Living the Resurrection Reality – Part 1 – Power

The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport — a car made by Volkswagen — was the 2010 world’s fastest production car, according to gizmag. Its top speed is 268 mph (431 kph). That’s as fast as the Shanghai Maglev train — in 2011, the world’s fastest commercial train.

Men, particularly, are seduced by such things, but everyone might be awed by such powerful feats of engineering.

From the power of speed to the power of truth, we now travel...

There are many powerful truths in our world, but is there a more powerful one than this?

Jesus, crucified — as was prophesied through the Prophets — rose from death to live again with the disciples another six weeks.

The Fulfilment of Divine Prophesy with Power

The resurrection of Jesus qualified the promise of the Prophets and, with power, Jesus fulfilled that promise.

The Apostle Paul in his opening in Romans:

“[Jesus] was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead.”

~Romans 1:4 (NRSV).

The most basic reality of the gospel is the power of the resurrection; a fact eclipsing the so-called piousness of all other religions the world has known, and will know.

It’s this fact, alone, that separates out the god-icons of other graceless religion; that this Jesus was able to beat death — the decay (or corruption) of the body (Acts 2:31) — and ascend to be with the Father. To fulfil Jesus’ own prophesy (Mark 14:58; Matthew 26:61), the true Temple of Israel was “rebuilt” in three days!

On this most powerful of truths we can rest, content with the basis — in holy truth — of our salvation. Jesus alone is worthy.

We, Too, Are Raised to Life – In Jesus’ Name

By the waters of baptism we can share, or we have shared, in the death of Jesus, so we can also share in the resurrected life. (See Romans 6.)

This is power for living.

There’s little point being Christian if we can’t live, with power, this resurrection reality.

This is the power to overcome temptation (Matthew 26:41), and the world (John 16:33). As Jesus beat physical death, we — through the power of the Holy Spirit — can beat spiritual death; the sin that compels us, ordinarily, to miss our destined marks in life (though grace covers for our mistakes and ideas of misguided intention).

Living the Hope of the Resurrection Reality

Living the hope of the resurrection reality is about experiencing this power in our daily personal and interpersonal lives.

Practically, then, it’s resisting the hurt we’re easily exposed to so we can instead, forgive. It’s setting our goals and achieving them through wisdom and prayer. It’s the honesty of confession and repentance, reaping powerfully the blessings of God. It’s the ability to cheerfully forego the forcing of our needs; the coercions of life. It’s the power, finally, to live at peace with God and all people.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.