What is resurrection? Resurrection is the breaking through by a person
faith. The Lord commended it as "so great [a] faith": for he only asked for a word of healing from the Lord Jesus when his servant fell sick. And when the centurion professed his faith in acknowledging the Lord as being beyond the limitation of time and space, his servant got well instantly (see Luke 7.1-10). This centurion had revelation. Inasmuch as the Lord had been conceived and born of the Holy Spirit (see Matt. 1.20, Luke 1.35), He had in character reached the peak of God's created man. Even so, His power was restricted; and therefore, there is the need for resurrection.
2. In resurrection God obtains the representative man. We now will see what resurrection is. Resurrection means that God has obtained the representative man: "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee" (Heb.1.5). According to Acts 13.33-34, this same word is quoted within the context of speaking about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The meaning of resurrection is that Jesus the typical man is henceforth no longer subject to any limitation. He is to live forever. His resurrection transcends all natural restrictions. According to 1 Peter 1.3, we are born again "unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." While the Lord was on earth He had the possibility of death. After His resurrection, however, death is destroyed by Him. He now lives forever. Henceforth, the power of death as well as the possibility of death are both totally demolished.
Hallelujah! For four thousand years God had worked on man. But then, He finally got the man He longed for. God said to the Lord Jesus, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee" (see Heb. 1.1-5, Acts 13.33-34, Ps. 2.7). God declared this at the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. When the Lord was born in Bethlehem, God had not said this. It was only when He was raised from among the dead that God joyfully declared, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." Hence, we see that at the Lord's resurrection God finally possesses the Man of His heart.
3. Resurrection eliminated the restriction of time and space. What is resurrection? Resurrection is the breaking through by a person of all restrictions, even breaking through the strongest restriction which is death. In resurrection Jesus breaks through all barriers. The New Testament mentions the dead being raised a number of times—such as in the instance of the only son of the woman in Nain (Luke 7.11-15); the little daughter of Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue (Matt. 9.18-25, cf. Mark 5.22ff.), and Lazarus (John
11). Yet even in the case of Lazarus, it is only resuscitation or the returning of the soul. He was still bound with graveclothes that needed to be loosened before he could walk. And Lazarus, like the others, eventually had to die. Only the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is of a kind that is not bound by death. He is risen and dies no more. In the record of the whole Bible, only the Lord is resurrected.
When brother T. Austin-Sparks of England spoke of the Lord's resurrection, he once said this: that with respect to the resurrected Lord, there is neither come nor go; for no one sees from where He comes nor knows to where He goes; He merely appears and disappears at various times; and hence, He does not come, He appears; He does not go, He disappears. The problem lies not in His coming and going, but rather depends instead on our seeing or not seeing Him. In the record of John 20 we are told that at the early morn of His resurrection the Lord Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, "Touch me not" (vv.16-17). This is because He is now different from the past. When He told Thomas to touch His side this became for him a matter of faith. Jesus wanted Thomas to touch Him with faith. Touching the resurrected Lord by faith makes Him touchable. As regards the risen Lord, apart from revelation there is no question of coming or going. The greatest restrictions of man are those of time and space. Yet neither of these can limit the Lord. Resurrection has transcended all restrictions. Hallelujah, today our Lord Jesus is absolutely unlimited. If we live in the Holy Spirit, we can touch the Lord. The Lord is in our midst. All obstructions have been eliminated.
It was after Lazarus had breathed his last breath that the Lord Jesus began His travel back into Judea from the other side of the river Jordan. When He finally arrived at the home of Lazarus, Martha said to Him, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." The Lord answered, "Thy brother shall rise again." Her response was, "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." The Lord Jesus immediately replied, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live ... Believest thou this?" (John 11.1-26) What the Lord meant here is: "I am the last day! If you believe, you shall see resurrection now. Where I am, time does not exist, neither is there the last day." Concerning resurrection, there is not the factor of time. Outside of resurrection, time is a big problem. But with resurrection, time is no longer an issue because it is not circumscribed by time.
Not only this, resurrection is also unrestricted by space. We remember how the two disciples on the road to Emmaus saw the risen Lord. Meanwhile,