Restoration Or Resurrection?

Restoration or Resurrection? By Neal Gracey, Deacon, FBC Three Springs PA 17264

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are like climbing a mountain. The further you go, the closer you get to the high point. You see, death is a great mystery, and I’ve got some news for us. This life is a great mystery, and without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are all “most miserable” and still dead in our sin.

For a person to not believe in the resurrection is like a person eating a fish who doesn’t believe in bones. Eventually, he will choke to death on that in which he doesn’t believe. Or a person that doesn’t believe in Trains. Just step in front of one, you are now a true believer, but a dead one.

I want to point out that there are three very important persons raised from the dead by Jesus. Jairus’s daughter, the son of Nain, and Lazarus. Here is where Jesus shows us that He gives life to all ages, and that there are no compartments in heaven; we are all there together.

In John chapter 11 we see in verse 3 that “the one that Jesus loves, is sick.” We see in other places that Jesus loved John and Paul, and Peter. And guess what, He loves us too. As a matter of fact, He loves your entire family, even the un-saved.

In verse 35 we read that “Jesus Wept.” Friends, many think that Jesus wept for Lazarus because he was dead, but this isn’t the case. Jesus was weeping for those who were alive and yet did not understand. The Jews that were there even said, “Look how much He loved him.” But they didn’t understand either.

This Easter season I want to share with you a mystery. Jesus did not resurrect Jairus’s daughter. Jesus did not resurrect the son of Nain. And Jesus did not resurrect Lazarus. He “restored” them back to life! In other words, Jesus raised them from the dead.

The mystery is that resurrection comes to the living in 3 Phases in which we will all be part of one of them. For you and me…the Harvest Proper.

First, “the First-Fruits” (1 Cor. 15:20) – “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (Romans 11:16) “If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.”

Then secondly, “the Harvest Proper” (see 1 Thess. 4:16-17) “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

Then thirdly comes “the Gleaning” (Rev. 20:4-6) “I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.” The un-saved will be resurrected last, after the Millennial reign. They will be judged, found wanting, and thrown into the lake of fire created for Satan and his angels.

On the morning of the Resurrection of Christ, Jesus was not “restored back to life.” Jesus was Resurrected! Those who were raised from the dead would die again, but Jesus Christ at His resurrection was raised in an immortal, incorruptible, forever body that will never, ever die nor get old, sick, or hurt. He ascended into Heaven and one day will return as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

That is what we celebrate on the morning of Easter. That is what we celebrate on Resurrection Day. The Risen Savior, the Son of the Living God. We went from Hosanna to Halleluiah. He’s Alive, He’s Alive, Halleluiah He’s Alive!

…and someday believers will not only see Him as He is; we will be like Him!!! Amen.

Happy Easter, everyone! He is Risen… He is Risen, Indeed!!