Category: Resurrection

Gaining Christ

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Nothing wins in life like gaining Christ.  Self-righteousness is repugnant to God, but the righteousness which is from God by faith is an unsurpassed excellence.  We count all things loss for this excellence.  We count all things as rubbish in comparison with gaining Christ.  Nothing wins in life like gaining Christ.

What is mean by knowing the power of Christ’s resurrection in Philippians 3.10?  This power is certainly found in the fact that the death of Christ is an incomplete story.  Jesus offered up His life’s blood for us.  He then appeared in the presence of God for us as the resurrected Christ (Hebrews 9.24).  If He is not risen, His work is not finished.  But He is and it is (John 19.30).  He was delivered up to death with a view toward our offense;  He was raised from the dead with a view toward making us right before the Father (Romans 4.25).  “It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8.34).

The power of His resurrection gave entrance for the Spirit to indwell and empower the believer.  Jesus said that it was to our advantage that He went away. If He had not, the Helper would not have come to us.  But He departed, and He sent the Helper to us (John 16.7).  We have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Promised One (Acts 2.38-39).  “Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living” (Romans 14.9).

The power of His resurrection will exalt us to glory.  “By man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15.21).  Jesus said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14.2-3).  “The forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever” (Hebrews 6.20).

Knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection is experiential and relational knowledge.  The resurrection of Christ establishes the foundation of faith.  It is one thing to read about faith, it’s another to experience it.  Do you have a faith that overcomes the lusts of the flesh?  Do you have a faith that draws you close to God?  Do you have a faith that moves you to delight in those things in which God delights?  If you do, you are experiencing the power of Christ’s resurrection.

Knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection quickens hope.  Hope comes to those who continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.  You ride out the storms of doubt, trial, and adversity.  You keep dependent in times of prosperity.  You trust in the LORD.  You know your sinfulness, but you also know the power of His blood.  You know your weakness, but you also know the sufficiency of His grace.  You are confident of this very thing:  that He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phiippians 1.6).

Knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection transforms temporal life into eternal life.  “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15.13).  This hope-filled, eternal quality of life paves the way for temporal suffering within the sphere of joy and peace.  Only the hopeful are able to enter into the sufferings of Christ.  The power of His resurrection carries us through the fellowship of His sufferings.

 

Paul’s First Recorded Sermon: Resurrection Joy (Part 2)

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Christianity rises or falls upon the resurrection.  “But God raised [Jesus] from the dead” (Acts 13.30).  The fact that Jesus remained in the tomb for three days proved that He died indeed.  The fact that He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem proved that He indeed is risen (Acts 13.31).  Those people who saw Him are witnesses to Christ.  The many voices speaking as one voice concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ provide testimony that cannot be refuted.  

Paul and the other apostles declared glad tidings, a promise which was made to the fathers (Acts 13.32).  The promise to which Paul referred concerns the coming of Messiah.  There are many passages of Scripture in the Old Testament which assured the children of Israel of Messiah’s coming.  These begin with Genesis 3.15:

Genesis 3:15 (NKJV) — 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”  And they end with Malachi 3.1 simple statement:  “Behold, He is coming.”

But clearly three particular verses are in view in Paul’s first recorded sermon:

  • Psalm 2:7 (NKJV) — 7 “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.”
  • Isaiah 55:3 (NKJV) — 3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David.
  • Psalm 16:10 (NKJV) — 10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

Paul quotes Psalm 2.2:  “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.”  God the Father raised up the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, to be Savior.  He is risen from the dead to provide new life, eternal life to all who will believe on Him.  Paul applies the rich prophecy of Isaiah 55.3 to the Lord Jesus.  Jesus will not return to corruption.  God has said, “I will give you the sure mercies of David” (Acts 13.34).  

It is clear what the Lord meant in Psalm 2.2:  “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.”  Jesus is the Messiah who triumphed over the grace.  He was exalted to God the Father’s right hand.  How is He begotten on the day of His resurrection?  He is the only One of His kind …the resurrected Christ, the first-fruits of those who sleep.  His resurrection brings Him to new life by the power of God.  Now it is possible to share together with Him in this eternal quality of life.  

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a source of joy for us for at least three reasons:

Past Hope:  The death of our Savior was not in vain.  

1 Corinthians 15:14 (NKJV) — 14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.

1 Corinthians 15:17–18 (NKJV) — 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

But Christ is risen!  Therefore we have been made the righteousness of God thanks to Him.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ proved that He satisfied the wrath and the justice of God in full (the meaning of propitiation).  Jesus was delivered up because of our offenses; He was raised because of (or with a view toward) our justification (Romans 4.25).  “Who is he who condemns?  It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8.34).  

Present Hope:  The power of our Savior is all-sufficient.

He cannot be the Messiah or reign at the right hand of God if He is still in the grave.  If He is in the grave, it is folly and futility to call upon Him for help.  But He said to His disciples…

John 10:17–18 (NKJV) — 17 “…My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

Colossians 2:15 (NKJV) — 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

“Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior” (Acts 5.31).  He is “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1.4).  “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7.25).  The power of our Savior is sufficient to help right now because it is resurrection power!  That is why we long to “know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3.10)!  If we can believe, “all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9.23).  

Future Hope:  The resurrection of our Savior will be our own.

Obviously if the resurrection of Jesus Christ had not occurred, we would have no future hope of our own resurrection.  But He is risen; therefore, Christians will rise too.  He is the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Corinthians 15.20).  That is why Jesus could say:

John 14:2–3 (NKJV) — 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you (body and soul) to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

1 Corinthians 15:53–55 (NKJV) — 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has 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 your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”

John 14:19 (NKJV) — 19 A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.

The promises of the resurrection are for all those who believe:  Old Testament and New Testament saints alike.  When we read our Old Testament Scriptures, it is good to remember that many of the promises are literally made to Israel.  Still, they are not exclusively for Israel.  We are to embrace them as well.  We too are children of God.  It is in this way that the resurrection is indelibly written throughout the Old Testament Scriptures through the promises of the coming Messiah.

I believe God delights in a church that holds high the resurrected Christ.  I believe God delights in a church that preaches the Gospel.  We may be viewed as those who stand in the way of progress and open sin, but we are the source of glad tidings which we declare to all men.  Our Savior was crucified, buried, and risen from the dead!  Let us forsake our sin and look to Him as the source of all joy and resurrection power in this life.  Let us not be ashamed at His coming coronation.  Let us be watching and waiting expectantly as we submit to His authority even now.