The Resurrection of the Body

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”        1 Thess. 4:16 KJV

I remember a really sad Sunday morning about forty years ago. My bride and I were attending her home church on Easter. What joyful songs we would sing. What encouraging words we would hear. No! Two pastors stood on opposite sides of the dais and discussed whether the resurrection of the dead was just an encouraging metaphor or simply a spiritual experience that led to bliss. We left the service neither blissful nor blessed. Our own church’s Easter liturgy has the increasing crescendo of “Christ is risen” by the pastor and “He is risen indeed” by the congregation repeated three times.

That anyone should deny the resurrection is simply to deny Christ. He said that He would rise again and He did – bodily. In Christ’s Revelation to St. John, He clearly stated that there was a physical resurrection. Job believed in the bodily resurrection of the dead. David believed in it. God told Daniel that it was a certain fact. The bodily resurrection of the dead is a truth of God that has been the certain of hope of His children since Adam. Without it there is no Christ, no forgiveness of sins and no hope.

Almighty God, Thank You for the certainty of the bodily resurrection from the dead. Amen. 

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