WEDNESDAY 7 April 2021 “Resurrection for me?”

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Good Wednesday morning to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends.

Thanks to modern medical procedures, therapies, medications and incredibly talented medical people, amazing things can be done in the face of illness and approaching death in 2021 almost everywhere in the world, right? Modern medicine can delay death, can transplant almost every part of our body, including our heart, and with machines can even keep us ‘alive’ when all normal functions of our body have ceased. But modern medicine cannot bring a person back to life who has been dead several days! There is no course in medical school called ‘resurrection therapies’.

In the weeks following the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, we have record of His friends, the disciples, being together often. I presume THE major topic of conversation each time they gathered was the resurrection of Jesus and the implications for Jesus, for them and for the world. I imagine they often talked about the remarkable reality that not only was Jesus alive, but He talked with them, He invited them to touch Him to be sure it was really Him in a real body, and perhaps most amazing of all, His horrific wounds, inflicted in His beatings and crucifixion were all healed!

Luke gives us this perspective on one of those times that Jesus appeared to His friends: “While they were together talking about this, Jesus Himself stood among them and said to them ‘Peace be with you.’ He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at My hands and my feet. It is I, Myself! Touch Me and see, a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. Then He asked them, ‘do you have anything to eat?’ They gave Him a piece of fish and He took it and ate it in their presence…” (Luke 24:36-43)

2000 years later we celebrate the resurrection at Easter time as a spiritual reality upon which we base our Christian faith and hope. But may I ask you… how much have you wrestled with the reality of the physical resurrection of Jesus, His healed body, and the experiences the disciples had when they were with Jesus AFTER His resurrection?

Jesus invited them to touch Him, especially the nail scars. Jesus even asked them for food and ate it in their presence. And yet John tells us Jesus came among them even though the room was locked! “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them…” (John 20:19)

How do you explain that my friends? If Jesus’ resurrected body was real, flesh and bones, and they touched Him to confirm it, then how does this resurrected Jesus come into a room with no windows and the doors locked?

Dr. Luke begins his book titled “Acts” with this statement: “After His suffering, Jesus presented Himself to the disciples and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom. On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about…” (Acts 1:3,4) Don’t you love that phrase of Dr. Luke’s, “…many convincing proofs that He was alive.”? So I have a question for all of us today… what are the ‘convincing proofs’ that God has used to convince your mind and heart that Jesus did rise from the dead, that His body was healed, and He did appear several times to many different people? What has convinced you this is true?

Have you wrestled with this thought: Resurrected Jesus appeared many times to several different people; invited people to touch His resurrected & healed body; had extended conversations with people and even ate food with His friends for the purpose of helping US, you and me, and all who have trusted in Jesus since that Easter, but have never SEEN Him, gain some insight into our own, future resurrection?

Jesus promised Martha that Lazarus, and any who trusted in Him, would experience resurrection after death, remember: “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in Me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die (perish).” (John 11:25,26)

The Apostle Paul spent almost his entire 15th chapter of his first letter to the Christians in Corinth, explaining the resurrection and resurrected bodies everyone will receive who has trusted Jesus to be their Savior from their sin condemnation. May I urge you my friends to take the time today to read that entire 15th chapter carefully, giving serious thought to what it means for YOU both now and after your death?

Listen to this statement of Paul’s: “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly man so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. I declare to you brothers that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery. We not all sleep (die) but we will all be changed, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed…the mortal will become immortal…” (1 Corinthians 15:49-54)

May I give you one other key Scripture to consider with this? 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 “We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. According to the Lord’s own word we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. for the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Encourage one another with these words!”

Do you understand the resurrection of those who believe in Jesus and His resurrection? When our bodies die, our souls & spirits keep living. For Christians, our souls & spirit go immediately into God’s presence. That’s why Paul uses the word ‘departure‘ when describing death for the Christian. One day in the future, the resurrected Jesus will return to earth, bringing with Him the souls & spirits of the millions of Christians who have ‘departed’ and are in heaven.

As Jesus returns here, there will be a global resurrection of ALL Christians who have died prior to that moment, and their souls & spirits will be united with their resurrected, healed, heavenly bodies… just like the body Jesus was resurrected with! Then any Christians who are alive at that moment will receive their heavenly body, and all will join Jesus forever in His presence.

We will have resurrected bodies very similar to Jesus’ resurrected body. That is one of the main reasons Jesus appeared so many times to His friends… so they could begin to understand what their, and our resurrected bodies will be like!

Now I think that’s a great place to stop for reflection today. I urge you to read 1 Corinthians 15 carefully, and then spend some time thinking about what it means to live TODAY in the FREEDOM from sin which Jesus has accomplished for you in His Easter death and resurrection. And then think about what it means to live totally confident that resurrection awaits you and a new heavenly body, and eternity with the resurrected Jesus!! Oh my!

And then spend some time talking with Jesus about the glorious resurrection eternity HE has planned for you, and me and millions of us who have trusted HIM and His resurrection! I have found a new song to help you ponder all this. . .

Today’s Scripture is 1 Corinthians 15.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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