Benefit #7 — Resurrection

Christ has been raised from the dead. … As in Adam all die, so also all in Christ will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at his coming. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

Resurrection makes eternal life really living! We have eternal life now as we experience Jesus in our daily walk, and when we die we gain an even more direct and wonderful knowledge. But God’s wisdom originally decreed that we experience and appreciate his glory by means of grace dispensed physically, not just spiritually. The salvation Jesus brings is complete. He saves us soul and body. What we do in our bodies now is important. But what we’ll be able to do after we receive bodies that are incorruptible is even more so. At the resurrection we will finally be delivered from sin in every way, and we will be able to know God with only the limitations imposed by our finitude. In the coming ages when he shows “the immeasurable riches of his grace in useful kindness toward us in Christ Jesus,” we will have no impediments to keep us from perceiving and delighting in the glory he is displaying. Eventually we’ll be like humans were in the Garden, completely exposed and totally unashamed to be absolutely dependent on all that he is for us in Jesus.

Lord God, help us to glorify you with our bodies now as we prepare for the glory to be revealed. Amen.