Not All Resurrections Are Flawless 

I thought I had witnessed a resurrection. My “smartwatch” that I wear to keep track of the number of steps I take each day had apparently died. The fatal incident had occurred while I was finishing some yardwork with others at our church. I concluded that it must have been the result of water getting on the sensitive instrument as I was using a leaky hose pipe. At first, I couldn’t get it to power up at all. However, after a day or two, it showed a few signs of life but with numerous quirks in its readout. At the suggestion of a couple of other people, I buried the watch in a small pile of rice in an attempt to draw out any remaining moisture. Afterwards I thought this procedure had been successful. I was ready to declare a resurrection. Everything seemed to be working normally. But it didn’t last. Soon my watch started exhibiting signs that there was still a problem and ended up dying again.

As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus this weekend, I am thankful that it wasn’t a temporary or flawed event. Jesus didn’t rise only to die again. As He declared in a vision to John, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore” (Revelation 1:18). The writer of Hebrews points out the importance of the fact that Jesus is a great high priest who lives forever, in contrast to human priests who only served for a short time before passing on from this life. “But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:24-25). The good news is that we still serve a living Savior today. He is even now alive and interceding for us before His heavenly Father.

Additionally, His resurrection wasn’t faulty in any way. It was perfect and complete. Jesus was raised from the dead in glory and power. And the Bible tells us that we will experience a similar resurrection one day. The remains of these physical bodies will be transformed into a glorious creation fit for eternity. “The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body (I Corinthians 15:42-44). As Jesus rose to live forever, so will we.

Unfortunately, the promise of our resurrection isn’t good news for everyone. While we all will be raised to live forever, the condition in which we spend eternity is dependent on how we responded to God’s grace during our years on earth. Jesus declared, “For the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28-29). We will be resurrected to face either the joys and blessings of God’s favor or the awful consequences of His judgment. It all depends on whether or not we put our faith in the resurrected Christ as the only One who can save us from our sins. Did we do good – receive God’s grace through Jesus and let Jesus enable us to live a holy life? Or did we do evil – reject God’s gift of salvation and live for ourselves?

Put your faith in the resurrected Jesus today, so that you can be assured not just of living forever like Him, but living gloriously in His presence and in God’s favor.