Resurrection life, resurrection hope 

 If ever the world needed a message of hope, it is now. Not a fleeting, wishful kind of hope, but a sure and steadfast one, anchored in something stronger than the grave. I bring you today the triumphant truth of the resurrection—the glorious, blazing centre of our faith, the stone rolled away not only from Christ’s tomb but from every fear and sorrow that binds the soul. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25–26). Oh, what a word that is! Not merely that He gives resurrection—He is resurrection. The life flows from Him like light from the sun, and wherever He is, death flees.

Let us be clear. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a myth or symbol—it is the cornerstone of Christian reality. Paul said, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:20–22). Firstfruits! That means more are coming. His empty tomb is the promise of our own. Death may seem to reign, but it is a kingdom already conquered. The King has arisen.

And what does that mean for us, even now, as we walk in a world still marked by tombstones and tears? It means we do not live as those who merely survive—we live as those who have been raised. “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection” (Romans 6:4–5). A risen Christ means a risen people. This resurrection life is not some distant future; it begins the moment Christ enters the heart. We do not wait to be changed—we are changed. A living Saviour means a living faith, pulsing with the power that raised Jesus from the dead.

Oh, that we might know Him, and the power of His resurrection! Not as a doctrine only, but as a daily reality. Paul cried out, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10–11). There is a knowing that goes beyond books and sermons—a knowing that comes when you kneel in the dark and feel the warm hand of the risen Lord lift your face. There is a fellowship with Christ that suffering brings, but resurrection power carries you through it, with eyes fixed not on the cross alone but on the empty tomb.

And what of our affections? Have we not too often set them on things below? Paul calls us to something higher. “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:1–4). We are not called to scrape through the dust of this world, but to rise with Him, our minds and hearts tuned to heaven. When Christ, who is our very life, is revealed—then we, too, shall be revealed in glory. What hope this gives! Not just that we shall rise one day, but that even now we live out the risen life.

Peter tells us we have been “begotten again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3–5). A living hope! Not a cold comfort or faded promise, but a fire burning in the bones. To an inheritance untouched by decay, kept for us as we are kept for it.

Let the world have its doubts and its darkness. We have a risen Saviour. We have the unshakable assurance that He is alive, and because He lives, we shall live also. Let us walk, then, as those who have been raised. Let us love as those who have tasted eternity. Let us speak as those who know that death is but a doorway, and on the other side stands Jesus, arms wide, wounds healed, face shining. Hallelujah, Christ is risen indeed.