In the first century referendum on resurrection, Jesus votes firmly in the “yes” camp. Speaking of “…those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead,” he says, “Indeed they cannot die any more, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.”
What does it mean to be “children of the resurrection?” How do we live, if we believe that our physical form will pass away, but our essential self-ness somehow lives on eternally? Some reject resurrection as fanciful wish-fulfillment, an inability to confront the finality of death. I can’t argue it – I’m just going on faith in a God and a story whose power I have seen and felt. I am interested, though, in whether and how having an eternal destiny makes any difference to the way we live here and how.
It does make a difference, if we are conscious of the power of resurrection at work in us now, already, not only after we die. Paul writes that those who believe receive the Spirit as a down payment on the inheritance that will one day be fully ours (Eph 1:13-14) . When we call on the power of God’s Spirit in prayer, in healing, in bringing justice, in bearing truth, in lightening darkness – it is resurrection power we wield. When we invoke Christ, we are living into our resurrection selves here and now. “Same power that conquered the grave lives in me, lives in me,” says a praise chorus I like to sing.
In more biblical language, here is Paul in Romans 8:1 - "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.”
One of the best phrases I’ve heard for this is "borrowing from the future." We are baptized into a promise of resurrection life. That life is already ours by faith. Our challenge is to remember that that life runs through our veins as well as temporal life. Sickness and death don’t have the last word. Obstacles and character challenges don’t have the last word. That down payment is already in our account – and we've received the bank card and password. We can borrow from that future as much as we want – it will never run out.
On what would you like to bring some resurrection power to bear today? What personal or world problem? What personal challenge? Begin to see new life in it, or in you, or in another person. Begin to believe new life into it.
Borrowing from the future doesn’t negate the present, it brings God's power to it. If we believe in "forever," transforming "now" matters greatly. Go out and let resurrection life come through you to bring justice and peace to your community. As we live like children of the resurrection, we bring God's Life into the here and now.
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