Resurrection Strengthens Hope Part 1

We Groan and Waste Away

As a pastor, I have been around many who battled chronic illness. Their body became a source of pain. I listen to podcasts of former professional athletes and they often discuss the pain they endure daily from a years of training and competing. These athletes were once filled with vigor, now grappling with the onset of arthritis. One athlete recalled the thrill of winning races, but now simple movements are filled with discomfort. As they navigate daily life, they are reminded of their limitations.

I think about Paul, who faced immense physical suffering throughout his ministry. He described his body as a ‘tent,’ temporary and subject to decay (2 Corinthians 5:1-5). He says while we are in this tent we groan and waste away. Yet, despite the afflictions and hardships, he persevered with hope for a resurrected body, one that would be glorious and eternal. Paul reminds us that while our earthly bodies may fail us, we can look forward with unwavering faith to the promise of renewal in Christ.

Brother, sister, I want you to know you, through Christ’s resurrection, you are promised new life, resurrection life, in a new resurrected world. I believe one of the reasons God revealed the mystery of the resurrection was to give you and I something to look forward to, a promise to cling to when our bodies groan and waste away. Jesus’ resurrection ensures you will be resurrected with a new resurrected body for a new resurrected earth. This morning, I want you to

Strengthen your hope to joyfully serve God's kingdom by believing Jesus’s promise of a new eternal resurrected body for his newly restored earth.

I want to show you this morning through the lens of several scriptures that Jesus ensures your eternal physical resurrection and how his promise gives you strength and hope to hold fast in the faith as you joyfully advance his kingdom by making much of Jesus. Let’s begin with Jesus’s promise of resurrection in the story of Lazarus (John 11:15-26).

Jesus’ resurrection ensures your eternal resurrection (John 11:25-26).

John 11:25–26 ESV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

John 11, describes the story of Lazarus, a man from Bethany who falls ill and dies. Lazarus has been dead for four days. Mary and Martha, his sisters, called for Jesus to come and heal him, but Jesus chose to wait an additional two days, fully aware that Lazarus would die. He did this out of love for Lazarus, intending to demonstrate God's power over death through his resurrection. Naturally, Mary and Martha are puzzled by Jesus' delay. Why would he permit such suffering in their lives? Death is frightening and filled with pain, offering no hope to those it touches. When faced with its threat- whether your own life or that of a loved one- hope diminishes if death gains the upper hand. And indeed, death does prevail. There is no escape. So, J. C. Ryle winsomely advises you to think on it. He says,

“Death, and judgment, and eternity are not fancies, but stern realities. Make time to think about them. Stand still, and look them in the face. You will be obliged one day to make time to die, whether you are prepared or not.” J. C. Ryle

Lazarus had to confront death and ultimately succumbed to its power, as we all eventually will. Mary and Martha also faced death, feeling its painful sting as they turned to Jesus for solace. Jesus offered them hope, though not in the manner they anticipated.

He approached them and declared, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even if they die, will live. And everyone who believes in me will never die. " Through this, Jesus introduced the promise of everlasting resurrection and prepared to demonstrate the kind of resurrection that awaits us all.

Jesus uses the word anastasis for resurrection. Dr. Stephen Wellum discusses the the Greek noun anastasis in his study of John.

The Greek word anastasis is derived from the verb anistēmi, meaning literally to stand up and then by extension “to rise up.” Both words could be used metaphorically. The word anastasis was common in the ancient Greek world; but it rarely referred to the resurrection of the dead, which is the dominant meaning of its occurrences in the NT.

The word is used to describe both Jesus’ physical resurrection and the physical resurrection of believers.

Paul uses Anastasia to declare Jesus is the Son of God,

Romans 1:3–4 ESV

concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

He also uses to defend that there is a resurrection for believers in

1 Corinthians 15:12 ESV

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

In both cases, Jesus is physically raised from the dead with a new glorified body that is fit for heaven. It will have eternal life.

Of believers, the word describes a physical resurrection. Jesus uses it that way to describe those who face final judgment:

John 5:28–29 ESV

Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

John calls those blessed who share the first anastasia

Revelation 20:5–6 ESV

The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

The dead will rise with physical bodies and come to life and they will have eternal life with a physical body. Where does resurrection life come from? It comes from Jesus.

Jesus says the dead will rise when they hear his voice because the Father has granted the Son to have life in Himself.

John 5:25–26 ESV

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

In Christ is life. Jesus says later,

John 14:6 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Because Jesus is the life and he has life in himself, he is able to give his life to everyone who trusts in him. That life is both abundant life now (John 10:10) and eternal life in the future (John 3:16). His ressurection is proof He is able to keep his promise!

When Jesus tells Mary and Martha that he is the resurrection and the life, he expresses his promise to physically raise his disciples- those who love him- from death and grant them eternal life. Therefore, he raises Lazarus to demonstrate his authority to bring the dead back to life. Resurrection life cannot be found in anyone else but Jesus. He is the sole one capable of assuring your resurrection with a physical body that will experience a renewed life in a new resurrected earth.

What will your new resurrected body be like? (1 Corinthians 15:49; 1 John 3:2; Philippians 3:20-21).

Your resurrected body will be conformed to the image of Jesus. Paul says

1 Corinthians 15:49 ESV

Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

John says

1 John 3:2 ESV

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Paul further describes the resurrected body in

Philippians 3:20–21 ESV

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

A transformation is on the horizon.  Paul refers to it as a metamorphosis, which we often associate with butterflies.  In some respects, resurrection conveys a similar concept.  You will transform into something far more splendid and beautiful than your current self.  However, this change won't transform you into something entirely different, like the shift from caterpillar to butterfly.  You will not become an angel.  You are created in God's image, and you will continue to reflect that image.  You will still possess a human body that walks upright and has opposable thumbs. While you will be divinely altered, your essence will remain intact.

John and Paul say your body will be like his glorious body. What was Christ’s resurrected body like?

Literal Physical Body

When you die in Christ, you are not going to remain some disembodied spirit. You will receive a physical resurrected body that will never decay. Paul describes our resurrection body in his discussion on the resurrection in 1 Cor 15.

1 Corinthians 15:42 NET

It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.

1 Corinthians 15:53 ESV

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

Your resurrected body is both physical and eternal. That is what Paul means when he says put on imperishable and immortality. Death and decay do not exist in heaven.

Jesus says to his disciples after his resurrection,

John 20:27 ESV

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

and he proved that he was flesh and bones when he said

Luke 24:39 ESV

See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

He ate fish and broke bread with his disciples. He stood on the shoreline of the sea. Thomas touched his hands and his side. He was embraced physically and he spoke to them his instructions. In every respect he was embodied.

A Body With New Divine Capacities

Jesus was able to do miraculous things with his resurrected body. He just showed one day in the middle of their room.

John 20:26 ESV

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

Notice, John makes sure to tell us that the doors were shut and locked. Jesus, with his resurrected body, came through the wall of the room. His body could materialize and de-materialize. There were also times he would appear and disappear on roads.

Powerful body

Paul says,

1 Corinthians 15:43 ESV

It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

Your resurrected body will be eternal and indestructible, impervious to any loss of life.  It will embody both spirit and flesh.  You will possess flesh, bones, and DNA, all infused with the life of Christ- free from sin and brokenness.

Your resurrected body will be fit for a new resurrected earth!

Your resurrected body is important to your eternity. God is going to restore all of heaven and earth. We will live in paradise, a resurrected earth. What you experience in this world, mountains, tress, animals, seas, everything is a foretaste of what is to come. I get this from thinking through Hebrews 8:4-5

Hebrews 8:4–5 ESV

Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”

In chapter 8, the author of Hebrews is continuing his discussion of Jesus as the Great High Priest, and as John Barry notes, he is connecting this role [of the high priest] to the heavenly tabernacle (vv. 2, 5) and the new covenant (vv. 6–7, 13). Jesus’ new covenant is better than the old one, enacted on better promises (v. 6).

The earthly tabernacle in Moses’ day represented the heavenly one. In verse 8, the the author of Hebrews says the earthly tabernacle is a sketch of the true tabernacle.

In chapter 9, the author says

Hebrews 9:24 ESV

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

This seems to imply that there are things on earth that have been patterned exactly after what is in heaven. In some ways, (not entirely) what you see and experience on earth is a derivative of what you will see and experience in heaven.

Listen to how Randy Alcorn, in his book, “Heaven,” describes the continuity of the earth now and what the new earth will be like in the resurrection.

“This world—including its natural wonders—gives us foretastes and glimpses of the next world. These people—including ourselves—give us foretastes and glimpses of the new people to come. This life—including its culture—gives us foretastes and glimpses of the next life.

If we take literally the earthly depictions of life on the New Earth, it allows us to make a direct connection with our current lives. When I’m eating with people here, enjoying food and friendship, it’s a bridge to when I’ll be eating there, enjoying food and friendship. This isn’t making a leap into the dark of a shadowy afterlife; it’s just taking a few natural steps in the light Scripture gives us.

Every joy on earth—including the joy of reunion—is an inkling, a whisper of greater joy. The Grand Canyon, the Alps, the Amazon rain forests, the Serengeti Plain—these are rough sketches of the New Earth. One day we may say, as a character in one of my novels said,

“The best parts of the old world were sneak previews of this one. Like little foretastes, like licking the spoon from Mama’s beef stew an hour before supper.”’ Randy Alcorn

Every joy you experience in your body right now is a small glimpse into what you will get to experience in the New Heavens and Earth with your new resurrected body. We will experience the fullness of life as we know it without the effects of sin. Jesus provides this for you through his resurrection. This is why Easter is so glorious to us. We long for this day, yearn for it. Looking forward to our new resurrected bodies is what fuels our hope while we live in days that are evil now!