Resurrection
Reading: 1 Corinthians 15; Psalm 149
20 But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again. 21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, Adam, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man, Christ. 22 Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, the first man. But all who are related to Christ, the other man, will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised first; then when Christ comes back, all his people will be raised. 24 After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having put down all enemies of every kind. 25 For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. 26 And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15:20-26 NLT)
The fact is: Christ has been raised from the dead!
Resurrection is Hope! Resurrection is fact-based hope for something eternally better than the best and worst we experience in this life! Resurrection doesn’t promise that all will be well this side of death, nor that we will understand and make sense of it all. But resurrection gives us the hope-filled promise that no matter how bad it gets, even to death of dreams, death of those we love, death of our bodies, we will live again with Jesus Christ!
Resurrection is Victory! Resurrection is victory over the last enemy (death) and over every enemy between here and there! We will all face death, but death will not be our ultimate defeat. Death will lead us to resurrection, and there we will find victory in Christ Jesus over everything that has defeated us!
Resurrection is Life! Resurrection is life with no “sell-by” date. Resurrection is after death (so death has no more power over us) and resurrection is the introduction to a new kind, quality, and dimension of life that we have never experienced before and will never be taken away from us. “Christ was raised first; then when Christ comes back, all his people will be raised.”
Prayer:
Father, I’m writing about something I believe but don’t understand. You’ve given us glimpses of resurrection in the words of Job, David, Jesus, Paul, and so many others! I believe these words that tell the truth and I believe the truth of Resurrection. May faith grow and encouragement flow from these words! In Jesus’ Name!