January 12.
Permanent Resurrection

Revelation 1:5

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.

When I read the text, I was baffled for a moment because I remembered there were others that got up while Jesus was alive. You remember that Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead. Jesus also brought back the son that lived in a city called Nain. And you do remember Lazarus died, and the Lord brought him back.

The text says that Jesus was the first begotten of the dead. These other people had gotten up, but yet the Bible says that Jesus was the first. Here is the answer; you see even though Jairus’ daughter was raised from the dead, she died again. Even though Lazarus was brought back, Lazarus had to die again. The widow’s son had to die again. They experienced two deaths. But Jesus, after he died, didn’t die anymore. He was the first.

And then he died, and they buried him and put him in Joseph’s new tomb that he had lent to Jesus. Whatever you lend to the Lord, he will give it back to you, but it will always be better. And by just letting Jesus use his grave evidently, the spirit had said, it will be given back to you again. When Jesus got up that morning, he wrecked the grave. I mean he robbed the grave of its victory and took the stain out of death.

The Greek text says that he was the first in rank, the first in line. In other words, he showed us how it was going to be later for us. He was the first begotten of the dead and He was the Prince of the king of the earth. Jesus got up with rank. He didn’t lose anything because he died. And when you die in the Lord, you don’t lose anything. As a matter of fact, you gain. As Paul said, “For me to live is Christ, but for me to die is gain.” We will live again!