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The Spiritual Meanings of Resurrection
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April 15, 2012 |
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 "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?'" (John 11:25-26)
The resurrection in the Bible doesn't just mean that one who was dead came back to life. It also means that the one revived lives forever without dying. Jesus was hung on the wooden cross for sinners and died shedding all His water and blood. But, on the third day after His burial He was resurrected and became the first fruits of resurrection. Furthermore, He lets anyone who believes in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ receive the blessings of the resurrection and gain eternal life.
Therefore, the resurrection is the best present given to Christians and there is no resurrection but through Jesus Christ. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will realize the spiritual meanings of the resurrection in your heart and run earnestly towards Heaven.
1. First, the resurrection represents the power which is manifested by God alone.
Even with the today's most sophisticated medical science, nobody can revive the decaying body that is already emitting a foul odor. But Jesus revived Lazarus who had been dead for four days. When He commanded towards the grave, "Lazarus, come out!" he was brought back to life (John 11:43-44). Namely, Jesus revived each of the cells that had stopped metabolizing and decayed. This is something that is possible only by God's power.
When the Lord comes back in the air, something more amazing will take place. The scene is described well in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. It says, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord."
'The dead in Christ' here means those who died while believing in the Lord. Some of them died hundreds or even thousands of years ago. But when the Lord comes back in the air, bodies that have long since completely decayed will revive. The body will change into a spiritual body and meet the Lord.
God is the one who does all these things with His power that created all things in Heaven and on the earth. With this power, God revived Jesus who had been crucified. He recorded the history of the resurrected Lord in the Bible so we can understand the characteristics of the resurrected body. He showed us the evidence of resurrection so the believers can really believe the resurrection did take place. Furthermore, God the Father is showing us the works of His power even today so we can believe in the resurrection.
One day, a female church member accidentally had boiling water spilled out over most of body. It resulted in the third degree of burns to her. Her skin was completely burned. There was no chance that the skin and nerves could be revived. But when I prayed for her, God created the new skin and revived the nerves that had been completely deadened. Additionally, people in wheelchairs and on crutches have experienced their dead nerves being revived and came to walk with no mobility aids. Even those people who stopped breathing completely and their bodies had already become stiffened came back to life again. As with all these cases, the resurrection can be done only by power and authority of the omnipotent God.
2. Secondly, resurrection represents the glory that God gives to us.
1 Timothy 6:16 says, "[God] alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen." He dwells in the spiritual realm filled with beautiful lights and rules over the whole universe. He is the Lord of lords who is worthy to receive all glory.
But God wanted to share this glory with us rather than enjoying it all by Himself. He planned for human cultivation so that we can also dwell in the space of beautiful lights eternally without death forever. God created the first man Adam as a living spirit, and He set him in the Garden of Eden to live, which is in a spiritual space. But the life in the Garden of Eden could not give men the complete glory that God wanted to give us. God the Father wanted Adam to dwell in the higher spiritual space where God was dwelling.
As a living spirit in the Garden of Eden, Adam had no concept of the relativity of things, so he didn't realize how precious and happy the life there really was. He realized it only after he disobeyed the Word of God telling him not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, was driven out to this earth and experienced tears, sorrow, diseases, and pain. Namely, only after he experienced the relativity of things did Adam come to love God who is love and truth from the bottom of his heart. Then he came to enjoy eternal happiness in Heaven.
Heaven is completely different from the Garden of Eden in its dimension. Heaven begins with Paradise and there are then the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd kingdoms of Heaven and New Jerusalem. The glory that God the Father wants to ultimately give to us is the glory of New Jerusalem. So, God sent to us His only begotten Son, Jesus, and He also sent the Holy Spirit without hesitation. He redeemed us from our sins through Jesus' blood, and He gave us the glory never to die, and even if we do die, He allowed for us to live again if we just believe in the Lord.
God blessed us in a way that we can enjoy such heavenly glory on this earth as well, to some extent. To the extent that we dwell in the Light, namely in the truth, He lets us realize and experience the things that can take place only in the space of the Light. He also lets us manifest the amazing power of God and receives glory through us. Once God receives glory, then He wants to share His glory with His children (John 13:32).
He wants us to get into glorious positions shining like the sun not just on this earth but also in Heaven. He desires it more than we do. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will participate not only in the glory of resurrection but also in the glory of New Jerusalem.
3. Thirdly, the resurrection represents the great love of God the Father.
We were people who couldn't even imagine living in Heaven. We were destined to be thrown into the eternal fire of Hell due to our sins. But now, we can eternally enjoy happy lives in Heaven because God sent Jesus to us and He paid the price of death on our behalf.
Jesus, who existed in the form of God, did not have any reason to take on a human body or to suffer death. But He submitted Himself to all those sacrifices to save us from death, even to being crucified to death. But because He did not have any sin, He was resurrected by the power of God.
Jesus said in John 11:25-26, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die." Through His resurrection, He gave us the hope to have spiritual bodies and to go into the eternal kingdom of Heaven. All this is the great love of God the Father.
God washed our sin-stained hearts and bodies with the blood of His Son. Then, He allowed us to call Him 'Abba, Father'. He is the God who is Light and goodness itself. He has also prepared beautiful dwelling places for us so we can have eternal rest. Just like parents who decorate the room for their children, He is preparing our dwelling places that are filled with the things that we want.
Dear brothers and sisters, once we have received His great love we must not ever crucify the Lord again. I hope you will strive against sins to the point of shedding blood and pull them out completely with a grateful heart to repay the grace of God. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will put on the shining resurrected body and be embraced in the Lord's arms when He comes back.
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