Chapter 30. The Resurrection of the Dead. #1. The Resurrection is our Hope.
The last two of our foundations deal with an aspect of the Christian faith that is almost unique to Christianity – the idea of a future hope. Judaism shares this hope, but the Christian hope is in many ways different to the Jewish hope and is more detailed.
It is significant that when we look at a list of things considered by God to be foundational to our lives God lists six things, two of which relate to the future. Christianity is a prophetic religion; it has a deep interest in the future. In some circles of the Church there is a reserve about the prophetic portions of scripture, even in some cases a denial that the Bible tells the future. Even in those parts of the Church that believe that the Bible does tell the future there tends to be a sort of “Hush-hush” mentality. We are encouraged not to get too carried away on prophecy, as if it was some kind of diversion aside from the main point.
However if we look at the Bible and see how much of it relates to future events we would have to conclude that prophecy is the main thing, or pretty close to it.
* Two out of six foundations are prophetic.
* One-third of the content of the NT is prophetic.
* One half of the content of the OT is prophetic directly, and large parts of the rest of the OT are prophecy in “disguise” – as types, or history with a prophetic symbolic meaning.
* The preaching of the Early Church as seen in Acts always brings out the future resurrection and judgement – they were part of the basic preaching.
In all, probably around half of the Bible was prophecy when it was written, in the sense that it told of events that were future when the Bible was written. If we were to take the Bible as our guide as to the amount of time we should spend on preaching or teaching prophecy as compared with other themes we would have to conclude that we fall far short of the Biblical example.
Why did God spend so much time on prophecy?
Four reasons could be itemised:
1. The prediction of future events that come to pass in detail is a conclusive proof that the Bible is God’s word, and that God is indeed God.
2. The fulfillment of prophecy is proof of God’s reliability, his faithfulness.
3. The fulfillment of prophecy is proof that God is in control.
4. Such knowledge of the future gives us hope in the face of a world that is decaying around us.
WHY STUDY THE RESURRECTION?
(1) The Resurrection is probably the key belief of the Christian faith.
No other faith builds its whole existence on the idea that its founder died, let alone that he rose from the dead. Nor do many faiths suggest that there will be life after death in which we will be essentially the same person. Only Judaism and Islam, both of which are faiths with roots in the Bible, also believe in a continuation of personal life after death. Other religions that believe in an afterlife believe in reincarnation, i.e. the person comes back as someone, or something, else. In these religions there is no continuity between the lives, nor is there any real remembrance of previous lives.
The Bible teaches us that there will be a resurrection of all the dead, and after this we shall live eternally as the people we are now. In other words we shall be in the next life essentially the same person we are now.
The proof that this is true is the fact that Jesus has died and has risen from the dead. If it is not true that Christ did this, then Christianity is a sham, there is no hope for the future; there is no salvation.
The Resurrection is, therefore, a "stone of stumbling" (1 Peter 2:8), a "teaching of foolishness" (1 Corinthians 2:23 c/f Acts 17:32).
(2) The resurrection is a foundational truth, without the understanding and experience of which we cannot grow to maturity.
Hebrews 6:1-3.
“Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.”
A wrong conception will leave our spiritual foundation weakened. This is one of the reasons why there is so much controversy about it. The Devil only confuses that which he knows is important!
This suggests that the resurrection has practical and experiential ramifications for us now. The interesting thing to note is that the Devil gets us arguing about one aspect of this great truth and even then it is only in details. The result is that we get diverted away from seeking the reality if the resurrection in our lives now. We need to look at the controversial aspects to get a clear understanding of them – but let’s remember that is not the main issue for us now, in this life. Now we need to live the resurrection life God has made available to us in this life. One of the Devil’s favourite tactics is to get us arguing about something that takes us away from the reality we need to experience now.
(3) The Resurrection is the ground of our Hope.
A correct understanding of the Christian doctrine of the resurrection generates hope, and this hope is the source of our joy.
This future hope, however, is not just wishful thinking or hopefulness. This hope of a future resurrection is real. We know it is going to happen because the resurrection has, in fact, already begun. The historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof that the future resurrection will happen.
SCOPE OF THE DOCTRINE.
There are several aspects of truth to be aware of in dealing with the resurrection:
* The Resurrection is our Hope.
* Christ's Resurrection, the ground of our Hope, is a Fact.
* The meaning of Christ’s resurrection for us today.
* The Christian View of Life and Death.
* The Future Resurrection of the Dead.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN HOPES.
There are three primary differences between the Jewish hope and the Christian hope:
1. Judaism had a national hope, a hope for the nation, but it had no clear hope for the individual.
This is the new element added clearly in the Christian revelation. Hints of it are found in the OT but it is not clear, rather it is implied.
2. The Christian hope has a more solid foundation in that it is rooted in the historical fact of the resurrection of Christ, not just in the promise of God.
For the Christian the future promise has already begun to come true in the resurrection of Christ and the OT saints.
3. The Jewish hope was totally future.
Everything would be sorted out “in the future when the Messiah comes”. The Christian hope is fundamentally different from this in that the Messiah has come. With the coming of Jesus into the world the future broke into the present. Thus this future hope has very important present implications. We can experience elements of the future today.
We can schematise the Jewish and Christian hopes with the following diagrammes. These are greatly simplified and for this reason some may object to them, but for our purposes they give us enough idea to see the essential differences.
The Jewish hope for the future can be diagrammed as follows:
As we can see the understanding was simple and made up of three parts to history.
1. The present evil age. This would continue until the end of the age.
2. The End of the Age. This was to be brought about by the coming of the Messiah, and of God, to earth. All things would be dissolved and a new heavens and earth created.
3. The Age to Come. At this time God would rule through his Messiah and all things would be wonderful.
We can contrast this to the Christian hope as pictured in the following diagramme.
Here we have a more complex scenario:1. The Present evil age will continue until the end of the age, as in Jewish thought.
2. However the coming of Christ and his Crucifixion and Resurrection have brought forward the age to come but it is, at present, unseen. The two ages are running parallel to each other at present and will do so until the end of the age.
3. At the end of the age the Age to come becomes visible but the recreation of the heavens and the earth are not until a later time.
So where the Jewish hope was a simple two-stage approach to human history, the Christian hope has four stages to history. We will explain this in more depth later on.
WHAT IS HOPE?
Hope is the assurance that we will receive the things promised by God; that God will do what he says he will do in his Word.
It is not hopefulness, hopefulness has no basis in certainty, and it is wishful thinking. Our hope is sustained by four things:
(a) Christ has risen and we have risen in him.
Romans 6:4,5.
“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”
(b) The Promises of God.
Hebrews 10:23.
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
Hebrews 11:11.
“By faith Abraham, even though he was past age- and Sarah herself was barren- was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.”
(c) We live in a New Era, a new creation, with a sense of fulfillment in it. The kingdom has already come and we are aware of its demands through the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:17.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
(d) The Holy Spirit has been given to us as a down payment on the full promise.
Ephesians 1:13,14.
“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”
WHAT IS OUR HOPE?
If we do not have a good grasp on our hope, then when the pressure comes on we will abandon Christ for an easier way. However having this hope, even in the face of extreme persecution and trial, we can rejoice because we know the victory is ours.
Because of this, the preaching of the End formed a crucial part of the preaching of the early Church, and we abandon it to our peril. In fact if we were to examine the sermon summaries given in Acts we would find an emphasis on this future hope in all but one.
In an age of hopelessness and despair we need to restore a Biblical emphasis on the Second Coming. One verse in 33 in the NT talks of this event, one verse in three in the NT is prophetic. In the OT over half is directly prophetic, and the rest is indirectly prophetic because of its typological nature. This is the correct Biblical emphasis.
Three Parts to this Future Hope.
1. The Presence of Christ.
Titus 2:13.
“…while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,”
However this is not intended to mean simply the EVENT of Christ's return. Rather it refers to the things that are going to be true BECAUSE of Christ's return, namely a new and deeper revelation and relationship with Christ and God.
Colossians 1:27.
“To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
1 Corinthians 13:12.
“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
2. The Resurrection of the Dead.
This is a personal hope, that I have a future. Death does not end it all for me.
Romans 8:23-25.
“Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”
As sons of God we enter into the full inheritance God has reserved for us.
1 Peter 1:3,4.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for you,…”
Included in this inheritance is the gift of eternal life:
Titus 3:7.
“…so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”
And we will share in the glory of God.
Romans 5:2
“…through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”
Colossians 1:27.
“To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
3. The Kingdom of God.
This is a social hope, that there is a future for all mankind. This is the high point of our hope. The Kingdom of God, established by Christ's death and existing in our hearts, will one day be visibly established on earth. In that Kingdom Christ will rule, and he will judge the earth with justice and equity.
In this kingdom we will have a significant role.
In the kingdom the whole creation will be renewed as we rule it as “sons of God”.
Romans 8:20,21.
“For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
C.S.Lewis, in his essay, “The Weight of Glory, says this,
“The promise of scripture may be reduced to 5 heads:
1. We shall be with Christ.
2. We shall be like him.
3. We shall have glory.
4. We shall be feasted, entertained.
5. We shall have some sort of official position in the universe.”
In our remaining chapters we shall look at these ideas. The promises that “we shall be like him” and “we shall have glory” relate to the aspect of the resurrection of the dead. The other three aspects we shall look at under the subject of Eternal judgement.
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD.
1 Corinthians 15:1-20.
“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them- yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
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? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised
either.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 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. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.”
Evidently there had been some in the church at Corinth who had absolutely denied that there would be a resurrection from the dead.
1 Corinthians 15:5.
“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?”
Probably they were influenced by Greek philosophy or the other religions around Corinth which promoted these alternatives:
1. Platonic philosophy and most of the popular forms of religion preached varying forms of reincarnation.
2. Epicurean philosophy (Acts 17:18) held an atomic theory of matter, including the human soul. The soul dissolved at death into the atoms that composed it and hence has no future existence. Stoic philosophy was a form of materialistic monism. In this view at death the soul was “reabsorbed into the world soul” which made up everything that is. So neither philosophical group believed in personal existence after death.
It will help at this point to define the differences between the Christian understanding of resurrection and other competing ideas.
What resurrection is not:
1. Resuscitation.
Resuscitation is where a person has died but is brought back to life, or comes back to life, only to die again at some later time. The Christian claim is not that Jesus resuscitated, but that in his death and resurrection he somehow overcame the power of death. As a result he came back to life never to die again. What is more we believe his body was transformed so that death and decay and many other limitations of this life no longer apply. Resurrection life is thus not a repetition or continuation of this life but is life on a whole different plane of existence. It is this form of life that we believe God has for us in the future.
2. Reincarnation.
Reincarnation is not the same as resurrection.
Reincarnation teaches that people are eternal so death is not the end, but we have several lives on earth – either as several different people or we may come back as animals in another life. The ultimate aim, according to reincarnation, is for the spirit/soul to be released from the physical body, which is seen to be evil.
The Bible teaching of resurrection, on the other hand, teaches that, as people, we are made by God with physical bodies which are essentially “good” (Genesis 1). We only have one life on earth, the one we have now. At some point in the future we will be resurrected from the dead in bodies as the same personality we are now. We will live eternally as the person we are now but in a (glorified) physical body. Christianity recognises that it is the plan and purpose of God for man to be a being who is both physical and spiritual and this is “very good (Genesis 1:31)”. The purpose of this is so man can rule wsith God in both the physical and the spiritual realms. The proof of this is that Jesus came back (was resurrected) from the dead as the same person he was before he died.
As a result there was no belief in a personal existence after death. The alternatives were reincarnation (coming back as some other person or being), or oblivion (nonexistence). Christianity thus flew in the face of current opinion by preaching that we would be resurrected from the dead as the persons we are now. It is out of this background that we are to understand the denial of the resurrection by some in the church at Corinth.
To answer this problem Paul argues as follows:
1. The Gospel message states that Christ died and rose again on the third day. This is the message of salvation.
“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, …what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,…”
Christ’s resurrection is central to Christianity. On it Christianity stands or falls.
Paul here is summarising what he feels to be the central message of Christianity. There is only three things:
* Christ died for our sins.
* He was buried.
* He was raised again.
This message, Paul says:
* Was preached to them.
* They received it.
* They took their stand on it.
* Is the source of salvation.
* Is of first importance.
2. If Christ died and rose again then there must be a resurrection from the dead.
“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? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.”
3. If Christ didn’t rise from the dead then the gospel is just a religious myth and can be ignored.
“And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.”
In other words, if the resurrection of Christ in a human body did not happen then, as far as Paul is concerned, Christianity is just a myth and does nothing for us – not in this life, nor in the next.
4. The fact is Christ did rise from the dead.
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead…”
This will be the subject of the next chapter.
5. Christ’s resurrection is the guarantee that we will rise from the dead too.
“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. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.”
The programme of the resurrection we will look at in later chapters.
THE RESURRECTION WAS PROPHECIED IN THE OT.
1 Corinthians 14:3,4.
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
One would think from what Paul says here that the OT would have many clear prophecies of the future resurrection and the resurrection of the Messiah. Such is not the case.
George Eldon Ladd, in “I Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus” reviews the evidence very well. Actually it is virtually non existent.
Ladd points out the following:
1. There are three OT personages who are identified with the Messiah in the NT. They are:
* The Messiah, the idealised anointed king of Israel, the son of David (Psalms).
* The Son of Man (Daniel).
* The Suffering Servant (Isaiah).
2. Neither the Messiah nor the Son of Man are envisaged as suffering or dying, let alone being resurrected in the OT.
3. The suffering servant is never identified with the Messiah in the OT, but appears to be the nation of Isael.
4. The NT writers reinterpret the OT in the light of Christ and Christ is the ideal Israelite of whom all the promises are true.
Even so the evidence for the Doctrine of the Resurrection is pretty scanty, let alone a resurrection of the Messiah.
Ladd suggests that belief in the resurrection only developed slowly and the full revelation of what it meant is not found until the NT. Thus the “hints” found in the OT are to be understood in the light of Christ.
1. Belief in life after death grew out of an understanding of the character of God.
(a) God has made promises and his word cannot be broken.
This principle is seen in different ways in the OT, e.g. Abraham is given Palestine as an eternal inheritance. However it never happened in his lifetime, therefore it is still future. As a consequence Abraham must rise from the dead to fulfil God's word. The word of God, after all, cannot be broken.
(b) God is a God who has entered into covenant relationship with people and that relationship is eternal, thus it goes beyond death.
E.g. Matthew 22:23-33.
“That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question…”
The question itself is not important for us at this point but we need to note the context of the discussion – the Sadducees said there was no resurrection. Jesus’ answer is thus to be understood as addressing the very question we are examining, “What about the resurrection of the Dead?”
“Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead- have you not read what God said to you, `I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living." When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.”
As far as Jesus is concerned denial of the future resurrection of the dead indicates two things, namely the denier does not know:
* The Scriptures.
* The power of God.
Jesus then goes on and quotes the OT where God identifies himself in terms of his relationship with the founders of the nation of Israel. The many times God said this in the OT all occur after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had already died physically. Yet God speaks in the present tense, “I am the God of…” thus indicating that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob still exist, though they have died physically. The relationship is still current, it is not past.
Three OT episodes point to a life after death with a bodily existence in a greater sphere that what we know here on earth.
(i) The translation of Elijah.
2 Kings 2:11.
“As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.”
(ii) The Translation of Enoch.
Genesis 5:24.
“Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”
(iii) The preservation of Moses' body.
Jude 1:9.
“But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"”
There is confusion about what happened to Moses. He ascended the mountain to look at the Promised Land and supposedly died there. But no one saw him die, nor could his body be found. Many feel that he too was translated to haven without dying. This view is supported by the fact that in the last days two witnesses come to Israel and lead a revival (Revelation 11). The works they do suggest they are Moses and Elijah.
(c) God is Holy and a God of Justice must work justice eventually.
In this life things do not always work out right or just.
The fact that God is a just God and that he has created a moral universe means that at some stage he must, as a righteous judge, deal justice to the injustices and immorality caused by man’s sin. This clearly does not happen in this life, so there must be a life to come in which God will balance out justice.
The Biblical doctrine of man is that man is a unity of spirit, soul and body. Man is not an eternal spirit/soul entombed in a body as is thought by other religions. Thus man does not exist without a body. If God is going to mete out justice to each individual, according to his works, then of necessity God must reconstitute each person, and this involves a body.
Sin is committed in the body and will be judged in the body.
Therefore there must be another life, after this one, in which all injustice will be resolved.
Therefore there must be a resurrection. So that men can receive in the body due reward (or punishment) for the deeds done in the body.
This is the hope behind the faith of Job:
Job 19:25-27.
“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes- I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”
2. The Resurrection is Implied in the OT as a Future Event for Men.
But this seems to be restricted to the righteous people of the nation of Israel.
Isaiah 26:19.
“But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.”
Hosea 6:1-3.
"Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
Ezekiel 37:9-14.
“Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'" So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet- a vast army. Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, `Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' Therefore prophesy and say to them: `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.'"
The exception to this is Daniel who sees a resurrection of all people.
Daniel 12:1-3.
"At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people- everyone whose name is found written in the book- will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”
3. The Resurrection is Predicted for the Christ.
(i) He is David's greater son, the Messiah, who inherits the throne eternally, therefore he must live forever.
However Psalm 22:15-31 predicts his death, therefore he must be resurrected.
“My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you. You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him- may your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him- those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn- for he has done it.”
Though the Messiah-King “lay in the dust of death” he still reigns as king and “all the families of the earth will kneel before him.” Resurrection is implied.
Psalms 49:15.
“But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself.”
Life after death is implied for the Messiah-King.
(ii) The Suffering servant passages speak of his death and suffering for our sin.
Isaiah 53:10-12.
“Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
Some of these things only make sense if they refer to events after the Servant’s death:
* He will see his offspring.
* He will prolong his days.
* The will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
* He will see the light of life and be satisfied – this is specifically said to be “after the suffering of his soul” which includes his death.
* God will give him a portion with the great.
* He will divide the spoils with the strong.
All of these are events that happen after his death. Yet they indicate he is somehow still alive, implying he has returned from the dead.
GOOD BOOKS TO READ:
George Eldon Ladd: I Believe in the Resurrection.
Neville Clark: Interpreting the Resurrection.
HOMEWORK:
Ask yourself: Am I living in hope? Or am I living in despair and depression, feeling that there is no hope for the future? Think about what you might need to do to build a Biblical hope into your life that will sustain you and lift you out of despair. Make a plan of action to become a person with a strong Biblical hope.
TRANSFORMER VERSE:
RESURRECTION - OUR HOPE.
1 Peter 1:3,4.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for you,…”
PRAYER:
Father God I ask that through looking at this subject of The Resurrection that you would build into me a strong foundation of hope that will sustain me through all the hard times of life. Impact my life with the vibrancy of this hope – that it would excite me, motivate me and give me strength to live.
In Jesus name I ask, Amen.
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