Believe or not Believe? For since by a man death came, by a Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:20-28

1 Corinthians 15:20-28 New American Standard Bible

The Order of Resurrection

²⁰ But the fact is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. ²¹ For since by a man death came, by a Man also came the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as in Adam all die, so also in ^[a]Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, ²⁴ then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to our God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. ²⁵ For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. ²⁶ The last enemy that will be abolished is death. ²⁷ For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is clear that ^[b]this excludes the Father who put all things in subjection to Him. ²⁸ When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.

Word of God for the Children of God

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Scripture abounds with examples of what I call the Divine Adversative.

This is about God directly intervening to reverse the effects of our sin.

We note the example of this in the resurrection of Jesus.

Christ’s resurrection has reversed everything!

Life conquered death, good conquered evil, and love conquered all.

As Paul explains, if Christianity is no more than a “feel-good” faith that helps us behave better in this life, we’re pathetically hopeless.

If that is the case, then we have no help from God in this life and no hope for the next, if there is life after death.

So it would be better to abandon all hope for ourselves as well as for those who have already died.

All of this would mean the resurrection is merely a figment of desperate faith.

But then comes this thunderous Divine Adversative: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adversative

Hallelujah! We have a hope that extends from our life here on earth to eternity itself. Rather than being defeated by the curse of sin and death, “in Christ all will be made alive,” just as Christ himself is alive for eternity.

All of our hope—and indeed all of our life—is certain, because God said, “But Christ!”

1 Corinthians 15:14 is referred to as “the lynchpin of the gospel.” As Paul writes, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”

Without the resurrection, we have nothing on which to build our faith.

All we have is a famous person who taught noble ideas about life and an ethical system on which to build our society.

But that’s just for this life. Without the resurrection, we have no hope for surviving death. And if that’s the case, then why bother believing in Jesus?

Paul goes on, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.”

And in the first sermon of the New Testament church, Peter preached, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we all are witnesses of it” (Acts 2:32).

Paul wrote that the resurrected Jesus “appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time.”

We are called not only to profess our faith that Jesus was raised but also to understand that this is the lynchpin of our faith.

Everything hangs together on Christ’s resurrection!

You and I Can Face Tomorrow

Every once in a while, someone comes along and claims that we don’t need to believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We can still be Christians without the miraculous or supernatural elements of the Christian faith, they say.

But the tragedy for them and for anyone who follows such a claim is that the implications of there being no resurrection don’t just make the Christian life difficult; they make it immeasurably ridiculous.

If there is no resurrection, Paul pointed out, then those who have died trusting Jesus have utterly perished, and there is no hope of ever seeing them again.

If we try to live a Christian life without the resurrection, then “we are of all people most to be pitied.”

In fact, Paul says, “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’” (1 Corinthians 15:32).

If we don’t believe in the resurrection, then we ought to buy into all the clichés that so many say (but few truly believe)— “This life is what you make it” and “He who dies with the most toys wins!”

Enticing as such platitudes may be, we all have a sneaking suspicion that death is not the end.

God has put eternity into our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11), and there is no scraping it out—no matter what force of rational skepticism or what indulgent hedonism we may apply to it. We know, by design, that there is more to life than life itself.

We also know that tomorrow, and in every tomorrow, there will be sadness, pain, loss, fear, and disappointment.

How can anyone cope?

Without the resurrection, we can’t.

That is why Paul reminded the Ephesians before being brought near to Christ, they had “no hope” and were “without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).

“But Christ has been raised.”

And those five words make all the difference, not only to eternal life but also to life today.

If you take God at His word and trust Him in faith, then there is never any reason for hopelessness.

You have “a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

No matter what difficulties await you—and today, and tomorrow, there will be some—you will always have “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (v 4).

“Because he lives, I can face tomorrow,” goes the song.[1] 

So can you—and you can do so with joy.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit ….

Praying ….

Psalm 145 Complete Jewish Bible

145 ⁽⁰⁾ Praise. By David:

⁽¹⁾ I will praise you to the heights, my God, the king;
I will bless your name forever and ever.
² Every day I will bless you;
I will praise your name forever and ever.
³ Great is Adonai and greatly to be praised;
his greatness is beyond all searching out.
⁴ Each generation will praise your works to the next
and proclaim your mighty acts.
⁵ I will meditate on the glorious splendor
of your majesty and on the story of your wonders.
⁶ People will speak of your awesome power,
and I will tell of your great deeds.
⁷ They will gush forth the fame of your abounding goodness,
and they will sing of your righteousness.
⁸ Adonai is merciful and compassionate,
slow to anger and great in grace.
⁹ Adonai is good to all;
his compassion rests on all his creatures.
¹⁰ All your creatures will thank you, Adonai,
and your faithful servants will bless you.
¹¹ They will speak of the glory of your kingship,
and they will tell about your might;
¹² to let everyone know of your mighty acts
and the glorious majesty of your kingship.
¹³ Your kingship is an everlasting kingship,
your reign continues through all generations.
¹⁴ Adonai supports all who fall
and lifts up all who are bent over.
¹⁵ The eyes of all are looking to you;
you give them their food at the right time.
¹⁶ You open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
¹⁷ Adonai is righteous in all his ways,
full of grace in all he does.
¹⁸ Adonai is close to all who call on him,
to all who sincerely call on him.
¹⁹ He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
²⁰ Adonai protects all who love him,
but all the wicked he destroys.
²¹ My mouth will proclaim the praise of Adonai;
all people will bless his holy name forever and ever.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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