Jesus is not dead; He is seated at the right hand of God in heaven. Because Jesus is a member of the Trinity, He is God—He has always existed and He will always exist (John 1:1–5; 8:58).
Jesus was God incarnate on the earth; He was fully God and fully human (Philippians 2:5–8). He was crucified for claiming to be God (John 5:18; 10:33), and by this sacrifice He made provision for the sins of the whole world to be forgiven (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 2:2). He was buried after His death on the cross and He was resurrected to life three days later. Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection had been prophesied before (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53; Luke 22:37; Mark 9:31; 10:33–34).
After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples and proved to them that He not only was a spiritual being, but a physical one with flesh and blood. His physical body was fully alive; the resurrection had undeniably taken place (Luke 24:36–49). He spent forty more days on the earth, during which time he was seen by over five hundred people (1 Corinthians 15:3–7).
Jesus then blessed His disciples and they watched Him ascend into heaven (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9–11). He now resides in heaven at the right hand of the Father: "After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus is making intercessions to God the Father on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25) and He is preparing a place for us to live with Him; He will be coming again (John 14:3).
While other religious leaders have all died and been buried, only Jesus has paid for the sins of the world by His death and subsequently been raised back to life. Jesus conquered death (1 Corinthians 15:55), and because of Him, we can have confidence that when we place our faith in Him, we will experience our own resurrection. When our earthly bodies pass away, we have hope that we will be resurrected into an eternal life with Jesus (John 3:16–18; 14:19).
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