IN CHRIST ALL WILL BE MADE ALIVE
1 Corinthians 15:12-34
Key verse 15:22
“For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
In the previous passage Apostle Paul reminded his flocks in Corinth thatthe gospel is of first importance. He provided the historical fact to prove that Christ died for our sins and rose again to defeat the power of sin and death. Many eyewitnesses of the risen Christ supported his gospel message. Today, Paul refutes the claims of no bodily resurrection of the dead (12-19) and proclaims the certainty of the bodily resurrection (20-28), and shares his personal experience as a resurrection witness (29-34). I pray that we all may accept the power of the resurrection in Christ and have a victorious life of faith. May God bless us to wait for the glorious resurrection of our body when Christ comes again!
PART I IF THERE IS NO RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD (12-19)
In this passage we learn what we lose when there is no resurrection of Christ. Look at verse 12 “But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” Gospel in one minuteWhen the Corinthian believers accepted the gospel of Jesus, they became strong in their faith and the church grew in power. But when they faced the cold realities of life, they were influenced by the popular trends of the world like dualism and epicurean philosophy. Then they slowly began to drift away from their gospel faith. Some even claimed that there was no bodily resurrection. The tide of unbelief was so strong that some people lost their resurrection faith. What are the consequences of Christian faith without the resurrection of the body? Christian faith collapses if there is no bodily resurrection. To deny bodily resurrection was to deny the resurrection of Christ (13). Paul used “if-then” logic to list all the consequences of no bodily resurrection. Pic1 Consequences First, our preaching and faith are useless because the heart of the gospel message is left lifeless since its object would be a dead man. (14) Who would believe the message of the dead man? Nobody would follow a dead man. Second, the apostles would be professional liars because they preached the resurrection of Jesus all the time (15-16). Third, you are still in your sins (17). The resurrection was God’s validation that the redemption paid by Christ on the cross was accepted as the payment for our sins. Without the resurrection there would be no certainty of forgiveness and we would still remain in our sins. Sin rules the world and death reins over the whole world. This world would become like the sea of death. Funeral home is the only business without recession. The world would be filled with gloom and darkness. Fourth, if Christ were not raised, all Christians who died ahead of us are losers. (18) There are only losers in this world and the world to come. There are no winners. Satan still rules the world because he brought the death to all men. Fifth, we are to be pitied more than all men. (19) We should have a pity party every day. Those who lived for the pleasure of the moment would be right and the sacrifices of all Christians would be only cruel jokes. What terrible consequences we have if there is no resurrection of the dead! But this is not the end of the story. The better part is coming.
PART II CHRIST HAS INDEED BEEN RAISED FROM THE DEAD (20-28)
In this passage we learn what we gain because Christ has been raised from the dead.
Look at verse 20. “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Paul begins this passage with the triumphant declaration that Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. The tone of his message suddenly changed from sad and darkto victorious and hopeful. Why? He is victorious because Christ lives again. He declared that Christ became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. We expect many more fruits after harvesting the first fruit. All men knelt down before the sting of the death but Jesus rose again. He became the first man who rose from the grave. All Christians will follow his example and will become like him in his death and resurrection. We all will rise like Jesus. Jesus regarded death as sleeping. We feel good and refreshed when we wake up after sleeping. In the same way all Christians will wake up after sleep. Death is like rest from toil. Our soul will be separated from the earthly body and will be with the Lord waiting for the new body at the time of resurrection. At the second coming of Jesus we will have the new body. I wish to have taller body at that time. Apostle Paul hated the Christians and persecuted the early church arresting Christians. But he met the risen Christ. Who could change Paul a violent Jewish man from his misguided zeal? Paul was changed completely when he met the risen Christ. The resurrection of Jesus was a historical fact to him. He became one of the eyewitnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. Paul hated Jesus but he became the fruitful missionary because of the resurrection of Jesus.
Look at verses 21-22. “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” Now Paul contrasted the first Adam with the second Adam Jesus Christ. What was the work of the first Adam? Adam was blessed to have the glorious image of God. He carried out God’s mission in the Garden of Eden. He walked with God in the cool of the day and listened to God. He was happy to be united with his wife Eve. God gave him his Bible not to eat the forbidden fruit to remind him that he was God’s creation. But Adam disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit because he doubted the love of God. He was separated from God when he sinned against God. He returned to the dust due to his sin. Adam brought death to the world because of his disobedience. Adam became the source of death to all men. Someone may protest saying, “Isn’t it unfairthat we die because of Adam’s sin? I was not there when Adam sinned. Why should I pay the price of Adam’s sin?” This is a good question but no matter what happened, we are still descendants of Adam. Adam is a type of representative of all human beings. When Adam sinned, we all sinned. The blood of Adam is flowing in our body. No matter how good we are, Adam’s rebellious blood is flowing in our body. We can rebel against God at any moment. This is an undeniable fact. The seed of rebellion and disobedience was sown to all men. We all are born into the body of sin. We became the spiritual rebels following the practices of Adam no matter how good we are. No one is perfect not even one. We are sinners by birth. Psalm 58:3 says, “Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies.” From birth and the womb we inherited Adam’s sin. Raise your hands if you think you are not a sinner. Sin invited the wrath of God and all died due to their sins. As long as we remain in Adam, we are hopeless and despair in our rebellious condition. As long as we remain in Adam, we are a walking dead. Man cannot change his own destiny by human efforts as we cannot change our parents because we don’t like them. But this is not the end of story. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3, “In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’”Jesus revealed that we need the spiritual birth to see the kingdom of God. This is a turning point in our life. Memorize this key verse in John 3:3. It will do great things for you. As we have natural birth as the descendant of Adam, so we have the spiritual birth through Jesus Christ. God sent Jesus to give us the new birth into eternal life in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus became our second Adam to reverse our destiny from death to life, from curse to blessing, from disobedience to obedience, and from hopelessness to living hope. Praise God who sent Jesus to give us new birth into life eternal. Let’s look at how Jesus reversed the curse of Adam into the blessing to all men.
Look at verse 21b and 22b. “…the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. So in Christ all will be made alive.” The first Adam failed to obey God and brought death to all men. But the second Adam Jesus was different. He came into this world as a humble baby to obey God’s world salvation plan. He was born into a poor family of Joseph and Mary in order to understand all people of the world. He lived to serve sinners with love and compassion. He walked along the sea of Galilee and called his first disciples. He slept, ate, and travelled with them. He loved them to the end by washing their feet one by one. Then the final challenge came to him. He knew that he had to die to pay for our sins. So he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane like this in Mark 14:36 "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." Jesus prayed to obey the will of his Father God. Hebrews 5:8-9 describes Jesus’ obedience to God in this way, “Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” Jesus stopped the curse of Adam’s disobedience through his obedience to death, even death on the cross. God was pleased with the obedience of Jesus. Look at Philippians 2:8-9 “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.” God raised Jesus from the dead and crowned him with glory and honor. So the resurrection will come to all who believe in Jesus. The resurrected Jesus will make us alive because of our faith in him. We have to be in Jesus to flee from the curse of Adam. In the times of the Flood judgment only those in the ark were saved from the world-wide flood. Those who were outside the ark were drowned including the Olympic swimmers. Jesus is the modern ark provided by God and completed by Jesus on the cross. Now in Jesus we possess the position as the children of God and will receive the eternal life in the kingdom of God as our eternal inheritance. PIC 2 Effects of Adam and Christ
But there will be a sequence of events for our future. Look at verse 23. “But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.” Jesus had the first turn in resurrection because he is our firstfruits. Then our turn will come. How? Jesus promised his return to the earth in John 14:2-3, “In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Jesus will return to take all believers who belong to him to be with him forever in his father’s house. Right now the church is waiting for the return of Jesus. At the second coming of Jesus the resurrection of those who have fallen asleep will happen in the form of the rapture. The dead in Christ will rise first and they will come down with Christ and the living Christians will meet them in the air. The sky will be covered with people going up to the heaven. Some people will be lifted up while driving their cars and some people will be lifted up while studying the Bible and some people will be lifted up while praying in the church. (1 Thess. 4:16-17)It will be glorious when Jesus comes when we are awake spiritually. PIC 3 the raptureNo time frame was indicated in this sequence but a period of almost 2000 years have elapsed. Throughout history many predicted the day of Jesus’ second coming and many people believed their prediction. All of them proved to be wrong. They misled people because Jesus said in Mark 13:32, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Let’s settle this matter. Let’s not believe the prediction but believe in Jesus and wait for God’s timing. The return of Jesus is in God’s overall kingdom program. His coming is closely related to the gospel work. Look at Mark 13:10, “And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.” According to this verse, the second coming of Jesus is closely linked with the world mission. Jesus will not come back until the gospel is preached to all nations. The world mission work is urgent.
Look at verse 24:24-25, “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” Following the rapture of the church, another period intervenes until the end when Christ will deliver his kingdom to God. Verses 24 and 25 indicate that the end will not come until the King Jesus has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power. We no longer trust authorities because they did not keep their promises. When Jesus comes, they will be no unfair government authorities because we will be ruled by our King Jesus who is the king of peace and love. Who is the ultimate enemy Jesus will destroy at his coming? Look at verse 26. “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Who is our last enemy? The death is our last enemy. Our room mates are not our enemy. Our sheep is not our enemy. Our spouse is not our enemy. Our children are not our enemy. Duke basketball team is not our enemy. Death is our enemy. Throughout human history the death inflicted so much pain and despair and sorrow to all human being. Many heroes knelt down to the power of death though they conquered many nations. Alexander the Great conquered many nations all the way to India. He exclaimed, “I have no more land to conquer.” But he died in young age of 33 due to marsh fever.
However, 1 Cor. 15:54b says, "Death has been swallowed up in victory." Indeed death has been destroyed by the resurrection of Jesus and we have victory in Jesus. Yesterday we celebrated the first birthday of Victoria Lee, John and Maria’s first daughter. March 2011 at the time of Victoria’s birth, John Lee had a bad news that he did not get the residency from Maryland General after one year of transitional residency. We all despaired. But John named her daughter Victoria because he believed the victory in Jesus in spite of another bad news. When he had faith in Jesus, he got good news in May from the hospital that he got the second year residency. Jesus brought the victory to John when he trusted God in everything including naming his daughter in times of adversity. In Jesus we have victory over sin and death. Let’s say together to our neighbor with high fives, “We have victory in Jesus. Death has been swallowed up in victory.” Amen! When Jesus comes, there will be no more death, no more evil, no more terror threat, no more elections, and no more funeral homes. You know that funeral homes are expensive. Without money it is not easy to die in this world. But at the second coming of Jesus we will have the new body which will not be subjected to sickness. We will be like Jesus. Then what will happen? Look at verses 27-28. “For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.” When God is all in all, the new creation will be consummated and the resurrected Christ and his church will share in that experience. There will be a new heaven, and a new earth and the New Jerusalem will come down from heaven. Look at Revelation 21:3-4. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’" Due to Adam’s sin, the paradise was lost. Due to Jesus’ obedience and victory over Satan and death through his resurrection, the paradise is restored. Finally, the creation order is restored as God intended from the beginning in the Garden of Eden. God became all in all. All saved Christians will be God’s people and we will enjoy eternity with God and Jesus our King. We will meet all loved ones who went ahead of us because of their faith in Jesus. We will see late Missionary Elijah Ku and Hannah Kim at the dwelling place of God. We will rejoice with them. At that time God will wipe out every tear from our eyes. In the midst of serving God we shed many tears due to our own sin problem, other’s sin problem, misunderstanding among coworkers, losing loved ones, or rejection by the world. At that time God remembers our every tear and will wipe them away when we see him face to face in the new kingdom. The main theme of Matthew’s gospel is the kingdom of God. The restoration of the kingdom of God is the consummation of the history. We work hard pursuing the American dream and pray a lot for our Bible students and family members. We feel pain when others suffer due to injustice endlessly and we rejoice when we hear good news like baby Nathan’s coming home. But something is missing. What is that? It is eternity. Without eternity we did not achieve anything. With eternity we achieve everything. As long as we follow the resurrected Jesus, we will gain everything God promised to his children. What a glorious day it will be when we see Jesus at his second coming. We will live a victorious life of faith on earth as we are longing for eternity in the new heaven and new earth.