“An hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (John 5:25, ESV).
Since Jesus came to this world the first time and inaugurated the Kingdom of God on earth, the time has come when many “dead” people hear the voice of the Son of God and He grants them eternal life.
“Set your sights on the realities of heaven…For you have died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1,3, NLT).
Every once in a while we need to stop and remind ourselves that the life that we live in this world is not our real life. It’s a virtual reality and eternal life is the real reality. That’s why Paul admonishes us to “think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth” in verse 2.
“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you” (Romans 8:11, NLT).
The Apostle Paul describes Christians as people presently living in bodies that will die and be resurrected and then live forever.
“What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow–you are not sowing the future body, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain. But God gives it a body as He wants, and to each of the seeds its own body…For this corruptible must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal must be clothed with immortality…Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15: 37,53-54,58, HCSB).
Some in the Corinthian church were apparently denying the resurrection from the dead. The Apostle Paul argued that all they believe is in vain if there is no resurrection from the dead: “If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone” (vs. 19).
Paul informed the Corinthians that Jesus was indeed resurrected and appeared to all the apostles and on one occasion appeared to more than 500 people!
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“And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. Peace be with you, he said. But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!” (Luke 24:36-3,
After Jesus appeared to two of His followers on the road to Emmaus, He made another appearance to the eleven apostles and others gathered with them in Jerusalem at the very time these two were telling them about His appearance on the Emmaus road.
“Then the men asked, Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!” (Luke 24:5-6, NLT).
After Jesus was crucified one of the Jewish religious leaders, Joseph of Arimathea, removed His body from the cross and placed it in a new tomb carved out of rock. It was a tomb that Joseph had probably purchased as a family tomb in much the same way that we pre-arrange burial plots and funerals.
“Jesus replied, Marriage is for people here on earth. But in the age to come, those worthy of being raised from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. And they will never die again. In this respect they will be like angels. They are children of God and children of the resurrection” (Luke 20:34-37, NLT).
The Sadducees were a branch of Judaism that did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. To refute the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, they posed an ad absurdum argument to Jesus regarding a woman widowed seven times.
“The death of His faithful ones is valuable in the Lord’s sight” (Psalm 116:15, HCSB).
While Easter is the time we celebrate the Lord’s resurrection, we are also reminded that just as Jesus died and was resurrected, the only way human beings enter into eternal life is through the death of the physical body.
The Apostle Paul said, “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies” (I Corinthians 15:36).
Now, maybe it sounds morbid to say that death is the way to eternal life, but the fact is, you have to die to live eternally. As human beings, we strive for eternal life and death and resurrection are the means through which we enter into eternal life.
“Jesus shouted again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom; the earth quaked and the rocks were split. The tombs were also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And they came out of the tombs after His resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many” (Matthew 27:50-53, HCSB)
The death and resurrection of Jesus literally rocked the world in and around Jerusalem at the time these historical events occurred.
Jesus’s death and resurrection were of such cosmic proportions that nature didn’t know how to react.
God became human and was put to death by the humanity He created. When Jesus died, the earth quaked and rocks were split so that even tombs that held the bodies of dead people were opened.
But the full magnitude of the events occurred after Jesus was resurrected–like a tsunami caused by an earthquake at the bottom of the ocean.
When Jesus was resurrected, many of the saints in the vicinity of Jerusalem were raised from the dead and came out of the tombs that had been opened and actually entered the city.
When the One who was the resurrection and life was resurrected, it seemed that death and the grave could no longer contain the dead bodies of those who would one day also be resurrected!
Jesus’s victory over death guaranteed that God would also resurrect His people.
And Jesus can still rock your world today!
Catastrophic changes will occur in your life when by Christ’s death on the cross, God forgives your sinfulness, and then by the power of Christ’s resurrection, He transforms your old sinful life into a new life of righteousness and obedience to Him.
“But I know my living Redeemer, and He will stand on the dust at last. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh. I will see Him myself; my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger.” (Job 19:25-27, HCSB)
This verse is the ancient voice of Job telling us that his ultimate redemption is manifested in bodily resurrection.
Job proclaims that after his death he will see God in his flesh!
Job understood that without bodily resurrection there is really no redemption and that he, therefore, needed a Redeemer to expedite it.
The Apostle Paul described resurrection as “the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23, HCSB).
Bodily resurrection means our temporal, physical bodies will be transmogrified into imperishable or immortal bodies: “We will all be changed, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal must be clothed with immortality” (I Corinthians 15:51-52, HCSB).
Bodily resurrection is the fundamental premise of the redemptive plan of God for human beings and for the created order.
So, you don’t have redemption without resurrection! It’s a theological premise in which even us dummies can understand, believe, and rejoice! And Job got it–thousands of years ago!
The Apostle Paul asserts in his resurrection chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, how pointless redemption without bodily resurrection would be and explains that Christ’s resurrection is the model or prototype for our own bodily resurrection.
The Apostle John amplifies this theology of bodily resurrection with this simple yet profound declaration that almost seems to paraphrase Job’s pronouncement: “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is (I John 3:2, HCSB).
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