By Pr Michael Kintu
The entire Bible carries a powerful theme deeply woven into the core of its fibre, and that is the power of resurrection.
Faith and life
Think about the patriarch of faith Abraham and Sarah. The Bible encourages us to closely look at these two as they carry the blueprint of the journey of faith that God has called us to.
Isaiah 51.1-2: “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many.”
But this same Abraham is the one we see in Genesis 22, where God calls him to go sacrifice his son at Mount Moriah.
He obeyed God, rose up early in the morning to the place God had asked him to go.
The book of Hebrews gives us another angle to this story that is so powerful.
Hebrews 11: 17-18: “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.
“He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”
Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
Do you see that right from the start of this journey of faith, men got a revelation about the resurrection power of God at work in us?
If God indeed rises the dead, then we can believe that He will rise up everything that has died in your life.
Jesus the resurrection
In John 11: 25-26, Jesus, standing at the tomb of Lazarus boldly declared before everyone one; “I am the resurrection and the life.
“The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
This is right before He ordered them to remove the tomb stone and commanding Lazarus to come forth.
It was so powerful that many who came to visit did not come to see Jesus but to see him who was brought back to life.
That same power that raised Lazarus from the dead is at work in us today according to Ephesians 1:
“And His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms.”
This power is available to us today. This is what makes salvation so powerful.
What is the resurrection?
It is coming back to life from the dead. It is getting that which had died to come back to full function.
The Bible records of Jesus concerning those that went to the tomb on resurrection morning.
They noticed the tomb stone has been rolled away and something seems terribly wrong.
The resurrection has a number of key things for us who believe:
l Jesus Christ is alive today and lives in us.
l Jesus’ resurrection validated His identity and God’s pronouncement over Him. God’s judgement over His son was final.
It does not matter how our earthly courts judged Him, God proved Him not guilty by raising Him from the dead.
He indeed is that Messiah, the Son of God and the Saviour of the world.
l The resurrection realised God’s power to the Church.
Acts 4:33: “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was upon them all.”
The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is a turning point in the history of salvation as we know it.
Paul asserts that if Jesus did not rise from the dead then our believing is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:140).
1 Corinthians 15:20-22: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
“For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
This is the time to believe again, to hope against hope and to declare the resurrection power of God in every area of our lives.
Happy Easter!
The writer is a lead pastor at House of Revival Church, Kisasi.
