tomb to see for themselves. They saw the empty tomb. The strips of linen, once used to wrap Jesus’ body, were neatly folded by themselves on an empty slab.

Resurrection:

• The act of rising from the dead
  
• Capitalized – the rising of Christ after His death and burial

Jesus told the disciples he would die and rise again but they hadn’t understood. They had a hard time believing in the resurrection.
Jesus pointed to the resurrection and the eternal life all believers enjoy in Him in Matthew 22:31-32.
If his followers had been taught the teachings of the prophets, they didn't remember or hadn't understood.

• David believed in the resurrection some 900 years before Jesus. In Psalm 17:15, he wrote to God, “And I – in righteousness will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing you likeness.”
  
• In about 700 B.C. the prophet Isaiah told of the resurrection with the words “your dead will live, their bodies will rise, and the earth will give birth to her dead.” Isaiah 26:19
  
• Daniel wrote in 535 B.C. “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” and “you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.” Daniel 12:2, 13

The resurrection of Jesus serves as the promise to each of his followers - all those who put their faith in Him. We will also live again after physical death. It guarantees us eternal life with him. Jesus told his disciples that when He went to be with His Father, he would send a helper to be with them. That helper is the Holy Spirit. He resides within believers as a seal guaranteeing salvation. John 16:5-15

Most days I am much too close to this physical world. I tend to let the important things get crowded out of the first place slot in my mind. Sometimes I have a hard time believing in the resurrection. I need a constant reminder of that promise. Let me make it clear - in my own mind and to anyone close. There is nothing more important than Jesus' sacrifice for my sin. There is nothing more exciting than my own rebirth when I received Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit came to reside in me. There is nothing worth celebrating more than the knowledge that life after death is real.