Message

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In the last lesson, we thought of the gospel of the resurrection and the power of the resurrection. The resurrection of Christ is essential to the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. The gospel contains both the death of Christ for our sins and his resurrection for our eternal life. The resurrection of Christ is scripturally and historically true, and personally true to Paul and each of many individuals. It is also logical to the sound minds of the believers. The power of Christ’s resurrection is that as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. And the power of the resurrection includes the second coming of Jesus, the completion of the kingdom, and the handover of the kingdom to God. We also thought about how to live with resurrection faith. Resurrection faith should be practical. It is to die to our sinful nature and to be ready to die for Christ, believing that the risen Christ is alive and with us. It is to believe that in Adam all die but in Christ all will be made alive. This empowers us to overcome any elements of death in Adam and experience the power of being in Christ all the more. Today’s passage is about the actual answer to the question of the resurrection of the dead, how the dead are raised: the resurrection of Christ is directly connected to the resurrection of the dead. It is the bodily resurrection, which is glorious beyond human comprehension. Today’s passage also tells us when it will happen and how victorious our life in Christ is. First, the glory of the bodily resurrection (35-49). Paul says in verse 35, “Some may ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?’” This can be the question of our modern scientifically minded people. When people get old, their bodies become less attractive and weaker to the point of having difficulty moving by themselves. Dead bodies are eaten by worms and maggots. Then how are the dead raised, even after there seems to be no trace of the person once dead? Would they rise to walk around like zombies? Totally unthinkable. So, the question, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they come?” is reasonable. But Paul responds, “How foolish!” Yes, the question is a sensible question to unbelievers, but not to believers. This is a senseless question to those who say that they believe in the resurrection of Christ. Paul did not give a direct answer to their question right away. He says first in verse 36, “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.” It is true: “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.” What a succinct and enlightening statement! This is a plain truth found in a natural world. When what is sown dies, it comes to life. Through the dying process, life springs up. No death, no new life, no resurrection. This is applicable to the world of plants. When we sow, no one plants the body that will be, but just a seed. No one has the body yet, even does not know what the body looks like. Subsequently Paul says in verse 38, “But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.” The body’s coming is not an accident, by chance, or at random. There is God’s determination in his design for each seed. All the seeds do not have the same bodies. Each seed has it own unique body, although all the seeds look the same. Each seed itself looks ugly with no beauty at all, but each body that comes out of its seed has a fascinating beauty even with delicious fruits. Now Paul extends the truth of no death and no resurrection from the world of grain and plants to the world of those that have flesh, and to the astronomical world. He says in verse 39, “All flesh is not the same; men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.” This is also true. The flesh of men is different from the flesh of a lion, monkey, horse, giraffine, or elephant, etc., definitely different from the flesh of birds and fish. Even within animals, birds, and fish are various species. It is because God created them according to their various kinds as we studied in Genesis. Paul continues in verses 40 and 41, “There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendour of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendour of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendour, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendour.” Here now Paul even talks about splendour, glory. When we think of God’s creation, each creature is made to reveal the glory of God. How glorious the sun is! Also the moon and each star. Especially human beings are made to display the glory of God. However, fallen men seek human glory, the glory of the world, throughout their lives. But human glory cannot truly satisfy them and furthermore the life of seeking human glory tramples and rides on the lives of others, demanding their sacrifices. All those who seek human glory die in misery. So, Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:23 that all human glory is like the followers of the field which eventually fall to the ground and are gone without any trace. Anyway, we all long for glory, actually the glory of God. Now Paul is ready to say this in verses 42-44: “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body” (42-44). What a powerful statement about body with four-folded emphasis! Here we see that our physical body is perishable and dishonourable. Of course, there is the time of youth and beauty, but it is soon gone. Everyone gets old with wrinkles, white hair or bald head, and rotten teeth. Corpses are really dishonourable. According to the Bible dead body conveys uncleanness (Num. 19:11). Also, our body is weak, so weak that it cannot overcome even corona virus. We long for an imperishable, honourable, powerful and spiritual body (Ro. 8:23-24). This natural body is not fit to our spirit, limited by time and space. Right now, we have online worship in this natural body, although our spirit wants to see each other face to face, in person and without any barriers. We need a spiritual body that is fit to our spirit. I believe that our spiritual body does not even need a car. With our spiritual bodies, we can go anywhere we want, without any obstacle. It is truly amazing that each of us will have an imperishable, honourable, powerful, spiritual body. But the important thing is that our physical body is a seed, to be sown. In verses 42-44, the word “sown” is written 4 times. We should know that our body is to be sown, not be preserved. This is the reason Jesus said in John 12:24, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” This is also the reason Paul said, “I die every day.” This is the reason Jesus said to his followers, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lk. 9:23). It is true that no death, no resurrection; no cross, no crown; no pain, no gain. May we really live with this life principle with the hope of being clothed with an imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual body. In this hope we may do any task with dying spirit – that is, life-giving spirit, not with half-hearted spirits trying to preserve our body, for the glory of God and his kingdom and to serve others. Now Paul wants us to think more fundamentally. We learned the wonderful truth in 15:22, “As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” The most serious distinction in the world is whether one is in Adam or in Christ. Again, Paul compares Adam and Christ, the last Adam, the first man and the second man, the earthly man and the man from heaven. Look at verses 45-49, “So it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as it is the man from heaven, so are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.” God’s plan for us is not just for each one to have a glorious resurrected body. His whole plan is that we all shall be like Jesus, in and out, still each having each one’s unique personality. We shall be as humble as Jesus, as obedient as Jesus, as pure as Jesus, as loving as Jesus, as gentle as Jesus, as patient as Jesus, as courageous as Jesus, as sacrificial as Jesus, as glorious as Jesus with our own glorious resurrected body. This is the reason God sent his Son Jesus into this world to die for our sins and be raised from the dead. I will be like Jesus, and those I serve in Christ and for whom I pray will be like Jesus. Then what a life it will be! This blessing comes to those who belong to him. In this world there seem to be much suffering and hardships and agonies of life, some we cannot understand. Yet, all things have come so that we shall be like Jesus. So amid many sufferings life is worth living. The more suffering, the more joy, the more glory. Praise God for his wonderful plan. Second, the victory in Christ (50-58). Look at verse 50. “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” When we hear the word, “flesh”, it signifies moral frailty. Paul said in Galatians 5:16, “…Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” But when the words, flesh and blood, are used together, it indicates two of the most important constituents of the physical body, and two which are peculiarly liable to decay. According to Hebrews 2:14, Jesus also came into this world with flesh and blood so that he might also experience death for us. Paul makes it clear that with the physical body of flesh and blood, we cannot inherit the imperishable kingdom of God. Then now Paul says something really sensational in verses 51-53. “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the moral with immortality.” What can be more mysterious than this? In John 2, when the servants in a wedding obeyed Jesus’ command to fill the empty jars with water and to take some of the water to the master of the wedding banquet, the water changed into wine in a moment. Jesus was in the grave during Friday evening, the whole Saturday, and then just before the early Sunday morning in a moment rose from the grave according his promise. We will be changed in a moment at the last trumpet sound when Jesus comes again. The dead in Christ will be raised first and those who are living on earth will be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye. We will be immortal beings with the imperishable glorious body. It is too fantastic to believe. But this is the word of God which is trustworthy and true and so we can believe. Then Paul writes further in verses 54 and 55, “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting.’” What a victorious song over death! Throughout history since death came through Adam’s sin, death has swallowed up every single human being. People sorrowed over and cried endlessly at the death of beloved ones. It had been so generation after generation. Yet, since Jesus rose from the dead, death has been swallowed up in victory and man’s situation has been completely changed. Now believing in the resurrection of Christ Jesus, Paul shouts the song of victory, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” Death’s victory is no more, and death’s sting is no more. According to Revelation 20:14, death is waiting to be thrown in the lake of fire. O poor death. Like Paul, we can speak to death and gloat over death in Jesus Christ. Paul says continually, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” Actually death has no sting. The sting of death is sin. Because of sin men die for the wages of sin is death, as we studied. And the power of sin is the law. Paul said in Romans 7:7, “I would not have known what sin was except through the law.” The law condemns sin; all sinners were condemned to death and eternal punished. But Christ Jesus was condemned in our place, fully paying all the requirements of the law. So Paul says in verse 57, “But thanks to be God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Precious Jesus Christ! There seem to be many victories in the world, victory in sports games, victory in exams, victory in academic world, victory in entering good companies, victory in promotion, and victory in political election, etc. These victories in the world produce many losers who are endlessly sad. But the victory in Christ Jesus is different, not making others losers. This victory in Christ Jesus is the victory that defeats death and sin and law. This victory has no limitation in number. As many people as possible can have this victory. For this victory comes through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Here we should make sure that Jesus Christ who died for our sins and was raised from the death is our Lord. We are to deeply accept and recognize the Lordship of Christ Jesus over everything in our lives. This is as Peter said in 1 Peter 3:15, “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.” In that we have victory over death and over everything. Resurrection faith and faith in the Lordship of Christ Jesus cannot be separated. Again, thanks be to God. He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Lastly there is Paul’s final exhortation in verse 58. “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.” In this world when all things end in death, all the labour are in vain. Since in Adam all die, all the labour in Adam are in vain. After living our whole life, if we realize that that entire life was in vain, what a frustration! At the threat of death through COVID-19, the whole world is crumbling and all human accomplishment is crumbling, and all human labour is going to vanish and be in vain. But all our labour in Christ is not in vain. No, but very meaningful for his kingdom, the kingdom of Christ, which is eternal. May we not be deceived by the things of the world or the glory of the world, but stand firm in Christ Jesus and always give our fully to the work of the Lord. We thank and praise God for the glory and victory we have in Jesus. We will have a glorious resurrection body and we shall be like Jesus. In this glorious hope we may live with resurrection principle, knowing that our body is a seed to be shown and so giving ourselves fully to the work of the Lord. Amen.

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