Will We Know?
Part 2

1 Corinthians 15:17-23  "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. [18]  Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. [19]  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. [20] But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. [21]  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. [22]  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. [23]  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. "

Apostasy and confusion usually comes into the Church, not with a roar, but with a small concession to error which grows into a greater concession. The Corinthians had allowed worldly behavior to slowly come in among their fellowship. They, as they "ran the race" for Jesus, forgot that the race was being run for Him and took their eyes off of the finish line, the goal. They lost their target - began to waiver - and as they began to waiver off target they began to make concessions to the old way of life that they used to follow. They walked away from the relationship that they had with Jesus and moved toward the old religion that they used to have.

Within Israel there were two great religious systems in place prior to the incarnation of our Lord Jesus. Though both of these religious systems followed the text of what we commonly call our Old Testament, both of these schools were "off target" as to what God's plan and purpose for humanity truly was. The first religious system, the Pharisees, were the conservative arm of religion. Though the Pharisees rightly believed that there would come a day when the dead would be resurrected, they believed that you could only be saved by keeping the Law of God. They ignored the teaching of their Scripture which was:

(Habakkuk 2:4 KJV)  "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith."

When those familiar with the Pharisee system of religion came to Christ and were saved, they sometimes got off target of the Gospel and began to teach that you had to do something in order to be saved, or to maintain your salvation. These off target brothers brought the Law back into the Church, and as the Law was emphasized Grace was de-emphasized. As the Law was lifted up, Christ was diminished. The Apostles had to combat brothers and sisters in Christ who fell back into Phariseeism by reminding them of the Old Testament faith only saves message in several places:

(Romans 1:16-17 KJV)  "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. {17} For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith."

(Galatians 3:11-13 KJV)  "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. {12} And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. {13} Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:"

(Hebrews 10:38-39 KJV)  "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. {39} But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."

The second great religious system, Saduceeism, was much more liberal than Phariseeism. Though most Saducees accepted God's message that "The just shall live by faith", they went to an opposite extreme. The Saducees were humanists and extreme liberals, believing and emphasizing the here and now rather than the future plan of God. When a Saducee accepted Jesus Christ as Savior in the early Church and, later on in their relationship with Him walked out of that relationship and returned to their roots of religion, the Saducee Christian began to teach others that once you died, you were dead, and there would be no separate resurrection, or rejoining of the human spirit to the body. For, you see, the Saducees and that liberal system that bore their name did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, nor of life after death. They believed that what you had in God, you had to have in this life. This life was it, it was all, and after you passed into eternity you passed, never to exist again. It is these liberals, Christians who have moved toward Saduceeism, that Paul addressed in our verses today. But it would be good if we reminded ourselves that BOTH CAMPS, whether Saducee or Pharisee, were equally wrong, because BOTH CAMPS forgot that Jesus Christ is our pattern. When Jesus came, He introduced the Almighty God, El Shaddai, Elohim, Yahweh to us as our Father. When Jesus came, He dragged us out of the religious ritual that so overwhelmed the believer and put our eyes back on the target, that is, a relationship with God by faith. When Jesus came, He shocked us out of our "business as usual" existence, and led us into Samaria to preach the Gospel to them. He made us look at the woman taken in adultery with new eyes, and, instead of running in panic from the leper He made us go to them and love them in His name. Jesus Christ was and is our pattern in this relationship we have with our Father, and He was and will always be the pattern of our relationship that we will have with our Father as we leave this life and move into eternity.

1 Corinthians 15:17-20  "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. [18]  Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. [19]  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. [20] But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept."

(1 Corinthians 15:12 KJV)  "Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?"

Just as Jesus Christ is our pattern for the relationship we have with God in this life, He is our pattern for our future bodily resurrection. It is a historic reality that Christ was born of a virgin. It is a historic reality that our Lord Jesus walked the earth, teaching Grace and Truth. It is a historic reality that the two great religious systems of His day, Phariseeism and Saduceeism, hounded and persecuted Jesus while He ministered. It is a historic reality that Jesus went to the Cross, suffered and died for us, the Church that bears His name. Most people, even the Saducees, had no problem accepting most if not all of these historical statements. However, the carnal Christian who had backslidden into the old religious system of Saduceeism could not accept the historic reality that Jesus Christ had resurrected from the dead, for to accept this would be to admit that there was and will always be a resurrection of the dead. If Christ, our Pattern, resurrected from the dead, then we would surely be resurrected after the likeness of our Pattern. And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then just as surely Christ Himself could not be resurrected from the dead. If there was no resurrection, why would God resurrect our Pattern? He wouldn't, and there's the rub! This is how Paul said it:

(1 Corinthians 15:17-18 KJV)  "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. {18} Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished."

If Jesus was not resurrected from the dead, then our faith is in vain, it is empty, it is useless. The word "vain" in our text is the Greek (Strong's 3152) mataios, [pronounced mat'-ah-yos], meaning empty, profitless, without substance. What happened when our Pattern, Jesus Christ, went to the Cross? The Bible tells us that at the point of death Jesus cried out:

(Luke 23:46 KJV)  "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost."

Jesus our Pattern believed that He would immediately, upon death, be in the presence of the Father. His body AND soul would not sleep in the grave, nor would He cease to exist as the Saducees believed, but He believed that He was yet in God's hands. His BODY slept in the grave for three days, but the essence of who and what Jesus was went to the Father. The body was empty, the soul had moved on. This is what Jesus taught when He spoke of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:22 and following, and what Paul taught us when he said:

(2 Corinthians 5:6-8 KJV)  "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: {7} (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) {8} We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."

There are only two states: we are either here, in this body, this vessel of flesh, or we are away from this vessel of flesh and face to face with the Father as Christ now is. What the Saducees taught was impossible amongst the Corinthians, Paul says it must be true, otherwise this is all a big lie - our faith is in vain. If Christ our Pattern has not resurrected, then those believers who have went on before us in death, those believers whose bodies now sleep in the grave, their souls are not with God but GONE. And if gone, then why are we meeting? If gone, then why bother following Him at all? If gone, forget it. Do as all before us have done, eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die.

But Paul says, NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT! Christ is the firstfruits:

(1 Corinthians 15:20 KJV)  "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept."

Firstfruits is the word aparche [pronounced ap-ar-khay'], meaning "a beginning of sacrifice", i.e.  "The first harvest, that which is taken out of the field first". Those who were saved by faith in Christ, but had a history of Phariseeism and Saduceeism would immediately recognize this word. The word "firstfruits" is used 30 times in the Bible, and was God's requirement of sacrifice in the Old Testament. If you were to bring a grain offering to God, you always brought the "firstfruits" or first part of that harvest to Him for a blessing. Firstfruits not only meant the first harvested, but it also meant the best harvested. When you brought the firstfruit of the sacrifice to God, it wasn't the leftovers, the remnant, but it was THE BEST of that which was FIRST HARVESTED. Jesus is the "first one harvested" from out of death, the BEST ONE harvested from out of death, the first one to be given a glorified body by the Father.

Was our Lord Jesus, our Pattern, our Savior truly resurrected from the dead? Or was it all a hoax, something made up by the Apostles to keep this thing we call the Church going? From the beginning those who followed the two great religious schools of that day, Phariseeism and Saduceeism, taught that either (1) Jesus really didn't die on the Cross, or, (2) He died, but really didn't resurrect after three days. To both of these schools of religion Paul says:

(1 Corinthians 15:20-22 KJV)  "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. {21} For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. {22} For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

Just as Adam TRULY LIVED and truly BROUGHT DEATH on us all by his faithlessness, it is absolutely necessary that Jesus Christ be a historic reality. He must have entered this life, lived, ministered, suffered, died, and resurrected just as the Scripture says, or else we have no proof of our future resurrection of the body.

Is it true that Jesus didn't really die on the Cross, but merely swooned? What did the eye witness accounts say? The soldiers who had executed hundreds on the cross of shame, when inspecting the body of Christ, tested Him for the marks of death. The Scripture says:

(John 19:32-35 KJV)  "Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. {33} But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: {34} But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. {35} And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe."

At the point of death the red blood cells of the body starts to separate from its water content, so that, even a short time after death, if the body is pierced serum (water) and blood will come from that wound. These soldiers pierced Jesus, looking for this "water and blood" state. Sure, He was still - but was He dead? When the water and blood came out, the soldiers did not pursue the matter by breaking His legs (a trick used to hasten death on the Cross). No, Jesus was dead. His body was vacated, and He Himself had moved on to be with the Lord. The eye-witness account, the EXPERT TESTIMONY of these soldiers and their actions, prove that He was dead beyond a shadow of a doubt.

We know He was dead - but did He really resurrect? Absolutely! Just as we know He was dead by eye witness accounts, we know He resurrected by eye witness accounts. The Scripture says:

1 Corinthians 15:5-8 "And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: [6]  After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. [7]  After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. [8]  And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. "

Acts 1:2-3 "Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: "

Jesus spent forty days on the earth teaching and preaching in His glorified body. He was seen of over five hundred believers in that period of time, all who had ample opportunity to touch Him, see that He was really in solid form. It is possible to delude a few people, to hypnotize several into believing a lie. But it is impossible to delude five hundred at once, and, after deluding them, make them willing to give their lives for what they saw.

(1 Corinthians 15:22-23 KJV)  "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. {23} But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming."

This is what gives me great excitement, and should excite each and every one of you. Our Lord Jesus, our Pattern, commended Himself to God. He left His body behind in a tomb for three days, and that Body slept in dust waiting for the time of His resurrection. Christ Himself, His Spirit, did not cease to exist for that three day period, nor did His spirit sleep in the grave. His body, His Temple slept, but He was with God. His body lay entombed for three days, but His spirit was with God. Paul now gives us this great truth: just as we followed Adam in spiritual death, we now follow Jesus in spiritual life. Just as the harvest of Adam led to physical, bodily death, and the corruption of this body, Jesus Himself was resurrected as a promise that we ourselves will one day receive glorified bodies, just as our Pattern did. Paul amplifies this in:

(Romans 6:5 KJV)  "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:"

When we accepted Jesus Christ as Savior God the Father associated us with His death. That is, because Jesus bore the penalty of sin, and because we accepted that bearing, we are now fit for the Kingdom of Heaven by association. The Bible also makes it clear that we who have been associated with the Atonement shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Jesus stayed on the earth 40 days to make sure we saw His resurrected body; Paul says that we will share in the likeness of his resurrection. As Jesus was, in resurrected body, we shall be like, one day, in glory.

The Apostle John echoed this truth when he said:

(1 John 3:1-2 KJV)  "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. {2} Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."

When we shall be like Jesus, what does that mean? How will our bodies be changed? How was our Lord's body changed? When we look at the Pattern's body, we see that:

• Jesus appeared inside of locked rooms:

And when He appeared, He appeared in such a form that the disciples knew who He was. He still wore the badges of honor He earned on the Cross, and it was these identifying marks that He showed to doubting Thomas. I believe that we, in our glorified bodies, will be unbound by the restrictions of earth. I also believe we will know one another in Heaven, just as we will know Jesus.
 
• We will be capable of eating, but not need to do so in order to sustain life. Luke tells us:

I imagine seeing Jesus for the first time in a glorified state was a lot like the people in Noah's day seeing rain. Up until the flood no one had ever seen rain, as the water came up from the earth in, I assume, springs. The disciples were all in a closed room, huddled together in fear that the authorities would find and kill them. Suddenly, here in the midst of them is Jesus. Having never seen anyone in a glorified state they were frightened until Jesus took some food and ate it. The glorified body can be handled, the sense of touch, taste, all five senses, are still very real.

1 Corinthians 15:51-57  "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52]  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. [53]  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. [54]  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. [55]  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? [56]  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. [57]  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. "

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul introduces this section by explaining that there are many different types of bodies: physical bodies, spiritual bodies, earthly bodies, celestial bodies. Death is only a doorway that takes us from one state to another. We have a deep fear of death, a wonder of it, because for each one of us it is something we have never really experienced. But Paul let's us know that just as the seed of corn, sprouted, turns from one body into another, we, when dead, will one day sprout into a glorified state like Jesus.

Jesus took the sting from death.  Are you in Christ? The promises of eternal life and a glorified body are given to the Children of Light, to those who have accepted Christ as Savior. If you do not know Jesus, please, today is the day of salvation.