There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a
man, and resurrection from death came by a man. Everybody dies in Adam;
everybody comes alive in Christ. But we have to wait our turn: Christ is first,
then those with him at his Coming, the grand consummation when, after crushing
the opposition, he hands over his kingdom to God the Father. He won’t let up
until the last enemy is down—and the very last enemy is death! As the psalmist
said, “He laid them low, one and all; he walked all over them.” When Scripture
says that “he walked all over them,” it’s obvious that he couldn’t at the same
time be walked on. When everything and everyone is finally under God’s rule,
the Son will step down, taking his place with everyone else, showing that God’s
rule is absolutely comprehensive—a perfect ending!
Why do you think
people offer themselves to be baptized for those already in the grave? If
there’s no chance of resurrection for a corpse, if God’s power stops at the
cemetery gates, why do we keep doing things that suggest he’s going to clean
the place out someday, pulling everyone up on their feet alive?
And why do you
think I keep risking my neck in this dangerous work? I look death in the face
practically every day I live. Do you think I’d do this if I wasn’t convinced of
your resurrection and mine as guaranteed by the resurrected Messiah Jesus? Do
you think I was just trying to act heroic when I fought the wild beasts at
Ephesus, hoping it wouldn’t be the end of me? Not on your life! It’s
resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, that undergirds what I do and
say, the way I live. If there’s no resurrection, “We eat, we drink, the next
day we die,” and that’s all there is to it. But don’t fool yourselves. Don’t
let yourselves be poisoned by this anti-resurrection loose talk. “Bad company
ruins good manners.”
Think straight.
Awaken to the holiness of life. No more playing fast and loose with
resurrection facts. Ignorance of God is a luxury you can’t afford in times like
these. Aren’t you embarrassed that you’ve let this kind of thing go on as long
as you have?
Some skeptic is
sure to ask, “Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a
picture. What does this ‘resurrection body’ look like?” If you look at this
question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this
kind of thing. We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a
“dead” seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness
between seed and plant. You could never guess what a tomato would look like by
looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it
don’t look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the
resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.
You will notice
that the variety of bodies is stunning. Just as there are different kinds of
seeds, there are different kinds of bodies—humans, animals, birds, fish—each
unprecedented in its form. You get a hint at the diversity of resurrection
glory by looking at the diversity of bodies not only on earth but in the
skies—sun, moon, stars—all these varieties of beauty and brightness. And we’re
only looking at pre-resurrection “seeds”—who can imagine what the resurrection
“plants” will be like!
This image of
planting a dead seed and raising a live plant is a mere sketch at best, but
perhaps it will help in approaching the mystery of the resurrection body—but
only if you keep in mind that when we’re raised, we’re raised for good, alive forever! The corpse
that’s planted is no beauty, but when it’s raised, it’s glorious. Put in the
ground weak, it comes up powerful. The seed sown is natural; the seed grown is
supernatural—same seed, same body, but what a difference from when it goes down
in physical mortality to when it is raised up in spiritual immortality!
We
follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam
is a life-giving Spirit. Physical life comes first, then spiritual—a firm base
shaped from the earth, a final completion coming out of heaven. The First Man
was made out of earth, and people since then are earthy; the Second Man was made
out of heaven, and people now can be heavenly. In the same way that we’ve
worked from our earthy origins, let’s embrace our heavenly ends. – The Message -
* * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * *
Paul offers logic that is virtually unassailable, at least,
to believers. Death
initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man. The
symmetry is sweet. If we believe Adam’s sin killed us there is no reason not to
believe Jesus’ resurrection revives us.
But,
of course, we’ve already let people get away with saying there is no
resurrection. So, now they’re able to say there is no sin…and no death. Adam (death) and
Jesus (life) are inextricable. If one is removed the other is no longer necessary.
Have
I mentioned most of humanity is agnostic about sin? Pretty convenient.
And, we helped it happen.
Shoot! One
little snag and the entire sweater comes unraveled…
Sadly, as it all
unraveles, it thoroughly negates everything Christ came to do. We know He
won’t let up until the last enemy is down—and the very last enemy is death! It’s pointless, though, if there is no sin…and no
resurrection.
I
once submitted a re-organization proposal for my team to HR. Either I didn’t
make myself clear or HR didn’t pay close enough attention to get it right. The
response I got was nowhere close to, and completely gutted, my intention. I was
frustrated that all my hard work had been rendered ineffectual. I
wonder if Jesus feels that way about the consequences of us not paying
attention. What I do know, for certain, is He made Himself very clear.
Now
it’s up to us to hold the line. To do this we need to think straight. Awaken to the holiness of
life. We should be embarrassed that (we’ve) let this kind of thing go on as long
as (we) have.
If
we could only get stimulated to the holiness of life we wouldn’t find ourselves
uncertain about the claims of Christ. We certainly wouldn’t sit by and let
others denigrate everything the God of the universe did for us. The two are
mutually exclusive.
Live boldly out there today…
