There Ain’t No Grave

Sometimes, it’s easy for us to analogize Jesus’ resurrection into us being resurrected out of a bad situation. The event gives us hope that a health problem will clear up, a financial gutter will turn around, or a relationship will be restored. 

There’s no doubt that we should have hope, but there’s something that transcends the quality of life we have this side of heaven. What should be a foundation for all of us as believers is this: a peace that surpasses understanding.

The resurrection itself indeed surpasses understanding. Pastor Dan said this past Easter Sunday that we hear that someone was raised from the dead recently and are immediately skeptical, and he’s right. It’s a strange thing to believe in, but we believe it all the same. Christianity lives and dies on that proposition: did Jesus rise again from the dead, and then ascend to heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father?

Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 15:13-14:

“But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”

The resurrection is a beautiful, terrifying, and fascinating truth to behold. We as believers read the eyewitnesses’ accounts in Scripture and believe the Word of God, and that faith is a gift we can only receive from God Himself. And how grateful we should be for such a gift! 

If Jesus took the wrath for our sins upon Himself on the cross and yet still rose again, then He has yet another gift for us as Christ’s bride: eternal life. Going back to the hope we have, of course, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be praying and hoping for things to go well for us here in our mortal lives. Christ tells us not to be anxious because God has provided for us everything we need all along and will continue to do so.

But the peace that surpasses understanding goes much deeper. It’s truly believing that we will spend eternity with Him one day. Nothing that can happen to us on this side of heaven can bring about despair when we have that kind of hope! Jehovah Jireh provided us a ram in the thicket, a lamb for the final sacrifice, and His only begotten son in our place for the judgment against sin that must be satisfied.

I was worshipping with the band this past Sunday, and that fact became more real for me than it ever has. I’ve only been a believer for a little over three years, and I’m so grateful for how much God has done in my life thus far, but it’s taken time for some of these things we say and take for granted to take hold of my heart. We were singing, “There ain’t no grave that’ll hold my body down,” and the gravity of that truth overwhelmed me.

Christ’s resurrection means so much to us as believers, as it should. Alongside His death on the cross, they are the pinnacle of our faith. The evidence of His Spirit moving among us, His followers continuing to believe no matter the obstacles across Church history, and the eyewitness accounts presented in Scripture are more than enough. Now we answer His call to repent and believe and seek to carry out His will through the Great Commission. 

Reflecting on the resurrection is so beautiful. No matter what happens to you here, Christian, look to the cross and look to the resurrection for the proof that He has bought you, He has adopted you, and He’s bringing you home to eternity one day.

~ Alex Nicholson serves as Music Director and Social Media Coordinator at LIFE Fellowship.