Easter 2013 has just passed and I've been ruminating on the whole message of the resurrection. Being a Christian means believing the impossible! We believe in an invisible, eternal God; a God no one has ever seen and who has always existed. He has no beginning or ending, yet we believe not only that He exists, but that He is personally interested and involved in our lives. Impossible!? Trinitarian teaching complicates this impossibility even more by insisting that there are three separate and distinct persons which make-up the nature of the Godhead. All three persons of the Trinity are equally God, yet there are not three Gods, but One. And if that's not impossible or illogical enough, the 2nd person of this Trinity is both man AND God simultaneously! Trinitarianism maintains that this "mystery" of God is what sets Christianity apart from all other world religions. To that assessment I heartily concur... it does set it apart. The problem though is that it sets it apart from reason as well. It creates not just an impossibility, but a logical contradiction. Is it necessary for Christians to be set apart from reason? More important, does the Bible make those declarations about His nature? No, it does not.
In a nutshell, the invisible, eternal God, revealed Himself to the world through a son, a man He appointed (Heb 1:1-2, Acts 17:31). Because this man, His only begotten son, was obedient and successful in overcoming every temptation to sin (Heb 4:15), perfectly reflecting God's image (Heb 1:3), God raised him from the dead and made him Lord over all (Phil 2:9-11). Over all except for Himself, of course - 1 Cor 15:27-28. Now, we're still talking impossibilities here, but there is no need to go further than what is written in the Scriptures. There is no contradiction in the above statements. God is still invisible and eternal, one single person, or entity. Our salvation is founded on knowing Him through the one He sent, and on believing that God raised him from the dead! (John 17:3, Rom 10:8-9) The only other impossibility involved in the Christian faith is our hope, ie. the hope of resurrection. Because Jesus lives, we are told that we too will be raised from the dead to live forever, and to reign with King Jesus in the age to come. Impossible!?
Traditional, orthodox Christianity, has made much of Jesus birth (the incarnation) and deity. According to the creeds he (Jesus) is "very God of very God". But the Bible says little about his birth - just a couple of chapters in two of the four gospels - and nothing at all about his deity, except what is inferred by the doctrine of the Trinity! What it does say clearly however... what it makes as the central issue of Christianity, is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. An impossibility to be sure, but not a contradiction! Now when I say impossibility, of course, I mean impossible with men. But with God, all things are possible. It is a matter of faith, but faith does not require acceptance of a contradiction. The validity of Christianity as a credible religion hangs on the veracity of the resurrection. If Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, the apostle Paul says, then we are still in our sins and have no hope of life beyond the grave. (see 1 Cor 15)
There was a time when resurrection was little more to me than a word. I'm not referring only to my life prior to conversion, but as a believing Christian. And I'm certain that I'm not alone in this matter. Somewhere in history, the focus of our hope moved from the resurrection of the dead, to death itself! Because the majority of traditional Christians believe that they will go to heaven when they die, resurrection has lost it's impact. This idea of the soul leaving the body to go directly into the presence of God at death has relegated resurrection to a reuniting of the soul with a new body when Jesus returns, all the while living with him in heaven (without bodies?). Even if one believes that the "spiritual" body Paul speaks of in 1 Cor 15, is literally an unseen ghostly body, it renders the purpose of a new body at resurrection pointless! But the fact is, this whole scenario of a soul leaving the body and going to heaven at death, changes the fundamental meaning of death AND resurrection!
The basic definition of death is "cessation of life". When death occurs, life ceases! It is not just a body that expires and stops functioning, it is the entire person who dies. This is why Paul calls death an enemy! When Jesus died, he really died. He didn't go anywhere or do anything as a disembodied spirit, he just lied there in the tomb. But the good news is that God raised him up out of that tomb. He was resurrected! That's what resurrection means. It means to get your life back after being dead! Over and over, when the Bible speaks of the resurrection of Jesus, it uses the term "from the dead". This is significant because "the dead" is a plural noun in the Greek text. It literally means "the dead ones"; ie. dead people, not living spirits. Further, the word "from" is a preposition meaning "out of" or "among". The point should be clear. Jesus was raised back to life from among all those in the state of being dead.
If Jesus didn't really die in this basic, literal sense, then it couldn't be said of him that he should "taste" death for all men. (Heb 2:9) And if Jesus didn't literally and genuinely die, he couldn't have been resurrected! But he really was dead, and now he lives! Further, the good news is that we who have repented towards God and have faith in Jesus, who believe that God raised him from the dead - we Christians - are given the promise - the hope - of resurrection as well! Paul says that Jesus is the "firstfruits" of those who sleep (1 Cor 15:20-23). Firstfruits simply means that Jesus was the first one to be raised from the dead, never to die again - there are more to follow! That's me... and you too, if you're a believer! Hallelujah!!
Further, sleep is a metaphor for death. Think about it. Why would death be referred to as sleep if we were present with the Lord in a state of acute awareness? When you sleep you don't know anything, it's as though you don't even exist. Time passes without awareness. What a wonderful thought that when death comes, time will have no meaning, and the next thing we experience is being awakened when God calls us! (John 5:28) And not only will we awaken when we hear His voice, we will awaken with new bodies which God will provide - a body just like that of the risen Lord Jesus (Phil 3:21). This is the "spiritual" body that Paul refers to in 1 Cor 15.
So, the resurrection, for me, means LIFE! Life now, and life in the age to come! Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life, if any man believes in me, even though he dies, he will live." (John 11:23-26) To "sleep in Jesus" or be "dead in Christ", is to have the assurance that we will arise from death at his return, never to die again. (1 Thess 4:13-18) Because of this hope I have purpose in this life. I have a real incentive to follow Jesus' example and learn obedience to the Father. I have no fear of death because I know that nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus! (Rom 8:37-39). The resurrection is no longer just a word, or idea to which I give lip service, but the focus of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. In the words of that old song,
Because he lives, I can face tomorrow
Because he lives all fear is gone
Because I know, I know who holds the future
And life is worth the living, just because he lives.
This is what the resurrection means to me!!
