Holy week has always been the season for us to remember and commemorate the death of Christ. It gives us the time to reflect on matters involving his finished work on the cross, and how he saved us from our sins so that we may have eternal life because it is important for us to understand that our salvation is not by works but by grace through our faith in Christ Jesus. Such is a gift from God so that none of us may boast that we have earned our salvation.
The great apostle Paul made this clear when he wrote the book of Ephesians, and we can find it in Chapter 2 verses 8 and 9. Paul also emphasized this when he wrote the book of Romans that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:23)
But as we remember the death of Christ and reflect on its meaning in our lives, it is equally important for us not to overlook his resurrection. At times, we put so much emphasis and importance in his death that we tend to forget the true meaning of his resurrection.
You see, Jesus rising from the dead meant two things that are so relevant to us in our walk with Christ. First, it illustrates that because of his resurrection, Christ has defeated death, and death has no hold on him. Second, it also reminds us that we, too, will resurrect just like him, and that we are assured of eternal life because of his finished work in the cross.
Today, there is a company in Scottsdale, Arizona that calls itself the Alcore Life Extension institute, that specializes in cryonics, and is currently accepting human heads and bodies to be frozen in liquid nitrogen at negative 160 degrees Celsius. For those who can afford to have their entire bodies frozen, they have to pay a fee of about $120,000 (about P6.2 million). For those who cannot afford to pay this hefty sum of money, $50,000 (aboP2.6 million) is enough to have only their heads frozen, if they were hoping that one day medical science can find a way to raise them from the dead.
How pathetic can this be for those who do not have Christ in their lives. They put their entire faith and trust into medical science hoping to find a way to cheat death, even to the extent of paying hefty sums of money without any real guarantee.
But for us who are secure in the love of Christ, we know that when this earthly tent of ours gets destroyed (referring to our physical bodies), we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. ( 2 Corinthians 5:1)
So what is this building from God that we can consider as our eternal house in heaven? It is our glorious body that we will inherit once we suffer physical death. It is a body just like that of Jesus when he was resurrected from the dead. It is a body designed to endure eternity.
We know for a fact that our earthly bodies are not designed to withstand the test of time. As we grow old, we succumb to a number of diseases, some of which are life-threatening. Even after you have read this message, you would have become a different person, now aged by a couple of minutes. For those of us who put our hope in Christ, we have nothing to fear, not even death itself. We now have the courage to look forward to death, knowing what is on the other side of it. Death is no longer a mystery to us.
Jesus said in the book of John, Chapter 11 verses 25 to 26: “I am the resurrection and the Life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die…” This is the promise of Jesus to us that we, too, just like him, will resurrect and have eternal life.
So today on Resurrection Sunday, let us all look forward to this promise by Jesus, remembering always that in death there is life because we, too, have conquered death through Christ Jesus who has risen from the dead.
“We do not know what the future holds for us, but we know who is holding our future when we have Jesus Christ in our lives.” Have a blessed Sunday.
