And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' 8 "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. Matthew 10:7-8 (NASB)
Jesus commissioned his disciples to announce the presence and power of God’s kingdom by preaching the good news of his, the king’s, arrival and ministry and by demonstrating the king’s delegated power and authority. This was done by healing, setting people free from demonic oppression, and raising people physically from the dead. Jesus also promised all who would follow that we would do even greater works than he did after his ascension into heaven (John 14:12).
Our Lord sent his Holy Spirit to empower us to preach the gospel and do miracles in his name as a testimony to the truthfulness of our words. (Acts 1:8)
In my lifetime I have seen God heal and set people free from demons, but not once have I witnessed a physically dead person being brought back to life. I must add, however, that I have heard of that happening and have even talked to people who said that they saw it happen in other countries. Why is this not happening where we live? Is it a sign that we lack faith? Will this miracle become more prevalent as we draw closer to Christ’s Second Coming? I imagine the answer to these last two questions is yes and yes. But, let us consider another side to this.
Every single person comes into this world, according to the Bible, “dead in sins.” (Psalm 51:5, Ephesians 2:1) This is because we inherit Adam’s fallen nature. We come into this world separated spiritually from God with an inborn default propensity to pursue selfish desires and try to live independently from God. When we act out these propensities, we add our sin to the cauldron of cascading judgment that we rebels deserve. The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23) Jesus came to rescue us from this nightmare situation. He paid the penalty for our sins, taking our judgment of death upon himself. After three days, God raised him from the dead, making him the Author of Life. In Jesus’ own words, he is now the “resurrection and the life!”
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26 (NASB)
Each time someone is spiritually reborn through faith in Christ, it is a life-restoring miracle. God brings a dead person back to life and gives them the promise that spiritually, at least, they will never die. Unless Christ returns, every one of us will die physically, but Jesus promises that the spiritual life transcends physical death. When we die physically, we who believe will experience a “seamless” transition into the manifest presence of God. This is because everyone of us is already there spiritually.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:4-6 (NASB)
When we share the gospel and our hearer responds in faith, we have a part in God’s raising him or her from the dead spiritually speaking, which will one day result in his or her receiving a new resurrection body at the Second Coming. (John 6:40)
Being spiritually made alive again is a far greater thing than simply restoring life to a physical body. Born again people will live forever with God, even after they die bodily. People who are merely physically raised from the dead will one day die again nevertheless, and, if they are not reborn through the gospel, they will suffer eternal death.
Every single person who confesses that Jesus is Lord and believes in his or her heart that God raised him from the dead becomes a brand new creation, made alive from the dead, never to experience eternal death and separation from God.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB)
It takes the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit to make this happen.
The new birth is a miracle of the first magnitude that rivals creation.
The light (revelation) of Christ shining into our sin darkened hearts is even greater in some way than the light God spoke into existence during creation, because it reverses the curse upon sin and causes a dead person to come alive and be brought into God’s family to live eternally.
For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6 (NASB)
I believe, as did Paul, that the new birth is a spiritual resurrection.
For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you." Ephesians 5:14 (NASB)
So, do not be intimidated or feel like a failure because of our Lord’s telling his disciples to raise the dead. Perhaps one day we will even witness dead bodies coming to life again. Until then, however, every time we preach the gospel, we put ourselves in a position to see an even greater demonstration of Christ’s life giving power, the spiritual resurrection of a spiritually dead individual. That gives us a good reason to share the gospel and glorify God as we await the return of Christ and the glorious resurrection of all the dead.
