Thursday, May 14, 2009
John 6:39-40 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
THE MEANING OF THE RESURRECTION: WE TOO WILL RISE TO LIFE AGAIN
Jesus rose from the dead to live again, so I will rise from the dead to live again too. Some might say that this is a bit of a stretch. Just because something happened for someone else doesn't mean it will happen for you. For example, if coworker gets a raise at work that doesn't necessarily mean you will get one too. You might, but you might not. How can we be certain that the resurrection of Jesus means that we will rise to life again too?
In our devotions this week we have already seen that Jesus promised to rise again and that He fulfilled that promise when He rose from the dead on the third day. The fulfillment of that promise has direct application for us: Because He fulfilled His promise to rise again we can be confident that He will fulfill other promises that He made -- promises He has made about our resurrection. In our text Jesus says that it is His Father's will that those who believe in Jesus be raised up at the last day and have everlasting life. This is the will of the Father and the promise of Jesus: "I will raise him up at the last day."
The hope of our own resurrection rests on the resurrection of Jesus. Not just because He rose again, but because He promised that He would raise us to life again.
