The Death of Death in the Resurrection



The Death of Death in the ResurrectionToday is the great Christian feast of Easter. It is the day we celebrate Christ’s resurrection and all that it means. To appreciate his resurrection, however, we need to first think hard about death. Death is ugly. Death is unpleasant. A few years ago I went to the hospital to visit a man who had only a few days to live. He was an old friend. I had known him in better times. He was dying of a disease that affects the nervous system. I arrived too late to pay my last respects. He had just entered into a comma from which he would not recover. I will never forget the scene. He was thin and emaciated. He had lost about 100 pounds. His skin was yellow and flaky. Although he was in a comma his eyes and mouth were open as if mocking his unconscious condition. His drooled uncontrollably. His browning eyes testified to the slow shut-down of his liver. His labored for air with loud raspy sounds. Each breath was an effort. His frame was stiff and rigid. The room smelled of death. It was a depressing scene. Scenes like this make us think of death, and we don’t want to do that. Ours is a culture of youth and life. So, we rush corpses to the mortuary so that no one will see them. We marginalize our stooping, wrinkled elderly to long-term care facilities. Some treat them like lepers. We want to pretend that death will never happen to us, but it will. There are only two options––premature death or the ravages of old age. Neither is pleasant. So, how do we cope? The man on the street is resigned to death. He knows of no exceptions. He has no concept of resurrection. So we often say, Isn’t death just part of living? Francis Bacon (1561-1626) took this view. He wrote “It is as natural to die as to be born.” We express a similar sentiment when we say, “In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” But Christians should never think like this. According to the Bible, death is an aberration. It is not part of God’s original plan. It is a blight on creation. It is a perversion of the intended order. It is God’s just judgment for sin. Those who think from a Christian world-view hate death. They despise it. Why? It reminds them of the horrors of sin. It says, “Sin is horrible. Look at what it does to us.” Sin is horrible. Look how much God hates it. Today we celebrate better news. Christ’s resurrection has conquered death. Jesus resurrection began the dissolution of death. Christ’s Resurrection was the first step in what Peter called, “The restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21). That includes a restoration of immortality. Those with a Christian worldview constantly preach this truth to themselves.In today’s reading, 1 Cor. 15:1-11, Paul described the gospel. I want to focus on verses 3-4. (1 Corinthians 15:3–4) "3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”Paul was convinced that Christ’s Resurrection was “according to the Scriptures.” By “scriptures” he meant the OT, for those were the only scriptures that Paul had. Today’s sermon is going to fly over those “scriptures” at 10,000 feet. We are going to examine the hope of resurrection from Genesis to Revelation. Our main point is this: Christ’s resurrection is conquering death. We will examine death and Resurrection from three angles––Creation, Fall, and Redemption. Created immortalGod created man in his image and likeness. God is immortal, so that which he created in his image and likeness was also created immortal. The first indication that death was even a remote possibility came when God warned Adam about sin. (Genesis 2:16–17) "16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”"The threat of death implied that Adam was immortal and that only sin could break immortal power. Fall brought deathWe all know the story. Adam and Eve sinned. It wasn’t one of the big sins––incest, adultery, murder, rape, drug addiction, or alcoholism. No, it was just a little sin, stealing some forbidden fruit. However, this one little sin brought death to Adam, to Eve, to the cosmos, and to every person descended from them. God’s crushing punishment for this seemingly innocuous little sin is the measure of how serious sin is. First came spiritual death. Their relationship with God, the source of all life, spiritual and physical, ended. Spiritual death produced physical death. Therefore, nine hundred years later their bodies died (See Gen. 5:3-5). In addition, it wasn’t just Adam, but the entire Cosmos that came under the curse of death. (Romans 8:20–21) "20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." Because God is merciful and gracious Genesis 3:15 immediately announced a plan of redemption. Redemption implied a return to immortality through the process of resurrection. From this point forward death became God’s enemy. Because it reminded him of sin, judgment, and the obstruction of his plan, he opposes it. That is why, in the OT, contact with a corpse made an Israelite ceremonially unclean. Redemption:?The Expectation of resurrectionKnowing that death was not God’s original plan, that it was a temporary exception to God’s plan, that it was his enemy, the Bible began to predict a day of restoration, a day of resurrection. Old Testament (Job 19:25–27) "25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!" (Isaiah 26:19) "19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead."(Daniel 12:2) "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."Because the Bible is a book of life, it literally bristles with resurrection life. To confirm these important OT prophesies, there were three resurrections in the Old Testament. They occurred under the ministry of Elijah and Elisha. New Testament By the time we get to the NT momentum has been gathering for centuries. The expectation for Resurrection is growing. God the Father was ready to move. He sent his Son as the agent of Resurrection life. Resurrection life would come through Christ’s Resurrection. Jesus predicted his own resurrection exactly three times. “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21). In addition, as in the OT, to encourage our hope in these prophecies, Jesus raised three people––the son of the Widow of Nain, Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus. Jesus’ resurrection was the seventh in the Bible. It was the culmination, and it differed from those that preceded it in four important ways. First, Jesus’ resurrection was representative. Second, it was permanent. Third, Jesus raised himself. Last, his resurrection began a new age. First, the previous resurrections were about the individuals involved only. They arose on behalf of no one but themselves. But Jesus resurrection was corporate: God raised him as a representative of every person that would believe the gospel. When Jesus rose, all believers rose with him. This includes everyone in the Old Testament who put their faith in the Messiah to come. The first sign of participation in Christ’s resurrection is new Birth. Second, the six resurrections prior to Christ were temporary. Each person later died. But Jesus resurrection was permanent: He rose to never die again. Third, everyone prior to Christ was raised by someone else’s power. But Jesus raised himself by his own power. “I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (John 10:17–18). Fourthly, Jesus’ resurrection inaugurated a new age. It began the last days. How We Experience the ResurrectionThe experience of Christ’s resurrection is “already but not yet.” In other words, we Christians have begun to experience some of the benefits of Christ’s resurrection. But the full gift will not be completely unwrapped until the Last Day. On that Day God will raise our bodies and reconstitute them. We will share his glory. We will share God’s immortality. We will be unable to die. In what way is the experience of Christ’s Resurrection “already?” Our first experience of resurrection life comes to us through new birth. God’s Spirit comes to indwell us. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). God’s Spirit comes to give us a small foretaste of what is to come. What is this foretaste like? First, the Spirit of Resurrection (the Holy Spirit) infuses us with faith, a growing “conviction” and “assurance” that our hope is grounded in reality (Heb. 11:1). Second, the Spirit of Resurrection gives us a share in the divine nature (1 Pet. 1:4). This means new desires, a growing yearning to obey God, take the low road, become small, and pour out our lives in service to God and man. Third, God’s Spirit gives us a growing conviction that Christ is infinitely good and glorious, coupled with a growing hunger to “know” God the Father through his Son, Jesus Christ. All of the Holy Spirit’s happiness is tied up in knowing God the Father and God the Son. He comes to share that joy with us. Fourth, the Holy Spirit sometimes gives us foretastes of the age to come. This is what happens when someone is supernaturally healed of disease, a demon is cast out, or a prophecy or vision comes to someone. The age to come has broken into the present. That is the “already.” What about the “not yet” of experiencing the Resurrection? The “not yet” of the Resurrection is immortality––new bodies freed from disease, death, and decay––dwelling in new creation. What will these bodies be like? Much is hidden from us. But our best guestimate is that they will appear somewhat normal. We suspect that because Jesus arose with a resurrection body. Afterward he appeared to his disciples for forty days. During that time they recognized him. They touched him. They watched him eat food, etc. In addition, Paul gave us four additional facts about our resurrection bodies. They appear in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44. First, he tells us that our new bodies will be raised imperishable. In other words, unable to die or decay. Second, he tells us that they will be raised with glory. We will share the glory of Christ. Third, he tells us that they will be raised in power. They will not be weak. Christ’s power will be perfected in our weakness. Last, he tells us that they will be raised “spiritual” bodies. These descriptions are general. We long for more specifics. What does Paul mean by “power?” What does he mean “spiritual” bodies? We don’t know, but someday all of us listening to this sermon will. Last, the “not yet” should cause the unbeliever great fear. Jesus warned us that resurrection is not just for believers. It is for everyone. “For an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28–29). What makes hell so horrible is that it is in the body. The torments are physical as well as social, mental, and spiritual. And what makes heaven so wonderful is that it is also in the body. The pleasures and joys of heaven are physical as well as social, mental, and spiritual. True faith is the “assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). It is the growing hope that all of these promises are true. Because I believe I will participate in Christ’s resurrection and all that it implies. So What? Preach the Resurrection to yourselfChristians have great hope. The Resurrection means there is an end to suffering. Christ’s bodily resurrection guarantees that hope. In a recent sermon Jeff Brinkman said, “For believers, this life is as bad as it is ever going to get, but for unbelievers, this life is as good as it is ever going to get.” Christians suffer, but they do so with the expectation that death is an open door to a quality of life that greatly transcends our current experience. Christ’s Resurrection is the foundation of that hope. When trouble comes don’t listen to your self. Self looks at circumstances and responds with despair, hopelessness, and discouragement. Instead, talk back to yourself. Preach the hope of the resurrection. Death is ugly. Death is unpleasant, but the Christ’s Resurrection is beautiful. It is the Christian’s source of great joy. Are you setting your mind on death or on the Resurrection and all it implies? We learned that death is not normal. I trust that you will never look at a fatal illness or a funeral the same way again. Christ’s Resurrection is God’s great plan to return creation to normalcy. The Bible begins with immortality but then plunges into the despair of sin and death. However, it closes with glorious hope. In the middle of a description of the New Creation we have this passage. (Revelation 21:4) "4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”" ................
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