David Bryant Mini-Post / Four-Minute Read
He Holds the Keys!
You and the Re-creation of the Resurrection
The keys of death were hung on the inside of Christ’s tomb. From the outside, Christ could do many wonderful works, including raising a twelve-year-old girl and two men from the dead—only to die again. If any were to be raised from the dead, never to die again, Christ would have to die for them, enter the tomb, take the keys, and unlock the door of death from the inside (John Piper).
Have you ever felt like you and your daily routines are confined in a box?
Like the Jack-in-the-Box child’s toy, are you waiting for someone to turn the crank and advance the tune far enough to cause the top to blow off so you can spring up, as it were, into some level of a freer, wider, more exciting dimension of living?
Well, the good news of Easter is this: Those who give their lives to the victorious Savior who blew open the tomb are no longer contained in this “old creation.” They arise in Christ and find themselves in the unlimited dimensions of a “new creation” that began with his resurrection—and continues to this very moment, on into eternity.
This makes God’s message to the world today a “gospel”—GOOD NEWS!! This unprecedented, reconciled, renewed, liberated, and transformed life in Christ is found IN HIM for all who come to him.
You ask, “What difference does that make for me today?” I say, “Look at who holds the keys!”
First key: Remember that this kind of resurrected life was unknown before Christ’s triumph. Three days after the cross, he entered a wholly foreign manifestation of a life never witnessed in all human history—a life not of this creation.
That’s why we call his resurrection a Re-creation. The risen Redeemer takes us with him into the first installments of the thoroughly renovated heaven and earth to come—THE Re-creation—so that we can share in some of those blessings right now. That’s what the ministry of the Holy Spirit is all about—giving us foretastes of the power of the age to come (Hebrews 6).
As “the man from heaven” (I Corinthians 15), Jesus calls believers to rise together—by the Holy Spirit’s supply of resurrection power—to enjoy, right now, some of the fruits of the future as we are filled with the vibrancy of the living God.
The old order of things—corrupted and depraved, filled with evil, sin, suffering, and death’s doom—has now been replaced by a new creation. Jesus IS that new creation! He’s the “presence of the future” among us today. He offers us a brand-new beginning where he can produce the fruits of health, wholeness, holiness, righteousness, godliness, truth, and unfailing love in those who abide in him.
You ask, “What difference does that make for me today?” I say, “Look at who holds the keys!”
Second key: On the other hand, Jesus’ physical defeat of death and rising in the same but more glorious body means God is not willing to relinquish his old creation, leaving it to be dismantled and obliterated because of our sin.
Instead, through our risen Jesus, God is now in the business of making all things new. The resurrection—combined with Jesus’ ascension forty days later—cannot be understood in any other way. It marks the starting point for reclaiming this physical creation and transforming it. This promise mirrors how believers will spend eternity in our very own transformed bodies, like Christ’s transformed body (Philippians 3:21).
History has now become HIS story. Our Redeemer and Lord not only accomplished God’s mission for all creation, he embodies the future of that creation. It starts and ends with him. Peter’s words make it clear:
But when the Day of God’s Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief. The sky will collapse with a thunderous bang, everything disintegrating in a raging inferno, earth and all its works exposed to the scrutiny of Judgment…[But] we’ll be looking the other way, ready for the promised new heavens and the promised new earth, all landscaped with righteousness (2 Peter 3:10-13, MSG).
This is why God’s Son is not only the focal point of the Bible’s grand narrative but also the centerpiece for all who belong to him.
You ask, “What difference does that make for me today?” I say, “Look at who holds the keys!”
Third Key: Death dethroned us, but Christ rose to own us! Alive in him, we belong to him—exclusively.
As our ever-living sovereign, we are bound to him, as it were, the way married couples are bound to each other so that through their union, they might bring forth lasting fruit for God (see Paul’s example in Romans 7).
Jesus’ resurrection triumph vanquished our deadliest foes: sin, evil, Satan, death. At the same time, he delivered his people from the judgment to come. Then he came and conquered us—by grace alone.
By overcoming death, he showed us how, by belonging to him, we will ultimately overcome all the misery, pain, futility, decay, division, disruption, and disaster that poisons this old creation.
Tasting death for each of us, Christ bound the Strong Man to spoil him of his prey. He overthrew the Tyrant of Hell, releasing us from the dread of the dead. The inbreaking of God’s Kingdom through our risen King means the world does not belong to the Prince of Darkness—nor do we.
Our risen Lord Jesus Christ has permanently absorbed the sting of death, dispelled the fear of death, renounced the curse of death, and disengaged the clutch of death. All this so that he might reign over us forever!
We have become the sole inheritance of our crucified and risen Victor.
When Colossians 1 refers to Christ as the “firstborn” from among the dead, this means as the first to rise again. Just as the firstborn sons in Jewish families inherited everything, even so, as God’s firstborn son, Jesus inherits US—with the entire cosmos thrown in!
You ask, “What difference does that make for me today?” I say, “Look at who holds the keys!”
Don’t fear: I am First, I am Last, I’m Alive. I died, but I came to life, and my life is now forever. SEE THESE KEYS IN MY HAND? They open and lock Death’s doors, they open and lock Hell’s gates (Revelation 1:17-18, MSG, emphasis added).
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About the Author
Over the past 50 years, David Bryant has been defined by many as a “messenger of hope” and a “Christ proclaimer” to the Church throughout the world. Formerly a minister-at-large with the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, president of Concerts of Prayer International (COPI), and chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee, David now provides leadership to ChristNow.com and Proclaim Hope!, whose mission is to foster and serve Christ Awakening movements. Download his widely read ebooks at ChristNow.com. Enjoy hundreds of podcast episodes. Watch his vlogs at David Bryant REPORTS. Meet with David through Zoom or in-person events through David Bryant LIVE!
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