‘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!!
