Understanding the Resurrection

Why We Struggle with Death

Many of us avoid thinking about death. A 2021 YouGov poll found that 75% of people think it's rational to fear death, 72% report increased anxiety about losing loved ones since COVID, and 42% admit they're actively afraid of dying. This hesitation runs deep in our culture.

The Bible offers us clarity on why death feels so wrong: we were never meant to die. Death is a harsh reminder that we live in a broken world. It represents separation—body from soul, individuals from family, the living from the dead. It carries the mark of the enemy and should be lamented and opposed.

Yet the Bible's answer to this sting of death is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Resurrection 101: The Basics

Let's establish what we mean by the resurrection. The Bible tells us that Christ died according to the scriptures, was buried, and rose again on the third day.

It was a bodily resurrection. Numerous historical sources—many non-Christian—confirm Jesus died. He was buried with witnesses present. Yet his body could not be produced. Then a group of despondent disciples suddenly and consistently reported seeing Jesus risen from the dead. This is not how hallucinations work. They were so transformed by his appearance that they proclaimed his resurrection even unto death.

It was a resurrection to everlasting life. Unlike Lazarus or the widow's son raised by Elijah in the Old Testament—who would eventually die again—Jesus was raised to imperishable, eternal life. This was the first resurrection of its kind, though not the last.

It is utterly core to Christian faith. Paul writes that faith is futile without the resurrection. The resurrection is to Christians what water is to fish—it's what we're born into, what sustains our existence. Without it, we cannot survive.

The resurrection and the cross form one Christ event. They make no sense without each other. The cross purchased what the resurrection applies.

Looking Back: The Cross Vindicated

The resurrection vindicates everything Christ accomplished on the cross. Think of it like exam results day: it reveals the outcome of what was already achieved, not creating something new but demonstrating what has already occurred.

In verses 12–18, Paul explains what would be true if Christ had not been raised: futile faith, perished people, people stuck in sin, a dead deliverer, pointless preaching. But the resurrection shows all of these fears to be false. Paul also writes in Romans 4 that "Jesus was raised for our justification"—meaning that through faith united to him, we are declared to be in the right and made alive.

The resurrection implements what the cross began. It's like inauguration day: when a president is sworn in, there's vindication that they've won, but more importantly, it begins their presidency. It inaugurates a new era.

Jesus is described in verse 20 as "the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep." First fruits are a sign of the harvest to come. When daffodils bloom in spring, they announce that winter is ending and announce what is coming—better weather, new life, growth.

In the same way, the resurrection of Jesus announces that God's new creation has begun in him. It promises better days to come. And if you follow Jesus, if you're a Christian, you are not who you once were. The power of sin and death has been broken over your life. You are a new creation in him. He is remaking you in his image. He sends his Spirit to empower your life, and one day he'll bring it all to completion.

"For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:22)

The resurrection is a reminder of the now and a promise of the not yet.

Looking Forward: Our Future Resurrection

The greatest assurance of Christ's resurrection is that those who know Jesus will one day be raised bodily themselves.

When a Christian dies, the fragile human body goes into the ground, and the soul goes to be with Jesus. There is hope in that destination—Paul wrote that it's "better by far to be with Christ." Yet there is also real lament in the separation of body from soul, of loved ones from family. We miss them.

But one day when Jesus returns, the souls of those who have died in Christ will return with him. Their bodies will be raised, glorified, and reunited with their souls. We will live forever bodily in the new creation—the new heavens and the new earth that God has made.

Our existence will be bodily. It will be real. There will be physical things to do, responsibilities to carry. We will eat. We will rest. Our chief end will still be to worship. And in all of that delight, there will be not even a hint of pain or sadness.

"Death will have been swallowed up, obliterated in victory." (1 Corinthians 15:54)

Verse 42 tells us that "the perishable will put on the imperishable. The mortal will put on the immortal. What is sown in dishonor will be raised in glory; what is sown in weakness will be raised in power."

It sounds better than this life, and that's because it is. It's more what was intended to be. It's more glorious. It's more wonderful. We will see him face to face and know him fully, with no stain and no brokenness.

Living in the Already and the Not Yet

Here's an important reality: while the resurrection has launched God's new creation and we experience his resurrection power bringing us to new life in Christ now, the complete fulfillment is still to come. Death has been defeated at the cross, but its effects are not yet fully obliterated. There is a sense of delay until all things are made new.

When Adam was told "if you eat from this tree, you shall surely die," he ate and spiritually died—though his physical death came later. In the same way, at the cross Christ declared "you shall surely live." We are alive in Christ now, but we will not be raised bodily until he returns.

Yet this should not rob us of hope. Sin and death no longer have the last word. Death need no longer be fearful but is a gateway into the immediate presence of God.

Facing Death with Hope

When we consider death and its effects—or anything that contains sadness and mourning in life—it is right to mourn and lament what we've lost. But we mourn as people with hope. The risen Lord Jesus meets us by his Spirit, reminding us of the hope we have in him.

Whether through physical healing in this life or through the promise of resurrection life to come, we can face the worst things imaginable with hope and peace. This is not the end of our story. The resurrection promises us a new and better world to come, and that changes everything about how we live now.

"Give us the victory." (1 Corinthians 15:57)