Many Christians have little idea of the importance of the resurrection, but it is the only reason this faith exists. I doubt that we would ever have even heard of Jesus of Nazareth were it not for the resurrection. We can speak of new life in Christ only because of the resurrection. God is the God who creates life in the midst of death. He did it for Jesus, he can do it for the death we currently live, and, because he raised Jesus, Christians believe God will raise them from death when the kingdom comes in its fullness. God is the living God, not only because he is real, but because God alone is immortal, has life in himself, and gives life.

The "Eighteen Benedictions" (or the "Amidah") is an ancient Jewish prayer; most would say the earliest versions are pre-Christian. These benedictions give a wonderful description of God, especially the second, which I reproduce here:

You, O Lord, are mighty forever, you revive the dead, you have the power to save. You sustain the living with lovingkindness, you revive the dead with great mercy, you support the falling, heal the sick, set free the bound and keep faith with those who sleep in the dust. Who is like you, O doer of mighty acts? Who resembles you, a king who puts to death and restores to life, and causes salvation to flourish? And you are certain to revive the dead.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who revives the dead.

Four times in this benediction the expression "revive the dead" occurs—some translations use "resurrect the dead." In addition, two other references to resurrection occur: "keep faith with those who sleep in the dust" and "puts to death and restores to life." When one compares the description of Abraham’s faith in Romans 4:17–22, we find that Abraham’s faith was the conviction that God "gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist." God is the one who brings life in the midst of death. We will want to say other things too, but more than anything else this is the Christian understanding of God. That same conviction, I suggest, stands behind the passion predictions of Jesus. Knowing that his ministry would lead to his death, and informed by the words of Psalm 118:22, Jesus was fully convinced that God raises the dead. With assurance of vindication by God he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

J. R.Tolkien created the word "eucatastrophe" to describe the turn to hope, the moment of turning from darkness to light, from bad to good, from crucifixion to resurrection. (Check the third disk of The Return of the King, part 5.) This is precisely what happened with Easter: eucatastrophe—the time God created life in the midst of death. A meaningful Easter to all readers!