While Jesus’ suffering and death upon the cross is the payment
for our debt of sin, one problem remains … we still die. We
still experience the separation of our body from our soul—a
state of being that isn’t part of God’s plan.
When God
created people, He created them to be alive both physically and
spiritually. On the sixth day of creation, God declared this
to be “very good” (see
Genesis 1:31) … and He
still sees the state of being alive both physically and spiritually
as good and part of His will. That’s why the story doesn’t
end at the cross … Christ didn’t just take our sin
upon Himself, He also rose from the dead on that first Easter
Sunday
in order to give us the promise that we too will physically rise
from the dead.
Death, the separation of the body from the soul,
is only temporary … Christ
is coming back. And when He does, He will tell all people of
all time to rise from the dead—they will get up as if
they had only been sleeping. Everyone will be resurrected and
bodies and
souls will reunite. People will once again be complete.
At this
resurrection, Christ will judge everyone, casting those who
reject Him from His presence and ushering in a new heaven
and a new earth—a perfect and everlasting Kingdom—for
all who believe and trust in Jesus as their Savior from sin.
“‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death,
is your sting?’ The
sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But
thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ” (see
1 Corinthians 15:55-57).
