Resurrection

John 11: 25-26 “25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” - NLT

Jesus’ resurrection is the cornerstone of our Christian faith. If not for the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus we merely are human beings making attempts to justify ourselves before the God of all creation. We would likely be failing miserably at this point. 

Jesus had to find a way in which to bring us back to life and into a right relationship with God. The English definition for resurrection is, the revitalization or revival of something. The something in this instance is us. You and I have received forgiveness for our sins and been given an opportunity at a new life found within this revival of our lives.

The great theologian and New Testament scholar NT Wright once said, ““The resurrection of Christ is one of the foundation-stones of Christianity. It was the seal of the great work that He came on earth to do. It was the crowning proof that the ransom He paid for sinners was accepted, the atonement for sin accomplished, the head of him who had the power of death bruised, and the victory won.” 

God has a victory in store for us. This comes through making everything new again. We will go through many of these words that will show how we are redeemed, restored, revived, released, and removed; all thanks to the work of Christ on the cross. When we place the “re” in front of a word as a prefix it literally means, “again” or “again and again” to indicate repetition, or with the meaning “back” or “backward” to indicate withdrawal or backward motion: regenerate; refurbish; retype; retrace; revert. The word surrection on its own means, upheaval (process of being heaved upward, especially of the earth's crust). So for Jesus to be resurrected from the grave, means that He was heaved upward, AGAIN!

How can we take this busy summer month and lean into our new creation in Christ? Is it possible that God did not simply intend to save us, but to change our life completely?
- Pastor Mike