I Am the Resurrection and the Life!

"I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. (1)

This declaration of Jesus was demonstrated in the events surrounding His death, burial and resurrection recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

When the Saviour came forth from the tomb on that Sunday morning, His words were proved true, "I lay down My life that I may take it again… I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." (2) Now was fulfilled the prophecy He had spoken to the priests and rulers, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' (3)

"But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. (4)

" 'I am the resurrection, and the life.' These words could be spoken only by Deity. All created beings live by the will and power of God. They are dependent recipients of the life of God. From the highest seraph to the humblest animate being, all are replenished from the Source of life. Only He who is one with God could say, I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again. In His divinity, Christ possessed the power to break the bonds of death." (5)

Other than the record of the resurrection of Christ, what other evidence do we have of Christ's power over death? Jairus' daughter, Mark 5:22-42; The widow of Nain's son Luke 7:11-15; Lazarus, John 11:41-44; "And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many." (6)

Christ died so that we may have life. God made Jesus "who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (7) As Christ's Spirit becomes the life of the soul, the change is felt, but language cannot describe it. The Spirit of God and Christ becomes the very life of the soul, as the blood is to the life of the body.

God through Christ is the Source of life, the Creator. Jesus willingly endured an agonizing death under the most humiliating of circumstances that we may have life more abundantly and that He might vanquish death. And He has sent His Spirit into the world to let us know, "He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live!" (1)

"But the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." (8)

"And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him." (9) (To be continued)

1. John 11:25.
2. John 10:17, 18.
3. John 2:19.
4. I Corinthians 15:20-26.
5. Desire of Ages, p. 785.
6. Matthew 27:52, 53.
7. 2 Corinthians 5:21.
8. Romans 8:11.
9. 1 John 5:11-15.