Easter 2015: The Resurrection of Jesus Means our Hope
is Certain!
I
Corinthians 15:20-26
Introduction: We sing on Resurrection
Sunday about the empty tomb and Jesus’ victory over death, but in truth that
historical event is the anchor of our faith every day! Skeptics
might say that we are basing our hope on mere stories, not on facts. Ignatius of Antioch, who according to
tradition was a disciple of the Apostle John, wrote some letters while being
carried to Rome as a prisoner, expecting to be thrown to the lions. He was killed for his faith around A.D. 107. In
one of those letters, written on that final trip to Rome, he spoke directly to
the historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus, and what that meant to him as a Christ
follower. This is part of what he
said...
If you come across somebody who says that Jesus Christ never lived, or
that He is just an idea, or a concept, or a myth, shut your ears to him.
Jesus Christ was born
into a human family, a descendent of David.
His mother was Mary. He was persecuted under Pontius Pilate, a fact
testified to us by some who are now in Heaven, and some who are still alive on
earth. How can this be a phantom, or an
illusion, or a myth? These are facts of
history!
It is also a fact
that he rose from the dead (or rather that his Father raised him up). And that is the most important fact of all,
because his promise is that the Father will also raise us up, if we believe in
Him. So if Christ Jesus is not alive,
neither shall we be. There is nothing
left for us to hope for if he is just an idea or a fantasy.
In any case, if he
only appeared to rise from the dead —why should I be in chains for this
“myth”? Why should I die to support an
illusion? I am prepared to die for him,
the true and real Son of God. But no one
is prepared to die for a shadow.
The
truth of Easter is what gives true Hope! That is Paul’s argument in I Corinthians 15
as well so we are jumping ahead in our study of I Corinthians to look at a
portion of this chapter, where the apostle Paul presents his most extensive and
in depth discussion of this doctrine and its implications for the Christian
life. Our hope is based on history and anchored in the faith that God will
bring His story to pass as He has promised. Paul begins this chapter by
talking about the historical witness to the resurrection of Jesus (1-11). The
Corinthians believed this, but they were apparently struggling with the idea of
a future resurrection for believers. Paul
makes the point in 15:12-20 that if we deny the resurrection of believers we
are denying the resurrection of Jesus, and if Jesus is not raised, then we have
no hope, we are still in our sins, we are of all humans the most pitiable. The passage we’ll look at today, starting
in I Corinthians 15:20, says that that “hypothetical” is dead because Jesus is NOT
dead, the tomb is empty, He is alive!
“But
in fact Christ has been raised…” Paul wants the Corinthians to see the
connection between what they have believed, the resurrection of Jesus,
and what they must understand, that Jesus’ resurrection means we too
will be raised to life, and we can live victoriously today, in this
life. The big idea that I want to
emphasize in this passage was stated better than I could possibly say it by
Erich Sauer, in his book, The Triumph of
the Crucified…
The Big Idea: The present age is Eastertime! It
began with the resurrection of the Redeemer, and will culminate in the
resurrection of the redeemed and the restoration of all things. Between is the
spiritual resurrection of all who have been called into new life through faith in
Christ. So we live between two Easters, and in the power of the first Easter we
look toward the last Easter! (Adapted from a quote from Erich Sauer, Triumph of the Crucified.)
I. The Resurrection of
the Redeemer (20,21).
The tomb is empty, He is alive!
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the
dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by
a man has come also the resurrection of the dead…
Paul begins this paragraph answering the
hypothetical questions he asked in the preceding context (15:12-19). IF Christ is not raised, IF the resurrection never happened and
tomb wasn’t empty our faith would be useless, we would still be dead in our
sins. IF! But, as 15:1-11 shows emphatically, He is
alive! “But now Christ HAS BEEN raised from the dead…” The ESV translates,
“BUT IN FACT Christ has been raised…”
That is Paul’s point here, the resurrection is a fact of history, as Ignatius
proclaimed in His letter. The
eyewitnesses in the Biblical record, and also those from the end of the
apostolic era like Ignatius, men who spoke to the eyewitnesses of the
resurrection, all of this testimony is compelling evidence that would present
convincing testimony in a court of law. That is the point that Paul was making
in the opening of I Corinthians 15. Read
through the first 11 verses and consider the compelling eyewitness testimony
toward which he is pointing. Remember the apostles in the days before the
resurrection. They were scattered when Jesus was arrested in the Garden. Peter
three times denied that he even knew Jesus. And then after the resurrection
these same men stood before the crowds and the authorities and preached boldly
that He is Lord, and that He had risen from the dead. When arrested, threatened, and beaten, they said
they could not stop preaching what they knew to be true. They were
eyewitnesses! How do you explain that transformation? The only reasonable explanation is that they
spoke what they knew to be true, they had seen the resurrected Jesus! As Ignatius said, “These are facts of
history!”
Notice I Corinthians 15:6, “Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of
whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep…” Do you see what Paul is saying? I am a witness, as are the other apostles,
but there are also hundreds of others who saw the resurrected Jesus. As he is writing
this letter he says, some have died, but most were still alive. “If you need to
be convinced talk to them, ask them if this is true!”
Notice too that Paul is also pointing
out the humanity of Jesus, “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the
resurrection of the dead...” (I Cor 15:21). We need balance in our
understanding of who Jesus is. The Eternal Word, God the
Son, did not just appear to be human. He
actually took upon himself a human nature. Why? As Adam sinned and brought all
humanity under the curse, so also Jesus, would not sin, he said “NO!” to
the tempter and "YES!" to God, so that all who trust in Him have forgiveness and new
life. We talk about the incarnation
during the Christmas season but it is a doctrine that should overwhelm us every
day – such grace, such love, for God to become a man, knowing exactly what
would happen, what had to happen for
the Father’s plan to be fulfilled. And he did it!
“…the firstfruits of those who have fallen
asleep…” (I Cor 15:20,23). In the Old Testament, the first part of the
harvest, called the firstfruits, was set
apart and given as an offering to the Lord.
It was part of the harvest and connected with it in that sense, it
guaranteed that the rest of the harvest would follow. Jesus’ resurrection is connected here with
the future resurrection of believers. As certainly as Jesus was raised from the
dead, so also the rest of the harvest will follow. That is talking about us, and every
other person through history who has trusted in Him!
“For as by a man came death, by a man has
come also the resurrection of the dead…” It doesn’t
take the most astute observer to recognize that all is not right in the world.
We pick up the newspaper and immediately we read about the chaos and suffering
in so many places and so many lives. Just looking at our prayer list reminds us
that hurting people are all around us—and believers in Jesus are by no means exempt
from that. It all started with Adam and
Eve. Paul said in Romans, “By one man sin
entered into the world and death through sin, and death spread to all men because
all have sinned…” It didn’t start
that way. God created the universe and called it “good.” Humans were uniquely
made in the image of God, the pinnacle of God’s good creation. Adam sinned, and
the consequences of his fall have been passed down through the ages to every
human. This is part of the reason it was
necessary for Jesus to come in human flesh. Eternal God took upon himself a
human nature so that he could be our substitute. Tested and tempted, yet
without sin, He bore our sins in His body on the Cross. But Jesus did not stay dead, the tomb could
not hold him, he rose again! The
resurrection of the Redeemer, the firstfruits of the resurrection harvest, is
the basis of our hope as we live in that victory now, and look ahead to the
resurrection of the REDEEMED…
II. The Resurrection of the Redeemed (22,23). In Christ we will be made
alive!
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall
all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the
firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
For as in Adam all die… Adam sinned as the representative head of the
human race, and all of his progeny after him by birth and by choice are
sinners. That includes us. There is none righteous, no not one. There are none
that seek after God. As we recently were reminded in our Sunday School class on
doctrine: all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. That is a problem, a problem that we could not solve
on our own. In Adam all die. The wages of sin is death.
The Bible does say elsewhere that every
human will be raised from the grave, some to life, and some to judgment. Jesus
said in John 5:28-29,
28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when
all who are in the tombs will hear his voice
29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection
of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment…
So there is
a sense in which all will experience A resurrection of some sort. Paul
here is focusing on the first resurrection, the “resurrection of life.” Adam
brought death to every human being; Jesus brings life, and the resurrection
of life, to all who are His, all who believe. That is good news. It means we are included in his story if we
know Him. The present age is Eastertime! It began with the
resurrection of the Redeemer, and will culminate in the resurrection of the
redeemed and the restoration of all things... So we live between two Easters,
and in the power of the first Easter we look toward the last Easter!
III. The Restoration
of all Things (24-26). The Gaither song says, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
because He lives all fear is gone…”
24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom
to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and
power. 25 For he must reign
until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed
is death.
God’s creation was all good in the beginning
– human rebellion brought sin and death. Finally the day will come when sin
will be no more, and the rule of God will restore Creation to what it was
designed to be. When you read about the Garden of Eden before the Fall, and
then turn to the end of the Book of Revelation, you can’t miss the idea that
God will bring his design for creation to pass.
There is a sense in which the kingdom is
already present, and yet we await the day when God’s rule will be established
over all – a day when God himself will wipe away our tears – and there will be
no more sin, no more sorrow – no more death! We live, now, in anticipation of the
fulfillment of that promise. Dallas Willard said,
Those who have apprenticed themselves to
Jesus learn an undying life with a future as good and as large as God himself.
The experiences we have of this life as his co-conspirators now fill us with
anticipation of a future so full of beauty and goodness we can hardly imagine…
(The Divine Conspiracy, p.375).
That day is still future, but it is not in doubt! As surely as the tomb is empty our
hope is sure in Jesus. “The life I now live in the flesh I live by
faith in the Son of God…” (Gal 2:20). He’s alive! So in the power of the first
Easter, His resurrection, we go to meet the last Easter, the sure promise of our resurrection.
What is God saying to me
in this passage? The
present age is Eastertime! It began with the resurrection of the Redeemer, and
will culminate in the resurrection of the redeemed and the restoration of all
things. In between is the spiritual resurrection of all who have been called
into new life in Christ. So we live between two Easters, and in the power of
the first Easter we look toward the last Easter!
What would God have me
to do in this passage? Have you personally responded to the truth that Jesus is
alive? The truth that He conquered death
in His resurrection leaves no doubt that he is who he claimed to be, and it
assures us that He can do what He promised to do. Paul invites us in Romans 10:9,10 to respond,
“Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord,
and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, and you will
be saved.” There are no questions, no doubts, no “ifs” in that statement.
That is God’s promise to you this morning.
Perhaps
you have believed and received the gift of salvation, and yet the truth is that
you are so overwhelmed by the trials in your life or in the lives of those
around you that you feel hope-less. It is true that as we read in Romans 8:22 “For we know
that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”
But Easter points through the darkness and pain, through the veil of tears, to
the end of this story: Because He lives, we will live also! That is not wishful thinking; it is a promise, from
God himself. Paul reflected that hope when he wrote, “The suffering of this present age is not worthy to be compared to the
glory that will be revealed in us.”
The present age began with the resurrection of the Redeemer, and it will
end in the resurrection of the redeemed… in the power of the first Easter, we
go to meet the last Easter. Listen: if
you have trusted in Jesus, the same power that raised Him from the dead is at
work in you! “If the Spirit of him who
raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the
dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in
you…” (Romans 8:11).
That is your sure hope if you know Him! Think about that! Christ is risen! AMEN.
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