Last week we saw Jesus as the life, the restorer of the life of God to mankind because there had been a spiritual death in which we became separated from God and we needed restoration. Today we hear Jesus words “I am the resurrection and the life”, spoken in the face of the death of His good friend Lazarus in John 11:25. In the darkness of death Jesus places a lamp of hope. Because of the curse of sin “it is appointed for men to die once” Hebrews 9:27; our spirit has already been redeemed and restored to life with God as we saw last week, but the final redemption of our body will not occur until His return for His saints and we experience “the redemption of our body” Romans 8:23, when we “will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed” 1 Corinthians 15:52. Like He shouted to Lazarus in that tomb, “come forth”, so He “will descend from heaven with a shout…And the dead in Christ will rise first…And thus we shall always be with the Lord” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. While we cannot overlook the picture of spiritual resurrection and life in the Lazarus story, today’s emphasis is about our physical body as believers in Christ being changed, and the Bible emphasizes that if we have not fallen asleep in death at the moment of His return “we shall be changed” 1 Corinthians 15:52, cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:17, then “we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” 1 John 3:2.The order is first the spiritual, then the “physical”. The redeemed body follows the redeemed spirit, and following the spirit our lowly body will be transformed like “His glorious body” Philippians 3:21.Today I leave you with this question, Have you experienced His life?
Life in the way
By Rose hill
The whole world in darkness lives,
But Jesus has come and life He gives.
So take His offer of life today,
And walk in the straight and narrow way.
Scripture quotations are from the New King James version copyright …1982 by Thomas Nelson Co. Used by permission.