Easter 2021: The Hope of Easter!
I
Corinthians 15:20-26
Introduction: We sing on Resurrection
Sunday about the empty tomb and Jesus’ victory over death, but in truth that
historical event is the anchor of our faith every day! When Paul summarized the Gospel, he said Christ
died for our sins, was buried, and rose the third day according to the Scriptures
(I Cor 15:3-4). Skeptics might say
that we are basing our hope on mere stories, not on provable facts. Ignatius of Antioch, who according to
tradition was a disciple of the Apostle John, wrote some letters while being
carried to Rome as a prisoner, expecting to be thrown to the lions. He was killed for his faith around A.D. 107. In
one of those letters, written on that final trip to Rome, he spoke directly to
the historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus, and what that meant to him as a Christ
follower. This is part of what he
said...
If you come across somebody who says that Jesus Christ never lived, or
that He is just an idea, or a concept, or a myth, shut your ears to him.
Jesus Christ was born into a
human family, a descendent of David. His
mother was Mary. He was persecuted under Pontius Pilate, a fact testified to us
by some who are now in Heaven, and some who are still alive on earth. How can this be a phantom, or an illusion, or
a myth? These are facts of history!
It is also a fact that he
rose from the dead (or rather that his Father raised him up). And that is the most important fact of all,
because his promise is that the Father will also raise us up, if we believe in
Him. So if Christ Jesus is not alive,
neither shall we be. There is nothing
left for us to hope for if he is just an idea or a fantasy.
In any case, if he only
appeared to rise from the dead —why should I be in chains for this “myth”? Why should I die to support an illusion? I am prepared to die for him, the true and
real Son of God. But no one is prepared
to die for a shadow.
The truth of Easter, the historical reality of the resurrection, is what gives true Hope! That is Paul’s argument in I Corinthians 15 as well so we are jumping into this chapter where the apostle Paul presents his most extensive and in-depth discussion of the doctrine of the resurrection and its implications for the Christian life. Our hope is based on history and anchored in the faith that God will bring His story to pass as He has promised.
Paul begins this
chapter by talking about the historical witness to the resurrection of Jesus
(1-11). The Corinthians believed this, but they were apparently struggling with
the idea of a future resurrection for believers. Paul makes the point in 15:12-20 that if we
deny the resurrection of believers we are denying the resurrection of Jesus,
and if Jesus is not raised, then we have no hope, we are still in our sins, we
are of all humans the most pitiable. The
passage we’ll look at today, starting in I Corinthians 15:20, says that that
“hypothetical” is dead because Jesus is NOT dead, the tomb is empty, He is
alive!
“But
in fact Christ has been raised…” Paul wants the Corinthians to see the
connection between what they have believed, the resurrection of Jesus,
and what they must understand, that Jesus’ resurrection means we too
will be raised to life, and because that is true we can live victoriously
today, in this life. The
resurrection is not just an historical fact, it is the basis of our sure hope in Christ!
The big idea that I want to emphasize in this passage was stated better than I
could possibly say it by Erich Sauer, in his book, The Triumph of the Crucified…
The Big Idea:
The present age is Eastertime! It began with the resurrection of the Redeemer,
and will culminate in the resurrection of the redeemed [and the restoration of
all things]. Between lies the spiritual resurrection of those called into new
life through faith in Christ. So, we live between two Easters, and in the power
of the first Easter, we look toward the last Easter! (Adapted from Erich Sauer,
Triumph of the Crucified.)
I. The Resurrection of the Redeemer (20, 21). The tomb is empty, He is
alive!
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of
those who have fallen asleep. 21
For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead…
Paul
began this paragraph answering the hypothetical questions he asked in the
preceding context (15:12-19). IF Christ
is not raised, IF the resurrection
never happened and tomb wasn’t empty our faith would be useless, we would still
be dead in our sins. IF! But, as 15:1-11 shows emphatically, He is
alive! “But now Christ HAS BEEN raised from the dead…” The ESV translates,
“BUT IN FACT Christ has been raised…”
That is Paul’s point here, the resurrection is a fact of history, as Ignatius
proclaimed in his letter. The
eyewitnesses in the Biblical record, and also those from the end of the
apostolic era like Ignatius, men who spoke to the eyewitnesses of the resurrection,
all of this testimony is compelling evidence that would present a powerful witness in a court of law. That is
the point that Paul was making in the opening of I Corinthians 15. Read through the first 11 verses and consider
the eyewitness testimony he outlines. Remember the apostles in the days before
the resurrection. They were scattered when Jesus was arrested in the Garden.
Peter three times denied that he even knew Jesus. And then after the
resurrection these same men stood before the crowds and the authorities and
preached boldly that He is Lord, and that He had risen from the dead! When arrested, threatened, and beaten, they said
they could not stop preaching what they knew to be true. They were
eyewitnesses! How do you explain that transformation? The only reasonable explanation is that they
spoke what they knew to be true, they had seen the resurrected Jesus! As Ignatius said, “These are facts of
history!”
Notice I Corinthians 15:6, “Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of
whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep…” Do you see what Paul is saying? “I am a witness, as are the other apostles,
but there are also hundreds of others who saw the resurrected Jesus.” As he is
writing this letter he says, some had died, but most were still alive. “If you
need to be convinced talk to them, interview them, ask them if this is true!”
Notice
too that Paul is also pointing out the humanity of Jesus, “For as by a man
came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead...” (I Cor 15:21). We need balance in our understanding of who Jesus is. The Eternal Word, God the Son, did not just appear to be human. He actually took upon himself a human nature.
Why? As Adam sinned and brought all humanity under the curse, so also Jesus,
would not sin, he said “NO!” to the tempter and “Yes” to God, so that
all who trust in Him have forgiveness and new life. He came to undo the Fall! We talk about the
incarnation during the Christmas season but it is a doctrine that should
overwhelm us every day – such grace, such love, for God to become a man,
knowing exactly what would happen, what had
to happen for the Father’s plan to be fulfilled. And he did it! And He became…
“…the firstfruits of those who have fallen
asleep…” (I Cor 15:20,23). In the Old Testament, the first part of the
harvest, called the firstfruits,
was set apart and given as an offering to the Lord. It was an act of
thanksgiving and worship. It was the “first fruits,” part of the harvest and
connected with it in that sense, and it expressed faith that the rest of the
harvest would follow. Jesus’ resurrection
is connected here with the future resurrection of believers. As certainly
as Jesus was raised from the dead, so also the rest of the harvest will
follow. That is talking about us,
and every other person throughout history who has trusted in Him! We often use “hope”
in the sense of vague, wishful thinking. Our future hope is as certain as the
empty tomb!
“For as by a man came death, by a man has
come also the resurrection of the dead…” It doesn’t take the most astute observer to recognize
that all is not right in the world. We pick up the newspaper and
immediately we read about the chaos and suffering in so many places and so many
lives. Just looking at our prayer list reminds us that hurting people are all
around us—and believers in Jesus are by no means exempt from that. It all started with Adam and Eve. Paul said
in Romans, “By one man sin entered into
the world and death through sin, and death spread to all men because all have
sinned…” The first humans were placed in paradise. God created the universe and called it “good.” Humans were
uniquely made in the image of God, the pinnacle of God’s good creation. Adam
sinned, and the consequences of his fall have been passed down through the ages
to every human since. This is part of
the reason it was necessary for Jesus to come in human flesh. Eternal God took
upon himself a human nature so that he could be our substitute. Tested and
tempted, yet without sin, He bore our sins in His body on the Cross. But Jesus did not stay dead, the tomb could
not hold him, he rose again! The tomb is
empty. The resurrection of the Redeemer, the firstfruits of the
resurrection harvest, is the basis of our hope as we live in that victory now,
and look ahead to…
II. The Resurrection of the Redeemed (22,23). In Christ we will be made
alive!
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23
But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who
belong to Christ.
For as in Adam all die… Adam sinned as the representative head of the human race, and all of his
progeny after him by birth and by choice are sinners. That includes us. There
is none righteous, no not one. There are none that seek after God. There are
none that do good, not even one. As the Scriptures emphatically state: all have sinned and come short of the glory
of God. That is a problem, a problem that we could not solve on our own. In
Adam all die. The wages of sin is death.
The
Bible does say elsewhere that every human will be raised from the grave,
some to life, and some to judgment. Jesus said in John 5:28-29,
28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs
will hear his voice 29 and
come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who
have done evil to the resurrection of judgment…
So, there is a sense in which all
will experience “A” resurrection of some sort. Paul here is focusing on the
first resurrection, the “resurrection of life.” Adam brought death
to every human being; Jesus brings life, and the resurrection of life, to
all who are His, all who believe.
That is good news. It means we
are included in His story if we know Him.
The present age
is Eastertime! It began with the resurrection of the Redeemer, and will
culminate in the resurrection of the redeemed and the restoration of all
things... So, we live between two Easters, and in the power of the first Easter
we look toward the last Easter! The resurrection of the Redeemer, the resurrection
of the redeemed, and finally…
III. The Restoration of all Things (24-26). The Gaither
song says, “Because He lives, I can face
tomorrow, because He lives all fear is gone…”
24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after
destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has
put all his enemies under his feet. 26
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Do you see what Paul is pointing to? The
Fall undone! God’s creation was all good in the beginning – human rebellion
brought sin into the world and with it death, sickness, and suffering. Finally,
the day will come when sin will be no more, and the rule of God will restore
Creation to what it was designed to be. When you read about the Garden of Eden
before the Fall, and then turn to the end of the Book of Revelation, you can’t
miss the idea that God will bring His design for creation to pass. The way
life should be! Tim Keller wrote that the resurrection of Jesus was,
…the beginning of the restoration of the natural order of the world, the
world as God intended it to be. Since humanity turned away from God, both the
human and natural worlds have been dominated by sin and evil, disorder and
disease, suffering and death. But when Jesus rose from the dead, he inaugurated
the first stage of the coming of God’s kingdom power into the world to restore
and heal all things… (Hope
in Times of Fear, p. 24).
There is a sense in which the
kingdom is already present, and yet we await the day when God’s rule will be
established over all – a day when God himself will wipe away our tears – and
there will be no more sin, no more sorrow – no more death! We live, now, in anticipation of the
fulfillment of that promise. Dallas Willard said,
Those who have apprenticed themselves
to Jesus learn an undying life with a future as good and as large as God
himself. The experiences we have of this life as his co-conspirators now fill
us with anticipation of a future so full of beauty and goodness we can hardly
imagine… (Divine Conspiracy, p.375).
That day is still future, but it is
not in doubt! As
surely as the tomb is empty our hope is sure in Jesus. “The
life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God…” (Gal
2:20). He’s alive! So, in the power of
the first Easter, His resurrection, we go to meet the last Easter, the sure
promise of our resurrection. That is
not wishful thinking, it is a hope as sure as the empty tomb!
What is God saying to me in this passage? The present age is Eastertime! It
began with the resurrection of the Redeemer, and will culminate in the
resurrection of the redeemed [and the restoration of all things]. Between lies
the spiritual resurrection of all who have been called into new life through
faith in Christ. So, we live between two Easters, and in the power of the first
Easter we go to meet the last Easter!
What would God have me to do in this passage? Have you personally responded to
the truth that Jesus died and rose again?
The truth that He conquered death in His resurrection leaves no doubt
that he is who he claimed to be, and it assures us that He can do what He
promised to do. Paul invites us in
Romans 10:9,10 to respond, “Confess with
your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him
from the dead, and you will be saved.” There are no questions, no
doubts, no “ifs” in that statement. That is God’s promise to you this morning.
Perhaps you have believed and received
the gift of salvation, and yet the truth is that you are so overwhelmed by the
trials in your life or in the lives of those around you that you feel hope-less.
It is true that as we read in Romans 8:22 “…we know that the whole creation
groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” But Easter points
through the darkness and pain, through this veil of tears, to the end of this
story: Because He
lives, we will live also! A Day is coming when God himself will wipe every tear from our eyes. That
is not wishful thinking; it is a promise, from God himself. Paul reflected that
hope when he wrote, “The suffering of
this present age is not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be
revealed in us.”
The present age began with the
resurrection of the Redeemer, and it will end in the resurrection of the
redeemed… in the power of the first Easter, we go to meet the last Easter. Listen: if you have trusted in Jesus, the
same power that raised Him from the dead is at work in you! Paul wrote, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead
dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to
your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you…” (Romans 8:11). That is your sure
hope if you know Him! Think about that! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! AMEN.
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