If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. — I Corintians 15:17
In Fifty Ways Jesus Came to Die, John Piper says that Jesus’ resurrection didn’t merely follow His death, it was the seal of God’s approval:
Now what is the relationship between this shedding of Jesus’ blood and the resurrection? The Bible says he was raised not just after the blood-shedding, but by it. This means that what the death of Christ accomplished was so full and so perfect that the resurrection was the reward and vindication of Christ’s achievement in death.
Jesus’ death so satisfied God’s wrath that his resurrection was not the final payment but the reward for and vindication of that death. We can rest assured knowing that the shedding of Jesus’ blood fully covers our sins and that now he lives forever on our behalf.
Rockstanding 