Dead, Alive Again, And Reigning (1 Corinthians 15:12-28)
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning.
And Happy Easter.
This morning we will be looking at one of the most famous texts concerning the Resurrection of the Son of God. The 15th Chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.
In Chapter 15, Paul has been reviewing the Gospel that he preached to the Corinthians when he helped to plant their church. In the early part of 1 Corinthians 15, He makes clear that Christ died, that he was buried, that he rose from the dead, and that this resurrection was followed by appearances to Peter and the apostles. Not only that, but he was seen by more than 500 people.
The Apostle Paul is making sure that the Christian faith that would follow after him is wholly committed to the historical reality of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Not merely the comforting idea of life after death, but the historical reality that the dead body of Jesus rose up and walked out of the tomb on Sunday morning. Therefore the Gospel that Paul preaches is not just a bowl of sentimental goo, filled with nice ideas about spirituality. It is a testimony that the dead body of Jesus picked a fight with death and won.
This brings us to our text.
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 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. 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.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God!
Now I want to say first that I wanted to read the whole passage to start with, but we are only really going to get to verse 26. I found so many riches along the way in this passage, that I had to limit the field or you were going to get two sermons.
But this is one of the most famous and frankly one of the most important texts in the whole Bible. And there are at least three things I want to draw out for you this morning.
First, Jesus has Risen from the Dead
Second, Jesus is the First in a Line of Resurrections
Third, Jesus has a Plan to Restore the Cosmos
I. Jesus has Risen from the Dead
I. Jesus has Risen from the Dead
Central Proposition: Hope in the Resurrection of the Dead. Do it!
Where we begin in this text is a matter of conversation. Paul is disturbed by how the Corinthians are talking. Reminding us that how we talk and communicate about our faith and life really does matter
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
Highlight: How can some of you say?
So what were some of them saying?
Well apparently, they were saying that there is no resurrection from the dead.
Now to understand what’s going on in this text we have to understand some things about the Greco-Roman culture that had been rocked by the news of the Resurrection of Jesus.
The idea of resurrection--that is dead bodies coming back to life someday was not a hard idea for the Jews (excluding Sadducees). Not a hard concept. But for the Greeks, it was tough. Many Gentile intellectuals affirmed the soul’s immortality without a future for the body. They would not have denied LIFE after death. But Resurrection was a hard bridge to cross.
In fact, Plato (now that’s the philosopher—it’s Plato, not Play-dough) wrote,
It has been proved to us by experience that if we would have pure knowledge of anything we must be quit of the body—the soul in herself must behold things in themselves: and then we shall attain the wisdom which we desire, and of which we say that we are lovers; not while we live, but after death; for if while in company with the body, the soul cannot have pure knowledge, one of two things follows—either knowledge is not to be attained at all, or, if at all, after death. For then, and not till then, the soul will be parted from the body and exist in herself alone.
So what you see there is an exaltation of the soul and a devaluing of the body, where the real perfect life is portrayed as the soul existing outside of the body. My point is this idea remained a temptation for Greek Christians.
Some of them were basically saying “Yes, Jesus was raised, but no, you won’t be. They couldn’t dispute the historical reality of the resurrection, but they were still holding on to the absurdity of general resurrection. But Paul’s point is that you can’t do that. Because you can’t have it both ways. Either resurrection is possible and it happened or it’s not possible and it didn’t.
And if it can’t happen, then Jesus was not victorious over death. And Paul draws out all sorts of consequences from that.
He says in verse 14...
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
The word literally means empty or empty-handed. If Christ has not been raised, all the work we’ve done is empty, and your faith is empty too. And on top of that, all those who preach his resurrection are breaking the 9th commandment by lying. In fact, the word there for “to be misrepresenting” is the word for a false witness in court. And Paul also says he would be breaking the 3rd commandment by blaspheming. The Resurrection of Christ is that Jenga block in the tower that if you pull it, the whole thing comes crashing down.
This is why Resurrection Sunday or Easter Sunday has always remained the highest celebration in the Church Calendar. It’s the article on which the church stands or falls.
That’s not to say it is all you must believe to be a Christian. In fact, if you believe that Jesus rose from the dead, then that means you must take seriously all he said. And he had a lot to say about, well, all of life and living. But that is precisely why it matters so much. If it is true, everything else about Christianity must follow. If it is false, nothing about Christianity matters.
That is why Paul says
For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
He says without the Resurrection our faith would be futile. Now this is a different Greek word than the one earlier that got translated “in vain.” This one doesn’t mean empty so much as fruitless or powerless. Without the resurrection, our faith is just kind of pathetic.
Now this might perplex you at first. Because didn’t Jesus die for our sins? And wasn’t that death enough? Do we really need a Resurrection after that death if it was enough? And the answer of course, yes, Jesus did die for our sins, but if that death wasn’t followed by Resurrection, that means we’ve located something stronger than the power of Jesus, namely, the power of death.
If Jesus did not defeat death, he did not defeat our sins either. If Jesus got beat by death and stayed down, he’s not God. But if he went down to death and came back out, then he has to be God. So once again, if Resurrection is true, everything else follows. If it’s false, nothing else matters.
And that is why in he says in verse 19,
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Most to be pitied!
II. Jesus is the First in a Line of Resurrections
II. Jesus is the First in a Line of Resurrections
Look at verse 20
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
This is the message of Easter Sunday—Christ has been raised from the dead, and he’s just the firstfruits.
Marissa and I both enjoy gardening. A couple of summers back, we kept a nice garden in the backyard, and I did most of the work of it. This time around, it has been Marissa’s project, and just a few days ago, our tomato plant put out it’s first fruits. It was clear that by the time we had gotten them, a bug or some other creature had enjoyed them first. But we were still excited because that first tiny tomato is a promise of what is still to come.
Christ has been raised from the dead. But he’s not the only one to make the journey out of the grave. He is a promise that many more are coming after him. In fact this metaphor of “falling asleep” was common in the ancient world, but it works especially well for him in the point that he’s making, because what do sleeping people do except wake up? That’s the point. Christ is the first one to wake up from death. Many more will follow him.
And look at verse 21
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.
This is why Christ is called The Second Adam. Because the first Adam failed his test in the garden and was exiled and we were exiled with him. The Second Adam, Jesus Christ, passed his test in a much harder garden called Gethsemane, and after passing the test, suffered the exile from and abandonment of His Father so that we could be brought in as sons forever.
But we need to see this connection between the first Adam and the second Adam because this is the reason why apart from Christ, we die in our sins. Because if we are not following Christ into his new life, we are following our father Adam into death that has no hope.
But you also must remember, that after the fall into sin, Adam brought death into the world. Death for him and all who followed after him. Christ brings resurrection into the world. Resurrection for him, and all who follow after him. Just as in Adam all died, so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But keep in mind that this life that Paul speaks of is resurrected life. It is not life in heaven. This comes as a shock even to many Christians. We all know that for those who trust in Christ, you go to heaven when you die. That’s true. But that’s not the end of your story! Resurrection is the end of your story, which is really just the beginning of your eternity.
What Paul is saying is that those who go to heaven when they die will remain in heaven. For a time. Because death is not the end of existence. That’s not the definition of death. Death is the ripping apart of body and soul. For those who are in Christ, when they die, when body gets ripped apart from soul, the soul goes to be with Christ in heaven. But brothers and sisters, we don’t stay there forever. We stay there for a time, until the second coming. That’s when we come back, and we rise up from our graves with renewed, restored, resurrection, fleshly bodies that are made for eternity. And we will live in a New Heavens and a New Earth, in a restored and renewed Alexandria perhaps, a perfect Alexandria that was everything it was ever meant to be beyond our wildest dreams. Because Jesus was the first one to walk out of his grave, but he won’t be the last. He’s the firstfruits. We’ll be next.
Resurrection is what we are really waiting for, which brings me neatly to the third point.
III. Jesus has a Plan to Restore the Cosmos
III. Jesus has a Plan to Restore the Cosmos
What you’ve heard me allude to several times now is a sort of timeline. The reason for that is because as you read this passage, it becomes clear that Paul is setting up a chronological timeline. He says Christ is the first fruits. The first one out of the grave.
Then look at verse 23
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.
You hear the setup for his timeline don’t you?
Christ comes out of the grave first.
Then, at the second coming he returns and wakes up all those who belong to Christ. That’s important because when he said “All will be made alive” in verse 22—All will be made alive? Everybody?
You might have thought he was teaching universalism, that everyone goes to heaven in the end.
But he says all will be made alive, and clarifies in verse 23 who he means—all those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to his Father after destroying every rule and authority and power, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death.
So you would have a timeline that looks like this.
Christ rises from the dead.
Then when he returns, he will call us up out of our graves, and we will live in renewed and restored resurrection bodies.
He will destroy every rule and authority and power.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
And then he will deliver the kingdom over to his Father, fully accomplishing his mission.
But astute readers will notice I have left one thing out.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
Underline the world until.
Oh, that little word until is so important, and it often gets left out of our thinking.
What this means is that our graphic here is incomplete.
He delivers the Kingdom to his Father after (notice the progression!) after destroying every rule and authority and power. And that’s not the moment he starts reigning. He’s been reigning the whole time. He must reign UNTIL he has put all his enemies under his feet.
Now you could interpret this text to mean that he leaves most of the rules and authorities and powers in place and then conquers them all in one stroke on the last day. That is a perfectly reasonable interpretation of the text, and you are welcome to it. But for my part, I think it more likely that he is referring to the last sound defeat of the demonic hoards after he’s had them on the run for decades.
So really, we need to make some room right after the Resurrection, because that is when the reign of Christ starts. Is our Lord not currently seated on His Throne, after all?
Let’s put a scepter here, for the reign of Christ then.
Alright. So, here’s the point. Jesus has walked out of the grave. He’s the first fruits. But there is still more fruit to come. And its us. We will one day walk out of our graves brothers and sisters, into a new world where evil is but a memory. And that day will be the last day of a battle that has been raging for thousands of years, as the Lord Jesus brings all things into submission to himself, and finally silences death, as a bunch of resurrected men and women stand around him smiling.
And what this means is that we have every reason to be hopeful. But being hopeful requires a long view of history. When we look around, it seems like things are just getting worse and worse and worse. But when you zoom out and consider the timeline not by years or even decades, but by generations, then the light becomes easier to see.
I mean, imagine trying to explain to the Apostle Paul that you could possibly proclaim the Gospel right now to someone in Zimbabwe on a device in your pocket
We went from 11 confused disciples to the largest religion in the world.
Everyone thought that my generation and the generation after mine was a lost cause, in terms of evangelism and runaway prodigals. But the last five to six years have seen an enormous influx of young men coming back to Christ, and back to the Church. Some of us might have given up on our nation, but the Holy Spirit has not.
The global trend is anything but discouraging. There are more professing Christians alive today than there have been living at any time in history, combined.
Islam is at present the fastest growing religion in the West, at least. That’s mostly because they are having lots more babies than we are. However, more Muslims have found Jesus in the last 30 years than all the other hundreds of years of the entire history of Islam combined.
South Korea went from 1% Christian to 40% Christian in the last 100 years, and the largest church in the world is in South Korea. And that’s the real kind of Christianity, by the way. The kind that believes in the Bible, believes in miracles, and affirms the reality of the resurrection.
China could be the most Christian nation in the next decade–outdoing South Korea in numbers of converts.
In fact, some believe that within a generation (40 years) there could be half a billion Christians in China alone, and that could very well change the course of history. Imagine if within the next 40 years, China has a Christian President.
Indonesia, previously thought an untouchable country with less than 1% Christian has grown to 11% just in the last couple of decades.
There are six times more Anglicans in Nigeria than there are in the USA.
There are more Westminster Confessing Presbyterians in Ghana than there are in the United States and Scotland combined. So much for it being a denomination just for white people.
And on the topic of global missions, perhaps you have heard the term “unreached people group.” That’s a term that speaks of a tribe or people group that have their own culture and language and they have zero gospel witness at all. That is they don’t have a Bible in their language or a Christian in their neighborhood.
Well, in the last 200 years or so we have seen an extraordinary boom to bring the Gospel to unreached people, such that Abigail’s grandchildren will likely live in a world where there are no more unreached people groups. That doesn’t mean everyone will be converted, but it means everyone will have a reasonable chance to hear the Gospel in their lifetime.
That’s why I loved singing that song at Eddie’s ordination service—shout on pray on, we’re gaining ground Glory! Hallelujah! That’s not a sweet sentiment. It’s an objective fact.
So why is this happening?
Because He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. And when that is done, he’s going to take out death fully and finally and forever by raising us up from our graves, as we join him in his everlasting enfleshed victory.
And so we are confronted by a series of questions today. What is our life for? Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but our life is for living. Specifically, living forever. Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes that God has set eternity in our hearts. We want to live forever. Everything in us hates death. And so our calling today is to live joyfully under the reign of Christ, and be his body, his lips, his hands, his feet, his heart, in this world until the very last day.
Or to remain in rebellion against him, which is to remain in the fear of death, and frankly, if you don’t have Jesus Christ, if you are in rebellion against him, against his word, against his ways, and against his Lordship, and you don’t have the hope of the resurrection, you should be terrified of death. You should be.
But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.
Christ has died.
Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.
Christ is on the move today.
Christ the life, the truth the way.
Christ will fight and conquer death.
Know him today, while there is still time left.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
