Several of the world's religions, when faced with the perplexing issue
of Christ's return from the dead, explain it in terms of reincarnation. A
proponent of one of the Eastern religions says: "Christ's resurrection
was really a reincarnation - another soul in another body." I once heard
a Christian minister declare that Paul's reference to Christ as the
firstborn from among the dead (Col. 1:18) was a clear allusion to
reincarnation. There is no doubt that our Lord came from a virgin womb
and a virgin tomb, but the body that emerged from the sepulchre was not
fashioned in the tomb as it had been when He was an infant in Mary's
womb. The body was the same one as before. Others try to explain
Christ's resurrection as living on in the recollection of others. "To
live in the minds and hearts of those we love," goes a well-known saying
often heard at funerals, "is not to die." It has to be acknowledged
that some live so vibrantly that it is hard to think of them as dead
even after one has attended their funeral. But when we talk about
Christ's resurrection, we are not saying He survives in our memories.
Recollection is not resurrection. The body which died upon the cross and
was laid in the cool tomb on the evening of the first Good Friday was
miraculously infused with life once again early in the morning of the
first Easter Day. It is as literal and as factual as that. This -
nothing less and nothing else - is what we mean by the resurrection of
our Lord from the dead.
Prayer:
Father, I am so thankful that in bringing Your Son back to life You
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. I know this to
be true for in You there cannot be such a thing as death. Life is so
sure - as sure as You are. Amen.
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