Philippians 3:10-11
That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
The raising of Jesus from the dead was a demonstration of great power. It was a work of trinitarian unity as all the three persons were involved. The Father, as Hebrews 13:20 tells us, brought again from the dead our Lord and great Shepherd. The Spirit, Paul tells us in Romans 8:11, raised Jesus from the dead. And the Son Himself declared that it is He who has the authority to give His life and to take it back again (John 10:18). Just as the three persons of the Godhead were involved in creation at the beginning, so were they involved in the resurrection. This is because, through the resurrection, the new creation was ushered.
Paul, in our text today, desires for nothing more than first and foremost, to know Christ, and then the power of His resurrection. To seek to know the power of the resurrection devoid of knowing Christ is an exercise in intellectual futility. Therefore, any attempt at knowing and experiencing the power of the resurrection should be an attempt at knowing and experiencing the Christ of the resurrection. That said, this power could be taken to mean two things: First, it means the power that worked out the resurrection. But it also means the power that proceeds from the resurrection. We need to know both, to experience both, and to express both to a dark and dying world. And guess what? This same power now lives and is at work in you if you are a Christian. In fact, to be a Christian, the Bible tells us, is to have new life:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Reflections
1. Have you placed your faith in Christ for the salvation of your soul? Then the resurrection power works in you.
