Great Bible Truths Podcast Episode 127
The Promises of God Talk 8
The Promise of Victory over Death
In Talk 3 we saw that the resurrection of Jesus was a key part of the fulfilment of God’s promises (Acts 13:32-33). We also took a brief look at 1 Corinthians 15 and saw that Christ’s resurrection guarantees ours. Today we’re going to examine this in more detail. Focusing our attention largely on 1 Corinthians 15, we’ll be considering:
- Why we can be sure about Christ’s resurrection
- Why we can be sure about our resurrection
- What our new bodies will be like
- The certainty of final victory over death
Why we can be sure about Christ’s resurrection
The basic answer to this question is found in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8:
- For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
- that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
- and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
- Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
- Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
- Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
Note that the verb here also means ‘he was seen’. He appeared to, and was therefore seen by:
- Peter (v5) (cf. Luke 24:34)
- the Twelve (v5) (a title rather than a number)
- 500 brothers (v6) (cf. Matthew 28:7,10, 16)
- James (v7) (referred to only here in NT) – James the Lord’s brother who ‘did not believe in him’ during his earthly ministry
- all the apostles (v7) (including Thomas? Or does this refer to a wider company than the 12?)
- me also (v8) (note the importance of personal experience)
Paul goes on to argue that, if Christ did not rise from the dead, their faith was futile, their sins were not forgiven, they were of all people the most to be pitied, the apostles must be liars and there was no point in all the persecution he had just suffered.
Much has been written on the evidence for the resurrection – see, for example, the relevant chapter in You’d Better Believe It – but the argument can be summarised as follows:
- There can be no serious doubt that Christ died.
- There are numerous witnesses who state that they saw him alive after he had died.
- The reliability of these witnesses is evident in that many of them died rather than deny the truth of their testimony.
But Paul’s purpose in 1 Corinthians 15 is not only to establish the fact of Christ’s resurrection. In verses 20-26 he goes on to show that Christ’s resurrection guarantees ours.
Why we can be sure about our resurrection
1 Corinthians 15:20-28
- But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
- For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
- For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
- But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
- Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
- For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
- The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
The firstfruits referred to in vv 20 and 23 is an allusion to Leviticus 23.
The first sheaf of the harvest was brought as an offering to God.
It was representative of the full harvest that would follow.
This happened on the day following the Sabbath after the Passover,
which was the day Christ rose from the dead!
Christ is the firstfruits of resurrection. We are the harvest that will follow.
So in vv21-22 Paul says:
- For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
- For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
What does this mean?
Genesis 1:26-28 God gave humanity dominion over creation.
Genesis 3 indicates that at the Fall that authority was diminished and humanity became subject to death.
Romans 5:12-17 tells us that because of Adam’s sin death spread to all humanity because all sinned, but that those who through God’s abundant grace receive his free gift of righteousness will reign in life through Jesus Christ.
Paul sees Christ as the last Adam (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:45)
Christ succeeded where Adam failed (temptation)
Adam is the representative head of unredeemed humanity (those in Adam)
Christ is the head of a new redeemed humanity (those who are in Christ)
These are the only two groups of people in the world.
Either you are in Christ or you are still ‘in Adam’.
But when you receive Christ as your Lord and Saviour
you are no longer in Adam. You are in Christ.
You have become part of the new redeemed humanity.
Christ’s resurrection is the guarantee of yours!
Paul develops this further in 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 which we’ll look at in a moment. But what does he say next in vv27-28?
- For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him.
- When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
All things have been put under Christ’s feet 27 (cf. Ephesians 1:19-22)
Christ is reigning and must continue to reign 25
He must continue to reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet 25
He will destroy every rule, authority and power 24
The last enemy to be destroyed is death 26
Then the end will come 24
Christ will deliver up the Kingdom to the Father, to whom the Son will be subject, that God might be all in all 24+28
So our physical bodies are subject to death because we have inherited them from Adam.
Death has been conquered by Christ but not yet destroyed.
But if we are in Christ, when Jesus returns we will be given a new spiritual body just like Jesus’ resurrection body.
Paul goes on to explain this in vv35-50.
What our new bodies will be like (1 Corinthians 15:35-50)
They will be Necessary
50. I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
53. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
Note the words cannot and must. Our present bodies will be totally unsuitable for life in the coming kingdom of God.
They will be Different
- But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
They will be Spiritual
- It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
- Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
The natural body we inherited from Adam is as different from the spiritual body which will be our inheritance in Christ as Christ is different from Adam himself. Adam is of the earth, earthly. Christ is the Lord from heaven (vv 45-50). The natural earthly body from Adam is mortal and perishable. It is ‘sown’ (when we are buried) in weakness and dishonour. The spiritual heavenly body we receive from Christ will be immortal and imperishable and will be raised in glory and power (vv42-43). It will be incapable of sickness and death.
They will be like Jesus’ resurrection body
- But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
- As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
- Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
You might like to read again the accounts in the Gospels of Jesus’ resurrection and consider the implications of this.
The certainty of final victory over death (50-58)
The closing verses of the chapter form one of the most powerful passages to be found in the Bible. When the trumpet sounds at Christ’s coming, Christians still alive will be changed in a split second. Their corruptible, mortal bodies will become incorruptible and immortal. The dead, too, will be raised with incorruptible bodies. So will be manifested the final victory over death.
“The long chain of decay and death inaugurated by the first Adam will finally be irrevocably broken by the last Adam” (Fee p 803).
Final victory is ours, over law and sin and death – through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our labour is not in vain. Christ is risen. Because he lives we shall live also. The knowledge of these certainties should inspire us to practical Christian discipleship.
- I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
- Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
- For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
- When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
- “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
- The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
- But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.