On the day we remember on Good Friday, Jesus Christ was crucified, dead and buried. On the day we celebrate on Easter Day, Jesus was alive again, risen from the dead!
Resurrection is more than a dead body coming back to life. During his ministry Jesus brought Lazarus back to life, and the Widow of Nain and Jairus’ daughter. Dorcas came back to life through Peter’s ministry, and Eutycus through Paul’s ministry. Then Lazarus and Dorcas and Eutycus and others died again – and stayed dead. But when Jesus rose on the third day after he died, his new body was transformed. It was no longer subject to the limitations of his former earthly life. When He appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus’s appearance could change.
As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognising him. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight. (Luke 24:15-16, 31)
In His resurrection body, Jesus could move from place to place, appear and disappear, freed from the limitations of our mortality.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” (John 20:19)
Nature itself gives us pictures of the wonderful transformation of resurrection, like the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly, but so much more glorious! This is why we celebrate Easter with an egg – the symbol and embodiment of new life. And Jesus Himself gave us the picture of the seed falling into the ground and dying, but then springing to life again. Martin Luther wrote, “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.”
And the Bible promises in many places that everyone who believes in Jesus will share this experience of resurrection.
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:20-21)
This is our Christian hope. Jesus Christ our Risen Saviour will transform us into His likeness! He will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own.Think for a few moments about the glorious resurrection of Jesus Himself. Christ’s resurrection is the guarantee of the hope of OUR resurrection. Because He lives, we WILL live also !
