Life-Changing Resurrection

Romans 1:4

We learned about the Hypostatic Union last week which showed us that Jesus was one-hundred percent God and one-hundred percent man while on the earth. Verse four talks more about His power as God. This power comes from the Holy Spirit and is how He was able to rise from the dead.

Verse four says, “and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” As we saw last week, Jesus is God. What we see in this verse is more proof and how we can clearly see that Jesus is God.

Jesus’ resurrection was a clear, public demonstration of Who He was. No man can rise from the dead through his own power. Lazarus was raised from the dead (John 11), Elijah raised the widow’s son (1 Kings 17), Paul raised Eutychus from the dead (Acts 20:7-12), but no one raised themselves from the dead. Nobody but Jesus (John 10:18; John 5:21-22).

If we look at these examples, we may be tempted to question how different they are in comparison to Jesus rising from the dead, specifically the examples of the widow’s son and Eutychus. We understand that it was through the power of God that they rose, so could He not have raised Jesus the same way? Yes, He could have, and did (Romans 6:4; Acts 2:32), yet Jesus is also God and therefore raised Himself (John 1:1); however, that is not what I want to focus on. I want to focus on His life-changing resurrection.

If I died and God decided to raise me from the dead a very small percentage of people would be affected. It would be great for me and for my family and friends, but it is highly unlikely that anyone in China would care one iota. Why? Because I don’t know anyone in China and they don’t me. They have no idea about my existence. My resurrection would mean nothing to a lot of people.

Think about Lazarus, the widow’s son, and Eutychus. Those who loved them were delighted and overjoyed, but today they are all dead. I don’t mean to sound morbid, I am just trying to make a point. The resurrection of Lazarus, the widow’s son, and Eutychus ultimately did not change the world.

Jesus’ resurrection is completely different. It changed the entire world. His resurrection showed us that He defeated our sin, that He was greater than our sin, and that we can now be saved and spend eternity with Him. The moment we got saved our world changed from eternal damnation to eternity with Him in heaven. His resurrection changed everything (read more about that here).

This resurrection was only possible because of His perfection. His perfection was only possible because He is God. The power of sin has no effect on Him because He is truly holy. He is only truly Holy because He is God.  The resurrection is the clearest example we have to see that Jesus is fully God.

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