The Resurrection of Jesus Christ - 1 Corinthians 15:12-26

INTRODUCTION:

            He is risen! (He is risen indeed!)  Why do we say that, what is so important about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ?  It is one of the fundamental truths of the Christian faith.  If Jesus Christ was not resurrected, then Christianity fails.  Paul in his defense of the Gospel said this in 1 Corinthians 15:1-3, “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15:1–4, NASB95)[1] Paul in these verses gives us the fundamental truths of the Gospel that he preached that must be believed to be saved, they are that Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He was raised from the dead on the third day.  It is on these truths that the Gospel stands or falls. 

            1 Corinthians 15 is Paul’s great defense of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, which in turn guarantees our future bodily resurrection.  This morning as we remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ I want to look at a part of Pau’s defense.  In verses 5-11 Paul gives us a list of those who saw Jesus Christ after His resurrection, including a group of 500 at one time, most of whom Paul said were still living.  In verse 12 which is where we will start this morning Paul begins his defense of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Let’s pray and then get into God’s Word.

--PRAY--

SCRIPTURE:

            Turn in your Bibles if you have one this morning to 1 Corinthians 15:12-26.  Please stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

     1 Corinthians 15:12-26,

            “Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. 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 will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:12–26, NASB95)[2]

IF JESUS CHRIST HAS NOT BEEN RAISED (1 Corinthians 15:12-19)

            The Corinthian Christians believed in Christ’s resurrection or else they could not have been Christians.  But there were some in the church who had difficulty believing and understanding the resurrection of believers.  This confusion in part was due to their experiences with pagan philosophies and religions before they put their faith in Christ.  A basic teaching of teaching of ancient Greek philosophy was dualism, which taught that everything physical was evil, so the idea of a bodily resurrection was repulsive and disgusting.  Perhaps some of the Jewish Christians in the church had been influenced by the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection even though it was taught in the Old Testament.  Even though Jesus had taught extensively on the resurrection and the apostles also taught it, some in the church at Corinth were in doubt about the resurrection of believers.  It is from this belief that Paul begins to make his defense, and he begins by saying if there is no resurrection, then not even Jesus Christ could have been raised.  He goes on in verses 14-19 to give six disastrous consequences if Jesus Christ has not been bodily resurrected from the dead.

            First, Paul says if Christ has not been resurrected from the dead, then preaching Christ would be senseless, it would be empty, it would have no meaning.  Without the resurrection the blessed hope of the Gospel is empty, there is no hope.

            Second, also in verse 14 Paul writes that if Christ has not been resurrected from the dead then your faith is useless, it too is without meaning.  What hope would there be in putting your faith in a dead Savior, if He were dead He could do nothing for you.

            Third, from verse 15 Paul writes that all who have ever preached the Gospel, have shared the Gospel are false witnesses of God, we should be condemned as liars because we have testified not “against” but better translated “concerning God” or “about God” that He raised Christ from the dead, whom He did not raise, if in fact, the dead are not raised.  If there is no bodily resurrection of the dead, then we cannot say that God raised Christ from the dead or we will be liars.

            Fourth, from verses 16-17, Paul writes that if Christ has not been raised, then no one would be redeemed from sin.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the demonstration or the proof of God the Father’s satisfaction in the work that His Son accomplished.  In other words, the resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that the wrath of God against sin has been met, has been satisfied.  Jesus Christ predicted several times that He would rise from the dead.  It is the resurrection the fulfillment of His own prediction, that proves He was the sacrifice for sin which He claimed Himself to be.  If He was not raised from the dead, there is no redemption from sin.

            Fifth, Paul writes in verse 18 that if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then all those who have died in Christ have perished.  This word “perished” means that they have been destroyed utterly, they have died in hope when there was no hope if Christ has not been raised from the dead.

            Finally, Paul writes in verse 19 that if Christ has not been raised from the dead and we have hoped in Christ in this life only, if we have no hope in a life to come, then we are to be the most pitied of all men.  What Paul means by saying that we should be the most pitied of all men is that because of the sacrifices made in this life in the hope of life to come; if in fact there is no life to come, we should be most pitied that we did not make the most of this life, it would be better “to eat, drink, and be merry” before we die if that is the end.

            Six horrible and disastrous consequences if Jesus Christ has not been raised from the dead.

JESUS CHRIST HAS BEEN RAISED FROM THE DEAD! (1 Corinthians 15:20-26)

            The hope of all Christianity would be lost if Christ was not raised from the dead, but now, Paul writes, Christ has been raised from the dead, it is a reality, it did happen.  His resurrected body was seen by many eyewitnesses that were still alive when Paul penned this letter.

            Paul goes on to say that Jesus Christ raised from the dead, is the first fruits of those who are asleep, of those who have died in Christ, they are not utterly destroyed because they died in Christ.  Paul’s Jewish readers at Corinth would have immediately understood what Paul was saying.  As the days of harvest were just beginning the farmer would go out into his field and he would see the first of the ripening grain and he would pluck it and present it at the temple as the first fruits, the guarantee of the coming harvest, then when a few more day or weeks had gone by, the farmer would return to the field and the whole field would be ripe and the harvest would begin and the great harvest was like that first grain of first fruits, it was the same in character.  Jesus Christ is the first fruits of resurrection.  He is the guarantee that the day will come when all His own, those who fell asleep in Christ, will be called forth from their graves.  That will be the glorious harvest of the resurrection, we shall be like Him, our blessed and glorious Lord because we too will have resurrection bodies like His own, and we will be forever triumphant over death, and throughout the rest of eternity we will glorify the One who has redeemed us to Himself.

            Paul explains that it was a man that brought death on the human race, and it is a man also that brought forth the resurrection of the dead.  Paul names for us the two men that he is referring to and says that the first man that brought death is Adam, before Adam sinned there was no death, God had told Adam that the penalty for eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was death.  The day that Adam disobeyed God and ate from the tree he immediately died spiritually being separated from God, he began to age and eventually died physically, and without a redeemer he would be separated from God for eternity.  Paul writes, “For, as in Adam all die…” (1 Corinthians 15:22a, NASB95)[3]  Who are those who are in Adam?  Those in Adam are his offspring.  Since Adam is the first man ever created then his offspring is the entire human race.  Everyone who has ever lived or ever will live is in Adam and because we are in Adam we are all condemned to die.  In Adam all die.  Paul continues and gives us the name of the man who brought forth the resurrection of the dead.  “For, as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:33, NASB95)[4]  Jesus Christ is the redeemer, the One who conquered death is the One who make all in Him alive.  Paul uses the same word structure here that he did with Adam.  Like we had to ask who is in Adam, we must ask who is in Christ.  For Adam it was the whole human race, but to be in Christ means to His offspring.  The only way to be in Christ is to agree that you are a sinner, and you are helpless to change that fact, but you believe that Jesus Christ can forgive you of your sins, because you believe that when He died on the cross, He paid the penalty for your sin, He took the punishment for sin that you deserved and that He was buried and three days later rose from the dead victorious over sin and death.  When you believe this, you are in Christ.  Paul says that all who are in Christ will be made alive, His victorious resurrection from the dead is the guarantee that we too will victoriously rise from the dead when He returns for us.

            Paul says that this all must take place in its right order, First, Christ was raised from the dead as the first fruits of the resurrection, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.  Paul anticipated that this might happen in his day, we continue to watch and wait for Christ’s return in the clouds to take us home to be with Him.  Believers have been waiting for 2000 years for Christ to return.  When He returns the dead in Christ will be resurrected out of their graves and we who are alive and remain will be changed in an instant and caught together with the resurrected saints to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

            Paul says that after the Christ returns for His own, then comes the end, or simply then the end.  The word “comes” is not in the Greek.  Just as there is a gap between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of Christ’s own, there is a gap between the resurrection of the saints and the end.  We know from Revelation that following the resurrection and rapture of the church there will follow a 7-year tribulation and then Christ will return to the earth and reign for 1000 years as King of kings and Lord of lords.  At the end of that millennial kingdom Christ hands over the kingdom to the God and Father at which time comes the destruction of the universe as we know it and the creation of the new heavens and new earth that will be reigned over forever by God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

            Paul in the end of verse 24-26 that all this will happen when Jesus Christ will have abolished all rule, and all authority and power and has put all His enemies under His feet.  At the end of the 1000-year reign of Christ, Satan will be released from the pit and will muster an army of those who were born during the millennial kingdom and will once more wage war against the Lord Jesus.  They will be defeated, and Satan and his troops will be cast forever into the Lake of Fire.  Verse 26 says the last enemy to be abolished is death.  It is at the end of this time that death is abolished, and we will enter into the new heavens and the new earth and God the Father and God the Son will rule their new creation from the heavenly Jerusalem and we will live eternally and there will be no more death.

CONCLUSION:

            All of this is the sovereign plan of God decided upon in heaven before the foundations of the earth was ever created.  God knew that the human race would need a redeemer to deliver them from their sins and that Redeemer would have to be a part of the human race, He would have to come from Adam’s offspring.  The deliverer was promised before Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden of Eden, God said the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head.  Many years later God’s Son, Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, an offspring of Adam.  That child that was born was holy, undefiled by sin and lived His life as a man, a member of the human race.  He came into the world to deliver man from sin and He did this by dying on the cross as our Passover Lamb.  On the cross He took on Himself the sins of the world and suffered the wrath of God against sin, on the cross He died.  Jesus Christ was laid in a tomb where He laid dead for three days, but on the morning of the third day we read that there was a great earthquake and an angel descended and rolled the stone away from the tomb were Jesus had lain, but the tomb was empty, because Jesus Christ had been resurrected from the dead, for 40 days He showed Himself to the world that He truly was alive.  He had triumphed over sin and death, His resurrection the proof that God wrath against sin was satisfied. 

            This morning Jesus is risen and seated in heaven and His offer of the forgiveness of sins is still available.  As a member of the human race you are in Adam and all those in Adam die.  But you can be in Christ, and it is only when we are in Christ that we will be made alive.  Are you in Christ this morning?  You can be by agreeing with God that you are a sinner and believing that Jesus Christ death on the cross paid the penalty for your sin, that He was buried and that He rose from the dead three days later.  By believing this your sins are forgiven, and you are in Christ, His resurrection is the guarantee that you will someday live in heaven with Him.

            As believers, as those of us who are already in Christ, we need to be watching and waiting for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Paul in the end of chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians tells us how we are to watch and wait.  He says we should be steadfast and immovable, that we should hold fast to the truth of the Gospel and not let anyone steer us away from those truths of first importance, that Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day.  Be steadfast and immovable in those truths and always be abounding in the work of the Lord.  Be doing what God has made you to do and be a witness for Him.

[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995

[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995

[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995

[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995