Promise of the Resurrection

Happy Resurrection Day!

As we celebrate The Resurrection of Jesus today, it is important that we recognize that the Resurrection does not bring us the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins is found at the cross of Good Friday. It is there that the blood of the perfect lamb was shed for the forgiveness of sins. It is there that Jesus died so that we can have life. It is there that Jesus himself cried out, “It is finished!” (or better translated: “Here and now it is [has been] put into a continuous state of being accomplished!”)

The Resurrection gives us several things. One is the understanding of what happened on Good Friday. Although our sins are forgiven us by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we would not have known nor understood this if it were not for the Resurrection. By the Resurrection, we realize that Jesus’ crucifixion was not just another death. Without the Resurrection, all we can see is that Jesus has just died a horrible, unfair death. We cannot see the sacrifice once and for all. We cannot see the forgiveness of our sins. We cannot see the love of our God and savior. It would be like a scientist that discovered the cure for cancer and left needles around the world with the serum – without telling everyone about it, no one would ever take the injection. In the same way, without the Resurrection, all we can see is another good person dying unjustly. This has happened throughout history and many people are remembered for their personal sacrifices. Yet none have brought us the forgiveness of sins or eternal life with the Father. However, with the Resurrection, we CAN know that Jesus’ death was more than another unjust death. We can see that Jesus did what he said he would do (resurrect after three days) and that his death was more than just the spilling of innocent blood. Though it is the sacrifice on the cross that brings forgiveness and everlasting life, it is the Resurrection that brings knowledge of this act.

Another thing the Resurrection does is bring a promise. The cross brings forgiveness. The resurrection brings promise. This promise is something that we find hinted at in the Old Testament and is given directly in the New Testament. It is the promise that all people will be resurrected in the future. Interestingly, this is a promise that all people know, not just Christians. The Muslim faith believes in a future resurrection as does the Jewish faith and many other religions. The Hindu faith takes the idea of the resurrection and turns it into reincarnation – a rebirth in a different form in the future. There are nature-cults that have for a long time believed in the resurrection of the dead. The difference between the Christian faith and that of all the others is that in Christ, there is one who has be resurrected. In no other faith do we see anything other than desire. Only in Christianity is there a historical example and therefore a real promise made on more than just hopeful desire.

This promise of resurrection is made in the New Testament but it begins with hints in the Old Testament, from which the Jewish faith gets its understanding.

Job 14:14 "If a man dies, shall he live again?"

Job here asks the question whether we will be resurrected. It is important to note that Job is the earliest book written in the Bible, probably around the time of Abraham. So from at least 2000BC, we see that people thought about the concept of resurrection. If Job had stopped there, we might have thought that Job is not unlike many of the other religious people in the world today who believe that there is a life after death. However, Job gives us more:

Job 19:25-27
I know that my redeemer lives,
   and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed,
   yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him
   with my own eyes—I, and not another.
   How my heart yearns within me!

We see here that Job recognizes a couple of facts of the resurrection. First, that his redeemer, the one who will redeem him or pay his price, lives – meaning that he lived then and he continues to live eternally. Also, that his redeemer is God. He recognizes that he will see his redeemer and that he will see him in his flesh. He says that he will see Him with his own eyes. He completes this thought with an exclamation that gives us an understanding of the power of this thought. Job will see his redeemer, God, in the flesh with his own eyes. This makes his heart yearn. It is something that he desires. It is something that he longs for. It is the attitude that we should have as we understand what this means. As it is true for Job, it is true for us! We too will see our redeemer in the flesh with our own eyes! How awesome is that!? Does it make you shudder? Does it make you anxious and excited? Does your heart yearn for this? If not, I hesitate to think that you really believe or understand this promise. Meditate on what this means. You needed a redeemer. Your God redeemed you. He came from Heaven to take your sins upon himself so that you would not have to pay the price. He died and now he lives and he will live forever. And you will see him with your own eyes, in your own flesh. Not as someone else but as yourself. Think upon this.

We see more information in the Book of Daniel:

Daniel 12:2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

Here we learn that everyone will be resurrected. Not just the believers but both believers and nonbelievers. The resurrection of the believer will be to everlasting life while that of the nonbeliever to everlasting contempt. Daniel clarifies the thought of the resurrection. It isn’t only some who will experience it, it is all. The difference is what happens to you when you are resurrected. If you do not trust in Jesus, you will suffer through everlasting contempt. You will suffer forever in the lake of fire. As it says in Revelation:

Rev 20:14-15 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Those not found in the book of life are thrown into the lake of fire. There is no more death – this too is thrown into the lake of fire. There is only everlasting life in the lake of fire with no other destination or option for the future. This everlasting life is the same as Daniel’s statement of everlasting contempt. And yet, we see that those whose names are written in the book of life will have everlasting life.

Rev 21:1-4

As is usual, the New Testament reveals the Old Testament and we see that Daniel’s statement of everlasting life and contempt are shown to us in detail and so helps us to understand better Job’s yearning for that day.

As we see Job and Daniel tell us of the resurrection of the dead and of the individual, we see Isaiah tell us of the resurrection of a particular person:

Isaiah 53:10  
Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
   and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
   and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

Here we see that God is telling us about the coming Messiah, whom Job called his redeemer. We see this suffering servant as one who will be crushed and who will suffer. We see that this One will give his life as an offering for sin. The image and words are clear – this is not someone who just lived a good life. He is being made an offering. An offering in the Old Testament is clearly in regards to a sacrifice, such as a burnt offering or a sin offering. These very clearly speak of offering a sacrifice to God in the form of blood and life. We see that Isaiah tells us that this One, this Messiah, will be made to die as an offering, a sacrifice. Yet, we see in the same sentence that this one who has died will see his offspring and prolong his days. How does the days of a dead person get prolonged? Only by bringing that dead person back to life! We see here that Isaiah is telling us that Messiah will be offered as a sacrifice and brought back to life. His offspring are those whose names are written in the book of life – the ones who believe and are adopted into his family. His seeing his offspring correlates perfectly with Job’s statement that he will see his redeemer. It also gives us all the knowledge that we too will see our redeemer.

So who is this redeemer? Who is this Messiah? Who is it that gives us the promise of this resurrection?

Acts 2:32-36 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’   “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

We see here that it is Jesus. Peter is here speaking to thousands of people. He makes it clear that this Messiah for whom Israel has been waiting is Jesus and that this Jesus has been raised to life from the dead, just as Isaiah said would happen. He also shows us that this resurrected Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God the Father. However, Peter didn’t just make this up. He had heard this before. Not from some other religion or false teacher but from Jesus himself.

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

John 14:19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

Matt 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Jesus tells us himself. It is Jesus who first says that he is the way and that no one comes to the Father except through him. It is sometimes difficult for people to grasp this or to take this literally. “Jesus cannot be the only way to the Father”. “I can get to heaven some other way other than Jesus.” But isn’t this the same person who said, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself” and “Love you enemies” and “Judge not that you may not be judged” and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Can we take some of what Jesus says as true and then take the rest and say that they are wrong? Either Jesus knew what he was talking about or he didn’t. We don’t have the option to take some of his words and toss the rest. We must choose to either accept all he says or reject all he says. And this is the beauty of the Resurrection. It proves that he knew exactly what he was talking about. He said he would rise from the dead after three days and that is exactly what happened. If he is right about something like his resurrection, we must recognize that he is right about everything else he said, including how to have eternal life and come to the Father.

And we know the Resurrection happened based on the eyewitness accounts, the fact that there were so many of these eyewitnesses and that many of these eyewitnesses were still around decades after the event. Yet there is no refutation of these accounts. There is more evidence of Jesus’ resurrection than there is for any other fact of ancient history, including the life of Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Hannibal or Pharaoh Ramses. If we doubt the truth of the Resurrection, we cannot believe anything we’ve read about ancient history.

So if Jesus indeed has resurrected, then we also learn that we will also be resurrected. He says that we who believe in him will never die. He says that because he lives, we will live also. Paul puts it like this:

2 Corinthians 4:14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

We see that we will be raised from the dead and that we will be presented to Him. This is what Job was talking about. Seeing our redeemer with our own eyes. God’s promises are true! For four-thousand years, he has told us that we will be resurrected and will be with him and physically see him. Two- thousand years ago, he gave us proof of this by his own resurrection. Now we live in the hope of this truth. Paul tells us that we may go through trials in this life. But these troubles are temporary, that we should not lose heart and that we are being renewed day by day inwardly. All of this is achieving an eternal glory and so we must not fix our eyes on simply the things we are experiencing now. We need to fix our eyes on what is eternal, what is currently unseen but will one day be seen with our own eyes!

"The most startling characteristic of the first Christian preaching is its emphasis on the resurrection. The first preachers were sure that Christ had risen, and sure, in consequence, that believers would in due course rise also. This set them off from all the other teachers of the ancient world ... Nothing is more characteristic of even the best thought of the day than its hopelessness in the face of death. Clearly the resurrection is of the very first importance for the Christian faith" (New Bible Dictionary, 1996, p. 1010, "Resurrection").

This article in the New Bible Dictionary under the topic of Resurrection gives us great insight into the importance of the Resurrection. We see Peter preaching it in his first sermon to thousands, Paul writes about it in most of his letters and John gives us his vision of the future. Can there be any doubt of the importance of the Resurrection? I imagine that the first century Christians talked about the resurrection more than any single other aspect of their faith. We see them constantly discussing this in the New Testament in response to the questions that people had based on what they heard regarding the Resurrection of this Jesus. This teaching is what created the Church and grew the Church into something that could not be squashed. No one before or since has claimed or can claim to have been resurrected from the dead in the way Jesus was. And nothing before or since can give people the hope that allows us to overcome our daily troubles and our fears of the future.

Let’s celebrate with the Apostles and the early church the fact of the Resurrection of our lord Jesus. Like Job, let’s always yearn for the day we will see him with our own eyes.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures

1 Corinthians 15:42-43 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.

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Last modified: Apr 24, 2011

The Ark Church - Ronkonkoma, Suffolk County, NY - A non-denominational church for Jesus Christ