Key Text: Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept (1 Corinthians 15:20).
In our current lesson, Paul teaches that we can be certain of the resurrection and the hope it provides. It appears that there were some false apostles at Corinth who denied the resurrection v 12. Paul discussed three questions: Will there be a resurrection of the dead? What will be the nature of the resurrection bodies? And, what will become of those who are found alive on the day of judgment?
Will there be a resurrection of the dead?
By revelations from God Himself, the death of Jesus Christ is essential to the gospel scheme of salvation. Scriptures states in express terms that Christ should rise on the third day, which is implied in the case of Jonah who came out of the belly of the fish on the third day and particularly in the case of Isaac who was a type of Christ; as his being brought to the Mount Moriah, bound, and laid on the wood, in order to be sacrificed, pointed out the death of Christ so his being brought alive on the third day from the mount, a figure of Christ’s resurrection. Five hundred persons saw Him at one time and the greater part of whom were alive when the apostle wrote the truth of our Lord’s resurrection v 6. “After that, he was seen of James” v 7. From the history of Saul’s conversion, Christ did appear to him; and Saul pleaded his call to the apostleship. According to Paul, we all preach one and the same thing; “and, as we preached, so ye believed, having received from us the true apostolical faith, that Jesus died for our sins, and rose again for our justification, and that His resurrection is the pledge and proof of ours” v 11. So, “if there be no resurrection of the dead,” as Christ is Partaker of the same flesh and blood with us, and He promised to raise mankind from the dead through His resurrection, if the dead rise not, then Christ has had no resurrection v 13. Paul’s argument was if Christ was raised from the dead, mankind may be raised; if mankind cannot be raised from the dead, then the body of Christ was never raised. Otherwise, “our preaching is in vain” v 14 and our whole doctrine is useless and false.
What will be the nature of the resurrection bodies?
It is very likely the false apostle at Corinth magnified his own wisdom and set it up against both God and man; and none but a fool could act so. He asserted the impossibility of a thing because he cannot comprehend it v 36. Paul uses the composition of a grain of wheat which is composed of the body and “the germ” to illustrate “that which thou sowest is not quickened (life-giving spirit), except it die”: The body dies, becomes decomposed, and forms a fine earth from which the germ derive its first nourishment. The germ is “quickened” and its first vegetable life, and “God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him” v 38. Paul also spoke of human beings clothed with celestial bodies such as Enoch, Elijah, and Christ Himself and others with terrestrial bodies in which the saints now live. The bodies of the dead shall possess different degrees of splendor and glory: “It is sown in corruption” Even though the body is buried in a state of degradation, decay, and corruption, it shall rise again as a seed springs up that has been sown in the earth. “It is raised in incorruption” v 42, fully clothed with a new body, to die no more. “It is sown in dishonour,” stripped of all the glory it had. “It is raised in glory” because it is forever redeemed from the empire of death. “It is sown in weakness,” undermined by disease. “It is raised in power,” no more liable to weaknesses, decay, disease and death. “It is sown a natural body,” an animal body. “It is raised as a spiritual body,” the resurrection body as it pleaseth Him.
And, what will become of those who are found alive on the day of judgment? Man in his present state cannot inherit the kingdom of God; his nature is not suited to that place. Paul states in principle that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” v 50. A change is mandatory if the believer is ever to realize his promised blessings. Not all believers will die but we can all be assured that “we shall all be changed.” Then, it is necessary that he should die and be changed to have a celestial body suited to the celestial state v 51. The resurrection of all the dead “in the twinkling of an eye” shall be the work by the power of God in a single moment, “at the last trump.” This is not the last trump of Revelation 11:15 but the last trump of 1 thessalonians 4:16, the end of the Present Age. The dead (those who have died in Christ) “shall be raised incorruptible, and we (those who are still living at the time of the Rapture) shall be changed v 52. By the resurrection of the body, God is represented as “swallowing death (him) up. Such hope and assurance issues in a great song of triumph: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” v 55. Though the “sting of death is sin” and yet we are alive and forgiven. Though the “strength of sin is the law” and yet we are pardoned. Finally, Paul issued a challenge to “Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding and he relates it to the doctrine of resurrection: ye know that your labor is not in vain” v 58, the sure conviction that one day we can share in the glory of the resurrection. AMEN! Happy Easter – He Is Alive!
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