THE REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION:
JOB’S VINDICATION AND OURS
Paul’s Teaching on the Reality of Resurrected Bodies
Job 19.21-27; 1 Corinthians 15.35-49
Introduction
As we continue to soak in the glorious truths related to the reality of the Resurrection, we come to verses 35-49. I can’t read this passage about resurrected bodies without reading from Job 19. It is as if the unswerving faith of Job which cried out in the darkness of his pain and suffering that he his body would one day be redeemed from the dust will not let us read without remembering him. So, I begin with Job 19.21-17 and then move to 1 Corinthians 15.35-49. This is the inerrant and infallible word of God.
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The history of Christian doctrine reveals that it is mostly formed during the storms of heretical threatings. Thus, we articulate what we believe about the divinity and the humanity of Christ because a man named Arias denied it. So, too, sometimes in the Scriptures God reveals a doctrine to us because of bad teaching, as in the case of the Corinthians, but, also, because the tremendous trials and tragedies of life force the believer into a corner. This is what happened to Job. In the midst of his many tragedies and his decaying body, his friend’s so called help drives him to such an extreme that—far from breaking—Job breaks forth in glorious Spirit inspired doctrine. The soul of Job, encircled with the dark storm clouds of death and decay, breaks forth like the sun as he exclaims that "I know my Redeemer liveth!" And in that cry, and in that Redeemer, Job stakes his own claim for life. Though he dies yet shall he live again.
Paul is also a ray of divine sunshine in the lives of believers who were being robbed of the doctrine that would bring them the full life that God wants us to enjoy. The false teachers were like Job’s friends, purporting to be bearers of good teaching, but in their twisted doctrines bringing nothing but pain.
Paul and Job, separated by perhaps close to 2,000 years, both come to us today with a powerful promise that can enrich our lives and draw us closer to God’s plan for living and worshiping and praising Him.
Note first the Promise itself of Resurrected Bodies (in Job, in Paul’s appeal, but also in other parts of Scripture)
For Job and Paul, the promise is that through a Redeemer, though we die, we shall live and see Him with our own eyes. That means that though our bodies die, through Jesus, who rose again from the dead, we shall rise. Not only that, but we shall see God with our eyes. The bodies we have now will be gloriously transformed, from present existence, to decay in death, and then, all the more to glorify God, to be reconstituted from the original and transfigured to become an eternal heavenly body, so that "in my flesh" as Job says, I shall see God.
Now, I admit that over the past several weeks since Easter, as we have followed Paul, we have stated, re-stated, and now stated again that God will raise up His people from the dead. But, today, I want you to see that this is not just some far out first century teaching of a madman, but a thoroughly consistent theme in the Word of God dating back to the oldest book in the Bible. That false teachers should teach otherwise is to not only upset the record of God’s Word in all of its parts, but, like grave robbers desecrating the bodies of the deceased, they seek to desecrate the most fundamental hope of mankind: that we shall live again. But, God’s Word in giving us this promise of a resurrected body, of a new existence, is a divine gift. When I buy my son or wife a gift, sometimes I put it up where they can’t find it. But, I love them so much that I begin to "leak" the news of the gift. Then, I begin to give them hints that "I’ve got something good in store for you!" That’s the way this doctrine is. When back in Genesis, the holy man Enoch did not die but walked into heaven with God, our Lord graciously gave us a hint of His will. God was saying, "I’ve got something good in store for you, children." When the prophet Elijah raised a widow woman’s little boy from the dead in 1 Kings 17 (verse 17-24), the Lord was telling us "I’ve got something good in store for my people." I learned this as a boy, and I since I was a little boy being raised by a widow woman, I always thought that that story was just for me! God loved little boys of widow women! Yes and God loves us and gave us a glorious hint about how His love would one day bring a great gift! When Elisha in 2 Kings the prophet Elisha, who wore the mantel of his predecessor Elijah, promised a child to a Shunammite woman, that precious child was born. But the little fellow, who was the prize of his mamma and daddy, went out to work in the fields and turned to his daddy on a hot day and said, "My head, my head" there was heartache. That much loved little boy would die. But, the faith of that woman turned to God in her sorrow and Elisha was fetched and brought to the corpse. When he laid down on top of that boy and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands, the Bible says, "the flesh of the child became warm." (2 Kings 4.34). And then the child sneezed seven times and got up and the prophet told that woman, "Pick up your son." I tell you that in that story our great God has a gift for His people! He is giving us BIG hints about what He has in store for us! When David lost the first born child with Bethsheba he declared, "He shall not return to me but I shall go to him." God was again giving us a clue. When Jesus raised Lazarus God began giving away the secret. And On Sunday morning after His only begotten Son was crucified, wrapped up, and put in a Roman sealed tomb, God decided it was time to open up the gift! Jesus Christ is the great gift of God to mankind and the gift is more than we could ever hope for. The gift is that though we die, yet shall we live and, yes, Job, "after our skin is destroyed…in our flesh, we shall see God, for ourselves, our eyes shall behold our Redeemer!" We shall live again and not in some disembodied state but in a new eternally outfitted body of our own! That is the gift that God has prepared for us since the beginning of time. It is the gift you possess right now, if you are looking to Jesus Christ, crucified for your sins and risen for your eternal life.
Now, Paul see how Paul defends the Reality of Resurrected Bodies (in verses 35-39)
Those grave robbing philosophers have tampered with the sacred cornerstone of the faith. Paul defends the doctrine of the resurrection of the body by appealing in verses 35-41 to analogies from nature. Paul chastises the gullible Corinthians and says, "Foolish ones, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies." In other words, "You ought to know better than to fall for their bad logic. They are telling you that death is all there is. But you know very well that the Gospel is even attested to by creation. A seed dies and only as it is buried in the ground can it produce wheat!" "Yes," but Paul imagines a Corinthians saying, "Yes, but what sort of thing will we look like if this resurrection thing is really true?" Paul then teaches that a wheat seed looks like one thing, but it produces a wheat body. "To each seed its own body." Correspondingly, there are different kinds of flesh and there will be different kinds of bodies than we have now, though like a wheat seed produces wheat, there is a definite connection between the body we have now and the body we shall have then.
Then, Paul explains the Reality of Resurrected Bodies (in verses 40-49)
He does this, first by contrasting the glory of terrestrial bodies to celestial bodies; then between various heavenly bodies themselves: the glory of the sun to the glory of the moon; the glory of the stars one from another. In that difference, there is also a difference in the glory of the human body as it exists in this life and its glory as it shall exist in the future when Christ returns. Paul calls one a "natural body" and the other a "spiritual body." Paul makes these points about our resurrected bodies:
1. (In verse 42) what is sown in corruption—that is death—is raised in incorruption that is without the possibility of sin and decay.
2. (In verse 43) what is sown in dishonor—a dead body is not God’s best for us, but is the consequence of sin—is to be raised in honor—that is raised to never sin again and to live out God’s perfect will in full communion with Him.
3. (In verse 44) what is sown as natural—confined to and under the natural powers of this age and this world—will rise and be transfigured to a spiritual body—capable of eternal ends.
4. (In verse 45-49) our lives which are received from Adam, and set on the course to meet the same end as Adam’s body, are now being changed by the life of the last Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ. His resurrection from the dead is now a sure sign and promise of our resurrection.
Now, as glorious as the teaching is, how lovely are the effects of this. To measure this, I turn again to Job.
The Effects of the Teaching of the Resurrection
1. We begin by noting the oppressiveness of death. In Job 19.21-22, the so-called friends of Job pour the salt into the wound. These pitiless and unwitting agents of the Devil spout poison words, which condemn and work to entomb the soul of the suffering saint. According to them, Job is suffering because he sinned (Eliphaz, in chapter 4); because God is angry with Job (Eliphaz in chapter 5); because he is unrepentant (according to Bildad in chapter 8 and Zophas in chapter 11); because of pure folly (according to Eliphaz in chapter 15); and finally Bildad ends the toxic counsel by telling him that he doesn’t know God (18.21). Shakespeare wrote of a dying king to his son, who was hovering over him and speaking to him, "thou hast a thousand daggers in thy thoughts against me." So, did Job’s friends harbor a "thousand daggers" against him. So does death. The teaching of the resurrection liberates us from this the way Job’s bold exclamation freed him from the condemnation of his treacherous friends.
2. The doctrine of the resurrection, taught us by God through the stories as well as through explicit doctrine, gives the believer resolve. Job’s resolve is seen as he stands up against his accusers. The believer, likewise, can stand against death, knowing that in Christ, even death cannot defeat him. He lives like a man who is truly free. At the time a boy or girl or man or woman confesses Jesus and makes Him his Lord and Savior, the haunting specter of death and Hell are removed. What did Jesus say, "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day." That gives us resolve to live life to the fullest for the glory of God.
3. The doctrine of the resurrection bubbles over into expressions of praise and testimony to God’s power. In verses 23 and 24, Job is, to put it plainly, pumped up. He is on fire with the doctrine of the resurrection. "Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock, with a pen and lead, forever!" They are, Job, they are! The Book is the Bible and the stones of the graves of your generation have long since crumbled, but the Word of God is a Grave Stone bearing your words and shall never crumble! Job was testifying and the person who really understands what is happening in the Christian life can’t help but to tell others. Our EE teams are starting to train and prepare to help train more of you in the fall to be Testifiers to the Resurrection. Oh that God would make this church a body of believers on fire with the reality of the resurrection, bursting forth with the news of the ages: though a man die, yet he may live again, by repentance of sin and faith in God’s Anointed One, Jesus of Nazareth, our God and Savior.
4. The doctrine of the resurrection brings expectation to living. "Oh how my hearts yearns with me" writes Job. What is his heart yearning for? What does the believers expect and long for and pant after?
(1) The full glorious appearing of Jesus Christ on earth. Job states that truth as his first hope. The resurrection starts with Jesus in a garden outside of Jerusalem, continues with Jesus ascending form the Mount of Olives, and will culminate with the return of Jesus to earth. For the believer, we live a life of expectation of the Day when the name that is blasphemed will have to be worshipped; when the Redeemer of God’s elect will split the sky in twain riding on a heavenly steed, coming with the myriad of angels and saints in a glorious celestial court. Our hearts are filled with the hope of that sight. What greater expectation is there? Everything else depends on that one moment in eternity. This is a practical doctrine. To think on it, to look to it, brings a spark to living and courage in dying. We also look to…
(2) Our own resurrection. "And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God who I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold and not another." Job is saying, "I am suffering from the pain of death all around me. I am beaten down with my body failing my. I am oppressed by accusers like you all around me. But, you can’t take the life out of me! I have a divinely placed electrical charge in my soul that is flowing from the reality of the resurrection in my heart and you can’t take that away!"
Oh, believer, how God invites you this morning to trade your fears for this. How He brings this Word to you so that you put your trust in Jesus, cast your burdens on God, and hang your future on His sure Word. Do it right now. Receive His promise and experience the power of His Word in your life.
Morphology is the study of form. Paul says there are two essentials morphological conditions:
"As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have born the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man."
Job believed that. Do you? You see that one single truth was the reason Job could go on despite all that had happened to him. It was "a shield and defense" from the harshness of this world and in the end a bulwark against even the icy torrents of death. How amazing that God’s gift of faith to us becomes a powerful force, which will ultimately change our very forms—to borrow the title of the Bible Study series by RC Sproul—, from "dust to glory."
Conclusion
I can’t imagine living and not having this Word from the Lord resounding clear and unbroken in my soul. I can’t imagine saying goodbye to loved ones in Christ without knowing that I would see them again. I can’t imagine going through life not having heard this doctrine or believed it. The truth is that we are not meant to. We are meant to hear and believe; to inwardly digest and to allow our lives to be completely saturated with the expectation of that day. It changes us. It strengthens us. It produces boldness and spiritual electricity to life.
This morning we sing, "Jesus Lives and So Shall I." That is pretty much what Job was singing and what Paul was preaching. It’s a song of bold confidence and resolve and a sermon of assurance and expectation. It’s really a vindication: a testimony that light is stronger than darkness; that good is stronger than evil; that grace is stronger than legalism; and that the God who loves us, loves us to death…and back again.
