On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words.
Luke 24:1-8
Never-ending Life
Without the resurrection, there is absolutely no salvation. Jesus hung on the cross in agony, shame, and condemnation. If that’s the end of the story, then Jesus’ death is nothing more than, at best, an example of self-sacrificing love. Inspiring, perhaps, but futile and ultimately useless. But the resurrection is an act of God the Father vindicating His Son (Acts 2 v 22-24), showing that His sacrifice for our sins is acceptable and good. It is Jesus’ victory over sin and death, and it secures our forgiveness and right standing with God (Romans 4 v 25).
Having faith in Christ means staking your entire eternal destiny on Him. You say, in effect: “Where He went, I want to go”. Your life depends on Him having been raised from the dead. But if you don’t put your faith in Christ, you are saying that Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, and if you are wrong, the consequences are disastrous.
When you die, you will face God and answer for the way that you have lived your life. If you stand on your own record, you will face God’s wrath against you. But because Jesus defeated death by rising from the grave, our record can be replaced with His so that we can be welcomed into the presence of God. The resurrection is a demonstration of God’s delight in His Son; and since we are Jesus’ brothers and sisters, God delights in us, too. Our faith is not in vain!
Jesus’ resurrection also means that we have a certain hope of future bodily resurrection. Jesus wasn’t raised as a disembodied spirit—He had a glorified, physical body. He was able to tell His followers to “touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have” (Luke 24 v 39). He was able to sit and eat with them (v 43).
Now that our sin has been dealt with, there is nothing left to keep Jesus’ people in our burial plots. Jesus declares:
I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. (Revelation 1 v 18)
Stop and read that again; look at what Jesus is saying. Because He was dead but is now alive, He has the keys to death. He has the authority; He calls the shots; death listens to Him.
If you’re with Jesus, you are coming out of your grave someday to receive a glorified body, no longer subject to sin, decay and death. What Jesus has, you will have. You will be made alive just as He has been. The promise of the resurrection for Christ’s people is that death will be swallowed up in victory, its sting will be removed, and the grave will not be the end. Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and because we are His we will live with Him for ever, in a real, physical,perfected existence.
Take a minute to read these promises from the New Testament. Slow down and try to understand what each means. Take time to believe that these things are true:
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. (Romans 6 v 5)
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. (1 Thessalonians 4 v 14)
By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. (1 Corinthians 6 v 14)
Extract taken from Passion by Mike McKinley.
