Thoughts on Resurrection (ICEWS, eb 08)

For: The Institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt


This week has helped me to see some places where I am really lacking in my understanding of heaven, resurrection and the New Jerusalem.

Here is one thing I’m guilty of doing: concentrating on Jesus’ death on the cross and not saying a whole lot about His resurrection. But really, without the resurrection, my entire faith is pointless!

In the article “Resurrection, Our Living Hope,” Peter Davids says that:

"Jesus presently reigns (parallel to, and a replacement for “Caesar is Lord”, the patriotic acclamation of good Romans) and in order for this to be meaningful, Paul says, one must be committed to the fact that God raised him from the dead. No resurrection, no reign. No reign, no good news. Paul proclaimed Jesus as resurrected, living Lord as the core of his good news (cf. Acts 17:30-31)” (IW Master All, page 310).

"Jesus' resurrection points to our bodily resurrection when God creates the new heavens and the new earth. Yet we only concentrate on “going to heaven.” This is something of which I am also guilty, mostly because I’d never really questioned it. I just took it for granted as fact. Yes, I believe in heaven but in the book Simply Christian, N. T. Wright notes that after “going to heaven,” and facing a bodily death, we will be resurrected into God’s new Creation (Revelation 21:1). Wright calls resurrection “life after ‘life after death.’” (Simply Christian, page 218)

Here’s an interesting thought: Talk about “going to heaven” is what made me decide to give my heart to Jesus. For the next few years of my childhood I thought Christians were “not-very-good-looking” people who didn’t have great lives now but got to party later on. I was now part of that group, bound to a life of humdrum looks and very little fun but it would be all worth it in the end. Those thoughts from elementary school make me laugh now!

What does this have to do with worship?

If worship is designed for us to connect with God, and the end result of time will be an eternity in God’s presence, and living out His kingdom on earth, then worship gives us a taste of what is to come.

Romans 12:1-2 gives a great picture of what it means to worship with our lives: being living sacrifices

In the article “Worship Fit for a King” by Don Williams, he says that, “In Hebrew, the word “worship” [shakah] means to fall down or bow down: “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for He is our God” (Psalm 95:6). To fall down is to surrender, to give up, becoming physically lower than the King.” (IW Master All, page 4). This scene sounds just like Revelation 5 where the elders and 4 creatures fall down in worship and singing before the Lamb who is worthy to open the scroll.

This was a good week for reflection and to open up my heart and mind into areas where I hadn’t put in a whole lot of thought.