The Power of His Resurrection

It wasn’t a minor thing that Jesus walked out of that grave two thousand years ago.  It was a feat that required great power, something only the power of God could accomplish.  It took God’s power to roll away the stone, breathe life into a dead body, and bring forth the resurrected Jesus.

This is the power that declared Jesus to be the Son of God.  “Who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 1:4).

And this is the same Spirit of holiness and the resurrection power He brings to us that energizes our own Christian walk.  “But since the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).

“Life to your mortal bodies” comes from His indwelling Spirit.  It is the resurrection life of Jesus living through us.  It is living in line with the treasure of Christ in us.  “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves” (II Corinthians 4:7).  Mortal bodies and earthen vessels may sound powerless and mundane.  But they contain the deity Himself.  This Spirit of power is from God and not from ourselves.  It is the power of God bringing the ability to live His supernatural life in this earth suit we wear.

Paul described it this way, “And may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. “ (Philippians 3:9-10).

We are back to where we started, the power of the resurrection.  What does it mean to “know Him and the power of His resurrection”?  Christ filled us with resurrection power the moment we believed the gospel and received the Holy Spirit.  This happened.  This is truth.  But knowing this power can be a process.

We only know this power as we put it into practice.  We only experience this power over sin, power over feelings of shame and guilt and failure, power over fear, power over all kinds of things we have talked about before when we walk according to the Spirit and see His power in action in our lives.  As we mature and grow in grace this power becomes more real in our lives.  Our faith, God’s grace, His Spirit, the God of hope in us are working together to empower the resurrected life of Christ in us.  May you rest in the resurrection power of Jesus today!