Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ important?

 

1 Corinthians 15:1-34

Introduction

As we study and ponder upon 1 Corinthians 15, we come to understand a very important message: the resurrection of Christ enables us to live differently. In another word, the resurrection of Christ affects how we live our lives on earth now. The Scripture gives three reminders about the significance of Christ’s resurrection.

First of all, death in this life is not an end in itself.

When we study verses 20-22 carefully, we discover that Paul was making a repulse towards a teaching, circulating among the Corinthian Church, that taught that “there was no resurrection of the dead”.

And Paul pointed out in verses 17-19 that believers would continue in their sin and the dead would ultimately be punished and destroyed because of their sins if Jesus were not really resurrected. And if it was so, then believing in Jesus would be something in vain and meaningless for them.

After that in verse 20, Paul made an important announcement to the brothers and sisters in the Corinthian Church, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

This indicates that Jesus Christ was resurrected, and He was likened to the first fruits. It means that Christ’s resurrection becomes the assurance of the resurrection of the believers to follow suit. All believers in Christ shall be resurrected from their death like Christ!

Just like what is said in verse 21-22, death came to the world because of Adam’s disobedience and sin, and it causes all the descendants of Adam to face death. In the same way, resurrection comes to the world because of Christ’s resurrection, and it makes those who receive Christ’s salvation to become believers in Christ, and they shall experience a resurrected life like Christ.

Therefore, the death that believers experience today is not an end by itself, because Christ’s resurrection gives us hope when we face death and we know that all of us will resurrect like Him, and we shall receive our immortal bodies.

The statement Paul made to the Corinthian believers then serves as a same reminder for us this day. Our death in this age is not an end by itself. If Jesus died without resurrection, death would be something very terrible for us then, and it would be something very sorrowful and hopeless.

If there were no resurrection of the dead, we would be crying our hearts out desperately for our loved ones who passed on. We would all be swallowed by the sting of death.

However, as believers in Christ, though we will experience death, we know that there is hope for us, that even though we will die, we shall be resurrected like Christ and receive an incorruptible body, and we shall meet our loved one’s face to face again. This is the hope and comfort we have when we face any departure of our loved ones.

In addition to this, there is no need for us to be fearful when we face the moment of death that is impending, for we believe that death is just a door for us to enter through. We will not disappear like light going off after we die, but instead we will be just like falling asleep, waiting for the day of the blessed hope of resurrection.

So now, we can face confidently our death as well as the death of our loved ones who are believers in Christ.

Secondly, Christ’s Resurrection reminds us that the evil of this world will not last eternally.

When we study verses 23-28, we discover that Paul made many explanations about the sequence of resurrection. In verse 23, Paul pointed out that Christ is the One who first resurrected, and later, the believers’ resurrection will only happen after the Second Coming of Christ.

When we take special notice about the word “parousiva”, we find that it is a unique word because it means “the arrival of the King who comes to visit his people.”

Therefore, it refers to the time of Christ’s return, that He will come unto the earth as a victorious King, and it shall be the time when we the believers are raised from the dead, and those who are still alive, will be taken up (raptured) to receive this coming King in the air.

Moreover, Paul pointed out clearly from verses 24-28, that because Christ is to be the King, He will surely destroy Satan and all the earthly evil forces – all rule and authority, power and dominion, and ultimately the power of death shall be destroyed too.

God shall make all these forces submit under His feet and they shall all be destroyed. Then the Father, through the resurrection of Christ, shall appoint Him to be the head over everything, that Christ shall rule over all things.

Therefore, the anti-Christ situation of the world now will not last forever because Jesus will surely return, and God will definitely destroy Satan and all the enemies who go against Him. He will surely rule over the earth with His truth and love.

This blessed hope of resurrection that we have makes clear that we are waiting for something big to happen: The Lord who loves us shall return and reign as King!

We can’t help but feel helpless when we see the situation of the world now: the natural and man-made disasters and sufferings in the world, the wickedness of worldly political powers, the temptations of Satan that cause men to sin, the evil ones trying all means to force believers to deny Jesus Christ as our Lord and stopping us to live a life as Christ’s disciples.

As believers who face many of these lashes, we might withdraw ourselves, shrink back and hide in a corner whenever our faith is challenged. We do not have the courage to declare that the God we believe in is the true and living God.

We also may become pessimistic and perceive our life of Christianity on this world to be nothing but frustration. Hence, we decided to live only for today, and we do not have the hope to see God’s kingdom value grow bigger and expand on earth. Since the world does not change, why should I live for Jesus and make bold declaration for the Gospel?

If some of you are thinking in that line, I hope to give you hope for your life through this scripture. What we see now in the world will not last eternally. Christ has overcome the power of death through His resurrection. We are now to live our lives daily with a heart of expectation.

We are waiting for Jesus to return to rule as our King. By then, all the evil forces, the power of Satan and death shall be destroyed completely. What we do today for the Gospel will not be in vain, but contribute to the building of God’s kingdom.

May the Sprit empower us to acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Lord, and to live a life of discipleship that is to live for Christ. We are to be like warriors, who come to know that our great General has conquered the capital city of our enemies, and he has already defeated Satan on the cross.

Warriors will not be discouraged, and they will not shrink back from the difficulties before them, and they will not be pessimistic because of the gunfire of their enemies. It is because all these are just temporal situations, and we have a sure victory secured by Christ.

Hence, we should be more courageous to fight our remaining battles, until we have a ultimate victory when Christ finally returns.

Do we believe that Jesus is the King of kings because of His resurrection? Do we then confess Jesus Christ as our Lord courageously in this age where our faith is challenged endlessly? And do we then live our lives differently from the world as the disciples of Christ?

Finally, we do not live our days here just for the present life.

From verse 29 to 34, Paul asked a question. From Paul’s question, we find out that the blessed hope of resurrection does motivate believers in Christ to live a different life now.

Firstly, Paul challenged the believers in Corinth in verse 29, that why should they baptise the dead if they never believed in resurrection? “Baptizing the dead” is a unique ceremony that they performed on the dead because of their memory for their deceased. They hoped that by baptism, they could be reuntied with their deceased when their bodies are resurrected.

Paul did not recognize it as a right practice. He just pointed out the influence of Christ’s resurrection upon their lives with an action they took, that they were concerned about whether their deceased would be resurrected.

For us, it means that we are concerned whether others could receive life of eternity after death, and be resurrected in Christ because of His resurrection.

And in verse 30-34, Paul pointed out that if there would be no resurrection, then it became meaningless for them to endanger themselves every hour and face death every day. Why should they then be persecuted and pay the price of their faith? They might as well “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

Therefore, Paul reminded them that they had to be persecuted and they had to pay their price for the sake of their faith, and it is not meaningless because of the resurrection of Christ. For us, it indicates that we must pay our price to live a life that pleases God because of Christ’s resurrection.

In conclusion, the blessed hope of resurrection motivates believers to live differently now, and that is to care whether others would receive life after death in resurrection from death, and whether they are willing to pay their price to live in accordance with God’s instruction because of the Lord’s resurrection and Second Coming.

We do not live for the sake of living, but Christ’s message of resurrection has motivated us to live differently.

Previously, we might think that since the situation of the world is so bad, and since we face many difficulties in this life, and since having come to know the Lord, why not just spend the rest of our days eating and drinking and enjoying life? How good it is if we just relax, for we will surely resurrect and go to heaven!

Let’s us seek for the Lord’s forgiveness over our ignorance if we really possess this thought and behave as such.

The resurrection of Christ encourages us to share the gospel more fervently with our neighbours, for we hope that they could receive salvation and life of eternity that comes after resurrection. At the same time, it also motivates us to be willing to pay our price when our faith is challenged, and be ready to testify Christ as we walk with him daily.