#DailyDevotion I Believe In The Resurrection
Ezekiel 37- 11“Son of man,” He said to me, “these bones are all the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘Our bones are dry, and we’ve lost all hope. We’re completely cut off.’ 12So prophesy and tell them, “The Lord GOD says this: I will open your graves and raise you out of them, O My people, and bring you to the land of Israel. 13Then you will know I am the LORD when I open your graves and raise you out of your graves, O My people. 14I will put My Spirit in you so you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know I the LORD said it and I did it, says the LORD.’”
Every time we confess one of the Christian creeds we say, “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” While Jesus and the apostles certainly taught this, they weren’t making up something new. No, it was texts like this, in the Old Testament, they were teaching from.
The LORD says, “these are all the people of Israel.” They were in exile, cut off from the land. They had been slaughtered. The remnant felt there was no hope. The Lord, the God of Israel, had abandoned them. But the LORD did not abandon them. He was with them in the exile. He gave them this vision so they may have a hope for the future and to put their trust in him. The hope he gives them is the resurrection of the body, the receiving of the Holy Spirit and inheriting their own land, the new heavens and new earth.
We too at times may feel the LORD has abandoned us. He may feel as if there is no hope. Why should we go on, the LORD has forgotten us? This text here is for us too. For St. Paul says, Rom 9:8 “This means that it is not the children of the flesh(Jews) who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” (ESV) We who believe in Jesus Christ and that he is the LORD also are Israel according to the promise. When we come to faith in Jesus we receive the Holy Spirit and are given the gift of eternal life. We have this promise from Jesus, John 640“Yes, My Father wants everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him to have everlasting life, and He wants Me to raise him on the last day.”
It was told to Daniel 12 “2And many sleeping in the ground will wake up, some to live forever and others to be ashamed and detested forever. 3And those who understand will shine like the light in the sky and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever.” The resurrection is the hope of the Christian. The Christian hope is not to be some spirit floating about in the heavens. Jesus redeemed humans, not angels. As he is risen bodily from the dead, never to die again, so too we will be raised to eternal life with new glorious bodies, but real bodies, like his resurrected body.
However, unlike the bodies we have now which are riddled with sin and moan and groan under the weight of the work God has given us to do all our days here, these new bodies will no longer be subject to sin. Work will no longer a drudge but a joy. We will no longer toil as we do now. Creation is also renewed with us and will easily bear us its fruit.
Heavenly Father, grant to us such faith in Jesus Christ that we are raised to eternal life with him on the last day and receive the land promised to us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.