“The Rising” by Sho Baraka Feat. Trip Lee and Erica Cumbo. If you don’t see the video, please refresh your browser.
Resurrection Vs. Reanimation
John 11:14-15 (KJV)
14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.
John 11:43-44 (KJV)
43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
In most societies, death is the beginning of life on another plane. Once you’ve exited to that plane, you stay there. Even those who believe in and think they see ghosts, (which really do not exist, but that’s another discussion), don’t think that ghosts exist on the same plane as the living. For many cultures and religious systems for which there is an afterlife, there is no tangent to this belief that one should come back from the dead and live on this earth in the same state, and with the same body, in which they previously lived.
Those who lack spiritual discernment confuse biblical resurrection with the reanimated state of beings that are collectively referred to as “the undead.” One blogger even went so far as to set forth the hypothesis the Jesus was a zombie. Such musings are blasphemous, revealing depths of depravity and confusion of reality to which unregenerate minds can sink. Resurrection and reanimation are not the same. In resurrection, the dead are completely restored to life. In fictional reanimation (e.g., Frankenstein), creatures are brought from the stillness of death to a type of death-in-motion. Zombies do not truly die, their minds are chemically altered and made submissive to control by another by chemicals (e.g., puffer fish poison).
In science fiction, those who come back from the dead are monstrous creatures who prey upon the living and are considered to be inherently evil. Literary creatures like Dracula, the golem, and Frankenstein are destructive, reanimated creatures with dead flesh, who are disoriented and enraged by life. In Christianity; however, those who believe in Christ are resurrected to eternal life in a perfect physical body that neither decays nor dies. Resurrected Christians inhabit a new heaven and a new earth as fully functional beings made in the image of God. The Christian resurrection to eternal life is a time of joy and ultimate well being.
In the scriptures at the beginning of this discussion, the Bible presents the well known story of Lazarus, the man whom Jesus raised from the dead. When reading this passage, it is easy to simply stop your probing of scriptures at the fact that Lazarus was made to live again at the command of the Savior. This is a profound miracle. Everything that is miraculous is profound, but this one stands out because it challenges everyone’s concept of death.
Jesus raised Lazarus back into a life where he was fully himself: interactive, thinking, capable of self-will, self-care, social discourse, and worship. Those who knew and loved Lazarus found neither strangeness nor cause for fear in him after he was raised from the dead. In other words, Lazarus was fully alive. He died when his time came, but in the interim he was not a mind-dead, decaying zombie.
Historically, human imagination envisions the dead who come back to life as being merely reanimated corpses under the control of another spiritual or physical being. They are also believed be in alliance with the devil. The reanimated of mythology live under a curse, and are bound by curious cravings and passions such as a lust for flesh and blood.
The “undead” are hostile to all who are truly alive. Lazarus, however, was resurrected, not reanimated. He was fully restored and totally integrated: body, soul and spirit. He was whole because he was back to life by the One Who is the Master of Creation. Only the Lord can resurrect. Reanimation imitates resurrection in movement only, but reanimated bodies are soulless. Jesus is the only door to eternal life, and the sole pathway to righteousness for life on earth. The reanimated remain the prisoners of death, but not so Jesus. The Bible says:
Romans 6:9
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
Our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, was the first to be resurrected from the dead, never to die again. For this reason the Bible refers to Jesus as “the First Born of the dead” (Revelation 1:5). Jesus rose from the dead to live life eternally and fully, not in a decomposing state of eternal death that feeds on the blood of others to sustain a continued existence in death, but as one Who has all power, all knowledge, Who is life itself. Jesus “is light” and life, and in Him “there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5, John 14:6). The resurrection of Lazarus and Jesus are historical realities meant to instruct and inspire us with a “lively hope” (1 Peter 1:3) for the day when we shall see our Savior face to face, as those who have inherited eternal life.
Reflection:
Knowing that Jesus is the only hope for eternal life and freedom from death, what then is my prayer? My prayer is this: Heavenly Father, bless Your precious name for Your love and mercy that has given us our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you Father that He is the way, the truth and the life. Lord forgive me for the ways in which I have shown forth the light and life of Jesus. Forgive me for the times I have not been grateful for His life and the new life He has made possible for me to be a part of. Help me Father God to live according to the newness of life made possible by faith in Christ. Help me to show forth His light and life. Help me to life up Jesus in the midst of this present darkness, that all men will be drawn to Him and in Him have eternal life. These things I ask, in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Until next time, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!
Your friend in Christ,
Verneda
Twitter handle: @vlights
© 2011 Verneda Lights. All Rights Reserved.
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“The Rising” by Sho Baraka was Uploaded to Youtube.com by theWanting on May 4, 2010. The song is on the album titled “Lions and Liars.”
Verneda Lights and E-graphX Omnimedia have no rights or ownership of this video. It is used for instructional purposes only.
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