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Implications of the Resurrection -- # 3:
“Resurrection of the Body”
First Corinthians 15:35-58
John T. Mabray, Pastor
Rivermont Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Lynchburg, Virginia
April 30, 2006
8:30 and 11:00 A.M.
“I believe … in the resurrection of the body… .”
We say those words of The Apostles’ Creed almost every Sunday. But what
do they mean?
With regard
to “life after death,” we contemporary Christians are, I think, much
more likely to place most of our emphasis on the life of the soul after
death, or, as we say, “going to heaven when we die.” This is
understandable. The Scriptures reveal that “…to be away from the body is
to be present with the Lord” (2nd Corinthians 5:8). While
contemplating the likelihood of his own execution, the Apostle Paul
said, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far
better” (Philippians 1:23). And, to the repentant thief on the cross who
begged Jesus for mercy, Jesus said, as He was dying on the cross,
“Today, you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). What other
testimony do we need to assure us that the souls of repentant believers
are welcomed into the presence of the Lord at the moment of physical
death? And, therefore, the Shorter Catechism affirms that
The souls of believers are at their
death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory … (SC
#37).
Yes, for the true Christian, death is the soul’s gateway to glory. This
evening, the Lord willing, I will be preaching further on this
wonderful promise. But the soul’s life after death is not the
fullness
of salvation which Christ has won for His people by His death and
resurrection. Jesus died on the cross and rose bodily from the grave,
not simply, not only, so that your soul would “go to heaven” when
you die; but rather, so that, in body and soul, you would live eternally
in the glory of a completely redeemed creation.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not simply,
not only, about believers’ souls “going to heaven” when we die.
It is about the complete redemption of the whole creation, the glory of
God filling a new heavens and a new earth. The fullness of our salvation
will come when (in the words of Romans 8), “the creation itself will be
set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory
of the children of God” and we ourselves, who now have the firstfruits
of the Spirit, will receive “the redemption of our bodies” (Romans
8:21-23).
Now, one of the important doctrinal points connected to the resurrection
of the body is the doctrine of the
goodness
of creation. The good Creator created a good physical and material
universe; and created human beings with bodies as well as souls, because
it was the Creator’s will that the earth be inhabited with men and women
who served Him upon the earth. Our bodily life on earth was ordained and
created by God as something good for His glory. And so, the totality of
our life, body and soul, is to be redeemed for all eternity.
Some eastern religions, New Age spirituality, and the Gnostic heresies
which underlie The Da Vinci Code, teach that the real problem
with humanity is that we (our true selves) are immaterial spirits
trapped inside a physical body; the answer to the problem is to be
delivered from this physical, material world, released into the
immortality of an ethereal, non-physical realm. Not so in the Christian
faith! The answer to the problem of sin and death, according to the
gospel, is that, through Jesus Christ, all creation will set free from
its bondage to decay, and those who belong to Christ through faith will
receive the redemption of their bodies for life everlasting in a
completely redeemed and renewed created order – the new heavens and the
new earth!
Our
salvation begins when the Holy Spirit of God moves in our heart and
plants the imperishable seed of the word of God in our souls, and we are
born anew as the children of God, united to Jesus Christ by His Spirit
through faith. His Spirit, the spirit of adoption, dwells within us and
so we cry out, “Abba, Father!” The “old man” is put to death, crucified
with Christ, and the new man in Christ, a new person, comes to life
within us by the indwelling power of the Spirit. The Scripture says, “If
anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation!” And, “It is no longer I
who live, but Christ who lives in me.” And so, in Christ, we have this
new life, this eternal life within us, this new creation within us, but
within this old body of death, corruptible and perishable, in this
old-order creation subject to the bondage of decay. And so we who have
the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly, for the redemption of our
bodies:
“Who will deliver me from this body of
death?”
And the answer is,
“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ!”
In
his Letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul wrote:
…our citizenship is in heaven, and from it
we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who will
transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body,
by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself
(Philippians 3:20-21 ESV, emphasis mine).
In that
great eighth chapter of Romans, to which I have already referred twice,
we also have this promise:
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 ESV, emphasis mine).
And, of
course, First 15, in its entirety is all about Christ’s resurrection and
ours. Christ’s bodily resurrection from the dead is the pattern, the
proto-type, of our resurrection from the dead (I am of course referring
to believers in Christ). The analogy which Paul uses in First
Corinthians 15 comes from agriculture, the illustration of
“firstfruits.”
…Christ has been raised from the dead, the
firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (“sleep” there refers to
the “sleep” of the body, not “sleep” of the soul). 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 (1st Corinthians 15:20-23 ESV, comment
mine).
Now, let’s think about this agricultural illustration from ancient
Jewish culture. The firstfruits were the first sheaves of the wheat
harvest, offered to God in sacrifice. The offering of firstfruits
signaled and celebrated the beginning of the harvest; the firstfruits
were offered in anticipation of, and as a representation of, the whole
harvest. When the firstfruits came in, the whole harvest was sure to
follow. It was all one harvest, but there was a beginning and a
completion. A farmer would not go out into the field and harvest the
firstfruits, then let the remainder of the crop rot in the field. And
this is the point: neither will God. God raised Jesus from the dead, the
firstfruits of the resurrection, the firstfruits of the new creation;
and God will bring that great harvest of salvation to completion. God
will, on the Last Day, raise up all those who belong to Jesus and redeem
their bodies, transform their lowly body to be like the glorious body of
the Lord Jesus, suitable for life eternal in the new heavens and the new
earth.
So, get
this: by raising Jesus from the dead, God intervened in history to
reveal the eternal future for those who trust in Christ. By raising
Jesus from the dead, God intervened in history to reveal the eternal
future for those who belong to Christ in faith, united to Him by His
Spirit. Jesus Himself gave us this great promise:
…this is the will of him who sent me, that I
should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the
last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on
the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise
him up on the last day (John 6:39-40).
But it’s not unusual for there to be questions about the resurrection of
the dead. First of all, is the objection that it surely seems like an
awfully long time since the resurrection of Jesus; it’s been
two-thousand years, and it has not happened yet. That’s a long time
to bring in a harvest! Well, yes, that’s a long time, I suppose, if
you’re measuring time according to finite human experience. But already
in the first century, the Apostle Peter responded to this concern in his
Second Letter, saying, “…do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that
with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as
one day” (2 Peter 3:8 ESV). In other words, God is not marking time the
way we do. If a thousand years are as a day, then two-thousand years is
not a very long at time at all. How are we, finite mortals, in a
position to judge when the infinite and immortal One should bring
history to its glorious conclusion?
The second objection or question has perhaps already troubled your mind
this morning: how in the world is this going to happen? It’s
just so hard to imagine! The resurrection of the body? Really?!
But what about the decomposition of the bodies, and the dismemberment
of bodies? What about the formaldehyde, and those big air-tight,
water-tight vaults they put you down under these days?
Well, let’s think about it this way. An atheistic evolutionist thinks,
believes, that the universe in all its grandeur, splendor, and
complexity, suddenly, somehow, simply burst into being; and life on
earth in all its varied forms developed, haphazardly, out of a
cauldron of chemicals, and here we are (!), complex creatures
living in a life-sustaining universe that sprung out of nothingness. And
the really amazing thing, the really unbelievable thing, is that
all this (supposedly) happened without God!
Well, now, if an atheistic evolutionist can believe
that,
why is it so difficult for us to believe that the One who in the
beginning said, “Let there be light,” (and there was light) will also
say to the dead, “Arise” and the dead will rise? The One who, in the
beginning, created the heavens and the earth is fully capable, in the
end, of redeeming it, re-creating it, bringing into being a New
Creation, a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
If the LORD God can make a man out of the dust of the earth and give him
life, He can raise a dead man out of the dust and give him new life.
But, of course, this is a
mystery.
The apostle Paul wrote, “Behold, I tell you a mystery” (1st
Corinthians 15:51). And the word mystery there does not mean
something that is merely “hard to understand” with our rational minds;
it means that it is impossible to understand because it has not been
revealed to us. The resurrection of the dead is a mystery because it is
hidden from our understanding; and yet, it is declared by the Word of
God as a sure and certain reality. So,
no,
we don’t know how
it is going to happen, and we don’t know
what
it’s going to look like, and it’s all beyond our comprehension and even
beyond our imagination. And
no,
the decomposition of bodies, the dismemberment of bodies, the burning of
bodies, and the preserving of bodies (embalmment) – none of this is a
problem to God. And, really, at that point, we’re thinking in the wrong
categories, because, as the Scripture says, “flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the
imperishable” (1st Corinthians 15:50). So, it’s not a matter
of our flesh-and-blood bodies being raised up from death
just as they were,
when they were buried. No, the Scripture says,
…we shall all be changed, in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will
sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be
changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this
mortal body must put on immortality (1st Corinthians
15:51-53).
So, our bodies will be raised but our bodies will be changed. Our
bodies will be changed from the “natural,” earthly, flesh-and-blood body
subject to corruption and mortality in this fallen world of this “old
creation,” into an incorruptible, imperishable body empowered by the
Spirit of Christ for life in the eternally-redeemed new creation.
This is the
meaning of verse 44: “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a
spiritual body.” The natural body is the body (that we have now)
which is suited for and empowered by our “natural” life in this present
world. It’s a marvelous thing, with all of its vital organs, circulatory
system, nervous system, and so on; but it’s corruptible and perishable.
It will be raised and changed into a spiritual body; that is, a
body,
which will be eternally enlivened and empowered and sustained by the
eternal Spirit of God. It won’t be a “naturally”-enlivened, “naturally”
empowered, flesh-and-blood body, but a Spirit-enlivened,
Spirit-empowered
body.
Think of it
this way – and this is only an illustration in order to try to help.
Most cars today run on gasoline. If the engine runs out of gasoline, the
car “dies.” So, for all the obvious reasons, scientists are researching
and developing alternative energy sources for vehicles. Perhaps one day,
most people will be driving hydrogen-powered cars. Now, those cars are
going to have an engine, but it will be a different kind of engine built
for a different kind of power source. But, those hydrogen-powered cars
are still going to be cars – just a different kind of car, with a
different kind of engine. Right?
Well, the
Scripture indicates this same principle about the resurrection body. It
will be a body, but a body that will be changed, will be different. It
will not be “built” for life in this old-order, corruptible, perishable
creation which is passing away. It will be our body, raised and changed
for life in the new creation, enlivened and empowered and sustained by
the Spirit of God – a
spiritual
body.
Now, if
you’re perplexed by this, don’t despair, because I’m perplexed, and the
first Christians were just as perplexed! The Apostle Paul had to answer
this question: “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they
come?” (1st Cor.15:35). Paul’s answer came only by way of
illustration and analogy from the natural world.
What you sow does not come to life unless it
dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel,
perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he
has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body (1st
Cor.15:36-38).
Now think
about this: isn’t it really almost beyond our imagination to think that
within a tiny acorn which you can hold in your hand, there is therein
encapsulated a mighty oak: over a hundred feet tall, four feet in
diameter, weighing how many thousands of pounds? But it’s not beyond our
imagination because we know it is a fact of nature. And if God can work
that kind of transformation in this old order creation, do we have any
doubt that He can work an even greater transformation for life in the
new creation? And let me take it one step further: even though that
mighty oak doesn’t look like that tiny acorn, there is a direct
continuity, a direct connection, really, an inseparability, a continuous
identity, between that little tiny ordinary, seemingly insignificant
acorn and that great, beautiful, towering, mighty, majestic oak. The
beautiful mighty oak tree was once just an ordinary acorn – but a
particular, specific acorn. The particular, individual, specific acorn
becomes a particular, individual, specific oak tree. And God knows: God
knows each and every particular, individual, specific acorn and God
knows each and every particular, individual, specific tree that grows
from that specific acorn. There is, particular, individual, specific
continuity; it is sown, and it grows. And that is how it is, says the
Scripture, with us: our old-creation bodies are sown in dishonor and
weakness, and they are raised in glory and power. It is the particular,
individual, specific believer who is raised in a particular, individual,
specific resurrection body. Christ, when He comes, will transform our
lowly body to be like His glorious body. And as the Apostle John wrote:
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what
we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we
will be like him … (1 John 3:2 ESV).
And,
although we can’t answer all the questions of our curiosity,
nevertheless, based on the pattern of Jesus’ resurrected body, (it was
the same body, but somehow changed; somehow recognizable by the
disciples, but somehow new and different) we believe that our raised,
changed, spiritual body, will have a distinct continuity with and,
somehow, I think, some kind of recognizable likeness to our
natural body, but we shouldn’t speculate too much.
The point
is: there is a continuity of individual personhood, a continuity of
individual identity. You, the true believer in Christ – who you are in
this life, in your individual personhood – will be raised. You will not
disintegrate into nothingness. You will not be absorbed or dissolved
into universal consciousness.
You
will be raised. It will be the
new you
– the eternally new
“you”: You,
believer, free from the corruption of sin; you, free from the bondage of
mortality; you, in your individuality, in your unique personhood, but
completely redeemed, completely sanctified, even glorified! God’s good
work in you which has already begun in this life, if indeed you are a
true believer – God’s good work of re-generation, re-creation, and
sanctification – God’s good work in
you,
will be brought to eternal perfection. The eternally new you will be
raised to life in an eternally new, incorruptible, imperishable,
glorious body. Then shall come to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?
But there’s one more thing – will you please try to stay with me
here?! We’re almost to the conclusion. What is the practical
application of this passage? As we contemplate the promise of the
resurrection of the body, what does that have to do with our life on
earth? The answer is clear from this passage. Our bodily lives on earth
here and now matter to God. There is an indissoluble continuity between
our bodily life now and our bodily life to come. The main point of this
passage really is not to speculate about the future life, but how to
address how we live on earth here and now. If we say we believe the
gospel of the resurrection, are we going to live the lifestyle of pagan
America – “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die”? We need to
ask ourselves that question, seriously. If we believe the gospel of the
resurrection of the body, are we going to live our life on earth
committed to and pursuing the maximization of the physical, creaturely
pleasures of this corruptible, perishable world? If we believe the
gospel of the resurrection of the body, are we going sin against God
with our bodies by indulging in sexual immorality? If we believe the
gospel of the resurrection of the body, are we going to live our lives
on earth afraid to die, afraid to die for the sake of Christ? If we
believe the gospel of the resurrection of the body, are we just going to
give up, give in, go along, and get along with the way things are in
this fallen world, and live in the despair that we are, after all,
nothing more than dust in the wind? Or are we going to believe in the
resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of our own bodies to life
everlasting, and live and die for Him? What does the Scripture say? It
does not say, “Daydream and speculate about what your resurrection body
is going to look like!” It says, to believers, “Your body is going to be
raised in power and glory. So, get to work on earth, here and now, for
the sake of Christ: “Be steadfast, immovable, abounding in the work of
the Lord, knowing that, in the Lord, your labor is not in vain.” To God
be the glory. Amen.
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