Resurrection power and the glory of God

Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

John 11:40

With this question and call to believe God, Jesus does what only God can do. He raises His friend Lazarus from the dead. His reminder to Martha to believe is the last thing He says to comfort family before bringing them the unthinkable power of God. They all firmly believed Jesus. Yet their grief was also very real. It was a grief so strong that Jesus wept beside them. And then He turned death into resurrection because Jesus is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25-26). Martha was firmly convinced Jesus was the Messiah… the Son of God. He would soon prove His deity and power beyond all sorrow. And because Martha believed, the glory of God would soon be all that anyone would remember… beyond all the pain, sorrow, death, and loss! Resurrection power shows God’s glory.

All through scripture there are hints at Jesus as the resurrection and life. Enoch never dies but is snatched away into God’s presence. Later, so is the prophet Elijah. Elijah brings a widow’s son back to life. So does the prophet Elisha. And even the bones of a dead and buried Elisha display the power of God to resurrect a corpse thrown upon them. The prophet Ezekiel foretells the resurrection of the Exiled Israel in the vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. There the bones join together to form skeletons, flesh, organs and skin are grown on them again, and a nation is raised from being wiped out. God specializes in bringing life again. And in Jesus all of that is focused in the gospel for God’s glory. Every person who believes the gospel is born anew and raised to new life. Every Christian baptism pictures an old dead life raised to walk anew in Christ. Resurrection power shows God’s glory!

Thank You, Jesus, that You are my resurrection and life. I am alive in You! I am dead to sin, alive to God in Christ. I will live forever with You. You are my resurrection and life… for the glory of God! Amen