BIBLE MESSAGES

The Resurrection

“But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead” [1 Cor. 15:20,21]

  The reason Christ died the shameful death upon the cross is because there is to be a resurrection of all mankind from the dead, and when we are raised we must meet God in judgment. Why are we so concerned about being raised to meet God? Because the Spirit we have from God, that which made our body of clay become a living spirit, must stand before God to be accepted or rejected by Him. He will either accept it or He will consign it to a devil’s hell. When the apostle Paul was making his defense before Felix he said, “But this I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and is written in the prophets; having a hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. In view of this, I do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and man” [Acts 24:14-16]. Paul is saying because there is to be a resurrection of the dead, I make an effort to live with a clear conscience before God and man.

  We have very little information about the resurrection of the unsaved. Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment” [John 5:28,29]. There is that which every person possesses but rarely thinks of. How many think every day about the souls they have and must care for? We give careful attention to the things we possess; houses, lands, cars, boats, etc., which we will leave behind us, but the soul we cannot leave behind. When we think of the resurrection, we must remember that the purpose of life is to save our soul. What about the resurrection?

Jesus in reference to the end says, “Two men will be in the field, one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one will be left” [Matt. 24:40,41]. This helps us realize how suddenly the end will be. Two people working together and suddenly one disappears. The Christians at Thessalonica were concerned about the ones who had died before the Lord comes; would they lose their reward? To relieve their minds Paul wrote, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep; for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord” [1 Thess. 4:13-17]. When he says the dead in Christ will rise first, he is not concerned with the unsaved, but the dead in Christ will rise before the living saved are caught up to meet the Lord. As you read this next scripture take time to meditate on this scene and rejoice that all the saved will be caught up to meet the Lord, and think what it would be like to be left behind. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness” [2 Peter 3:10,11]. The fact that there will be a resurrection is what makes this life so important, not to accumulate possessions, but to save the soul. Listen to the wise man, “For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch in the coming days it will be forgotten. And how the wise man and fool alike die...Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it tot he man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored aby acting wisely under the sun” [Eccl. 2:16-19]. Jesus made the statement in the parable of the rich fool, “But God said to him, You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared” [Luke 12:20].