What God's Resurrection Power Can Do For You Right Now!

Mike Hosey, An Elder

Many people think that the most important and powerful moment of the New Testament is the birth of Jesus.  It is not. Others think it is the crucifixion.  But it isn’t that either. The most important moment of the New Testament -- in fact -- the most important moment of the entire bible, is the resurrection of Jesus.

The New Testament references it over and over again, by one scholar’s count, more than 200 times.  And even when there isn’t a direct verse related to the event, the concept is often explored obliquely by the New Testament writers. That is because the event was extremely powerful to those who witnessed it. It meant that the chief enemy of man, namely death, had been defeated by Jesus. Jesus had promised that we would be resurrected and that we would live with him with restored physical bodies, not just in some vague spiritual state (John 5:25-29). He also promised that he, himself, would die and be resurrected in a restored body (Matthew 17:22-23). When this event actually occurred, people understood the significance. They knew that the promises of Jesus were true!  It meant that death no longer had a sting, that suffering on earth was more than just temporary, and that a real life in a real body with the real God of the universe was a real eventuality!  Without doubt, it caused them to live differently! It caused them to live boldly.  It caused them to come alive after the depression of seeing their Lord die. So powerful was the event that the Apostle Paul made it the linchpin of the Gospel, stating that if Christ had not been raised that everyone was still dead in their sins and that Christian faith was worthless (1 Corinthians 15:7).

Resurrection was perfectly in line with the nature of God. God is a deliverer. Just think about all the deliverance stories of the Old Testament. Resurrection is deliverance from death. But not only is resurrection deliverance from death, it is deliverance from sin, and even the ultimate consequence of sin. The ultimate consequence of sin is physical, spiritual and eternal death.  But God is so powerful that he can restore a spiritually and physically dead person to eternal life.  Think about it, God is in the business of resurrection and restoration.

The power that God uses to raise the dead is available to you right now. God has the ability to resurrect life in you.  And this is the best part, when God resurrects that life in us, he doesn’t give us our old life back, he gives us new life!  So if you feel dead in any area of your life, give that to God and let him work his resurrection power in you to make you newly alive again.