Christianity

What Jesus’ Resurrection Tells Us about Our Own

Today is Easter—resurrection day. I recently delivered a message at my church on this very theme from 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:8. It’s about about what happens to us after we die. You can download it here or listen below:

People commonly misunderstand what happens to us after we die because they misunderstand the resurrection. They think that our after our bodies die, our spirits go to heaven forever. That is not what the Bible teaches.

It’s one thing not to understand what eternal life means. It’s another thing to know what it means and then to deny that it means we will be resurrected. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that if you deny your resurrection, it’s tantamount to denying Jesus’ resurrection. And if you deny Jesus’ resurrection, you’re not really a Christian. So this is not a trivial point. It gets at the essence of our faith.

Also, you cannot deal with suffering in the present if you are not trusting God for what he will do for you after you die. If you fail to believe that things are better after you die, then you will cling to this world as if it’s all you have. That is why Jesus told us that whoever wishes to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for “my sake” will find it.

No one who believes that their best life is now will take up their cross and follow Jesus. They will pursue their own interests because this is all they have. If there is no crown in the future, they will embrace no cross now. And Jesus told us that you can’t be his disciple if you fail to take up a cross. So we are talking about essential things here.

Do you know what happens to you after you die? The Bible says that you can know, and that is what Easter is all about. For more, listen above.

He is risen!

 

8 Comments

  • Christiane Smith

    Christ is Risen indeed. Alleluia.

    ” . . . God is love;
    and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. . . ” ( 1 John 4:16)

  • Paul Reed

    “Do you know what happens to you after you die? The Bible says that you can know”

    Many American Christians believe that Genesis isn’t a “literal” account of how humanity originated. If this is true, why would one think that the Bible has a “literal” account of where humanity is headed?

    • Brian Sanders

      Paul: You point out one very important reason we ought not be too quick to reject a literal Genesis… all the rest of the Word rests on it…

      If you should ever have occasion to be in the Northern KY/Cincinnati OH area I would encourage you to visit http://creationmuseum.org/. It may help you to reconcile science and Genesis.

      There are also a lot of great resources at https://answersingenesis.org/ at all levels from children through professional.

  • dr. james willingham

    Excellent message. In 1972, during my first year in Seminary (SBTS), I received the news of the deaths of four members of my family due to murder and suicide. My step-father murdered my mother and two half sisters and then turned the gun on himself. The truth of the resurrection was a comfort then, but the sense of His presence in the midst of such suffering was also helpful. I remember feeling someone standing at my shoulder often during that five day period, a sense of someone there so real that I would often turn to see, if someone was standing there. I am sure there was. After all, His invisible presence is just as real as His bodily physical presence. The thought of the afflictions of this life working a greater blessing in glory was also a comfort.

  • Christiane Smith

    I have always loved this, from the Eastern tradition of the Church:

    “Our Lord cries to us in the depths of our hearts,
    “Awake 0 sleeper, rise up from among the dead, and Christ will illumine you”.
    “And you shall be as I fashioned you, a child of light capable of great compassion and love. And then I will awaken within you My Holy Spirit. You will know the profound love without limits I have for you.
    And your flow of tears will witness to the melting of frozen places within you.
    The softening of your tear stained face will be an invitation for Me to take up My abode in your heart.
    I will remove from you all harsh judgement”

    there is a hymn based on David’s Psalm 23, with these words:
    ‘shepherd me O Lord, beyond my wants, beyond my fears, from death into life’

    DENNY, your post reminded me of how we begin our renewal in Christ in this world and complete it in the next . . . all is grace

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