I Am The Resurrection

Good morning, everyone. Yes, the Lord indicated to me a while back — and I went to Jay to talk about giving this. I don’t want to call it a sermon. It’s maybe a teaching today, something the Lord laid upon me.

What people believe about the resurrection

Actually, let me tell you a little bit of the background. Well, it’s been a number of people that I was talking to, and with these people it turned out we ended up talking about the bodily resurrection. Now, some of these were Christians — and I’ll give you some statistics later that kind of disturbed me — and they said they weren’t sure they were going to be resurrected bodily. And what I mean is your body. Now, I’ll get into that a little bit. Some people say, “Oh, I don’t want this body. It’s decrepit.” Yeah, well, okay, we’ll worry about that in a few minutes.

A bodily resurrection. And some of them talk about, well, maybe a spiritual resurrection: “You know, I can float around,” and that kind of thing. And you’re misunderstanding things. But anyway, let’s not worry about that yet either.

But then we’re also talking to the non-Christian. They have no concept of a resurrection. They know about maybe the resurrection of Jesus, but that you’re going to be resurrected, you’re going to live forever in a body? Unheard of. I had so many that I talked to — non-Christians now — that did not understand anything about it.

I want to bring out today one of the core beliefs. This is essential, a core belief of Christianity: that you will one day be resurrected bodily to live forever, either with Jesus, or, if you happen to be on the wrong side, you’ll live forever in a lake of fire. But that’s one of the reasons why it’s so important for us as Christians to understand this. It’s part of your testimony. You know, you can talk to the people out there, and they can say, “Well, yeah, you know, Jesus and all that.” Nothing wrong with that. But when you come to the point, “I will be resurrected and live forever in a new body” — boing. That’s unheard of. They don’t understand that at all. And that’s a very core part of your whole testimony. And I want to point out what this really means today.

“I am the resurrection and the life”

Jesus said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Now, of course, this is at the time of Lazarus, and He was raising Lazarus. But He’s not only referring to Lazarus there, because Lazarus died again. He’s referring to the resurrection at the end times. Last week Jay talked about how He went before time. I’m going to go after time today. So the whole Bible’s in between.

So Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live.” So think about that: “though he die.” Okay, we die here on earth. This body dies. Why? Because of Adam. Adam and Eve, they didn’t help us out any. They were perfect when they started. They would have lived forever, but they ate of the wrong tree, because they disobeyed God. And God said, “You will surely die.” And that’s exactly what’s been our plague, if you want to call it that, throughout all of history. Adam and Eve started this whole thing. Now, don’t blame them. They were human.

But you can say that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Jesus is taking care of this. You know, we normally think of Jesus taking care of our salvation. Yeah, so He saved us. We’re going to live with Him. That’s great, and that’s true. But there’s more. You’re going to live with Him on earth — a new earth — forever, in a new body. Now think about that, and try to imagine that. We’ll talk about the body in a little bit, but just try to imagine that: you’re going to live forever.

Some of the young folks say, “Of course.” I remember someone asked me one time, when I was 21 years old, “If you were just going to die next year, what would you do?” I’m 21. I’m going to live forever. That was my attitude. And so I said to her, “I’d go out in a race car. You know, if I killed myself, fine.” Obviously, that’s not the attitude. You can talk to her more about that — what happened. But anyway, at 21 years old, you don’t want to think about eternity. You’re not thinking about living forever.

Us old folks: “Oh man, get rid of this pain. Oh man. Oh, and that knee. Oh yeah.” I understand, young folks — it’s coming, unless the Lord comes. So there are two ways of thinking here. “I’m going to live forever. Who cares? I don’t have to worry about this.” The other attitude is, “Get rid of this decrepit body. I don’t want to take it with me through all eternity.” Well, you’re not. You’re going to have a perfect body to live in, and none of that pain.

So to start this thing, I did a little bit of research. Now, Pew Research — I am not saying that they’re the greatest research people out there, but anyway, they did some research, and they found 66% of Americans — whatever “Americans” are — believe that Jesus resurrected. 66%. Now, I doubt if those are all Christians, but maybe so. I don’t know what “Americans” means in this case; they didn’t define it.

But then they went on and asked this question: “Do you believe after you die, your physical body will be resurrected someday?” Yes, 36%. No, 54%. Unsure, 10%. You want those numbers again? 36% said, “Yes, I will be resurrected bodily.” 54%: “No, I’m not going to be.” And unsure — they didn’t know — 10%. Now, I’m not saying these are all Christians, okay? They’re Americans, whatever that means, from the Pew Research.

A core belief of the church

From the early church — if we look back at the documents that we have, writings of the early church — we could say, roughly (these are rough numbers), 95% of the church believed in a resurrected body. 95%. That’s an estimate, but it’s the majority, let’s say. None of them said no, as far as we can tell from the documents that we have. About 5% were unsure. Why? Because maybe they didn’t hear about it yet. Maybe they didn’t know the teaching. This is a core belief of Christianity.

And to expound on that: the Apostles’ Creed. Now, the Apostles’ Creed was written, or put forth, before 300 AD, in the church right after Jesus’ resurrection — between that and 300, let’s say. Part of the Apostles’ Creed says, “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” Pure and simple. Period, exclamation mark, whatever you want to put. The Nicene Creed, which came after 300 — there was a meeting of the church fathers — says, “We look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” These are our creeds. This is our belief system for the church. This is what we set forth: a resurrection of the body.

The Sadducees at the time of Paul didn’t believe in the resurrection. The Pharisees did. Don’t be one of them. The Sadducees are sad, you see — that’s the way to remember.

Paul was very emphatic about this. As a matter of fact, you can look it up in Acts 23:6. He says, “I am a Pharisee, and I believe in the resurrection of the dead.” Oh, this caused all kinds of problems with the Sanhedrin there, between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They started arguing with each other, and he was out of there. Stopped all the problem. Paul was very definite: “I believe in the resurrection of the dead. It’s coming. Yes, I will be there.” So this resurrection of the dead is very, very important.

So let’s back up a little bit and talk about how this happens. Let’s take our situation now — before eternity, and after creation. Ecclesiastes 12:7 — and I think it’s up there: “The dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” Okay? That’s back in the Old Testament — and there are other references actually to the resurrection in the Old Testament as well, but not as clear as many in the New Testament.

So what does this verse state? Our body goes to the ground, turns to dust. Our spirit and soul go to be with God. So when we die, we’re going to be immediately with God. That’s Philippians 1:23: we depart to be with Christ. And James 2:26: the body without the spirit is dead. Okay? That’s our situation. We die now; we turn to dust. It disperses.

So what about those at sea, who end up with arms and legs and stuff like this all missing? Guess what? You’re going to have them back. How about those who are cremated? The dust is scattered over the sea, sometimes over the land, or whatever. Don’t you think God could put that back together? Just think about it. God created mankind and the animals in one day. As a matter of fact — you’ve got enough time left there that I could start naming the animals. One day. If God could do it then, why can’t He take billions of people who are Christians and put them together in a new body? Hmm. It’s possible.

Caterpillar thinking

So one of the questions is, “Why would I want this decrepit body?” You misunderstand when you say that. It’s like a caterpillar thinking, “I’m going to die and become a butterfly. Well, so I’m going to be going like this, trying to eat leaves, and every once in a while I can fly up and hop to the next branch,” or whatever. You misunderstand. That’s caterpillar thinking. Butterfly thinking says, “I’m going to be new. I’m going to be metamorphosed. I’m going to be changed — completely changed. I am not going to be the same. This decrepit body — gone. I’m going to have a new body, even better than a 21-year-old’s. I will have this great body to be with God forever, throughout eternity. I am going to live forever in a new body that is extravagant, is beautiful. It’s fantastic beyond what I can ask or think.”

So why wouldn’t you just want to be a spiritual body? Well, let’s take an example. Why did the demons — the legion — want to go into the pigs when Jesus was casting them out? They wanted a body. Even though they ran them into the water right away — you know, they just couldn’t stand those pigs. What the heck? Why weren’t they happy with their spiritual body? You know, think about that.

What is a spiritual body? Well, you can pass through the table and all that — but so can the new body. Try to touch and feel: “Whoops, I can’t hold the Bible up, because I pass right through it.” That’s your spirit. But your body says, “I got it.” That’s the real difference between a physical body, which can touch and operate in the physical realm, as opposed to a spiritual body that can float around.

Just think of it. If you were a caterpillar — if caterpillars can think; I’m putting stuff on them — you could barely possibly try to imagine what a butterfly is like: “I see this guy who used to be John, or whatever. He’s floating around up there. I don’t get it. What’s going on here?” It’s kind of that way with us. We’re metamorphosed. I cannot pronounce that word correctly, but you get the idea. We’re changed. Our body is changed. No longer this body — even the 21-year-olds — no longer that body. You know, when I was playing a sport and you bump your knee — oh man, it hurts. Well, I don’t think you’re going to have that problem when you get a new body.

So sometimes the way we think — man thinking, mankind thinking — is way too small, especially when we try to think of what God is doing. God is big. He can really do it. If He can make mankind and all the animals in one day, why can’t He take billions of people and give them all metamorphosed bodies in less than one day — in the twinkling of an eye? Just like that. It’s amazing to me. This body is not the same as the body we will have.

Jesus’ resurrected body

Jesus’ body is an example. Last week we celebrated His resurrection — not just in theory, okay? Jesus was in the grave. He went into that grave dead, bloody, messed up. His legs would have been broken, except He died beforehand. They prepped Him and put Him in this place in the tomb. His body was there. They sealed Him in. And there He was, Friday night, all day Saturday, and then come Sunday, He comes out.

So the stone’s rolled away — not so He could get out. The stone is rolled away so the disciples and women could walk in and say, “He’s not here.” “What did you do with Him? Where’d you put Him?” Thinking He was the gardener, she’s asking Him. He is just standing there. That tells us something about the new body, which we’ll get to in a minute. He came through. His body was no longer in the grave, because it was a resurrected body. He took the old and made it into a new one. There He was.

So in Luke 20:36 through 38 — this is not Lazarus; this is where they’re talking about, “Well, whose wife will she be in heaven?” — that kind of thing. It says, “But they cannot die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

Those three were living at that time — spiritually, of course. They’re up in heaven. Jesus is making a point: you’re not going to die and be dead and gone. You’re going to live forever.

Our hope is in the resurrection

Paul made this argument so strongly in 1 Corinthians 15. He argues this whole thing. I suggest strongly you read 1 Corinthians 15 — the whole chapter — sometime today. Paul states the resurrection is essential. In verse 16 he says, if the dead don’t rise, then Christ doesn’t rise. But if Christ did rise — He’s risen — because He’s risen, there is a resurrection. And verse 19, same chapter: “We are pitiful if we only have hope in Christ in this life.”

The hope of Christianity is in the resurrection. Now, that is an important verse to consider. If you’re only considering that you have salvation now, and not for the future, you are pitiful. Paul said it, not me. Don’t blame me. Our hope is in the resurrection. That’s how important Paul considered the resurrection. I think a lot of Christians’ thinking needs to be changed, maybe.

The resurrection of the body is so important — not only for our testimony, but for everything we realize. You don’t want to just walk around saying, “I’m saved.” Which is — yes, true. It’s important; I’m not saying it’s not. But because I’m saved, I will have a bodily resurrection and live with Jesus for eternity. That is the key. That’s what Paul said, and he said it very many times. That’s how important he considered it. You’ve got to live in the resurrected body. He is not the God of the dead but of the living. We shall live with Him — and not just spiritually. Spiritually for a while, maybe, but with a resurrected body.

Let’s look at Jesus’ resurrected body. What did it look like? Well, you know, He carried over some significant things for our benefit: holes in His hands, holes in His feet, the spear in the side. What about the beard pulled out? What about the holes in His head where the crown of thorns was? Not there — at least not mentioned. When He’s talking to Thomas: “Put your fingers in the holes in My hands. Put your hand in My side.” He didn’t say, “Hey, figure this out. Look at this point up here.” That was enough. When Thomas saw that, he said, “My Lord and my God!” He saw the resurrected body.

Now, Jesus carries those things along to remind us, if you ever forget, that He died for you. He was a sacrificial lamb. He did that for you. “See? Look. I did it. It’s done. You need more proof? Here, stick your hand in My side. What proof do you need? Here I am, walking with you, and I’m alive. I can eat with you. I can touch you. You can touch Me. I can go through walls.” A few other things.

So His body, if we look at it, is imperishable, immortal. He can eat, drink, speak, and be seen. There are scripture verses for all these; if you really want them, I can give you a list. But He can disappear, and maybe not be recognized. He’s walking on the road to Emmaus with these two disciples. They didn’t know who He was. They didn’t recognize Him until He broke bread, and then they recognized who He was. And poof, He’s gone. He did His part. He didn’t have to be around anymore to kind of convince them or teach them or anything like that.

He’s not stopped by physical matter. They’ve got a locked room; all the disciples are upstairs praying hard. He walks right in. He can be touched. When they were at the seashore, Peter was going fishing. Well, they didn’t catch any fish. He says, “Throw your net on the other side.” They pull out a bunch of fish. “Bring them ashore.” He already had a fire going, with fish. He ate, and they ate with Him.

It is a changed, metamorphosed body, like a butterfly. It’s eternal. It’s glorious. It shows the glory of God. We can join Jesus in having this kind of resurrected body. There’s a power behind the resurrection. Paul realized this. Paul wanted to know this power, and he talked about it in Philippians 3.

The order of the resurrection

But how does this all happen? Romans 8, verse 11: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you” — this is the Holy Spirit — “He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” The Spirit is the one who gives life — not to our mortal bodies now, but to our resurrected body in the future.

So let’s look at the order of the resurrection. How does this happen? Now we’re going to the end times, and I’m going to mention some things that people can argue about. I’m not going to worry about those — like the rapture. There is a rapture. When it happens, people argue about. There is a rapture. Period. Settled. Okay? Thunder forward.

So again, if you read 1 Corinthians 15 — you can go through it during the day today — 15:20 through 24: “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep. For since by man came death, by a Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each in his own order.” And this is what I wanted to really talk about: the order. “Christ the firstfruits.” He’s the first to have a resurrected body. We can kind of tell what will happen to our body by looking at Him. “After that, those who are Christ’s at His coming.” When’s His coming? The rapture and after — it’s like two parts of that coming. “Those who are His at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to God the Father, when He has abolished all authority and power.”

Then if we jump on to verses 51 to 54: “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will all be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” And one more: “So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’”

So, that last verse — we always think of death being swallowed up in victory. Okay. Why is that? Because this corruptible, present body will be made incorruptible. It will be made perfect. It will go through eternity. Adam and Eve could have lived forever, but of course, because of what they did, they didn’t. Better that they die instead of getting worse in sin all the way along. So the corruptible body that we have will become incorruptible for eternity. It’s not a spiritual body. It’s a full-blown body. You can touch, feel, hug. You can walk up to somebody and shake their hand or hug them with your new body — a complete, perfect body. This is what’s in our future.

So the Holy Spirit will help you in this kind of decision, but this bodily resurrection is important for your testimony. It’s not clear if you go to Islam, for example, what this body’s supposed to be like, if they have a body. They’re going up to heaven to be with seven virgins, or vice versa — having all kinds of stuff like that. They don’t know God, because Allah is way off someplace. We know God. We’re there with Jesus. We’re going to be with Jesus. And you can read the last chapters of Revelation, and you find out how we’re going to spend the time — the eternity — with Him. We’re going to have good fun: rulers over cities and towns and whatever. We’re going to be rulers, but under Him. We’ll be living with Him. He’ll be in Jerusalem, in the new city, and we can go visit Him anytime we want. As a matter of fact, we’re living by Him.

This is our future. This is where we’re going as Christians. That’s what Christianity is all about. It’s one of the core beliefs. And if you read through the Bible, it’s there in many, many places. You will live forever in a new body with the Lord. Or, if you’re not a believer, you will live in a new body forever in the lake of fire and be tormented throughout eternity. Those are the two options. Read Revelation 20 and 21. Wow. I’d rather be in the first one, with a resurrected body, living with Jesus.

So what’s the order? I mentioned it. It’s called the first resurrection. The dead in Christ will rise at the time of the rapture, when the believers in the rapture get their new body. Tribulation saints then will receive their new body. And then millennial saints will finally receive their new body. After that, the resurrection unto death. This is after the millennium. Unbelievers will be resurrected, go through judgment, and end up in the lake of fire forever.

This is your testimony

So you can give this testimony. That’s a very serious thing. We don’t really want to have people go there. It’s not like we’re saying, “Yeah, I’m going to be resurrected to live with Jesus — too bad for you.” That’s not our attitude. It’s, “Why don’t you join me? Be with me. See who Jesus is. Figure it out. Yeah, you’re going to get a new body — but where are you going to spend it?” It’s a body that lives forever.

This is part of your testimony. This is the core belief that we as Christians need to talk about and understand. To have 36% — a third of the people — believe in a bodily resurrection shows how much work we’ve got to do to help people understand. And don’t just count on the pastors to do that. That’s up to you: “Hey, I’m going to live forever in a new body. Get rid of this decrepit, aching one. One that can do a lot more. Hey, I can fly around, or whatever. I can appear, disappear.” That is our testimony.

And we’re doing it because of Jesus, not because we want to be some kind of superhuman or whatever it is. Jesus provided for us. When He died and was resurrected, He was the beginning. He said, “This is what has been done, and is done, for you — you individually.” Easter Sunday, resurrection day, should become very personal. You know, I have no idea what you did last week, and I don’t give a rip, so to speak. But take your time now that you know what’s the result of all this. What does it mean to you to have a resurrected body? What does it mean that Jesus was the first of the resurrected, and He is pointing out who He is and what He looks like, and why you are going to be the same? This is your eternity. This is your future, your inheritance. This is what you have. It’s a promise. But it’s more than a promise. We know it will happen.

I hope you can see I’m kind of passionate about this. And I especially became more passionate when I talked to some colleagues and others that had no idea about a resurrected body. To them it’s all kind of, “Well, it’s a religion. It’s out there, just like this religion.” And you know, it’s not. There is a difference between Christianity and the rest. Really. Go study 1 Corinthians 15 and see what it means to have a resurrected body: incorruptible, perfect. Hallelujah. Just to think about that even makes me excited.

All right. If you have any questions about this — there are a lot of things in between that we could talk about, but I’m not going to, obviously, like Sheol and all the rest of that stuff. Come talk to me if you want. I’ll be around. I’m always around.

Let’s pray. Father, we thank You that You provided Jesus for us. It was so great that You provided a sacrifice that will last forever. And not only the sacrifice, Lord, but that we will receive a resurrected new body, because of Jesus. Lord, to think that we will be like Jesus — able to eat, to touch, to enjoy, to hug, and to just be one with Jesus in that sense. We thank You, Lord, for Your promises. We thank You for this core belief, Lord, of Christianity. And Lord, we’re sorry that it has slipped away from the church — that the church really doesn’t emphasize it anymore, as far as a resurrected body. They have no concept; many don’t have a concept. But Lord, we just thank You that You provided it. It’s for us. And we give You praise and honor for providing it and doing it for us. Thank You, Jesus. In Your name, Lord, we pray. Amen and amen.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.