‘Up From the Grave
He Arose’
I can clearly remember singing these words
to an old Easter hymn chorus, ’Up From The Grave He Arose’, as a young child in
my Grandpa’s ‘Chapel’ on a hilltop in the Appalachian Mountains of
Pennsylvania, and with the believing heart of a child I could see with my minds
eye the stone rolling away from the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus walking
away from the scene of His burial and returning to Heaven!
However, these magnificent truths of the
Gospel were simply Bible stories that I had heard repeatedly on Resurrection
morning in Sunday School from a Sunday School teacher that was repeating them
to her class as stories in history and not Bible doctrine that was the
foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
But, the Resurrection truth of Jesus
rising from the dead so that we might be ‘justified freely by His grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus’ did finally take it’s hold on me some
three decades later and I was transformed by His great grace receiving and
believing the truth of the Resurrection which is one of the most significant
truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Paul has stated this fact clearly in I
Corinthians 15, the Resurrection Chapter: ‘For I delivered unto you first of
all that which I also received, how 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’ (v.3). Here is the Gospel stated in its simplest
form, without complication. And with great clarity Paul proceeds, throughout
the remainder of this great chapter, to illuminate the doctrine of the
Resurrection!
He first of all states that: The Physical
Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is a Vital Part of the Gospel (v.1-11)
Secondly he teaches that: The Physical Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is
a Vital Necessity to the Value of the Gospel (v.12-19), then in (v.20-34) he
shows: The Lord Jesus Christ’s Physical Resurrection is Vital to the Guarantee
of Man’s Resurrection.
In (v.35-50) Paul provides us with a
Thorough Description Physical/Spiritual Resurrection of the Body. He concludes
this magnificent chapter with his unmatched expose’ of The Doctrine of
Resurrection and Rapture of the Saints (v.50-58).
Paul
tells us that the Resurrection is a vital part of the Gospel by stating the
Gospel in (v.3) as the Gospel he proclaimed to the Corinthians which they
received and presently stand. He verifies this truth by giving a historical
account of the number of people who saw
the Lord Jesus Christ after He was crucified, died and was buried in His
resurrection body: Cephas (Peter) and The Twelve (v.5), above Five Hundred
Brethren at once, James, then all of the Apostles, and last of all He was seen
of me (Paul)! The Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is one of the most
verified events in the history of man!
Although some of the Corinthians were
denying the Resurrection, Paul uses the method of supposing that they are right
to demonstrate the absurdity of their claims throughout (v.12-19) summarizing
with this statement showing their erroneous teaching to be ridiculous and
totally unfounded: ‘If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all
men most miserable.’(v.19) His introductory statement to the next section
affirms the positive truth of Christ’s Resurrection showing that He is ‘the
Firstfruits of them that slept.’
Paul quickly shows that death came by man
[Adam] but through man, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ came the
Resurrection of the dead! ‘For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all
be made alive.’ With this defining statement Paul shows that there are only two
kinds of people in the world, those that are in Adam, and those that are in
Christ! Those who are still in their sins, and those who have been saved from
their sin. Those who will spend eternity in hell, and those who will be
resurrected to spend an eternity in heaven with the Lord!
However, those who are raised from the
dead will be resurrected ‘in his own order: Christ the First-fruits; afterward
they that are Christ’s at His Coming.’ The Lords Second Coming is in view here
at the end of the age when He, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall deliver up the
Kingdom to the Father after He puts down all rule and all authority and power
referring to Christ’s victory over the armies of Satan’s Antichrist after which
He sets up His millennial Kingdom, the thousand year righteous rule and reign
of Christ on earth (Revelation 20)!
‘For He must reign, till He hath
put all enemies under His feet.’ The last enemy that shall be destroyed is
death.(v.25,26)
This final enemy, death, is soundly
defeated through the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Resurrection
gives us surety of victory over death! Because He lives I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives all fear is gone, because I know who holds the future, And
this makes life worth living, Just because He lives!! ‘For He hath put all
things under His feet…And when all things are subdued unto Him, then shall the
Son Himself be subject unto Him…that God may be all in all.’ (v.27, 28)
Paul now gives us his thorough description
of the physical and spiritual Resurrection of the body in (v.35-50) Here he
utilizes the question and answer method of teaching vital Biblical truths
concerning the Resurrection of the body.
First of all he tells us that death is
necessary in order for the body to be ‘quickened’ or made alive through
Resurrection.(v.35,36) Then he gives us the truth concerning the different
types of bodies/flesh showing that even though the body is sown or buried in
corruption, dishonour, and weakness it is raised in incorruption, glory and
power. (v.42, 43)’ The body is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual
body’(v.44)
By showing that Adam was made a living
soul and the last Adam (Christ) was made a quickening spirit Paul illustrates
the order. First the physical then the spiritual, the first Adam was earthy,
the Second Adam is heavenly, and so just as we have lived in the physical body,
if we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior we too will receive the spiritual
body, because the Holy Spirit that lives within us is the guarantee that we
will ‘inherit the Kingdom of God’.
Now Paul moves his focus to the timing of
the Resurrection telling us that up to this point this has been a ‘mystery’. He
then unveils the mystery by telling us that ‘We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed.’
Here
is the essence of the ‘mystery’! First of all, there will be a generation of
believers that will not die, but instead will be changed, in a moment, in an
instant of time, when the last trump sounds, that generation will be changed,
but first the dead in Christ shall rise…then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with Him in the clouds…and so shall we ever be with
the Lord! (I Thessalonians 4:17)
That is when ‘this corruptible must put on
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality…Death is swallowed up in
victory…But thanks be to God which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much
as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.’
Yes, we shall be changed, at the Rapture
of the Righteous, the Resurrection of the dead in Christ, those who have
received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior will be Resurrected and given
glorified bodies just like the Lord’s and so shall we ever be with the Lord!
Have your received the Lord Jesus Christ
as your Savior? Are your sure if you died you would go to be with Him in heaven?
If not, you can receive Him by faith right now, if you are willing to repent
from your sin, and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, He died to pay the
penalty for your sin, He loves you that much, He wants you to receive Him right
now, just pray from your heart and ask Him to save you and He will do the rest!
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!!
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