Last Thursday, I did a study on the resurrection of Jesus with my international students small group. This morning, I read the 4th reason for why Jesus had to die, and I regret not printing it out for my group last Thursday! Piper’s explanation is so clear, and it reminded me of how proud I am of Jesus’ resurrection! How much we, as Christians, can boast in it!
Piper points out that the resurrection isn’t merely something that happened after Jesus’ death. For the death of Jesus was meant to be the blood of the covenant (Matthew 26:28). This means that the Promised Messiah’s shedding of blood (which represents death) and subsequently what Jesus said about His own death are meant to pay for sin and satisfy the holy curse for sin, which symbolises the new covenant of God. And how can we know that Jesus’ death indeed did that and wasn’t in vain? It is only by God somehow giving public declaration of His endorsement of what Jesus did on the cross as indeed paying for sin and satisfying the curse for sin, that we would know that Jesus’ death indeed was the blood of the new eternal covenant. (I apologise for al the ‘indeed’s!)
This public declaration of God’s is the resurrection. It was also a reward and vindication of Christ’s achievement in death. God raises Jesus from the death to say ‘Yes, this man is the Christ, the Messiah, and His death did achieve what He said it would achieve.’ As it says in 1 Corinthians 15:17, ‘If Christ had not been raised, your faith is futile ad you are still in your sins.’ The point is not that the resurrection is the price paid for our sins. The point is that the resurrection proves that the death of Jesus is an all-sufficient price! What a humdinger!
Again, if you would like to read John Piper’s Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die, you can download it for free from Piper’s website: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/OnlineBooks/ByTitle/2289_Fifty_Reasons_Why_Jesus_Came_to_Die/
life matters 
Am doing the 50 reasons, amaizing