April 12

and I have the same hope in God that they themselves cherish, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. — Acts 24:15 BSB

The hope of resurrection should be a powerful inspiration for a believer in Christ. The grave is not the end; we will rise from it in new beauty and live forever. Christ didn’t just teach that the dead would rise again—He went into the grave Himself and then came out alive after three days, proving the reality of resurrection. If one man died and rose again, can’t all? But Christ’s resurrection meant even more than that. As the head of His people, He won the victory over death on their behalf.

Now death is a conquered enemy. Paul declares that Christ abolished death. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. … Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die!” There is no interruption in a Christian’s life at death. The spirit lives more fully and gloriously a moment after death than ever before. The body may sleep in the grave, but at the resurrection, it will be raised—not as the old, worn-out body, but as a new, glorious, incorruptible, spiritual body, to live forever with Christ!