Why is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ important?

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is an essential belief of Christianity. The Christian church was established and grew as a result of the disciples preaching, with the resurrection of Christ at its centre.
1 Corinthians 15:12-14 says: Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

Therefore without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Christian faith would not exist because the resurrection of Christ is an essential part of Christian doctrine.

Prior to His death on the cross, Jesus claimed the following “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).
Jesus was essentially declaring that the resurrection is not just an event or a phenomenon – but that Christ Himself is the source of life and the source of physical and spiritual regeneration.
Jesus then proves His claims by resurrecting Lazarus’ dead body from the tomb (John 11:38-44).

In John 10:17-18 Jesus said the following about His own death and resurrection: “The Father loves Me because I sacrifice My life so I may take it back again. 18 No one can take My life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what My Father has commanded.”

So later Jesus is crucified on the cross to pay for the sins of humanity and then on the third day, Christ resurrects and appears to more than 500 hundred people in bodily form (1 Corinthians 15:6).

The resurrection of Jesus is important for the following reasons:
1. It validates the claims Jesus made about Himself ie. that He was the Messiah (John 4:25-26); that He was God in the flesh (John 1:1-14); that He was the source of life (John 14:6).

2. The resurrection of Jesus proves His authority and ability to conquer death. This is essential because it proves that Jesus is the source of eternal life for all Christian believers (1 Corinthians 15:50-58). Therefore Christians do not need to fear physical death. In fact, the resurrection of Jesus motivated many early Christians to proclaim the gospel without fear of persecution or death. Because they saw the risen Christ, they had nothing to fear because they knew that after physical death, they would be eternally with Christ.

3. The resurrection of Jesus assures Christians that their sins are forgiven through Christ alone and that we are made right with God.
Romans 4:24-25 NLT says: For our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in Him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was handed over to die because of our sins, and He was raised to life to make us right with God.

4. The resurrection of Jesus proves the truthfulness of the Scriptures and the importance of the Gospel.
There are Scriptures in the Bible which prophesied the death and resurrection of Jesus centuries before His physical appearance, such as Psalm 71:20 and Isaiah 53:10-11. Therefore the authenticity of the Scriptures is validated.
Furthermore the resurrection of Jesus Christ is an important part of the Gospel message. Ultimately according to 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, the true Gospel relates to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in accordance with the Scriptures, so that He may save humanity from the eternal consequence of sin.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 says: For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

Conclusion
The resurrection of Jesus Christ gives people hope that God loves us and He desires to save humanity from sin. Salvation is a free gift possible because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:3-5 NLT says: All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.