The first one up

 The First One Up

He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen.

MATTHEW 28.6

Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

1 CORINTHIANS 15.20

The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves.

1 THESSALONIANS 4.16

Who is usually the first one to get up in the morning at your house? Is there someone who likes to wake up before everyone else?

We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus at Easter because Jesus was the first one up in the house of God. Jesus didn’t get out of bed first. He rose from the grave first. His was the first body to come back to life and never die again. But Jesus will not be the only one whose body will rise from its grave; he’s just the first. He’s leading the way. Observing his resurrection shows us what the resurrection of our own bodies will be like.

If you have joined yourself to Jesus, the moment your body dies, your spirit will immediately be in the presence of Jesus. Your body will be in the ground waiting for resurrection. And one day, when Jesus returns to this earth, your body will rise out of your grave and be like his.

We all have bodies that will die, because we’re all descendants of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve sinned and brought death down on all of us, and since then every other human being except Jesus has sinned too. But every believer who has ever died, every body belonging to someone who loved Jesus that is in the grave, is going to come out of the grave perfect someday — just like Jesus’ resurrection body. Bodies die because of Adam’s sin. Bodies live because of Christ’s resurrection.