The new life in Christ

 The joy of Easter still rings in my ears and in my thoughts. I can still hear those wonderful words, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen." (Luke 24:5b-6 ESV) He is not here. He has risen. Not "He will rise" or "He still has to rise," but He has risen. The event has already taken place. Jesus, the One who was crucified and buried, has risen from the dead. Never again will He die. Paul writes, "We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him." (Romans 6:9 ESV) New life, eternal life, never again to die.

Jesus is the risen and living one. John writes what Jesus says to the seven churches in Revelation. To Smyrna, we hear, "The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life." (Rev. 2:8 ESV) The living Lord! The living Savior. He died and rose again.

That is the focus of the message of the Gospel. Jesus came to pay the price of our sins, to suffer in our stead, to die for us and to rise again to life - to give to us forgiveness, faith and eternal life. That eternal life is more than just a hope. It is more than just an ethereal existence in some other form of being, some sort of spirit living in the air, floating around bodyless, as though the physical, the body itself is the problem and we have to discard the body in order to reach a higher level of existence. That is the teaching of the gnostics of the 1st and 2nd centuries, that wanted people to believe that all physical life was sinful and needed to be removed from you by some higher knowledge, so that once you reach that level, you no longer need the terrible, physical body. They would tell you that you are better off without it (even while living in this world, if you reached their level, you could then act however you wanted, because you transcend the physical and live in the knowledged, the gnostic level which frees you from responsibility for the physical actions - I know, a vague generalization but just wanted to say that.)

No, the body is not what we must be rid of. It is the sin that must be removed from us. And in Christ, that takes place. So when we die, this body, laid in the ground or cremated, is not the problem. Instead, there is more life to come. For Christ will raise these bodies from the grave, from the dust and will give to us a glorified body like His, to live with Him eternally in the new heaven and new earth (and there can be much discussion about what that means, but not here, not at this time). 

He rises. And in that resurrection, He assures us that we shall live also. I think of this as I prepare to go to a funeral of a Christian who died. The message needs to be one of the resurrection. Don't tell me about how good the person was. Tell me what Christ has done for her, that she has received forgiveness and salvation through faith in Christ, a gift given to her through the working of the Holy Spirit. Tell me about the new life she has in Christ. Tell me that she will rise from the dead, this body sown in sorrow will be raised in joy, this mortal body will be raised immortal. That is the message I need to hear. That is the message the family needs to hear. 

That is the message of Easter. Ringing loud and clear in my ears on this day. He is risen! And in Him, all shall rise again to life eternal! Praise be to God!