Length: 5 Minutes
Ephesians 1:19-20 (NKJV) and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead...
Everyone likes to quote Ephesians 1, which says that the power that is toward us (at our disposal) is in proportion to the power that raised Jesus from the dead. But for some reason, it is most frequently spiritualized, and not seen as a resurrection that should be used for people’s physical bodies. Despite the fact that it raised Jesus physical body from the dead, which is the context of the verse.
If you didn’t know, physical death was not in the world before Adam sinned, but was a result of Adam sinning in the garden (Romans 5:12, 8:10). And because physical, bodily death was the result of Adam, Jesus came in a physical body, to take that physical death on the cross.
When the church speaks about Jesus redeeming us from death, almost exclusively, they will talk about “spiritual death” or separation from God. We need to recognize that Jesus took on a physical body (not a spiritual one) to take on physical death, which came from Adam. And seeing as, whatever Jesus took on the cross is what He was trying to redeem us from, it should be easy to understand that exemption from physical death is something we have through Him!
Physical, bodily death came through sin, and God wants to give life to peoples physical, mortal bodies.
Romans 8:10-11 (NKJV) And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness… He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies…
These verses are describing the bodily decay and mortality that came into this world through Adam’s sin (we know this verse is talking about Adams sin, because there’s only one sin in the world, and that’s Adams). But these verses also say that, the same way that the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, He also wants to give life to the death in people’s bodies! We need to focus on that word “body.” This is not talking about some spiritual death or separation from God. This is talking about physical, bodily death, that the Holy Spirit is opposed to — physical, bodily death that the Holy Spirit wants to give life to.
The church has spiritualized this “death” that Jesus came to redeem us from so much, that verses like this don’t even mean what they were intended to mean anymore. When someone speaks about, “the resurrection of the dead” we assume that must be an analogy for “behaving better than we used to,” or “having a relationship with God,” but it completely escapes our mind, that perhaps, our Savior took on a physical body to take physical death in it. And perhaps, when He says He wants to give life to your mortal body, He really means what He’s saying. And why would Jesus need to die in a physical body if He was only coming to redeem us from some spiritual death?
Even when we hear about Lazarus being raised from the dead, and Jesus telling Martha that He is “the Resurrection,” we assume that it must be figurative for resurrection from spiritual death. Despite the fact that Jesus was saying this to a woman whose brother had just physically died, whom He was about to physically raise, many still find a way to spiritualize it.
In fact, if you read the account carefully, Jesus has a conversation with Martha, in which He asks her to believe that He is the Resurrection, and says that those who believe can live again! Then, while in front of Lazarus’ tomb, just before raising him from the dead, Jesus referred back to that conversation with Martha, about Him being the Resurrection. He actually contextualized Him being the Resurrection, by applying it to raising Lazarus (John 11:25–26, 40). What am I saying with this? When Jesus encouraged Martha, that He was the Resurrection, He was referring to resurrection for physical bodies, like Lazarus’.
Lazarus was raised back up and restored to his family, because that’s what Jesus came to provide all of us. That’s not a fairytale. That’s not too much to expect. That’s why Jesus came! And you can start learning these things and easily receive this as well.
Physical death came into this world through Adam, but the last Adam (Jesus) came to fix what the first Adam started. There’s no reason for you to think that you can’t receive resurrection for people that you know. If Jesus already died the world’s death on the cross, what need would there be for anyone to stay asleep anymore? It is finished! Our physical death was fulfilled in Christ’s body, on that tree, 2,000 years ago. That’s why it is right, it is correct, and it is easy for people to be raised from the dead, because Someone already lovingly fulfilled that, for them! What love, what grace, what consideration, the Lord has demonstrated toward us…
Hebrews 2:9 (NKJV) But we see Jesus… that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
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