We don’t know exactly how it all went down, but we do know this: Jesus was dead, and then he wasn’t. A battered corpse was stretched out on a slab, and then the heart in the ribcage started beating again. Jesus inhaled and at once the heavy air in the tomb became more than air; it became breath.
The New Testament tells us again and again that Jesus triumphed over the grave, that his body was (and is) corporeal, that he is the firstborn from the dead. Just as sure as daybreak, springtime, the sprouting of tulips, the joy of life after the groaning of labor, Jesus demonstrated his redemptive love for his creation by entering it, dying for it, and then rising from the ashes with a glorified body. In him, our best dreams have come true. C. S. Lewis knew that there were myths all around the world that whispered of a dying and resurrecting hero, and it was the realization that Jesus was the literal fulfillment of that longing that led him to faith in Christ.
You can pick up Resurrection Letters: Volume I in the Rabbit Room Store and listen to “His Heart Beats” here:https://rabbitroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/01-His-Heart-Beats.mp3