The Resurrection of the Dead

We've spent the last couple months looking at a 1,700 year old creed, thinking about the core truths believed by Christians everywhere. But one might ask, what do these things mean for me? Among other things, our belief in Jesus comes with the promise of our own empty grave and resurrected body. The Christian belief in the final resurrection has always been a doctrine that separates Christianity from almost all other world religions. In most belief systems, including the prominent spiritualities in ancient Rome, salvation was obtained when the spiritual part of one's existence was freed from the evil of the material world. But Christianity tells a different story in which the whole of God's creation is restored and those who follow Jesus in life will be resurrected from the dead, their bodies being redeemed. When Paul wrote our text from Romans 8, his words were actually radical. Sadly, so many still believe in a bodyless heaven. But just as Jesus was raised from the grave, our hope is tied to our final resurrection as well, and the promise that one day God will make everything sad become untrue. While we may suffer in life, we join the rest of creation patiently waiting for the day when our bodies will be redeemed.