Our Hope: Resurrection
For centuries, Christians held on to a magnificent hope which gave meaning and purpose to their lives. This hope gave them what they needed to endure through the difficulties of life. For the earliest Christians, Jesus' resurrection had a central place in their identity and life. Actually, resurrection was so central in their thinking about what it meant to be Christian that it even affected when they met during the week. Most of the earliest Christians were Jews, and the Jewish custom was to meet on Saturday (i.e. the Sabbath). Christians began a new tradition of meeting on Sundays because it was the first day of the week, and this celebrated that something new has started because of Jesus' resurrection. Their weekly gathering was a celebration of Jesus' resurrection.
Resurrection is central to what Jesus Christ has done and is still yet to do for our salvation.
Jesus claims that death will not have the final word - that death is not the end for those who believe in Him. He claims, "'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?'" (John 11:25-26). So we assume, "Oh okay, Jesus is talking about eternal life - that when we die we go to heaven to be with God forever." Right? Isn't that how we understand what Jesus is saying here? The problem with this is that Jesus has already explained what He means by death not having the final word for those who believe in Him. He is talking about bodily resurrection (i.e. resurrection of our physical bodies):
'Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment' (John 5:25-29).
Why is Jesus' resurrection so important?
Why do we insist on believing that Jesus was resurrected? If Jesus' death on a cross paid the penalty for our sins, then why does it matter that He was resurrected? The apostle Paul claimed that Jesus is the firstfruits of our resurrection (1 Cor. 15:12-28). Firstfruits is a sign or indication of something that is still yet to come in full. It is like making a down payment on a car or a house: you make the down payment as a guarantee that you will make the full payment in the future. Jesus’ resurrection is the indication (i.e. guarantee) that one day we too will be resurrected. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the pattern by which all of God’s people will one Day also be resurrected.
Our hope is bodily resurrection and the renewal of all creation when Jesus returns.
While we groan in this broken world full of pain and suffering, we who have faith in Jesus Christ do not groan as those who have no hope (Rom. 8:18-25). We know that this physical world will one day be restored. This includes our physical bodies. One day, our physical bodies will be transformed so that there will be no more pain. One day, those of us who have hope in Christ for a future resurrection will have bodies that will not get tired, get sick, decay and die. This earthly life is much more endurable if we are holding on to the hope that it will not always be this way.
Waiting patiently for resurrection is difficult. Our physical pain and suffering is real. But hope in a coming resurrection is certainly more tolerable than living like this life is all that we have, or that we are just waiting to float around on clouds forever in heaven. Even though in some sense our salvation has already been accomplished (i.e. Jesus paid the penalty for our sins on the cross), in another sense our salvation is not yet finished. Our salvation is not yet complete. We are waiting for bodily resurrection in a renewed earth. This is what we mean by "The hope of glory."
Our "hope of glory" is the very reason for our mission at Redemption Church. It drives everything we do.
The hope of glory is why we are insistent on being a Jesus-centered, gospel-proclaiming church. It is why we endure in our efforts to follow Jesus in this messed-up world. It is why we work hard at our jobs to contribute to the flourishing of this world that God cares so much about. This hope of glory is why we can have hope for the people around us. It is why we invite them to our church, so that they can hear about the good news that Jesus got up out of the grave. We want them to hear about Jesus' resurrection because we believe that everyone who is in Christ will one Day also be resurrected as He was. Jesus' resurrection is central to what it means for us to be Christian.
