For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins (1 Cor 15:16-17).

The resurrection of Jesus in the past guarantees ours in the future while empowering our lives in the present.

In the ancient pagan world, there was a whole spectrum of views about death and life after death, from remaining in the grave to some mystical immortal bliss as a disembodied soul. The Stoics talked about rebirth, being born again and again, what we call reincarnation. Plato says the soul becomes a kind of astral body that descends and dwells among the stars.

Nowhere in the ancient world do we find even a hint of resurrection. Nowhere. It is only found in one place. Any guesses? Yes, in Second Temple Judaism. To be more specific, in the Pharisaic movement.

In the time of Jesus and his earliest followers, there was a spectrum of views ranging from the view of the Sadducees, who said there would be no resurrection. The prevailing view, however, was that of the Pharisees, who said that at the end of all things (Eschaton), the righteous would be raised to the newness of life. They based their view on Daniel 12:2, those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Resurrection was a uniquely Jewish concept.

And it was based on two things.

• First, the Maker of all things must, at some point, deal with sin and death because death foils the goodness of what He created.
• Second, wickedness, evil, and injustice, at some point, must be recompensed.

In this world, sometimes the righteous suffer, and the wicked prosper. The Pharisees’ (and later the rabbi’s) biblical frame of reference was that there would come a final reckoning. For them, it was not a metaphor for a post-death spiritual experience. It was a physical, prophetic reality.

As in Ezekiel 37, the end-time reckoning would be a restoration of exiled Israel. The dry bones in the valley did not leave earth for heaven. The Spirit entered them, and they came back to life. So, they reasoned, the dead will be raised to new life, goodness will prevail, and justice will cover the earth.

After your death, you will be resurrected and live in an incorruptible, transformed physicality.

This is a crucial point to understand because, for decades now, liberal Christian theologians have diffused the impact of resurrection by transferring it to some mystical experience. Their influence has so penetrated the church that many Christians now hold to some form of a neo-platonic view where the immortal, disembodied soul of the dead returns—in a vague, abstract way—to God.

That was a foreign way of thinking to Jesus. Resurrection speaks of a literal re-embodiment by the breath of the Living God. Make no mistake about it: there will be a physical life after death, which is going to be by the power and the will of Him who is Life.

A critical point of clarification. To be raised again is not the same as being resuscitated. The widow of Nain’s son was resuscitated by Elijah, Eutychus by Paul, and Lazarus by Jesus. Yet they all eventually died. Resuscitation delays death; resurrection defeats death.

So, the prevailing view of Judaism in Jesus’ day stood in opposition to every pagan alternative. After the cross, empty grave, and Spirit outpouring, his earliest followers, who were Jewish, realized that resurrection is more than just a future hope; it is a present reality because the Spirit had come.

Paul articulates this beautifully in Romans 8:11: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Jesus’ resurrection in the past assures our future and transforms our present.

I’ve said it before but we cannot hear it enough. Kingdom people are resurrection people. We are informed by, base our lives upon, and live by the same power that raised our Lord.

The resurrection of Jesus establishes that the created order is good and assures us that our present lives matter. You may have been taught to think, in a platonic way, that our ultimate destiny is heaven. But in the strict sense, heaven is not your home.

Home is where the heart is. And the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth, will one day take up his eternal habitation, as evidenced by a new Jerusalem in a new heaven and earth that comes down from above (Rev 21).

Paul in Romans 8 assures us that not only does redemption liberate and transform us, redemption will ultimately liberate and transform the entire cosmos. All will become what God intended it to be from the beginning, the place of his habitation amid his people.

We will always be who we are, yet we shall be made new. The last Adam has accomplished and actualized the hope of us dwelling in his presence forever and ever. While we await our future hope, our present commission is to build him a sanctuary because he wants to dwell with his people. That means our present lives matter more than we can say.

What you do right now counts forever.

If you think the ultimate goal of your salvation is to be a disembodied soul floating in eternal heavenly bliss, then what is the point of your life in this world? How you conduct yourself matters. Yes, it makes a difference whether you forgive and live righteously, whether you steward creation, love, and give generously.

Without a truly biblical worldview, your conduct does not really matter except to escape final judgment. That is no way to express the eternal life you have received.

Your Father is your home. He is with you by His Spirit, thanks to the faithfulness of His Son. Your response? Believe and live! Be faithful in small things; be steadfast in all things! Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

We are not alone, and your life is not in vain. Let us arise and build for his namesake. Messiah Jesus is risen. And may our witness—in word and deed—proclaim with one voice, “He is risen indeed!”