Resurrection Promised

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

¹⁹If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. ²⁰But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²²For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. ²⁴Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. ²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

“World Death Rate Holding Steady At 100%”

A ridiculous headline, to say the least. But there is one exception and that is Jesus Christ. He was resurrected from death, in His human body. Yes, there were other people who were brought back from death in the Bible. But where are they today? They are in the grave – so 100% still holds. A couple of years ago, there was a story in the news about an Italian doctor who planned to perform a “head transplant” at the end of 2017. A head transplant! It’s probably not true, as the story seems to indicate this is more about video game design than actual science. But – it does point to how tenaciously we hold onto this life, and that is because large portions of the population don’t believe that there is a God with a plan for what happens when we die. But Scriptures tell a different story.

There is only one world religion that teaches about resurrection and that is Christianity. There are a few that hold onto reincarnation but that most certainly is not resurrection. We stand unique on the world stage with an understanding of what comes next that cannot be compared to that of any other belief system. The Fall of Adam and Eve introduced sin and subsequently death into God’s perfect creation. Because of His overwhelming love, grace, and mercy, God launched His already devised plan to save mankind from the wages of sin. Already in Genesis 3:15 God reveals the outworking of His plan. He would send a Savior. Not even Adam and Eve, who heard the prophecy from the Father’s lips themselves understood what sending a Savior would cost the Father. But they believed what He told them and began to look for that promise to be fulfilled. The Hebrew text indicates that Eve even believed her firstborn son, Cain, was “the man” that God was sending. As it turned out, that was not the case. But she believed in the promise, nonetheless.

We need to hold onto Jesus’ resurrection with all that we are because, according to the Apostle Paul, Jesus’ resurrection means that we too will be resurrected when He returns. He was “the firstborn from the dead.” Paul even points out all of the witnesses who saw the resurrected Christ. This marks His return from death as an historical event. There were just too many people who saw Him with their own eyes to deny that He did indeed come back from the dead. In God’s economy, Adam brings sin, and subsequently death, into the world; Jesus bring His sacrificial blood and subsequently, life. While we may struggle with the sin that Adam brought, we also rejoice in the life that Jesus returned.

When I was going through confirmation class as an adolescent, I remember dogging the pastor about the fact that God blamed me for the sin of Adam and Eve. He was very kind with a fledging Bible student and helped me understand that I was most certainly guilty of plenty of my own sins and that if I wanted to be a recipient of Jesus gracious gift of salvation, I needed to own it. I didn’t truly understand what he was talking about at the time, but I am grateful that God has helped me see the error of my thinking since then.

Paul reveals to the Corinthians that we are indeed a people of hope because the resurrection of Jesus was a real event. It wasn’t conjured up by the Disciples or lied about in any way. Jesus rose from the dead. And because we participate with Adam in his original sin, so too do we participate with Jesus in the final Resurrection. At that time, the Father will also eliminate death forever. Specifically the second death, which is eternal separation from God in hell. John gives us even greater detail about that in The Revelation.

Revelation 20:10, 14
10…and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 14Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

The interesting thing to me is that this revelation about the second death doesn’t impact me. Yes, I now understand that Adam’s sin is attributed to me, but so too is the work of Jesus Christ. And so the second death will not be a part of my experience because the blood of Jesus covers that original sin, and the ones I commit all on my own! Now I must share that message so that others never know about that second death either.