Jesus: The Firstborn From the Dead

Jesus: The Firstborn From the Dead

Do you know what the focal point was of the thinking, and the believing, and the experience of the Early Church? Why, it was the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. While others in the Bible, such as Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, and a few others, were restored back to their mortal, earthly lives, only to die a second time, the Early Church knew Jesus's resurrection was unique.  So unique that He was the first to be resurrected to eternal life, never to die again. He was the first to have a transformed, glorified body. He was the first and only one to display the power to lay down His life and to take it up again. He was the first and only one to ascend into heaven to be seated at the right hand of God. He was the first and only One, as John wrote in Revelation 1:5, to command the unique supreme position over all creation as “the firstborn from the dead,” making Him the first and only one with the authority to give everlasting life, in Heaven, forever, to some, and to assign others to everlasting condemnation in Hell. Isn’t that what He meant when He said of Himself in Revelation 1:18, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” 

And listen to this. By virtue of His resurrection, Jesus was the first and only one who could promise those who belong to Him that they, too, will share in a future resurrection in Heaven, with Him, forever! If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, isn’t this great news!   

Beloved, the reality of Jesus’ resurrection, lived in and through the lives of the Early Church, impacted their world so much it literally turned their world upside down and the world has never been the same since! You can live this way too by fixing your eyes on Jesus, “…the firstborn from the dead...” If you do this, you will never be the same either! O, what a Savior!

by Laine Wilder

author of “Insights From an Elder” for

Carry the Light Ministries