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Our Hope in Christ by Fr. Reid Hensarling
I Corinthians 15:20-28
The fact that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ had already taken place within history meant that the End had been set inexorably in motion. The resurrection of Christ absolutely guaranteed for Paul the resurrection of all who are “in Christ.” God raised Jesus from the dead, which demonstrates God’s own absolute authority over all things, especially death. We believers have tremendous hope in this life because of what God has done for us in Christ.
Christ’s resurrection, grounded in the truth of eyewitness testimony (see verses 4-8), changes everything. If God raised Christ from the dead, then Christ truly was the firstfruits or the first of many others who would also be raised from the dead. “And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent” (Colossians 1:18). The term “firstfruits” refers to a first sample of an agricultural crop that indicates the nature and quality of the rest of the crop; therefore, Christ’s resurrection body gives a foretaste of what those of believers will be like. This is something we look forward to with great anticipation and joy.
“For as by a man came death” - in Adam all die. “Therefore, just a sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). “By a man has come also the resurrection of the dead” – Jesus provides eternal life and resurrected bodies for all who believe in Him. “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). By divine appointment, Adam represented the whole human race that would follow him, and his sin therefore affected all human beings down through history. Similarly, Christ represented all who would belong to him, and his obedience therefore affected all believers. Thanks be to God that through Christ we were once dead are now made alive (v. 21).
When Christ returns, all believers from all time will receive resurrection bodies, never again subject to weakness, illness, aging, or death. Jesus will also deliver the kingdom to His Father after He takes care of every rule and authority and power. Christ rules, but the enemy is still at work since people still die. “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (v. 26). When believers are finally resurrected from the dead, the destruction of death will be complete. The resurrection of the dead alone is the evidence of the final overthrow of the last enemy which is death. “When the perishable body must put on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (I Corinthians 15:54-55). Death has been ultimately and finally and absolutely defeated in Christ.
Christ’s resurrection demands our resurrection; otherwise death is never defeated and God cannot be “all in all.” The work of Christ is the key to everything. The extraordinary display of God’s sovereign power and majesty is brilliantly displayed in His Son’s death, resurrection, ascension, and second coming. He is truly the sovereign Lord of history forever and ever.
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