Life After Death & Resurrection

 

What is the Resurrection?

 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the resurrection is the cornerstone of Christian hope, the triumph over death, and the promise of life everlasting through Jesus Christ our Lord. Without the resurrection, the Gospel is incomplete. Paul declared boldly in 1 Corinthians 15:17, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” Today, we will explore what the Bible teaches about the resurrection—its definition, purpose, and promise.

 

Resurrection means to be raised to life again. Biblically, it refers to being raised from the dead with a transformed, incorruptible body, never to die again. It is not merely resuscitation, but total victory over mortality.

Jesus Himself is the first and foremost example. In John 11:25–26, Jesus proclaimed to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” This was not just a promise for the future—it was a declaration of His divine power and identity.

 

The resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee of our own resurrection. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:20, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Just as the first fruits in the harvest signify more to come, Christ’s resurrection ensures that those in Him will also be raised.

 

Jesus also foretold a future, general resurrection. In John 5:28–29, He said, “An hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and will come forth—those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” This tells us there will be two outcomes—resurrection to eternal life and resurrection to judgment.

 

Paul described the transformation that awaits the believer in Philippians 3:20–21: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body.” This is the resurrection body—a body free from corruption, death, pain, and sin.

 

The resurrection is also central to the believer’s sanctification. Romans 6:4 says, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” While the future resurrection is bodily, we experience a spiritual resurrection even now, walking in new life, freed from sin’s dominion.

 

Paul explained the order of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:22–23: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.” The bodily resurrection will occur when Jesus returns, and the dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

 

This glorious hope is not just theological—it is pastoral. When believers grieve the death of loved ones in Christ, we do not grieve as those without hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 reminds us, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.”

 

Let us hold tightly to this hope. The resurrection is not a fantasy or myth—it is a divine promise sealed in the empty tomb. It calls us to holy living today and joyful anticipation of eternity. Death has lost its sting because Christ lives. And because He lives, we shall live also.

 

To God Be the Glory

 

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3). Amen.

 

 

 

Referenced Scriptures (LSB):

 

1 Corinthians 15:17, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.”

 

John 11:25–26, “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?””

 

1 Corinthians 15:20, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

 

John 5:28–29, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and will come forth—those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”

 

Philippians 3:20–21, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by His working through which He is able to even subject all things to Himself.”

 

Romans 6:4, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

 

1 Corinthians 15:22–23, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.”

 

1 Thessalonians 4:16, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”

 

1 Thessalonians 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.”

 

1 Peter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”