I Am the Resurrection and the Life

I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies. (John 11:25)

Everybody dies. The death of our physical bodies is a direct, inevitable consequence of sin:

For the wages of sin is death… (Romans 6:23)

The sting of death is sin… (1 Corinthians 15:55)

Further, the “second death,” or eternal condemnation, is a graver result of our sin:

But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8; cf. Revelation 20:14)

Those who believe upon Christ will not experience this second death; rather, they will be raised to eternal life (1 Corinthians 15). Even before Christ’s death and resurrection, the first century Jews understood this based on the teaching of the Old Testament.

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)

In the story of Lazarus, Martha had faith that her brother would one day be raised (John 11:24), but Jesus sought to teach her that He alone was, in the present time, the very source of life.

Christ is the creator and sustainer of all things (Colossians 1:16-17). He not only gives life, He is life.

He is also the resurrection: He not only can raise the dead, He raised himself from the dead. He is “the first fruits of those who are asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

When Jesus commanded Lazarus to come out of the tomb—when He gave him life—the Bible says that many “believed in Him” (John 11:45). Do you believe that Christ alone has the power to give life, both physical and eternal?

If you are to be saved, you must believe that He alone is the resurrection and the life.