“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.”
This letter of Paul’s to the church in Corinth is full of corrections and clarifications. The church had many factions and frictions. Many of the worldly and pagan ideals and rituals had crept in because they had difficulty shedding their past interests and seeing the distinct difference between their new found faith and those old practices.
John MacArthur points out that; “Like many Christians today, the Corinthian believers had great difficulty in not mimicking the unbelieving and corrupt society around them.” (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: 1 Corinthians, Moody Press, Chicago, 1984)
As is indicated in the fourteenth chapter of this letter, there was disharmony and disorder in the worship services. There was also confusion about the fundamental doctrines. Paul begins chapter 15 going back to the basics and explaining the gospel message to them once more. Then in verse 12 he begins his discourse on the resurrection, saying that some among them were denying that there was a resurrection at all. So from that verse and for the next 46 verses, to the end of the chapter, he argues for the resurrection in such an elegant manner that one of my wife’s secular text books in college included the 15th chapter of I Corinthians as one of the best examples in literature of persuasive writing.
By the time we get to verse 20 Paul has established very clearly that if Christ has not risen from the dead, then we’re all spinning our wheels. Worse than that, we’re fools to be pitied; perhaps Paul, more than anyone.
Here was this highly educated and devout Pharisee, prominent among his peers and zealous for his religion, comfortable in his self-righteousness and headed for a very promising future in this religious order.
Then he has his Damascus road experience, and from that day forward he is hunted, plotted against, slapped, insulted, bullied, whipped, beaten, stoned, imprisoned, starved, shipwrecked, falsely accused, maligned in every way, and all of this for the crime of preaching the resurrection!
If Christ is not raised from the dead, then Paul’s life was a pathetic waste, as have been the lives of countless millions since then and until now.
But my goal today is not to prove the resurrection, either Christ’s or the resurrection to come, which is really only a continuance of what began with His. Instead, I want to talk about what the resurrection ultimately means, namely, life, and not just life in general, but the kind of life that came by God’s Man.
DEATH CAME BY ONE
First it is important that we talk about how death came for the sake of contrast.
Paul said that ‘…by a man came death’.
Now did you hear that? By a man came death. Death came by a man.
Do you believe that the scriptures are divinely inspired and that they are true and without error? Do you believe that men wrote as God breathed and that the written Word of God is unambiguous and profitable for teaching about God?
Then, Christian, there is no place next to the Bible for teaching of evolution. There is no degree of compatibility. There cannot be some silly blending of the Creation account and the theory of evolution so everyone can be happy.
By a man and by his willful disobedience and by his disbelief and subsequent action, death came into the world. We are told this at the very beginning of the Bible, and we are told this again here in our text, and if it is not true then the whole Bible is not true.
The story of Adam and Eve cannot be symbolic of the general decline of mankind. If one physical man named Adam did not sin against God and His clearly spoken command and eat of a physical tree with physical fruit and thereby introduce sin into the world and death through sin, then throw your Bible in the trash and go have fun while you can, because none of it is true.
Now it naturally follows also that if the Bible is not true and none of it can be depended on for help in the now or the hereafter, then no one has the right to criticize another for their actions, or hold them accountable for any perceived wrong, since without the Bible we just make our own rules.
If we’re all just products of some primordial slime being struck by lightning and jump-starting organic life and then just by time and chance down the line here comes this species of two-legged, upright, thinking creatures, then there is no need for any universal moral code, because sooner or later each one of us is going to return to the ground, there won’t be anything left of us, and therefore all that matters is me and what I can get for myself right now, and you and your needs come in second at very best.
But listen to me before you run out and party. If death is as much a meaningless accident in the circle of life as life itself was, and that is the end and we cease to exist, then where rules are a joke, hope is a mist! A myth! An empty word!
And if you want answers to all the junk you see going on around the world, brought to you in real time and living color by CNN, there is really only one answer and it is this; they have no hope!
They think and live and die as those who have no hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:13
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.”
Christians, you have to know your Bible and believe your Bible, because it falls to you to open your mouth and tell people the truth.
All this hooey we’ve been fed over the past several decades about telling people ‘Jesus loves you’ and using catchy lines like ‘I Found It’, and asking ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ and using the world’s merchandizing hooks to get people into the churches; all that has to go. They’re on to us anyway, so let’s get real.
The imaginations and the philosophies of men have to be challenged with the truth that God created a man, and that man through his sin brought death into the world. Because that is the truth that starts them down the road to hope.
Until they understand that, until we understand that, there can be no comprehension of what was accomplished for mankind at Calvary’s cross.
LIFE CAME BY ONE
“…since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.”
Paul likens Adam to Christ for the sake of contrast only. In verse 22 of our text he says, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.” This is a truth he shares also with the Romans (5:15)
”But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.”
The first Adam brought death to all. There are no exceptions. I know you’ve heard it said; statistically speaking, the death rate is 100%.
In the movie from Louis L’Amour’s book, “Hondo”, John Wayne passes the news to Geraldine Page’s character that their friend, Apache Chief Vittorio has been killed in battle. Her response is ‘no, it can’t be’, to which Hondo declares, ‘Everybody gets dead, it was his turn”.
In spite of our general behaviors indicating otherwise, everyone old enough to know what death is knows that death is universal among man.
We laugh at humorous quotes by people like Woody Allen, who says he’s not afraid of dying, he just doesn’t want to be around when it happens.
But everyone ‘gets dead’ in his proper turn.
Why? Because all of mankind was in the loins of one man when he sinned and therefore sin is accounted to all, and since death is sin’s wage, death is what we have earned.
So many questions of the doubters are answered right here. Was there a first man named Adam? Yes! We’ve already discussed why that has to be true. Did God actually become a Man, flesh and blood, while still being God? Yes! Because a man brought death through disobedience, therefore a Man had to destroy death by His obedience.
And please understand and always remember that as a Man, born of a woman, Jesus made a deliberate decision to be obedient to the Father on a daily basis.
When He declared that the one who comes after Him must die to self daily, take up his cross and follow, do you think He was projecting into the future only? No!
It was what He did every day of His life, and He was speaking to those standing within hearing distance of Himself as much as He was saying it for the final generation of men.
It was His daily routine of submitting to the Father that readied Him for Golgotha, and let’s not miss the message that only a daily routine of dying to self and following Him in obedience will prepare us for what is to come in our lives.
So then, and this is where the comparison ends between the first Adam and the second, through one Man comes life.
Whereas Adam was the first man of all mankind, Jesus in His resurrection from the dead becomes the first Man of the new creation; the first fruits from the dead.
In Leviticus 9 God gives Moses the ordinance for the Feast of Firstfruits. He instructs that a wave offering be made of a sample of the first fruit of the season as thanks to the Lord for His provision. That early crop was an assurance that a much larger later crop was to follow in that same season. So in making the wave offering of the first fruits of their crops, the people of Israel were actually thanking God for what they had not yet seen but knew was to come because what they held in their hand was proof that more was to follow.
So in referring to Jesus as the First Fruits of the resurrection, Paul is teaching that the resurrection of all who have died in Him will be the harvesting of the same, later crop of which He was the assurance.
Someone has said that the resurrection of Christ had all other resurrections contracted in it. The very fact of His life is the promise of our life.
He said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life…”, then He proved it by calling Lazarus out of the grave.
There’s a story that as a young man, D. L. Moody was called upon unexpectedly to preach a funeral sermon. He hunted all through the four Gospels trying to find one of Christ’s funeral sermons, but searched in vain. He found that Christ broke up every funeral He ever attended. Death could not exist where He was. When the dead heard His voice they sprang to life.
In his song, “In The Garden”, C. Austin Miles penned the words:
“He speaks, and the sound of His voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing”
A nice sentiment; probably not actually the case. But this I know for certain.
He speaks, and light itself comes into existence. He speaks and the wind and the waves bow low in solemn worship. He speaks and the leper’s skin turns instantly pure and clean. He speaks, and the dead come hopping out of the tomb, wrapped in their grave clothes!
This I know for a certainty; He will speak, and His church, from all over the earth and from all times of history will be caught up in a moment to meet him in the air!
And throughout the ages of eternity, you and I will be constantly awed and amazed, because when He speaks, wondrous things happen!
RESURRECTION COMES TO ALL
Now I want to clarify what is meant by the word ‘all’ as it is used in verse 22.
Paul says that as in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive. That is not a declaration that everyone born and dead will be a part of the resurrection to eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
It is not a defense for the theology of universal salvation; believing that even those who reject Christ will go through some sort of after-life purging process and eventually be made fit for Heaven.
Remember we said that all are guilty of sin because all were in Adam when he sinned. That is speaking in the physical sense. Paul told the Athenian philosophers that from one, that is, from one man, God made every nation of mankind to dwell on the face of the earth. So no one has been born that is not descended from Adam, with the exception of Jesus Himself.
Since He had no earthly Father, but was conceived of the Holy Spirit, He did not descend from Adam, thereby becoming the second Adam, or, the second ‘first man’.
He lived a perfect life of obedience without sin, went to the cross and died and rose bodily, as proclaimed by scripture and declared by Himself prior to the crucifixion, and now all who place their faith in that death and resurrection for forgiveness of sins and eternal life in His Kingdom, are called in Him.
All mankind in the flesh is in Adam, or from Adam; all mankind spiritually reborn from above through faith in Christ are in Him, and as Adam’s sin was reckoned to all, so Christ’s righteousness is reckoned to all who are His.
So when Paul says that ‘all will be made alive’, his ‘all’ includes those in Christ through spiritual birth but not those who remain outside of Christ.
Having clarified that, let me make clear also that all will be resurrected; not just those in Christ, but all who have lived and gone down to the grave. The difference will be that those in Christ will be glorified with His eternal life, and those outside of Him will be raised to face judgment and eternal death and eternal separation from God.
Listen to these passages:
John 5:28, 29 (NASB95)
28 “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29 and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
Revelation 20:11-15 (NASB95)
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
A long time ago I saw a ditty supposedly from an actual grave marker somewhere, that said, “In this grave lies Atheist Joe; All dressed up with no place to go”
Not quite true. Atheist Joe will be raised at the last to face the One he spent his life denying, and inherit the damnation he demanded.
So it will be with all who leave this world having denied or rejected Christ, whether they declare a belief in God or not.
Can you see why it is so pathetic that we of the church waste so much time and energy and God-given talents and resources trying to push cutsie wrist bracelets and neck charms with clever little sayings, and pasting bumper stickers on our cars with shallow little statements that usually intimidate and offend more than teach, and come up with acrostics on church signs and send out flowery Christmas cards with ‘God bless you’ or ‘Happy Holidays’ so as not to be too pushy?
God forgive us and wake us up before it’s too late!
The reason people don’t believe us anymore, the reason people scoff and turn their backs and minimize our message and relegate us to the level of fools and imbeciles is because we’re not preaching God’s message. We’re speaking man’s words but not God’s Word.
God’s Word tells of salvation provided, yes, but it also warns of eternal death and Hell, and so must we.
“And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
People, that is really going to happen!
We’ve been talking about realities today. Adam was real. Adam really sinned. Adam really brought death into the world. God was really a Man. His name was Jesus, and He really died and really rose from the grave in triumph over death, offering eternal life to all who believe.
All who believe in Him are really going to be resurrected from the grave unless they are alive when He comes and are caught up to meet Him in the air. These are realities, folks.
And really, all who leave this life and go into eternity not knowing Jesus will be cast into the lake of fire; a place Jesus Himself warned about, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; where the fire is not quenched and the worm does not die.
REALLY!
It’s about time for us to stop pussyfooting around, stop being afraid of rejection, stop worrying about offending someone’s sensitivities, stop thinking in terms of keeping the peace so maybe this one or that will come to our church, and start telling folks that by one Man the grace of God abounds to the many.
Tell them to stop blaming God for all the evil and suffering they see around them, and understand that through one man, their ancient father, death came to the world and therefore to them, and what is in their future is a lake of fire.
But God’s grace has provided their escape from that fate. God’s grace has provided release from captivity. God’s grace has provided Light that they might see. God’s grace has provided their eternal forgiveness and their eternal bliss in His heavenly kingdom. God’s grace has provided a Man by whom came life to all who believe.
A Man in whose presence death cannot exist.
He speaks; and the dead spring to life.
Let Him speak through you and give you the delight of watching life come in before your very eyes.
