This is the third and final installment of our look at the resurrection as we continue our study of Hebrews 6:1-3. By resurrection, I mean the resurrection of Jesus then our own resurrection one day in the future. The resurrection is one of the foundational elementary principles every Believer should have established as truth in their lives.
The word resurrection means “to rise again”! The Bible makes it very clear that each one of us will “rise again”. Physical death is not the end of life! Show More
We will continue to look at 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul’s thorough teaching on the resurrection. As I did in the last post I will be paraphrasing the major sections of Paul’s defense of the resurrection of Jesus as being an essential prerequisite to our resurrection as a Believer.
To review- In verses 1- 34 Paul makes the following important points:
- Jesus died for our sins as prophesied by scripture, He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day.
- Jesus was physically seen by over 500 people after His resurrection.
- If Jesus did not rise again, then everything about Christianity is a lie, and we are hopelessly lost in our sin.
- Jesus is the “first fruit” of the resurrection, meaning that because He rose first, we who belong to Him will follow His example and rise again too.
Then Paul makes the following statement in verse 26, “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death”. In that statement is the promise of the resurrection and eternal life in Heaven with Him.
THE NATURAL BODY FIRST, THEN THE GLORIOUS BODY
In verses, 35-49 Paul reinforces the “natural first, the spiritual second principle”. He uses the analogy of the seed, a grain of wheat, in the sense that the seed must “die” first in order to release the potential of its fruit. In the same manner, our physical body contains the potential of the resurrection body within it and therefore the physical must die before the spiritual can be released.
Paul uses the contrast between Adam in the Garden of Eden and Jesus the Christ. Beginning in verse 45 Paul states, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam (meaning Jesus) became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man”.
DEATH IS DEFEATED- OUR FINAL VICTORY
The Apostle Paul closes out his discourse on the resurrection by pointing to the overcoming victory found through Jesus and that is His victory over death becomes our victory as well!
A reasonable question about the resurrection is, “what will the resurrected life be like”? While there is much we would like to know, what is given to us is what we need to know. We know that God is spiritual (John 4:23-24) but spiritual does not mean immaterial or non-physical. Jesus is our example and the post-resurrected Jesus was physical. He was recognizable, He ate with His Disciples and yet at the same time could walk through walls and appear and disappear at will. So it would appear that the spiritual is not limited.
In verses 51-52 is the promise that not all believers will experience physical death. When Jesus returns again (Second Coming) there will be a taking up otherwise known as the rapture! (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). Paul says, “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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed”. How exciting it is to anticipate the coming of Jesus Christ, but either way if we should die before He comes we win, if we should be raptured we also win!
Paul then closes with the following in verse 55-57, “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then in verse 58, we are encouraged to keep up the good work in Christ, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (there will be a reward).
Let me close now with a promise from Jesus’ lips, “I have a place for you in my house…” John 14:2-3 Jesus says, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also”.
Those who don’t know Christ as personal Lord and Savior are often filled with terror at the prospect of death. For us as Believers, our faith is in the resurrection. For us, death is not the end of things but simply a change of address!
“Faith is the deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time”. Oswald Chambers
