With the weekend of Good Friday & Easter in our rearview mirror now, what is the continuing impact of the Resurrection? So many pour energy into adding years to their lives, focused on exercise routines, clean eating, avoiding smoking, therapeutic treatments & more (which can all be good). But ultimately, they’re just health hacks promising a few more birthdays. Doctors & medicines may delay death, but what about adding life to your years?
Many try to feel alive & chase the “good life” through fleeting thrills of an affair, serial relationships, weekend parties, or recreational escapes. These promise excitement but deliver emptiness. Roughly 2/3rds of people dread their daily grind. Naturalist Henry David Thoreau captured it in 1854: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” inwardly dying a little more each day as they wonder, “Is this all there is? Is this what life is about?”
In John 5:21-29, Jesus speaks of 4 resurrections that redefine what it means to be alive—past, present, & future. These aren’t abstract doctrines; they offer the only real antidote to spiritual deadness. It all begins with Christ’s own resurrection in the past. 2,000 years ago, His emergence from the tomb changed everything. As the Creator & source of life, death couldn’t hold Him after crucifixion (John 1:4, Acts 2:24).
He isn’t the dead founder of another religion, but the one & only living Savior whose physical resurrection was the first of many to come, as He promised resurrection for all who follow Him. “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself” (John 5:26). Many of our troubles stem from living as if this world is all there is—as if this life is the only reality. We scramble for temporary fixes because we assume the grave is the end. But a risen Savior shatters that illusion. Jesus had to die so we could live, & His resurrection proves victory over death and guarantees that real life flows from Him.
That leads to the 2nd resurrection, which is current. While we’re living apart from God, cut off by our sin, we’re the walking dead. When we rise from the water of baptism, we’ve risen with Christ to walk in newness of life right now (Rom. 6:3-4)! This is spiritual resurrection—passing from death to life. You immediately start having eternal life as Jesus promised: “…Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24, Eph. 2:1-5).
Becoming a Christian means far more than accepting propositions or following rules. It is a transformation into the fullness of Christ—a daily filling with His life. Spiritual aliveness is the only true life, so Christians should be the most alive people on earth, not drudging through existence but radiating joy, purpose, & vitality. Your work, relationships, & ordinary days gain new meaning because God’s life pulses within you. You don’t need momentary thrills, exotic escapades, or toxic indulgences to fill the void or numb the emptiness. Life is worth living because Jesus lives in me!
But wait, there’s more—a future resurrection to life! This 3rd resurrection awaits Christ’s return (1 Cor. 15). On that day, we will experience physical resurrection as our bodies are reassembled into a new, glorified, immortal body. Jesus said: “…An hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. …An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life…” (John 5:25, 28-29)
This isn’t vague hope, but the culmination of the life already begun in us. Death becomes a doorway, not an end. For those united to the risen Christ, the future holds glorious reunion & unending life in His presence. This new body will be fit for experiencing whatever substance the new heavens & earth are made of—because nothing will be subject to disorder, decay, or death.
However, there’s an alternative that holds a future 4th kind of resurrection. “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12). For those who remain dead in sin, Jesus warns of a “resurrection of judgment” (John 5:29). Someone saved by Christ receives no condemnation because he already “has passed from death to life” (John 5:24, Rom. 8:1). But those who reject His sacrifice & refuse repentance will stand before Him not as Savior but as Judge.
While the 4th resurrection is one to continuing existence, it is not a resurrection to any kind of real life. It lacks the blessed quality of immorality. There will be no joy, peace, or fellowship because those are only part of the God life. That’s why ongoing existence apart from God is referred to as the 2nd death (Rev. 20: 6, 14). That “body” (of whatever substance it’s made of) will be fit to experience misery.
Contemplating these 4 resurrections invites a radical shift. Embracing the living Savior brings abundant life now & forever (John 3:16, 10:10). Easter becomes an everyday experience as we’re being renewed, filled, & prepared for a glorious future.