“I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE” - PRESENTATION IN THE “I AM SERIES OF JOHN’S GOSPEL” PART 2
We will continue on from PART 1 and examine this great saying of the Lord declaring Himself to be the Resurrection and the Life. We began to look at what this means in PART 1 and did ([1] – Christ is the Grain of Wheat). Now let us move on -
[[(2). Christ is the First fruits of the Resurrection.]] This is vitally important and is part of the victory won through Calvary. Let me tell you, that no human being today, in heaven or earth, has a resurrected body except the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man. Not even those Christians today in heaven have a resurrected body. Their spirits are there with the Lord, but like us, they are waiting for that day to come. We are going to have a look at this in more detail.
Firstly, in essence, death still has victory over the human race. Sin brings about death, and kills the body. I want to say that this is the earthly order. The spiritual order is different. I want you to regard this in the same way we do with the description of the Second Coming in Revelation 19. Jesus comes as King of kings and Lord of lords and when His rule is set up, then indeed He will be installed King of kings and Lord of lords over all former human government. Today He IS totally King and Lord but it appears not to operate in our world. It may appear that death is not defeated, but it is.
I want us to look at these verses, a wonderful description of the Rapture when the Lord comes back for His Bride – {{1Corinthians 15 v 52 “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. 1Cor 15:53 This perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality, 1Cor 15:54 but when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 1Cor 15:55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1Cor 15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.”}} [We do not have time to work through each of those verses one by one to explain each but it was done in the talk.]
Those whose bodies have perished, and those whose bodies are mortal (but wasting away), will one day put on imperishable and immortal bodies. They are our resurrection bodies, and earlier in this chapter Paul explained that further – {{1Corinthians 15 v 39 “All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. . . . 1Cor 15 v 42 so also is the resurrection of the dead (speaking of our sinful bodies). It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body. 1Cor 15 v 43 It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 1Cor 15 v 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.}} Yes, we all have natural bodies (or we had them if we are in heaven right now), but we will one day have spiritual bodies.
Number 2 we had earlier, is, “Christ is the First fruits of the Resurrection.” To conclude Point 2 we look at where this verse occurs – {{1Corinthians 15 v 20 “but now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 1Cor 15 v 21 Since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead, 1Cor 15 v 22 for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive, 1Cor 15 v 23 but each in his own order: Christ the first fruits; after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.”}} The Lord is the trailblazer, the One who went before, and paved the way to heaven. This passage sets Him forth as the First Fruits of the Resurrection. He is THE Resurrection and THE Life, but He is also THE First Fruits. In that passage note carefully especially in verse 23, that Christ is the First Fruits, and after that, all those who belong to Christ, BUT at His coming, that is, at the Rapture, all the redeemed of all ages will put on the new, resurrected, spiritual bodies. That is why no human being today in earth or heaven has a resurrected body. It will happen at His coming for His own, His precious Bride, because He is the First Fruits.
[[(3). Resurrection Support in the Scriptures.]] (A). Old Testament The resurrection of the body is not merely a New Testament concept. God had reinforced it in the Old Testament Take, for example, this Hebrews verse {{Hebrews 11 v 35 “Women received back their dead by resurrection and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection.”}} Then we have this – {{Acts 2 v 29 “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day, 2 v 30 and so, because he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants upon his throne, 2 v 31 he (David, the prophet) looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. 2 v 32 This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.”}} (B). Of course, the whole of the New Testament as well as the Old, stands or falls on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Resurrection of Christ is well attested – prophesied by David (did you realise David was also a prophet?), and witnessed to by all His disciples. Added to that we have Saul of Tarsus who saw Him on the Damascus Road, and later on Paul wrote – {{1Corinthians 15 v 3 “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 1Cor 15:4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (These are the O.T. scriptures), 1Cor 15:5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 1Cor 15:6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep.”}}
[[(4). The New, Spiritual, Resurrected Body.]] What about those resurrected bodies? What will we do with them? We can safely conclude that the resurrected body will be glorious. We will have bodies like our Lord - {{Philippians 3:20 – 21 “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, 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.”}} We know the Lord went through closed doors. This next passage tells us that we do not marry – maybe a relief to some? {{Luke 20 v 35 “but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage, Luke 20 v 36 for neither can they die anymore, for they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”}} Other than that, no one knows, and it will be a glorious revelation.
[[(5). The Available Dynamic of the Resurrection.]] Out of death, comes life. Out of the cross, comes the resurrection. Through the resurrection, comes life, but not just ordinary life. It is abundant life. It is the life that is fully energised by the power of the resurrection. Christ lives in you with all the power of the Holy Spirit to be the living sons of the living God. {{Philippians 3 v 10 (that I may know Him) (and the power of His resurrection) (and the fellowship of His sufferings), (being conformed to His death), Phil 3:11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead - Phil 3:12 not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.”}}
Verse 10 (above) contains four aspects to which the Apostle wanted to attain. May I be frank with you all – these 4 goals are exactly what each of us ought to desire in our time on earth. The lazy Christian and the careless Christian will never hear the Lord’s commendation of “Well done, you good and faithful servant”. These four goals are giants of the Christian walk – knowing Christ in a close and personal way; suffering, or being set aside by the world in rejection and persecution; moulded by the Holy Spirit into the death of Christ so we know obedience and sacrifice. However it also says, “(and the power of His resurrection)”. This Greek word “dunamos” you have heard of before but the real power of the resurrection is seen in the transformation of lives and actions. It was the dynamic of the resurrection that enabled Peter to stand before the crowd and confront them with the death of their Messiah in Acts 2, and Paul to stand boldly before governors and rulers to proclaim Christ. It is all the power for holy living and endurance. It is going forth in the power of God under the authority of God. And, you know what? It is available for every born again saint, not for any special class. In verse 11, Paul looked forward to the resurrection of the body. He wrote to Timothy – {{2Timothy 4 v 8 “In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”}} The crown of righteousness is for all those who love the Lord’s coming. Are you looking forward to His coming or meeting Him when you depart this earth?
[E]. RETURNING TO BETHANY
Back to that family at Bethany, and we see that straight after that came the momentous statement from Jesus. He calls for Mary – {{John 11:28-33 “When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” . . . When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.”}}
Look at reasons for this – Jesus was perfect man with the emotions of a pure heart. He felt the pain of others and sympathised with their sorrow and tragedies. His humanity was tested on many points but He had a perfect balance of the two natures. Some verses later on we read that Jesus wept when shown Lazarus’s tomb. Does He know your sadness and your grief, and your failures, and your losses? He certainly does, and He has a ministry to address that – {{Hebrews 2 v 17 “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”}} And {{Hebrews 4 v 15 “for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”}} And {{Romans 8 v 34 “Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”}}
I think also He was deeply moved by seeing death, and for what sin had done, for sin leads to death. Maybe He wept for their unbelief there at Bethany, for He knew that many in that assembled group would not continue with Him. He knew the hardness of people’s hearts.
Then comes the victory, as the One who is the Resurrection and the Life demonstrated His authority over death. {{John 11 v 43 “When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 11 v 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”}}
Then He used His authority as the Resurrection and the Life. The God who spoke the worlds into being, spoke for the raising of a dead one from death. So it shall be at His coming again.
The Resurrection and the Life! Jesus is all things, and beyond all things, to us!
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
