Resurrection…What It Really Means (Mark 16)

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Resurrection-What does it mean?

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Have you felt overwhelmed by failure, discouragement, and insecurity as you try really hard to live as a Christian? Did someone promise you that your life would be a whole lot better if you just got saved, but you aren’t seeing any difference? You might be like many Christians who have a lack of understanding of two vital truths: (1) Christ’s finished work on the cross to secure your complete acceptance before God, and (2) “Christ in you” as the reality of daily Christian living. That is what Christ’s resurrection did for us and what we will cover in this blog.

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Christ’s Finished Work on the Cross

You may have a fairly solid understanding of God’s grace as it relates to your initial salvation experience. Your sins are forgiven, and you are going to heaven when you die. But if that’s all you know, you will have an incomplete understanding of God’s grace toward you and ignorance of the Holy Spirit’s role in your ongoing life as a Christian.

Let me assure you once again of this truth. By your faith in Christ, you are completely accepted before God because of Christ’s finished work on the cross. Done. No more need to feel insecure about that.

But, there is another very important thing that was restored to us that makes daily Christian living not only possible but also joyful. It was the main reason Jesus had to rise again from the dead even though His death on the cross secured your complete forgiveness of sins. You needed something else—the restoration of life. That is what Christ’s resurrection did for us. So, let’s examine Jesus’ resurrection. What did it mean then? What does it mean now?

Jesus’ Resurrection Is the Greatest Supernatural Event in Human History!

Does it bother you when you watch a new movie about Jesus’ life (or, even an old one) and the movie just falls flat when it comes to the resurrection appearances of Jesus? Sometimes, they get skipped altogether; other times portrayed as some kind of “voice heard only” type of thing. With all the phenomenal capability of Hollywood special effects, it seems that filmmakers could do (and would want to do) a fantastic job of portraying Jesus in his resurrected body and his real interactions with all those real people (500+) for 40 days (1 Cor. 15:3-8). The resurrection of Jesus is the greatest supernatural event in human history.

The empty tomb and the appearances of Jesus together are powerful evidence of the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. When the early Christians spoke of Jesus being raised from the dead, they were claiming that something happened to Jesus, which had happened to no one else ever! God raised His Son from the dead and gave Him a new physical body that would never die again.

This culture is wild about the supernatural, sci-fi and fantasy fiction. Yet, the resurrection of Jesus is the greatest real supernatural event in human history. God raised his Son from the dead and gave him a new physical body that would never die again—different from his friend Lazarus (John 11:38-44) who would experience death once again. So, why do we as a culture have difficulty believing that Jesus’ dead body was resurrected into an immortal but completely physical body that walked, talked, ate, drank, and could be touched as any human body could do? I think it is because we don’t really understand the true meaning of the resurrection and why Jesus had to rise from the dead.

Do you know why Jesus had to rise from the dead? Wasn’t the cross enough? Why is the physical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ essential to our faith? Couldn’t it have been some spiritual thing instead?

After 2000 years of Christians celebrating this human-history-changing event at Easter, many do not know the answer to these questions—perhaps because so much of our teaching centers on the cross and our sin problem. That’s only half the story, though. Understanding the true meaning of the resurrection gives us a proper view towards being human, towards life after death, and even towards our present purpose on this earth.

What the Resurrection Did Not Mean

Several years ago, I read The Resurrection of the Son of God by N.T. Wright, an insightful book that helped me to understand what the resurrection meant to those living 2000 years ago and for us today. I first learned what the resurrection did not mean.

  • The resurrection was not meant to prove life after death. Nearly everyone in the Roman world of Jesus’ day believed in some form of post-death existence—the soul living on after the body died. Just like today.
  • The resurrection was not the appearance of Jesus’ spirit or ghost. Even though the gospels clearly say this, people persist in viewing the event as somehow ghostly rather than physical. The term “resurrection” in that day and time meant receiving a new physical body after a time of death, never a way of talking about a ghost or spirit. That’s why it was so offensive to the Greek-influenced mind. To them, the body was evil; why would we ever want a new body?
  • The resurrection does not directly prove that Jesus is God. The Jews expected the resurrection of all the righteous before the kingdom was established; that wouldn’t prove that they were God. Jesus did not become the “Son of God” at the resurrection. But, the resurrection declared that what he did in his life and in his death was the work of God’s Son.

Eliminating those ideas leads us to what the resurrection does mean.

Purpose #1 for Jesus’ Resurrection—To Announce the Beginning of the Kingdom

The resurrection announced the beginning of the kingdom. Many Old Testament passages prophesied the resurrection. The Jews expected the resurrection to happen before the kingdom was established. You can look at these verses to see what was promised and their expectations:

Old Testament verses:

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. (Daniel 12:2-3)

But your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise—let those who dwell in the dust
wake up and shout for joy—your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. (Isaiah 26:19)

Jesus confirmed it:

Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. (John 5:28-29)

The Jews just didn’t know that resurrection would be a two-stage process—first, the Messiah resurrected, then later everyone else.

Purpose #2 for Jesus’ Resurrection—To Give All Believers Hope for Our Future.

We will one day be with God in heaven and receive a resurrected body like Jesus’ body. Jesus’ body was the same but different. One writer called it “transphysical,” meaning transformed physicality. Since we get a similar body, I wanted to look at this more closely. We get hope from knowing about Jesus’ resurrected body.

What was the same?

One of the most important facts is that, in His resurrection body, Jesus looked like a normal human (not glowing). That gives us a proper view towards being human. When God made a new body for Jesus, He didn’t choose a spotted owl or a whale or some alien life form. He created another human body. Remember that I said the pagan view was that the body is evil, and the soul is good. But God’s view is that the problem was not the body itself which He had purposefully designed. The problem was sin and death which had taken up residence in the body. Being an embodied human is good. What is bad is being a rebellious, decaying human because of sin and death. How do you view the body God gave you? You are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14-16). Jesus looked like a normal human.

As a human, Jesus talked, walked and preached a sermon at the same time (Luke 24). And He had memory.

He invited His followers to touch Him and see that He was real (John 20:17; Matt.28:9). He referred to Himself as having flesh and blood, using His hands to break bread and eat broiled fish. A lot was the same.

What was different?

Sometimes it was hard to recognize Him. Perhaps His new body was created to appear the ideal age for a man—whatever that might have been for Adam, perhaps the perfect 25-year-old! That would have changed His looks considering He died as a 30-something. God left the scars on His hands, side and feet to be obvious means of identification.

Jesus could appear and disappear at will. His body passed through grave clothes, a rocky tomb, and walls where the disciples were meeting behind locked doors. It’s as though there is another dimension we don’t see that exists alongside the one we do see. That would explain several things in the Bible.

His body was physically robust. After all, He walked and preached a sermon for a good part of the 7 miles to Emmaus two days after He was severely beaten and crucified!

Jesus is reigning over His Kingdom from heaven as God-man UNTIL He returns to set up His kingdom on earth (Acts 1:9-11). While waiting for that time, Jesus’ resurrection gives us hope for our future.

To read more about Jesus’ kingdom, read the article, “Mark 1 • Jesus and the Kingdom of God.”

Jesus’ resurrection gives us hope for our future.

Understanding the true meaning of the resurrection gives us a proper view towards life now (UNTIL he returns or I go to heaven before then). We get a proper view towards our future.

  • The Bible teaches that when you as a believer die, you go immediately to be with Jesus. You can be confident of this. Luke 23:43; Philippians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 5:8-9; John 17:24
  • You will be in God’s hand, in a prepared place, where you will receive comfort and be recognizable. Acts 7:59-60; John 14:2-3; Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 6:9-11
  • You will enjoy all the blessings of being there. We have the hope of reunion with loved ones and a wonderful new life to enjoy forever.
  • And you will get a resurrected human body like His. Perfect, sinless, robust, and designed for eternal life.

That’s the hope that Jesus’ resurrection gives us for our future. But God had a plan for our lives today.

Purpose #3 for Jesus’ Resurrection—Providing a Solution to Our State of Spiritual Death.

I said earlier that it wasn’t enough for Jesus to die on the cross, even though His death secured our complete forgiveness of sins and acceptance in God’s sight by faith in Him. Jesus had to rise again from the dead because we needed something else very important. We needed the restoration of life. That’s called regeneration. Dead people need regeneration of life.

The need for life

The resurrection is God’s solution to man’s state of spiritual death. Human beings had 2 problems. The first problem—a sickness called sin, which caused the second problem—death, physical death and spiritual separation from God. Jesus’ death on the cross was God’s solution to the sickness—sin. Jesus had to physically die because physical death was the penalty for sin (Romans 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:21-23). The resurrection declares that the debt for sin has been paid and accepted (Colossians 2:13-14). The sickness has a cure. What about the death problem?

God’s solution to man’s spiritual death is to restore life to him/her. That’s called regeneration. Believers receive life. We are cleansed and made new creations when God plants his Spirit within us. Jesus completely identified with us in our humanity, our sin, and our death, so that we could be totally identified with him in His resurrected humanity, His righteousness, and His life.

The empty tomb and the appearances of Jesus together are powerful evidence of the fact. When the early Christian spoke of Jesus being raised from the dead, they were claiming that something happened to Jesus, which had happened to no one else — ever!

Regeneration is…

Regeneration is a term often used to describe the restoration of a thing to its pristine state, as in the restoration of a piece of furniture or a car. In the New Testament, regeneration primarily refers to the restoration of spiritual life to one who is spiritually dead. All humans are born spiritually dead. Paul wrote about our life before Christ in Ephesians chapter 2. We were

“dead…gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts…without hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:1-3, 12)

Not a pretty picture, is it? As an unbeliever, your problem was not just that you were a sinner in need of forgiveness. You were dead and in need of life!

Jesus said that He came to give us life, abundant and full. In John chapter 3, Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be “born again.” Everyone is born once in the flesh (physical birth), but salvation requires a new life-giving experience, being born of the Spirit. In John chapter 5, Jesus declared that anyone who believes in Him is given this new life, crossing over completely and permanently from death to life. Paul wrote that we are made alive in Christ and are a new creation from that moment onward. John 3:3-6; 5:24; 10:10; Ephesians 2:5; 2 Corinthians 5:17

But how do we get this new life?

Restoration of life by the indwelling Holy Spirit

In John chapter 14, Jesus promised that God would give the Holy Spirit to us to be with us and in us forever. It is the Holy Spirit who makes our spirits alive through His presence. John 14:16-17

Resurrection brings life. And, this life of Christ is in you, dear believer. Paul described this in Colossians chapter 1 verse 27 as “Christ in you.” “Christ in you” is a fact of your new existence. It happens at the moment of salvation (Romans 8:9) and lasts forever. We are made alive…no longer dead. This begins a new adventure of learning how to live with Christ in us and depending upon Him to do anything of value.

This new adventure is part of God’s purpose for us on earth. God didn’t take us to heaven right away when we were saved because we have a purpose here. We are here by God’s design to follow Jesus as His disciples and to live for Him as disciplemakers. That means intentionally sharing our faith with others, leading them to Christ, and helping them grow in their faith so they can reach their peers for Christ. We do that through His power in us—the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

You Are Made Alive…No Longer Dead.

Because of God’s great love for us, He takes humans like you and I who were once spiritually dead and makes us alive in Christ. It is His love that does this. It is His grace that gives this. It is His power that makes this happen. What a gift!

Dear Christian, you can know and live with confidence that God’s life is now indwelling you forever. You are alive in Christ. Christ is alive in you. Now you can enjoy the life given to you by Christ Himself. Thank God for His indescribable gift of life to you. And, consider all the benefits of having His life in you. Through this life, you will experience freedom and joy.

Read more about His life in us in this article, “Regeneration—Made Alive…No Longer Dead.”

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest supernatural event in human history. Life-changing. Life-giving. Because of His resurrection, we get eternal spiritual life now and the promise of eternal physical life in our future—a new physical body that far exceeds anything we have ever known here. And, this same Jesus is in His physical human body in heaven waiting for us to join Him there some day. That is HOPE!

Let Jesus satisfy your heart with hope, healing, and love as you get to know Him and trust Him more each day.

Image credit: open source from rethinkcommunications.org (resurrection.jpg)

AI was not used to generate this post.

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