Jesus: The Resurrection and the Life

 

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

 Who am I? I am a wife, a mom, a follower of and believer in Christ. I am a traveler, a writer, a lover of coffee. None of these are necessarily physical attributes, and yet, when I think of death, the first thing that comes to mind is a natural, physical death. That is what has made these verses so difficult for me to grasp.

 From the moment I wake up in the morning, I feel the reality of my physical body. I spend the better part of most days taking care of that body – feeding it, cleansing it, trying to decrease it’s pain. I use my physical body for so much, even writing this post. And yet, my physical body does not represent all, or even most of me. Who I am, like I mentioned before, is made up of relationships, interests, thoughts and dreams. None of these are housed in or dependent upon my physical body. In fact, they are often hampered by it! So why, when I think of death, is physical death the first thing that comes to mind?

 For one thing, when you’re looking at these verses you see that they come directly after Jesus’ friend, Lazarus, has physically died. His physical body is laying in a tomb decaying, which is why his sisters responded with such concern when Jesus told them to open Lazarus’ tomb! So of course physical death is front of mind for them, and for me, the reader. But when we look at Strong’s definition for the word Jesus used here for death, apothnḗskō, it has multiple meanings:

to die

of the natural death of man

of the violent death of man or animals

to perish by means of something

of trees which dry up, of seeds which rot when planted

of eternal death, to be subject to eternal misery in hell

 In fact, Jesus used this same word in two ways. He said, “The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.” This showed that He accepted that those who believe in Him would die in some way, and yet even in their death they would still be alive in Him. How can this be? 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 lays it out for us, “It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” My understanding is that their physical bodies would die, the flesh finally and forever crucified that we would be influenced by it no more, but their spirit or soul, the essence of who they are, their thoughts, dreams, and beliefs, would live on with Jesus. Having once said we would die, in His next breath He shares, “whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” So Jesus uses the same word to say that we both will and won’t die. That in and of itself should show that He meant two different things by it. While we would all experience a natural death, the death of the flesh, those who believe in Jesus will never experience eternal death.

 I love how Got Questions broke this down, “The Bible presents death as separation: physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, and spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God.” This makes SO MUCH SENSE to me! When you see death this way, it clarifies Jesus’ statement in these verses. In the first part He is discussing how we will die physically, our soul will be separated from our body, but that soul will live on in Him. Because we have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior, our soul will never be separated from God and we will never experience eternal or spiritual death.

 But we are not destined to be spirits only forever. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life and in Him we will rise again whole and complete! We are made in the image of God, both spirit and flesh, and we will be resurrected as such, but in perfect bodies no longer spoiled by sin. Many places in the Bible God gives us promises about what is to come for our physical bodies as well: Philippians 3:21, 2 Corinthians 5:1, 1 Corinthians 15:52, and Revelation 21:1-4 are a few examples. We will be made new, like Jesus, without pain or sickness, without sin. The resurrection is both spiritual and physical and we will be raised so that we will live, even though we die.

Here's the Thing:  Death is a hard thing to wrap our heads around, but existence even more so. It’s not just about what we see or feel or hear, there’s so much more to it! I am so glad that I can rest in Jesus’ promise that I will never be separated from Him by spiritual death, that I am His and He is mine – forever!