The Spirit of Life - Our Resurrection - Part 2

Intro

Last week we answered three questions concerning the future resurrection of the church.

So let’s do some review of those questions now.

What is the resurrection of the dead?

Therefore, we can summarize our answer to the question “What is the resurrection of the dead?” with three answers:

It is a bodily, physical resurrection.

It is a resurrection of like kind and category to Christ’s resurrection.

It is given to us as a result of our union with Christ.

Who will be raised from the dead?

In summary then, we can answer the “who” question, who will rise from the dead? Answer: all people will rise again, some in a resurrection of life, and some in a resurrection of judgement.

When will the dead be raised?

So, the short answer to our question, when will the dead be raised, they will be raised at Christ’s return, all together, to be judged according to their deeds as written in the books opened before the throne at the end of time.

A fourth question should be answered as well:

How will the dead be raised?

This question can be answered in two ways. The first answer might be formulated as an answer to the question, by what power are the dead raised?

Paul’s answer in our text this morning is the power of God the Father applied through the indwelling of the Spirit.

This pictures the larger and perhaps more theological answer to that question, which is simply that we are raised by miracle of God. How are we raised? By a miracle of God.

Wilhelmus a Brakel, a Dutch reformer from the late 1600s, describes the means of the resurrection of the dead as follows:

1 & 2 Thessalonians How Will the Dead Be Raised?

This resurrection will not have a natural cause—as if those bodies could again be brought to life after a period of time by certain motions, changes, and transformations. This can neither be accomplished by an angel nor any other creature. Rather, this is a work of omnipotence and will therefore be performed by God, the Creator of heaven and earth.

This question of how the dead are raised can also be answered in another way, this time looking to the nature of the resurrection. What will our bodies be like?

Robert Letham, professor of theology at Union Theological Seminary in Wales, in his fantastic exposition of 1 Corinthians 15, highlights at least three characteristics of our resurrection bodies. What will the resurrection of the dead to life look like? What will we be liked when we are raised? If you would, turn to 1 Corinthians 15:35-44 and listen to Letham’s comments:

Systematic Theology 29.4. The Resurrection of the Dead (1 Corinthians 15)

The resurrection body is not identical to our present body (15:35–38). Paul uses an agricultural model. He has already offered the analogy of harvests, and he now resumes this theme. The sequence is the process of sowing and reaping. A seed is sown, dies, and comes to life transformed (vv. 36–37). In an analogous way, the resurrection is a transformation to a different level of existence. Yet there is also continuity and identity. The transformation takes place through death, while new life follows. “What you sow is not the body that is to be,” for “what you sow does not come to life unless it dies.” A seed or kernel ends up as grain. In the case of the resurrection, the present body undergoes death, and life emerges in a different form. The resurrection body is a gift from God. “God gives [δίδωσιν] it a body as he has chosen” (v. 38). Paul later writes of it as “from heaven” (2 Cor. 5:1). God sovereignly determines the nature of the resurrection body. There is order and variety. It is beyond our knowledge, since it is in God’s hands. Yet, because of the unity between Christ’s resurrection and ours, it follows that ours will be shaped by his. Christ was recognized as a human being, engaged in conversation, ate food, cooked breakfast, and was mistaken for other people, but after the initial shock his disciples realized that it was he. Therefore, while we will experience a transformation, there is to be a recognizable continuity between our present and our resurrection bodies. As Thiselton remarks, “The manifestation of Christ’s raised body occurred within the conditions of this world. We still cannot have a comprehensive view of this ‘body,’ which is more than ‘physical’ but not less than ‘physical.’ ”

There is a wide diversity of bodies (15:39–41). Paul reinforces the difference between the two bodies. A radical transformation will occur. The raised body will not be identical to the one that rots in the grave. The diverse range of creatures is proof. Humans, animals, birds, and fish all differ. The sun, moon, and stars differ from earthly beings; there is a vast variety among themselves.

There will be discontinuity between the Adamic body and the resurrection body (15:42–44). Paul lists four pairs of contrasts: perishable versus imperishable, humiliation versus splendor, weakness versus power, and natural versus spiritual. These highlight the dramatic transformation we will share in Christ’s resurrection.

Our present body is perishable. Before the fall, Adam’s body was potentially perishable. This potentiality became actual for Adam and us all upon his violation of the covenant of life by his choice of death. So each person’s present body decays, its powers decline, it weakens, and it eventually dies. It is weak, limited, and vulnerable. It is a natural (ψυχικόν) body, designed at its best for the mundane and fallen realm.

In contrast, the resurrection body is invulnerable. It achieves the ultimate purpose God has designed for humans. It is not static; it is the dynamic, flourishing fullness of life, “an ever-increasing condition.” It is glorious; glory (δόξα) signifies what belongs to God. We will partake of the divine nature. Glorification is the goal of the Christian life and consists of sharing the glory Christ has with the Father (John 17:24; 2 Pet. 1:4). It will be powerful in contrast to our present weakness; all decay, disease, and frustration will have gone. Above all, it will be a spiritual body (σῶμα πνευματικόν) in contrast to a natural one (σῶμα ψυχικόν). It is designed for the eternal state, in which we will have immeasurably greater work. Paul does not mean it will be a spirit in contrast to a material body; that would destroy his entire argument, since the change would not be resurrection but metamorphosis. He means that the resurrection body will be under the sway of the Holy Spirit. When Paul uses πνεῦμα (spirit), he means the Holy Spirit, unless the context demands otherwise. Christ’s resurrection body was inseparably directed by the Holy Spirit, so much so that Paul virtually equates Christ and the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). It will be a body no less physical, but it will be more than physical, constituted by the Spirit. It will be “able to do all that we seek to do,” enhanced above and beyond its present limitations. It will be a body for the new creation, the realm of the Holy Spirit, which includes the physical. Thiselton refers to the senses of other creatures here and now that far exceed our own as suggestive of the enhanced abilities we will have then.35

What a wonderful hope we have in this resurrection. Even in a strictly physical sense, we look forward to perfect bodies not bound the same limitations we experience right now.

So to answer the question a second way, how will we be raised? We will be raised into imperishable, glorious, mighty bodies.

But the nature of the resurrection of the dead, as we have seen it thus far, demands two additional questions be answered.

Why will we be raised?

The simple version of the answer is the same answer that we might give to all questions related to God’s purposes in salvation: that He might receive utmost glory by seeing saved sinners safely home.

A second answer takes us back just a few verses to verse 9, in which we see the firstfruits of the dwelling of God with man as Christ by His Spirit dwells within us. The full and final fulfillment of that purpose of God, to dwell among His people, occurs at the resurrection of the dead to life. Therefore we can say, we are raised from the dead so that God might dwell among us fully and finally.

A third answer concerns our journey as pilgrims upon this earth. We walk as a people who look forward to that day when our faith will be made sight. The resurrection of the dead provides a hopeful, forward-looking confidence in the promises of God, so that even when our hearts are troubled and afflicted and suffering overtakes our lives, we can say with Job in Job 19:25-27

Job 19:25–27 NASB95

“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. “Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!

The hope of the resurrection is the hope of faith made sight. So we can say that we are raised from the dead so that our faith will be made sight.

How do we know that we will be raised?

This final question is what brings this home for us.

Paul’s simple answer here in our text is this: if we have received the Spirit of Christ by faith, dwelling within us as a seal and pledge of our eternal inheritance of glorious resurrected life, we can be confident that we will rise as Jesus rose.

So you need ask yourself today: are you in Christ? Is He in you? Have you repented of your sins and turned to follow him? If yes, your hope is secure. Your perishable body will be raised imperishable. You will have corruption exchanged for incorruptibility. Pain for pleasure. What a great hope! A hope secured by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the reality of Christ’s resurrection.

Therefore, we walk without fear, knowing that death cannot ultimately hurt us for it will not have the victory over us. Christ accomplished the victory when he rose from the dead and his victory now becomes our victory. We now cross that stormy river into the open gates of paradise.

I can think of no better way to wrap up this littler two part series on the resurrection than by reading you the text of the greatest resurrection hymn every written:

1 Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia! Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia! Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

2 Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia! Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia! Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia! Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

3 Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia! Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia! Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia! Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!

4 Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia! Following our exalted Head, Alleluia! Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia! Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

5 Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia! Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia! Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia! Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

Praise God for the hope of resurrection.

But for Paul, the hope of the resurrection demands action now. As we look forward to that day we have a responsibility to walk right now according to the Spirit by putting to death the deeds of the body. And it is to that great truth that we will turn our attention next week.