The Resurrection: It’s Not a What, It’s a Who

Have you ever imagined what the end times will be like?

I grew up hearing about the rapture. I envisioned scenes like an empty hoodie, still hanging over a chair in a coffee shop, steam rising from the cup of a half-full latte.  A stunned barista stared at where someone had been sitting just seconds before.

I wondered about what it would look like when graves opened up — dirt broken open and piled up, headstones fallen over, and dead people shooting up out of their coffins to meet Jesus in the air in brand new bodies.

I thought about the Millennial Reign and pictured Jesus standing flat-footed on the Mount of Olives, wearing a brilliant white robe, Heaven's armies grouped behind him, looking at the remnants of the armies of the antichrist who the sheer brightness of His coming has just incinerated.

Maybe you have imagined scenes like this when you thought about the end times. You may have heard sermons, read scriptures, or seen movies depicting end-time events. But if you are like most people, the details of how it will all unfold are unclear.

And that raises an important question…

“If I don’t know all the details, how can I be sure I believe the right things about the end times?”

You'll be glad to know this is not a modern question. A well-known lady in the Bible named Martha dealt with similar questions. And like many of us, she faced those questions specifically during a time of grief when her brother Lazarus died.

Like many of us, Martha was shaped by the common religious teachings of her time, or by what many first-century Jews believed. From her conversation with Jesus in John 11, we know that she believed in a future, bodily resurrection. She understood passages like Daniel 12:2: "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.” Like many people in her day, she believed the righteous would rise again on the last day, and God would set everything right.

So when Jesus told her, "Your brother will rise again," she didn't blink. She answered, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (John 11:24). She had solid theology. She gave the answer she had been taught to believe. What she did not realize in that moment, however, was how close that resurrection power was.

Imagine what must have gone through her mind when Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life…" (v. 25).

Could she have possibly understood in that moment that the hope of Daniel's prophecy was not just a distant promise? The Resurrection was standing in front of her!

Jesus was her personal friend. John 11:5 tells us, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” She had a personal relationship with Him. She had laughed with Him, served meals to Him, and trusted Him as a teacher. But she also knew her friend was the Messiah.

When Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die,” He ended with a question: “Do you believe this?” and Martha made a theological leap. She connected the resurrection to the biblical prophecies of the Messiah. She didn’t say, “I believe that you can do miracles” or even “You might be able to raise my brother back to life again.” She responded: “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, and He who comes into the world” (v. 27).

The conversation in the Biblical record seems to end somewhat abruptly. It is unclear how deeply Martha truly understood the theological details of the resurrection. However, what is important to note is that her theology seems to have moved from the fact of the resurrection to faith in the person of Jesus.

What about us?

Martha had a relationship with Jesus as a friend, teacher, and even Messiah. She could place her trust in Him, in who she knew He was. She could embrace that the resurrection was standing in front of her.

We have a more intimate relationship with Jesus than Martha. We have the Messiah, the Resurrection and the Life, not only standing in front of us, but living within us!

Through salvation, we have received the Holy Spirit, God's presence dwells in our hearts, guiding us, sealing us, and fellowshipping with us. We live on the other side of the resurrection story. If Martha could trust Jesus, even though her theological details may have been blurry, how much more can we trust Jesus?

The theological details of the end times may be uncertain for you. You may not understand timelines, prophecies, or symbolic visions. But you do not walk in uncertainty. Your certainty does not rely on your intellectual understanding of theology. Your certainty relies on your relationship with Jesus. Keep learning the facts about the end times. But your relationship with Jesus is eternal and already certain.

While your theology will continue to grow and you will continue to learn, your relationship with Jesus is already secure. The resurrection is not a what. It’s a Who. And if you know Him, you already have resurrection life.