Monday, November 16, 2015
1 Corinthians 15:16-17 If the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.
THE RESURRECTION: A FOUNDATIONAL TEACHING
The doctrines of the Bible sometimes have been compared to a wagon wheel with spokes. At the center of a wagon wheel is a hub. Each of the spokes stretches outward from the hub to the rim holding the tire. We might think of the individual spokes as representing the teachings of the Bible (Jesus' virgin birth, His death on the cross for our sin, His ascension and promised return, etc.). We might think of the hub as representing the Bible's core teaching that Christ raised Himself up from the grave on Easter morning to prove that He is God's Son and that He truly atoned for the sins of the world, winning for us the gift of life everlasting. Just as a wagon wheel without a hub would collapse and be useless, so the Christian religion with all that it promises would be useless without the teaching of the resurrection.
This shows the importance of our holding fast to this doctrine. "For if the teaching of the resurrection totters and no longer counts, all the others lose their value and validity. For everything has been done: Christ has come and has established His kingdom in the world for the sake of the resurrection and the life to come. It is certainly necessary diligently to stress this article. Thus we honorably carry the dead to the grave, follow the corpse, sing and pray as a testimony and indication of our faith that these very dead, and we together with them, will rise on Judgment Day and that the bodies will not be different bodies, although they will be transfigured" (Luther).
In the resurrection, In the resurrection,
We do trust, From the dust
Shall this body-- this the hope we cherish--
Rise before God clothed in pure perfection.
Jesus, Lord, Help afford;
Oh save us, lest we perish.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 603:1)
