Foundations of the Christian Life.Chapter 32. The Resurrection of the Dead #3. The Victory of Christ.

Foundations of the Christian Life.
Chapter 32. The Resurrection of the Dead #3. The Victory of Christ.


Author's Note:
I have recently been busy with other things and so my additions to this blog have slowed below the pace I desired. Also this particular study has been particularly exercising to me. This present version is only a draft to indicate where I feel it should go. However I have not, at this point in time, arrived at a point where I feel happy that it is written in a final form. Put simply, I don't yet feel I have had the revelation from God for it to be as he wants it. I am aware that I do not yet know enough or understand enough about the subject to be happy with what I have written. So it is still a work in progress. However I hope anyone who reads it enjoys it. Any comments may help me in drafting a more complete form.

INTRODUCTION.
Throughout the NT the death and resurrection of Christ are depicted as a great victory over evil. It is important for us to understand the significance of the resurrection in the great plan of God.

George Eldon Ladd puts it this way:
“Jesus’ resurrection was not a return to physical earthly life; it was an emergence within history of the life of the world to come.”

To help us understand this I want to return to the central theme of these studies that I have been developing, namely, the work of Christ as High Priest.

In reality, by Biblical reckoning, there have only been two true priests of God. The task of priesthood is to mediate between God and the created world. To do this the priest has to partake of both spheres of life – God’s life and the physical life of this earth. Only two men have ever fully done this.
1. Adam, before the Fall, was made from “the dust of the earth” and had breathed into him “the Spirit of God”. There was a oneness in Adam brought between the physical and the spiritual worlds that was unique. Because of this oneness he could act as priest of God on earth. He was a king-priest.

The Fall destroyed this oneness. In rebelling against God’s word Adam divorced himself from the word of God so that mankind lost his grounding in the Word of God. As a result of the Fall of Adam the whole physical universe lost its grounding in the Word of God. In a sense the whole physical universe, in the words of St Athanasius, hangs suspended above nothingness – it call fall at any moment into nothingness.

No man since then has been able to be a true priest of God because all men are fallen in virtue of their relationship to Adam, and so have lost contact with the Word and the Spirit of God. This was true until Christ appeared.

2. Christ, through the incarnation, has made one again the relationship between the Word and the physical universe. This happened in two ways:
* Christ took on this creation in order to redeem it. In the act of the incarnation, where the Word entered into the physical body of a virgin, thus establishing a new relationship with mankind and the physical realm.
* Throughout the life of Christ he was tempted in every way as we are. But at each point he identified with the Word of God, thus grounding human life again in the Word of God in a living way. We discussed this in Chapter 9.

Thus Christ has regrounded, in himself, the nature of man to the Word, and as man is the divinely appointed representative and ruler of the physical universe, he has regrounded the whole physical universe in the Word. At least this is true in potential.

3. On the Cross Christ took on himself the death and destruction that belonged to this physical creation because of man’s sin and rebellion. This he put to death on the Cross, thus putting and end to it all. He submitted to the power of death in order that he might defeat it. Thus, he who “had the power of death, the Devil”, is also overcome, along with all of his demonic hosts.

4. God raised Christ from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, thus showing that the power of death – and hence the whole curse brought on the physical universe by Adam’s sin – had been defeated once and for all.

But the work of Christ does not end there. The Church has always seen the resurrection as only one part of a great “movement upwards” that Christ took. The resurrection and the ascension are two parts of the one great act:
* In the resurrection he came from the depths of the earth, Hades - the place of the dead, back to earth. In doing so he overcame the power of death.
* In the ascension he moved up from earth to heaven, to the throne of God. To do this he passed through the heavenlies, the place where evil spiritual powers dwell. In doing so he overcame every evil power. They could not stop his ascent to heaven.
* In heaven he ascended the throne of God and was crowned king of all.

Thus he has, in himself, encompassed all there is, The Heavens (the Spiritual Realm), earth (the physical universe) and Hades (the place of the Dead). He thus rules over all.

But there is more: The recreation has begun in him. When Christ rose from the dead he rose with his physical body, and with that body he ascended to heaven. Thus, in Him, the physical universe has received a new grounding; the grounding of the physical universe in the Word has been reestablished - but in a greater way, a resurrection power.

So the universe is now grounded in the very nature of God himself. As a result of the work of Christ there has been a fundamental – and permanent – change in the nature of the Trinity. Where Christ, before he came to earth, had no physical body; now, as a result of his work, he – in heaven – has a physical body. As a result the physical universe is grounded in God in a new way. The physical universe has, in a sense, been given eternal life. The danger of “falling into nothingness”, that Athanasius wrote of, no longer exists.

Thus a recreation has begun – but it comes in stages:
1. Christ, and the first fruits (see Chapter 34).
2. Those who receive the new birth are “a new creation”. The process of recreation has already begun in those who have accepted Christ.
3. At the Second Coming the process of recreation in humanity will be completed and the “sons of God” will be revealed as God intended.
4. Eventually all creation will be renewed by the power of God: A New Heavens and a New earth.

But this new creation will be energised by a different life force – it will be a power of resurrection life, not subject to the power of death ever again. The resurrection of Christ is the first stage of a whole new creation.

This act of resurrection that brought Christ back from the dead was a work of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 1:4.
“…and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”


But what we have said here means that, for those who have accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour, we are already living in the process of resurrection. There has been released into our lives a resurrection life that is not subject to the power of death – and not to the one who, in this world, has the power of death – the Devil.

As Filson (in “Jesus Christ the Risen Lord”) puts it:
“This risen Christ is Lord of the church and is ascended to God's right hand, exalted. He is Lord…
“In his position at God's right hand he is not on vacation but his active in the life of the Church… He acts with supreme authority as God’s supreme and central agent in carrying out God's will. He is an active Word.
“…He continues his work through the Holy Spirit. To accept Christ's lordship is to accept the Spirit, the risen Christ gives the Spirit so that Christ is the Spirit in our experience.”

RESURRECTION LIFE - NOW!

The future resurrection is already at work in us - reaching back into time and transforming our lives now.

2 Corinthians 5:17 - we are a new creation.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

We have a life force suitable to the age in which we will live.

Romans 8:11
“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”

Ephesians 1:19-20.
“…and his incomparably great power for/in us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,…”

This new power comes to us through the Holy Spirit. Baptism - death, burial and resurrection - is the door to this new life.

We are in a process of resurrection now. It began at conversion and will be completed when our bodies are transformed, but it is still real now. What we build out of resurrection life power now will last into the age to come.

1 Corinthians 3:12-15.
“If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”

This means that resurrection power should affect our lives now. How?

(1) Renewed Strength.

Romans 8:11
“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”

Isaiah 40:31.
“…but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

We do not need to live in a state of physical decay. Moses (Deuteronomy 34:7) and Caleb (Joshua 14:10,11) both lived in a principle of resurrection life that renewed their strength and prevented physical decay.

(2) Resurrection life in us should be touching others.

Mark 16:16-18.
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

(3) Because of this new life we can know a hope for the future.

We covered this in chapter 30.

This hope means we can suffer persecution and trial with joy. hope generates joy. This is not a hopefulness but is a solid anticipation based on KNOWN FUTURE EVENTS. This is why over half of the Bible is prophetic. It is in knowing God's plan that we can have hope, and hence joy.

"Hope" is used in the Bible in two different ways:

(i) The OBJECT on which we set our expectations, i.e. Christ.

(ii) The ATTITUDE and STYLE OF LIFE we adopt in the light of that expectation.

Hope in the sense of (ii) without (i) is a delusion. Unless we understand and have a living hope in Christ then any attempt of lifestyle change we make will only be legalism and religion. True Christian lifestyle arises out of the consciousness of Christ as our Hope. It comes from relationship with him. In that relationship we obey his commands – but not out of legalism, rather we do so out of love for him.

Hope of Christ's return fills our life with purpose, and it lays bare the ultimate issues of life: the kingdom of God, righteousness and love.

In the light of the kingdom we should live differently.

1 Peter 1:13.
“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

1 John 3:3.
“Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

(4) Resurrection life at work in us overcomes sin and evil.

Romans 6:4-11.
“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. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Colossians 2:12-14.
“…having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.”

The real power of the resurrection should be seen in victorious Christian living.


HOW DO WE LIVE IN RESURRECTION LIFE?

1. We need to walk in the light of what we know of God’s will for us.
* Keep cleansed from all sin. Don’t leave sin unconfessed and unresolved.
* Be baptised in water.
* Be an active member of a church.
* Daily ask to be filled with the Spirit.
* Be baptised in the Spirit.
* Daily – as often as you can speak in tongues.
* Meditate on – memorise and confess – the word of God.

TRANSFORMER VERSES.

RESURRECTION LIFE NOW.
Romans 8: 11.
If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you.

HOMEWORK:
1. Think deeply about the fact of the coming of the Age to Come in Christ. How is the reality of living in the Age to Come affecting your life? Is it affecting you? Think about what sort of changes you might need to make to become an active member of the Age to Come?

2. Look at the pointers to living in Resurrection life. Are you daily, or at least several times weekly, engaging in the disciples listed:

(a) Speaking in Tongues.
(b) Meditation on the Word.
(c) Experiencing being regularly filled with the Spirit.
(d) Dealing with sin in your life.
(e) Related to a local church?
(f) Aware of walking in obedience to Biblical principle and the direct leading of the Spirit in your daily life.

PRAYER: