Because He Lives - January 6

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:14

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

Reflect

How do Paul’s words encourage you today?

Is Jesus dead or alive? This has been a hotly contested question for about 2,000 years. Some people say that His resurrection was impossible and refuse to believe it by creating counter-theories. One theory claims that His body was stolen. But how could it have been stolen when it was guarded by Roman soldiers? And why didn’t His stolen body surface by now. After all, the authorities who had wanted to squash Christianity early on, certainly could have if they had simply been able to produce Jesus’ body. But His body has never been found.

Another theory says that Jesus must not have actually been dead when He was put in the tomb. But think of how ludicrous that theory is. Jesus had been brutally beaten. Then, he was nailed to a cross where he suffocated and was stabbed through the side with a spear. The idea that He could have survived a Roman crucifixion by trained executioners is tough enough to believe. The idea that He would have been wrapped and prepared for burial and no one noticed that He was breathing and His heart was still beating is also really hard to believe. But then, in order for this theory to work, you also have to reconcile the fact that a crucifixion victim, a man who would have been in dire need of immediate medical attention, survived another three days in the tomb, then was somehow strong enough to remove the stone, and then appeared to His disciples and over 500 other people as if nothing was physically wrong with His body!

I don’t know about you but it takes more faith for me to believe all that than to just accept the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead!

But why does it even matter? Why do Christians put forth so much effort into explaining and defending the importance of Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead? Well, Paul answered this question in today’s verse. It is only because Jesus died and rose again that we have the hope that we will rise again after we’ve died.

Paul also wrote to the Corinthian church on this topic and said, “...if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain…And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17-19).

In other words, if Christ didn’t rise from the dead, what is the point of Christianity? Well, without Jesus’ resurrection, there is no point to Christianity. If Jesus was not raised, our Christian faith is vain because we are still dead in our sins. The entire hope of the Gospel hinges on the fact that Jesus was dead but on the third day He rose again in bodily form. He wasn’t a ghost. He wasn’t a spirit. He rose again as God in the flesh, conquering sin and death once and for all.

Knowing that, we have hope! Not merely hope in this life but hope for eternal life after death! Because, through Jesus, God will raise up our dead bodies as well! Jesus promised in John 14:19: “Because I live, you also will live!”

The Thessalonian believers needed the reassurance that because Jesus died and rose again, those who had “fallen asleep” had not missed out! When Jesus does return in glory, the dead in Christ will return with Him. Praise God!

Respond

Lord, I praise You because through Jesus, I have hope! Not just hope in this world, but I have hope for after death. If I die before You return, Lord, I know that You will raise me up because You were raised up. Because You live, I will also live! Amen.

Reveal

The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most central Christian belief (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). Do you know someone that needs the hope for everlasting life? Reveal to them the hope that because He lives, those of us who trust in Him will live again, too!