Wednesday, April 30, 2014
1 Corinthians 15:19f If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. But now Christ is risen from the dead ...
CHRIST LIVES!
Obviously, going back to our flow chart, it's not possible for someone to rise from the dead unless they die first. Man fell into sin and died; Christ came into the world and suffered and died to pay for sin. Had God not accepted this payment for sin, had it been lacking in some way, then Jesus would still be in the grave, for His death was to conquer, sin, the devil and death. But, as our text says, "Now Christ is risen from the dead." His payment was not lacking in any way. He paid the debt in full.
So our flow chart would ask, at Christ's death, "Debt paid in full?" Answer: "Yes." So the arrow on the chart would point to a box entitled "Resurrection." If debt paid in full, then resurrection. So Jesus lives, risen bodily from the dead, and has been exalted on high at the right hand of God the Father, who has " ... put all things under His feet."
This is the reason we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Were it not for His resurrection then our Lenten services would have been simply sad observances of the death of a Martyr. A martyr is someone who dies for a cause. But Christ Jesus did more than just die for His cause (i.e. our salvation). He died for the "cause" and then rose from the dead. What other movement can say that? Their leader rose from the dead?
Only Christianity can say that, because no one else, having died, has subsequently risen from the dead to live forever. Even those whom Christ or the Apostles raised from the dead eventually died again. Only Christ has died and risen again to live forever. As our text teaches, "Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep."
So He didn't merely rise in a spiritual way. It was a real, bodily resurrection, even as His death was physical.
"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive." Christ died and rose again, and it is on this account that we have the forgiveness of sins and spiritual and eternal life.
But short was their triumph, the Savior arose,
And death, hell, and Satan he vanquished, his foes;
The conquering Lord lifts his banner on high.
He lives, yes, he lives, and will nevermore die.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 198:3)
