Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Jesus is the Life

The third part of this “I Am” statement is Jesus saying, “I am the life” (John 14:6 [EMTV]). Just as there is no way apart from Jesus and no ultimate truth apart from Him, there is no life apart from Christ. Jesus said, “For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming in which all those in the tombs will hear His voice and shall come forth–those who have done good, to a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to a resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:26-29 [EMTV]). Jesus would lay down His life at Calvary. He would rise again on the first day of the week. Paul wrote, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit indwelling in you” (Rom 8:11 [EMTV]). We find our hope for life, not in the latest medical treatment or so-called miraculous nutritional supplement, but in Christ, the first-fruits of the dead.
Application: When we look at Jesus, we see the very definition of life. We do not need to continually try to describe it. We do not need to look for the latest guru to reveal some profound new teaching to us. What we do know is that in Christ we have redemption. Baptism serves as a sign of our uniting with Christ in His death and resurrection. As He has life, so He will grant to us to live. We may die now, but we have a hope that just as Christ was raised from the dead, so too will we be raised from the dead.

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