Resurrection life means that we are coming out of whatever we are in. Whatever “tomb” we are in, resurrection life gives us the power to come out of it. The tomb can mean a lot of things, whether it is a chronic illness, an emotional prison, or a stronghold of our own making. The tomb refers to anything that reeks of death in our life.
What is the tomb in our life? Maybe it’s a dead relationship or a dying marriage. Maybe our hope for the future is dead. Whatever the tomb means to us, we need to know this: We may be in a tomb right now, but God created and designed us to come out of it in victory!
Sometimes hardship that just doesn’t seem to go away can leave us feeling like Paul in Second Corinthians 1:9, when he said, “We had the sentence of death within ourselves” (NKJV). We might be thinking, Yes, that’s exactly how I feel! This bad situation just isn’t turning around. It looks like I’m going to die without ever seeing any change!
But we have to read the rest of what Paul said, “That we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us” (v. 9-10).
We may have received a sentence of death. We may already be in the tomb, not about to die but already dead! Even so, it is time for us to remember the One in whom we have believed: the God who raises the dead! He will speak life where there has been death, and that means we’re coming out! We’re coming out of poverty, lack, sickness, fear, and bondage. Whatever the tomb is that has held us captive, we are coming out!
Romans 8:37 says, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Paul has just listed all sorts of things that can come against us in life: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword. Yet in all these things, Paul declares, we are more than conquerors!
Do we really understand what it means to be more than a conqueror? It means that Someone else does our fighting for us! All we have to do is enjoy the benefits of having a big Friend.
Whenever we’re facing a difficult situation and we know that we’re just not big enough to handle it on our own, we just have to remember that we know the right Big Friend! The Bible says that we have a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24), His name is Jesus!
Jesus conquered death, hell, and the grave so we wouldn’t have to face them. That doesn’t mean we won’t one day die a physical death; it means we won’t have to face death in fear, wondering, What’s going to happen to me now?
We are able to conquer every challenge we face today and every challenge we will face tomorrow. Jesus, our big Friend, has already conquered our enemy on our behalf and given us resurrection power to live life more abundantly!
