John 2:18-22 (ESV) So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
When asked “who raised Jesus from the dead,” most Christians would say “God raised Him,” and they would be right. But, Scripture gives us quite a bit of additional information on just Who raised Jesus. The Bible says the Father raised Jesus (Gal. 1:1). The passage quoted above, says Jesus raised Himself, and the Bible says the Holy Spirit raised Jesus (Rom. 8:11). Also, Peter, in his great sermon before the Temple says God raised Him from the dead (Acts 2:32). So the triune God was active in all three Persons to raise Jesus from the dead.
I would like to look more closely at the passage at hand (John 2:18-22). There are some serious implications here we need to understand. First is how can a dead man raise his own body. We need to remember Jesus has two natures, the human nature and His divine nature. It was His human nature that died on Calvary 2,000 years ago, but His divine nature didn’t die, of course. Had His divine nature died along with His body, God would have ceased to exist as a triune God. He would then have to change His nature, but our God does not change (Mal. 3:6). Because of this, Jesus must have continued to exist as God and was perfectly able to raise His dead body from the tomb. He tells us this in the passage above.
Jesus raised His body. He wasn’t raised as a spirit as some cults teach. It is clear here this is what He is talking about, “the temple of His body.” He makes a direct claim supporting this in Luke 24:36-39
As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
Jesus’ resurrection was a bodily resurrection.
So, why was He raised? We know why Jesus died for us, it was to pay the price for our sin. Why then did He need to rise from the dead? Wasn’t dying enough?
One reason is that Jesus performed miracles often to prove His message. When the men lowered the paralytic through the roof so Jesus could heal him (Mark 2:1-13), He said to the man “Your sins are forgiven.” The scribes questioned how He could say such a thing since only God can forgive sins. To prove what He said was true, He told the paralytic “Rise up and walk,” and the man rose, picked up his bed, and left. The miracle healing was done to prove what Jesus said was true.
In the same way, Jesus’ resurrection proves His claim to have power over life and death. He said accepting Him would bring us eternal life (John 3:16, 5:24). His resurrection is proof of that claim.
Why is this important?
A better understanding of Who God is and how He works helps build our faith and emboldens us to share that faith with others.
This Easter season, we have a better than usual opportunity to share the truth of Christ’s resurrection with others. We can use the strength of God’s Spirit to help us explain how a dead man can rise to life.
1 Cor. 15:14-17 (ESV) And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 