Category Archives: RESURRECTION

THE SUPREME MOMENT IN HUMAN HISTORY

Read the article and/or go to bottom and watch the video.

SUMMARY: The Crucifixion

If you asked a historian, philosopher, and scientist to identify the supreme moment in history, they’d all have different answers. But from God’s point of view, that moment was the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. As humans we can’t comprehend all that happened at the cross, but God has given us deeper understanding of what transpired in His Word.

THE STORY OF OUR SAVIOR

After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-26). They’d been in Jerusalem and were aware of Jesus’ death and reported resurrection but were disappointed and confused about these events. Jesus responded, “You foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to come into His glory?” (vv. 25-26). Then He explained to them all that was written about Him in the Old Testament. Jesus was the only one on earth who knew what had happened, and His Word is still explaining it to us today.

God judged sin the day Jesus was crucified.

Because He is holy and righteous, the Lord hates sin. He warned Adam and Eve that they would die if they disobeyed Him (Gen. 2: 17), and He continues to warn us in the scriptures not to rebel against Him because His wrath “is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18).

In the Old Testament, God set up a system of animal sacrifices to deal with sin. According to Hebrews 9:22, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” But those sacrifices were insufficient. What was needed was a perfect sacrifice, and that’s what Jesus came to be. When John the Baptist announced Him, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

Christ was the only qualified sacrifice because He was perfect. On the cross, God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus was our substitute who bore the guilt and penalty of our sins so we wouldn’t have to. This was all according to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. He sacrificed His Son to bear the condemnation we deserved (Acts 2:22). Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1).

Christ defeated Satan on the cross.

Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus said, “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out” (John 12:31). Even though Satan is still working powerfully in this world today, Jesus won the war against him on our behalf with His death and resurrection.

The devil cannot condemn us. Jesus Christ paid our sin debt in full. Since we’ve all sinned, we have a certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, but Jesus has canceled it, having nailed it to the cross (Colossians 2:13-15). At the cross, God disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Christ.

Satan is a defeated foe even though he still tempts and attacks us. Christ’s victory over him guarantees that none of his accusations against us can stand because the record of our sins has been removed, and we stand in Christ’s righteousness. When we sin and confess, God promises to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). In fact, His blood is continually cleansing us every day of our lives. God will never condemn one of His blood-bought children.

Satan cannot make us sin. Christ defeated the power of sin in our lives. According to Romans 6:6, “Our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so we would no longer be slaves to sin.” Satan rules over unbelievers, and they have no power to defeat him, but he can’t make any believer sin. Yes, we sometimes do, but we have God’s supernatural power to resist if we’ll use it.

Satan cannot take our lives. Jesus alone holds the keys to death (Revelation 1:18). We are held securely by Him, and nothing happens to us apart from His permissive will. Death will eventually come, but God is the one whom the cross demonstrated how wicked he is. He tempted Jesus to come down from the cross and save Himself, yet despite the humiliation, abuse, and suffering, Christ did not revile in return, but quietly endured in obedience to His Father’s will, leaving us an example to follow in His steps (1 Pet. 2:21-23).

God reconciled us to Himself through Christ. Reconcile means to bring back together two parties who were formerly estranged. Our sin has alienated us from a holy God, and there is nothing we can do to remedy the situation. But the Lord took the initiative to reconcile us to Himself by sending His Son to satisfy His righteous justice on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). Jesus bore the tidal wave of God’s wrath that we deserved so we wouldn’t have to. He was forsaken so we could be accepted (Matthew 27:46). Right before His death, Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). Redemption and reconciliation were complete. Through faith in Christ, the enmity is gone, and as God’s beloved children, we’re clothed with the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).

WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

How has your understanding of the events on the cross been enlarged? What will you do in response to this supreme moment in human history?
In what ways have you believed Satan’s lies and accusations and allowed him power in your life that is not rightfully his?
The cross of Christ is the only way of salvation. Have you trusted in Jesus for reconciliation and forgiveness, or have you tried to add to His work on the cross to earn your acceptance?

Back to the first question that this study asks:

What is the supreme moment in human history? Well, if you were to ask people that, for example, if you were to ask a historian or a philosopher or a scientist, probably all of them would give you something different. In fact, if you asked most any person, “What is the supreme moment in all of human history”? you’d get a thousand or more different answers. But if you and I were to ask God that question, I think the answer would come very clear, very quickly. Because I do believe that, from God’s perspective, the supreme moment in human history was the moment His Son, Jesus Christ, was crucified.

Now, a lot of people disagree with that. They just have to disagree with God. And I can understand why, rationally speaking and from a different perspective, somebody would say, “Well, that certainly was not the supreme moment of human history because this was just one man dying between two thieves, two criminals”. Well, you see, the reason a person would object to that answer is simply because they don’t understand what happened at the cross. In fact, most people don’t really understand what happened at the cross. They look at the cross and they see Jesus hanging there, having been nailed there and having been crowned with thorns, and finally pierced in His side. And they see all the events surrounding the cross and they say, “Well, you know, Jesus died for my sins or Jesus died on the cross”. What they don’t realize is that the most important things that were going on that day, you and I never really understand by simply looking at a scene.

So, what I’d like to do is to show you why the most momentous, supreme, zenith, pinnacle event in all of human history is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Luke chapter twenty-four. And this is a passage that really does not describe the crucifixion, but it’s a passage I want to read because of one particular verse here. And it’s almost humorous in some sense of the word, but sort of sad on the other. And Jesus has been crucified and resurrected from the dead and now here are a couple of His followers on their way. And in this twenty-fourth chapter of Luke, beginning in verse thirteen, here’s what you read, “And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about the things which had taken place. And while they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached, and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. And He said to them, ‘What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?’ And they stood still, looking sad. One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, ‘Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?'” Now, when I read that, and I’ve read this verse many, many times. When I read this verse, I just sort of fell on my knees in laughter. And I’ll tell you why. He was the only one who knew what was going on that day. And they asked Him, “Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days”? And He was the only one who knew what happened the day He was crucified. “And He said to them, ‘What things?’ And they said to Him, ‘The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to the sentence of death and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things have happened. But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said He was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women had also said; but Him they did not see.’ And He said to them, ‘O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for Christ to suffer these things and to enter His glory?'”

Now, if somebody should ask you: What happened the day Jesus Christ was crucified? What happened at the cross? The first thing is simply this, and that is God judged sin the day Jesus Christ was crucified. When Jesus Christ was crucified, God judged sin. This He prophesied all the way back in the Garden of Eden when He said to Adam and Eve, “Of all the trees of the Garden you are freely to eat. But if you eat of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, ye shall surely die”. Then if you’ll recall all through the scriptures, God warns us about sin. He says, “The soul that sins will die”. In Romans, that first chapter, He makes it very clear in the eighteenth verse, he says that the wrath of God, God’s animosity toward, His uncompromising hatred of sin, God’s wrath is revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness of men who hold or suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness. God hates sin. When we say that God judged sin, God did exactly that. Because all through the scriptures we find God expressing His, listen, His vehement opposition to all sin. For the simple reason He knows its destructive power in a person’s life. All you have to do is look at a newspaper, look at a magazine, watch the television, listen to the radio, and you and I see the awesome consequences of sin in people’s lives every single day. God judged sin at the cross. When we say that God judged sin on the cross, here’s what that means. He says that Jesus Christ bore our sin in His body. Which simply means, listen, now watch this, that God capsuled all the sin of mankind from Adam all the way back from Adam, all the way to the last person who will ever live. He capsuled all of that sin with all of its penalty, and what did He do? He placed every bit of that upon the person of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. He placed all of that sin upon Him. And then when He placed all of that sin upon Him, what did He do? He killed His only begotten Son and He killed Him and separated Himself from Him as a sinner. He placed all of our sin upon Him. He bore the total weight of all of our sin, all of our guilt. Any one of us could come up with enough sin in our lives over these years, that our sin would be enough, but multiply that by hundreds and thousands and millions and billions of times, God placed upon His only begotten Son. Listen, the sum total. He capsuled all of sin and placed it upon the life, upon the body of His only begotten Son, and then He condemned Him. The key word, if you could just ask for what’s one word that sums it all up, it is substitute. And that is that Jesus Christ went to the cross, listen, with your sin-debt and my sin-debt, every single sin we’ve ever committed, will ever commit, plus everybody who’s ever lived. Put it all upon Him. And then when He put it upon Him, then He killed Him. That is, He crucified His only begotten Son. So, when we say that God judged sin at the cross, what He did, listen. He judged and condemned sin in the person of His Son. There isn’t anybody who’s ever lived that could possibly ever live with whom God could have done that because every single one of us have sinned against God. And therefore, it took one who was absolutely sinless in order to bear the weight and the penalty for the sin of all mankind. But there’s a second thing that He did at the cross that makes it the most momentous moment in human history, and that’s this, that He defeated Satan. Somebody says, “Now wait a minute. Satan certainly isn’t defeated because he works on me daily”.

We look around and see all the destructive things that are going on in the world today and we see that Satan is behind so much of what’s happening. And somebody says, “Well, if He defeated Satan, somewhere along the way, Satan got away”. No, he didn’t get away. He defeated Satan that day. Well, how did He do that? Well, let’s just think about it for a moment. Because when Jesus was talking to His disciples, and they were… He was talking to them and some others about what was going to happen, here’s what He said to them in that twelfth chapter of John. He says, “My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour?’ But for this purpose, I came to this hour”. Jesus knew He came for the purpose of being the ultimate Lamb of God to, listen, to bear the sin of all mankind. “‘Father, glorify Your name.’ Then a voice out of heaven said: ‘I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.’ So the crowd of people who stood by heard it, were saying that it had thundered; and others were saying, ‘An angel has spoken to Him.’ Jesus answered and said, ‘This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.'” Satan will be defeated. And what happened at the cross? Satan absolutely was defeated. Now, let’s think about it for a moment. When you think about how he looked like he was going to be victorious, look, if you will, in Colossians chapter two, because this probably sums it all up best of all. Colossians chapter two, and notice another very important passage of scripture. And look, if you will, beginning in verse thirteen. Colossians chapter two, verse thirteen. Scripture says, “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He,” that is, God, “made you alive together with Christ, with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions”. Now, watch this, “Having cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us which was hostile to us; and He’s taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him”. Now, what does he mean when he says that He canceled out the certificate of debt? Person was in debt, oftentimes they would list on a scroll or on a parchment all the things that they owed and they would nail it to the doorpost of their house. When those things were atoned for or paid for or paid down or paid off, the debt was fully paid, they would oftentimes strike a nail through it or take it away. And what he’s simply saying is this. Watch this, when Jesus Christ went to the cross and He paid your sin-debt and mine in full, God took it away. That is, it’s destroyed. There is, listen, we have no debt hanging on our name in heaven. And I remember when I was a kid growing up, in the church I grew up in, they used to sing this song. “There’s a new name written down in glory and it’s mine”. And they sang a song like this, “There’s an old account was settled long ago,” and talking about sin and victory and glory and all of these things. An old account was settled long time ago. Well, all of us have an account in heaven. Well, let me tell you something, if you’ve trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, there’s one thing I know about your account and my account, watch this, that on your account and my account, listen, however He stamps it, He stamped on your account and mine “Paid in Full”. How do I know that? Here’s how I know that. Because when Jesus Christ went to the cross, He went to the cross as payment for our sin.

Now, there are people who say, “Well now, I know that God has forgiven me of my sin but you know what? I’m just not sure about this matter of being eternally secure, that I’m eternally secure”. Well, let me ask you a question. If, when He went to the cross and God the Father put all your sin upon Him and He died and paid that penalty and the Father condemned Him because of sin, your sin and mine, let me ask you a question. If that didn’t atone for all of your sin, then listen, the atoning death of Jesus Christ was only partial payment. And you know what? If I have only, listen, if I am only partially paid, I’m still a debtor. And you who happen to believe, for example, in purgatory, that you have asked the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your life and to forgive you of your sin, but one of these days you’re going to have to die and pay some more, do you know what that says? It says, listen, it says the atoning death of Jesus Christ was inadequate. It didn’t work. There’s something got left over. Something got left out. You’ve got to pay. Listen, how could you pay for sin when the spotless, eternal, unblemished, holy Son of God? If He couldn’t pay for it, you’ll never be able to pay for it. Once you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you acknowledge He paid your sin-debt in full, you don’t ever have to wonder about that anymore. That is, listen, God defeated Satan, and He cannot come back with you and grab you out of the grace of God, the eternal security that God has provided for you. Because what that means is if it’s possible, then His atoning death was only partial payment. And how many times have we said, listen, His death means payment, listen, sin-debt paid in full. There is no hope, no assurance, no confidence and no security if all the sin was not atoned for by Him. Listen, Satan is a defeated foe. Naturally, what He wants us to believe is that He’s not defeated. And in fact, if you look around you and you listen to the devil, you will agree with him. For example, we still face temptation, we still face trials and difficulties and hardships. And there’s war and bloodshed and murder and rape and violence and all the other things going on. And you say, “Well, if Satan’s defeated”, listen, he is defeated in the life of every single believer. Every single child of God is in the hand of a sovereign, omnipotent God. He says He has established His throne in the universe and that He rules over-all. Therefore, whatever comes to us has to come to us by the permissive will of God. If you step out of the will of God, if you choose to live disobediently before God, if you choose to live in rebellion toward God, what happens? God certainly will allow, listen, He certainly will allow chastisement. He certainly will allow Satan, listen, He will allow Satan to work you over, but Satan cannot take your life. So, what happened at the cross? Well, when I think about what happened to Jesus and I think about the fact that He not only, listen, He not only stripped Satan, listen, He defeated Satan, He stripped him of his powers. Not only that, He exposed him for what he was. How wicked and vile and dark and devilish and hellish can you be to dress the Son of God almost naked, nail Him to a cross before a mob of people and jeer at Him and laugh at Him and mock at Him till He dies. You want to know what Satan will do to you? Look at the cross. You want to know what he’ll do to your life? He will strip you of everything that is of value to you. He will cheat you out of your love, your goodness. Listen, He’ll cheat you out of the joy, the peace, the happiness. He will strip you emotionally. He’ll strip you spiritually. He’ll strip you materially. He’ll do everything in his power to absolutely destroy you.

If he would do that to the Son of God, you think you are a chosen vessel of the devil? On the other hand, he will, very good to you in order to deceive you and cause you to walk in darkness and blindness until the day you die and face Him eternally in hell. God exposed the devil for who he is. Satan did everything in his power to make Jesus look like less than he was. You know what He wants to do in your life? You can mark this down. Satan is going to do everything he possibly can in your life to keep you out of the will of God. He will give you money. He will give you opportunity. He will give you privilege. He will give you things you desire, anything He can get you to do to keep you out of the will of God, that’s how absolutely hateful and, listen, how wicked and vile he is. The third thing that happened at the cross is this, and that is, God, in Christ Jesus, was reconciling the world unto Himself. Now, what do we mean by that? Simply this. The word “reconcile” means to bring back together, two that have been separated, two that have been estranged, those that are enemies. And so, what is He doing? God, in Christ Jesus, is reconciling the world to Himself. Now, watch this. We are not reconciled to God. That isn’t something we do. Reconciliation, this bringing back together. And when I think about the whole issue of the cross, I think about the fact that they stretched Him out on the cross. It’s as like no matter how low in life people are or how far out yonder, they are or where they are in life, God’s wonderful, loving arms were reaching out. What was God saying? I want to bring you home. I want to forgive you. I want you to be who I created you to be. I will enable you to become the person I created you to become. God was in Christ reconciling, bringing back together. What was He doing? God took the initiative to reconcile us, to bring us back by doing what? By condemning sin in the life of His Son and making Him the sin-bearer who paid our sin-debt in full. Here’s what that did. That satisfied God’s demands. Watch this, it satisfied God’s demands for the penalty of sin. What was the penalty of sin? Death. Therefore, death was hanging upon every single person who ever lived. And therefore, in order to satisfy that judgment, somebody had to pay the price. Jesus paid the price that satisfied God’s requirement for justice. Therefore, God can be just and righteous and holy, having forgiven all of us of our sin, though His decree said, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die”. Because He was the sin-debt paid in full, now He can accept every single one of us. The cross isn’t a couple of sticks. The cross, listen, is our only hope. The cross is the way of salvation. It is man’s only possibility of being reconciled to God. And when Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me”? Suppose that had been the last thing He said? Suppose that’d been the last thing He said? That’d be a sad note. But I thank God that John said in that nineteenth chapter, then He finally said, in the Greek or the Aramaic, it would have been “tetelistai,” just one word, “tetelistai,” which means “it is finished”.

This is not the word of a victim. This is not the word of somebody who lost a battle. This is not the word of a martyr. This is the word of a victor. This is the word of someone who has come through victoriously. This is the word of, listen, this is the word of someone who has won the battle. Jesus says, “It is finished”. God’s awesome, eternal, redemptive plan for mankind, listen, was absolutely sealed forever. And as a result of Christ dying on the cross, every single one of us who’ve trusted Him as our Savior, listen, it is so finished, we are eternally secure, not in our behavior, not in our promises, but in the awesome, atoning, sacrificial, substitutionary, vicarious death of Jesus Christ at Calvary. That is the hope of all mankind.

WHY RESURRECTION MATTERS

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Based on the increased church attendance in Easter, it is not surprising that two-thirds of Americans believe Jesus rose from the dead. That should sound encouraging, but unfortunately, not all of them believe everything the Bible says about Christ’s resurrection. For many, it is a nice thought they acknowledge once a year without considering the life-changing importance the resurrection has for their daily lives. Because Jesus lives, we can too, and that sure hope impacts how we approach each day. Not all life-changing events should be taken for granted or overlooked especially the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Christ changes everything.

Read 1 Corinthians 15:20-22

Paul now turns from negative (15:11-19) to positive consequences of the resurrection (15:20-28) – the assurance of the resurrection of the body of believers from the dead.

But now Christ is risen from the dead,

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is a fact. He is risen indeed! and has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Passover was on the fourteenth day of the first month of the Jewish calendar. Jews offered a sacrifice of first-fruits the Sunday after the Sabbath (Saturday) following Passover, the feast of Unleavened Bread (Le 23:10-11). The priest would bring a sheaf of grain and wave it before the Lord. This “first-fruits” was representative of the harvest to follow and the first installment of the harvest to come. It was like a guarantee, or first payment on what was to come. This day Jesus arose. Jesus was the “first-fruits” at the time of His resurrection. The full harvest of the corps of believers was to follow.

The Jews presented a grain offering to God on Pentecost 50 days later; this was also called “first-fruits” (Le 23:15-17). Thus, the first first-fruits of the Passover was the first of the crops offered later. Jesus is the “first-fruits” and the harvest is yet to come. Paul compared these two first-fruits to Jesus’ resurrection and the resurrection of believers. If God raised Jesus, He will also raise the saints after Him.

“Those who have fallen asleep” are believers who had died at some point in the past. Christ’s resurrection became the first-fruits to rise from the dead of those who had already died from the Corinthian point of view. Jesus was the first human being resurrected. Jesus resuscitated Lazarus from the dead, but Jesus did not raise him into a resurrection body. Lazarus returned from the dead to the same life only to die again. Jesus rose never to die again.

For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.

The two representative men in the Bible are Adam and Jesus. Adam represented the death of man because of his sin and Jesus represented salvation of man’s physical body by His resurrection; He makes believers alive for all eternity (Ro 5:12-19). Jesus was the first-fruits of those who would later rise from the dead.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

The resurrection of the believer will be a physical resurrection, not a spiritual resurrection. Just as certainly as Adam died, so those in Christ will have resurrection life. Note the word “all.” “All” in one case is the “all” in another case. Everyone dies without exception in Adam (He 9:27), but everyone who believes in Jesus will rise bodily from the dead without exception.

Read 1 Corinthians 15:23-28

Only the just, the righteous, will rise at Christ’s second coming, each in his own order. God will raise the martyred saints to eternal life, but the unjust dead will not be resurrected until the end of this period. If we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us when we die, we will be resurrected through the power of that same Spirit at that time (Romans 8:9, 11, 14). In addition to the dead in Christ, those who are true Christians at His coming will rise in the first resurrection. The Feast of Trumpets celebrates the second coming of Jesus Christ to intervene in world affairs, resurrect the first fruits, and establish God’s Kingdom on earth (Matthew 24:30-31; Revelation 11:15).

Then (v. 24): The word “then” means after this. There is an interval of time between the order of ranks of the resurrection at Jesus’ Second Coming and the establishment of His mediatory Millennial Kingdom. The Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and 25 gives the signs that precede Jesus’ Second Coming to establish His Millennial Kingdom.

Comes the end, “The end” is the end of time and the ushering in of eternity. This will be 1007 years after the Rapture. There will be seven years of Tribulation, then Jesus will reign in the Millennium for 1000 years (Re 20:7-10).

When He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, Jesus will deliver the Millennial Kingdom to the Father at the end of the Millennium (v.25). When He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power, He puts all His enemies under His feet-Millennium (Re 20:7-10). All things will be what God intended them to be. Sin will not exist, and the Father will reign without challenge.

The last enemy that will be destroyed is death (v.26). Jesus will defeat death so that, from that point forward, there will be no further death. Jesus will destroy the final enemy by the resurrection of the body of the believer. The word “destroyed” is a strong term meaning annihilated. This is the death of death. Universal death will end at this point. Once we pass from death into our resurrection body, we will never die again. Jesus’ victory in time will be the death of death. There will come a time when death will die. Christians will live in their resurrection bodies for eternity.

If death be an enemy, (as we usually judge), that also must be destroyed; and there is no other way to destroy death, but by the causing of a resurrection from the dead. So that the apostle proves the resurrection from the necessity of Christ’s reigning until all his enemies be destroyed, of which death is one; for it keeps the bodies of the members of Christ from their union with their souls, and with Christ, who is the Head of the whole believer, the body as well as the soul.

For he hath put all things under his feet (v.27).—1Corinthians 15:26 is a parenthesis, and the “for” with which this verse commences goes back to 1Corinthians 15:25. The connection is, Christ must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. Christ must triumph, for according to the statement in Psalm 8:6 (see also Psalm 110:1), God hath put all things under man, and in a higher sense under the Son of Man. (For a similar application of Old Testament statement regarding man to Christ as the Son of Man, see Matthew 21:16; Hebrews 2:7.) But when God says that all things are put under Him, He evidently is excepted who did put all things under Him. This leads up logically to the complete triumph of God the Father, expressed in the following verse, which is an expansion of 1Corinthians 15:24.

Son … himself … subject—not as the creatures are, but as a Son voluntarily subordinate to, though co-equal with, the Father (v. 28). In the mediatorial kingdom, the Son had been, in a manner, distinct from the Father. Now, His kingdom shall merge in the Father’s, with whom He is one; not that there is thus any derogation from His honor; for the Father Himself wills “that all should honor the Son, as they honor the Father” (Joh 5:22, 23; Heb 1:6). God … all in all—as Christ is all in all (Col 3:11; compare Zech. 14:9). Then, and not till then, “all things,” without the least infringement of the divine prerogative, shall be subject to the Son, and the Son subordinate to the Father, while co-equally sharing His glory. Contrast Ps 10:4; 14:1. Even the saints do not fully realize God as their “all” (Ps 73:25) now, through desiring it; then each shall feel, God is all to me.

Read 1 Corinthians 15:54-58

But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen- everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:

             Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
             Who got the last word, oh, Death?
             Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?

These words, with the following clause, are taken out of ( Hosea 13:14 ) and that they belong to the times of the Messiah, the ancient Jews acknowledge; and the Chaldee paraphrase interprets them of the Logos, or Word of God, rendering them thus,

“my Word shall be among them to kill, and my Word to destroy;”

Wherefore the apostle is not to be charged with a misapplication of them, nor with a perversion of them, as he is by the Jew: in the prophet they are thus read, “O death, I will be thy plagues, O grave, I will be thy destruction”; between which, and the apostle’s citation of them, there is some difference; the word (yha) , which we render in both clauses, “I will be”, the apostle translates “where”, and that very rightly, and so it should be rendered there; and so it is by the Septuagint interpreters, who render the whole as he, with a little variation, “where is thy revenge, O death? where is thy sting, O grave?” and so the Arabic version of Hosea still nearer the apostle, “where is now thy victory, O death?” or “where is thy sting, O grave?” and even the Chaldee paraphrase on ( Hosea 13:14 ) renders the same word “where”; for instead of, “I will be thy king”, the Targum reads, (Na Kklm) , “where is thy king?”

The sting of death is sin
Death has a sting, and which was originally in it, and that is sin; sin is the cause of death, it is what has given rise and being to it; it entered into the world by it, and is supported in its empire through it; it gives it its resistless power, which reaches to all sorts of persons, young and old, rich and poor, high and low, bond and free; it gives it all its bitterness, agonies, and miseries; and it is by that it does all the hurt and mischief it does; and it may fitly be compared to a sting, for its poisonous and venomous nature:

The strength of sin is the law;
not that the law of God is sinful, or encourages sin: it forbids it under the severest penalty; but was there no law there would be no sin, nor imputation of it; sin is a transgression of the law: moreover, the strength of sin, its evil nature, and all the dreadful aggravations of it, and sad consequences upon it, are discovered and made known by the law; and also the strength of it is drawn out by it, through the corruption of human nature.

But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory
Over sin the sting of death, over the law the strength of sin, and over death and the grave; and which will be the ground and foundation of the above triumphant song in the resurrection morn, as it is now at this present time of praise and thankfulness to God: and it is all

Through our Lord Jesus;
He has got the victory over sin; he has put it away by the sacrifice of himself; he has finished and made an end of it; for though it reigns over his people before conversion, and dwells in them after it, yet in consequence of his atonement for it, it loses its governing power through the Spirit and grace of God in regeneration.

It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God! With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.

This is the conclusion of the whole, and contains the use the apostle makes of the above doctrine, addressing the saints at Corinth in the most tender and affectionate manner; owning the spiritual relation they stood in to him, and expressing the great love he had for them, which filled him with a concern for them, that they might be both sound in principle, and right in practice.

Be ye steadfast, unmovable; in all the doctrines of the Gospel, and particularly in this of the resurrection of the dead, which he had been laboring throughout the whole chapter. Always abounding in the work of the Lord; going on in it, being more and more in the practice of it; either in the work of the ministry, which some of them were in, to which the Lord had called them, and for which he had fitted and qualified them, and in which his glory was greatly concerned, and therefore called his work; or any other work, even all good works, which the Lord commands, requires, calls his people to, and strengthens them to perform: which when they do they may be said to abound, and to be fruitful in every good work: and for their encouragement it is added

THE TRUTH OF THE RESURRECTION

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https://youtu.be/E1PDZ9E-pUk

We are bombarded with information – often touted as news- that too often is unsubstantiated. When we begin to research the information, it often turns up that facts are skewed, and opinions are presented as fact. The “so-called facts” are even made to seem to be the truth even though they are lies. Many people view Jesus Christ in the same way. Just like what happened to Jesus, the real reason for the skewed facts or lies are for their control and/or power for those presenting an untrue situation. The Pharisees were the example of what we are seeing today- a group today who want the power by illegal methods or don’t like the Christians or their lifestyle. What people hear presented as truth gets written off as opinion or simply what someone wants to believe. The resurrection of Jesus Christ, however, is solidly grounded in fact and validated by eyewitnesses. The fact that Jesus rose from the grave is a historical fact. I have written a 2 to 3-page article on these eyewitnesses, who they were and what were their evidences (on this website).

Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-3

Paul describes the content of the gospel. Here, he describes how the gospel can be of benefit to man. The gospel is only of benefit if it is received and if one will stand in it. The word gospel means, “good news.” As the word was used in ancient times, it didn’t have to describe the message of salvation in Jesus Christ. It could be used of any good news. But the best news ever is that we can be saved from the punishment we deserve from God because of what Jesus did for us.

The Corinthian Christians first received the gospel. The message of the gospel must first be believed and embraced. As Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica, For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13) The Corinthian Christians also did stand in the gospel. Despite all their problems with carnality, lack of understanding, strife, divisions, immorality, and weird spirituality, they still stood for the gospel. This is in contrast to the Galatian church, who was quickly being moved away to another gospel (Galatians 1:6).

By which you are also saved, if you hold fast that word, I preached to you: The Corinthian Christians had done well (they received the gospel). They were doing well (they did stand in the gospel). But they had to continue to do well Christian must take seriously their responsibility to not only have a good past, and a good present, but to determine to have a great future with the Lord also. Hold fast also implies there were some people or some things which might want to snatch the true gospel away from the Corinthian Christians. All the more, this is why they had to hold on! Unless you believed in vain: If the Corinthian Christians did not continue to hold fast, one day they might let go of the gospel. And if one lets go of the gospel, all their previous belief won’t do them any good. It was as if they had believed in vain.

The content of the gospel Paul preached.

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Paul did not make up this gospel. He received it (and not from man, but from Jesus Christ, according to Galatians 1:11-12), and he delivered it. This is not “Paul’s gospel” in the sense that he created it or fashioned it; it is “Paul’s gospel” in the sense that he personally believes it and spreads it.

“Notice that the preacher does not make the gospel. If he makes it, it is not worth your having. Originality in preaching, if it be originality in the statement of doctrine, is falsehood. We are not makers and inventors; we are repeaters, we tell the message we have received.” As Paul describes the gospel in verses 3-4, it is important to notice that this gospel is not insightful teaching or good advice. At the core of the gospel are things that happened, actual, real, historical events. The gospel isn’t a matter of religious opinions, platitudes, or fairy tales, but about real historical events. “Our religion is not based upon opinions, but upon facts. We hear persons sometimes saying, ‘Those are your views, and these are ours.’ Whatever your ‘views’ may be, is a small matter; what are the facts of the case?” The death of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, is the center- the heart- of the gospel. Though the idea of glorying in the death of a Savior was foolishness to the word, it is salvation to those who will believe. The first basic tenet of the gospel is that Christ died for our sins. The death of Christ was part of God’s sovereign plan for mankind’s redemption.

Read 1 Corinthians 15:4

And that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. This dogmatic declaration of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ was written while the majority of that generation in which it occurred were still alive (1 Corinthians 15:6); and the presence of many enemies who denied it but who were powerless to produce any evidence against it, makes this an argument of eternal power and dependability. In fact, all of the evidence in this chapter shows that even the enemies who were denying the resurrection (as a general thing) were compelled to admit the resurrection of Christ, because Paul adduced the latter as proof of the former!

Farrar extolled the apostolic witness of the resurrection in this passage by observing that:

It is a complete summary. It includes material which is not in the Gospels. It appeals to ancient prophecies. It shows the force of the evidence which convinced the apostles. It appeals to many eyewitnesses still living. It was written within 25 years of the events themselves. And that he was buried. This is one of three New Testament references to the burial of Christ, except in the Gospels, the other two being Acts 2:29 and Acts 13:29. “It blasts the swoon theory; he really died; and it leads naturally to the empty tomb, a witness for the resurrection which has never been effectively denied.”

And that he should rise “on the third day,” but that he should rise from the dead. The particular passage- Hath been raised the third day- can be found in a few places. This Scripture affirms that Jesus would rise on the third day is Jonah 1:17 and also in Isaiah 53:9. (Matthew 12:40)

Read 1 Corinthians 15:5-8

And that he was seen of Cephas – Peter (also John 1:42). The resurrection of Christ was A fact to be proved, like all other facts, by competent and credible witnesses. Paul, therefore, appeals to the witnesses who had attested, or who yet lived to attest, the truth of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and shows that it was not possible that so many witnesses should have been deceived. As this was not the first time in which the evidence had been stated to them, and as his purpose was merely to remind them of what they had heard and believed, he does not adduce all the witnesses to the event, but refers only to the more important ones. He does not, therefore, mention the woman to whom the Savior first appeared, nor does he refer to all the times when the Lord Jesus manifested himself to his disciples. But he does not refer to them in general merely, but mentions “names,” and refers to persons who “were then alive,” who could attest the truth of the resurrection. It may be observed, also, that Paul observes probably the exact “order” in which the Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples, though he does not mention all the instances. For an account of the persons to whom the Lord Jesus appeared after his resurrection, and the order in which it was done, see the notes on the Gospels.

Then of the twelve – The apostles; still called “the twelve,” though Judas was not one of them. It was common to call the apostles “the twelve.” Jesus appeared to the apostles at one time in the absence of Thomas John 20:19, John 20:24; and also, to them when Thomas was present, John 20:24-29. Probably Paul here refers to the latter occasion, when all the surviving apostles were present.

Appeared to five hundred brethren at once – This was probably in Galilee, where our Lord had many disciples. See Matthew 28:16. What a remarkable testimony is this to the truth of our Lord’s resurrection! Five hundred persons saw him at one time; the greater part of whom were alive when the apostle wrote, and he might have been confronted by many if he had dared to assert a falsity

The greater part of these 500 remain unto this present and are now alive, and can be appealed to, in proof that they saw him. What more conclusive argument for the truth of his resurrection could there be than that 500 persons had seen him, who had been intimately acquainted with him in his life, and who had become his followers? If the testimony of 500 could not avail to prove his resurrection, no number of witnesses could. And if 500 people could thus be deceived, any number could; and it would be impossible to substantiate any simple matter of fact by the testimony of eyewitnesses.But some are fallen asleep. This is the usual expression employed in the Scripture to describe the death of saints. It denotes: (1) The calmness and peace with which, they die, like sinking into a gentle sleep and (2) The hope of a resurrection, as we sink to sleep with the expectation of again awaking; (John 11:11; 1 Corinthians 11:30).

After that, he was seen of James. This appearance is not recorded by the evangelists. It is mentioned in the fragment of the apocryphal Gospel according to the Hebrews, which is, however, of no authority. It is probable that the Lord Jesus appeared often to the disciples, since he was 40 days on earth after his resurrection, and the evangelists have only mentioned the more prominent instances, and enough to substantiate the fact of his resurrection. This James, the fathers say, was James the Less, the brother or cousin-german of the Lord Jesus. The other James was dead (see Acts 12:1) when this Epistle was written. This James, the author of the Epistle that bears his name, was stationed in Jerusalem. When Paul went there, after his return from Arabia, he had an interview with James (see Galatians 1:19, “But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord‘s brother”), and it is highly probable that Paul would state to him the vision which he had of the Lord Jesus on his way to Damascus, and that James also would state to Paul the fact that he had seen him after he rose. This may be the reason why Paul here mentions the fact, because he had it from the lips of James himself. Then of all the apostles. Perhaps the occasion at the sea of Galilee, recorded in John 21:14. Or it is possible that he frequently met the apostles assembled together, and that Paul means to say, that during the forty days after his resurrection he was often seen by them.

After all the other times in which He appeared to people; after He had ascended to heaven, He appeared to Paul. This passage proves that the apostle Paul saw the same Lord Jesus, the same “body” which had been seen by the others, or else his assertion would be no proof that he was risen from the dead. It was not a fancy, therefore, that he had seen him; it was not the work of imagination; it was not even a “revelation” that he had risen; it was a real vision of the ascended Redeemer. He was seen of me also – On the way to Damascus, see Acts 9:3-6, Acts 9:17.

As of one born out of due time. The expression, “as of one born out of due time,” would seem to imply that Paul meant to say that there was some unfitness “as to the time” when he saw the Lord Jesus; or that it was “too late” to have as clear and satisfactory a view of him as those had who saw him before his ascension. But this is by no means the idea in the passage. The word used here ( ἔκτρωμα ektrōma) properly means an abortion, one born prematurely. It is found nowhere else in the New Testament; and here it means, as the following verse shows, one that was “exceedingly unworthy;” that was not worth regard; that was unfit to be employed in the service of the Lord Jesus; that had the same relation to that which was worthy of the apostolic office which an abortion has to a living child. The word occurs (in the Septuagint) in Job 3:16; Ecclesiastes 6:3, as the translation of נפל nephelan abortion, or untimely birth. The expression seems to be proverbial, and to denote anything that is vile, offensive, loathsome, unworthy (Numbers 12:11). The word, I think, has no reference to the mode of “training” of the apostle, as if he had not had the same opportunity as the others had, and was therefore, compared with their advantages, like an untimely child compared with one that had come to maturity before its birth, nor does it refer to his diminutive stature, but it means that he felt himself “vile,” guilty, unworthy, abominable as a persecutor, and as unworthy to be an apostle.

Paul stressed the appearances of the risen Christ ( 1 Corinthians 15:5-9) because they prove that His resurrection was not to a form of “spiritual” (i.e, non-corporeal, not physical or material) existence. Just as His body died and was buried, so it was raised and many witnesses saw it, often many witnesses at one time.

Revelations of Heaven

Prophecy / Divine Assistance

Category Archives: RESURRECTION

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THE TRUTH OF THE RESURRECTION