Resurrection: The Linchpin of Our Faith
A brilliant guest post by Aaron Hopper.
‘For if the dead do not rise (from the dead), then Christ has not risen: and if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!’ - I Corinthians 15:16-17.
Wade Burleson at Istoria Ministries recently posted about why ‘The Rapture Makes Zero Biblical Sense,’ and he answered the question, ‘Is There Anything Future in the Bible?’
These are excellent articles that touch on three significant and future biblical promises:
The bodily return of Jesus.
The general resurrection of the dead, and
The restoration of the earth with the reversal of its curse.
It is hard to overstate the importance of these three promises that form the foundation of our Christian hope.
When Jesus returns again in visible and bodily form, our bodies will be raised from the dead and transformed.
Not only so, but all of creation will be released from its own bondage to the curse of sin and restored to great glory – a new heavens and a new earth.
Unfortunately, in much of our Christian teaching and preaching today, we lose sight of the significance of OUR resurrection from the dead (not just Christ’s), focusing almost exclusively instead on the promise of ‘going to Heaven.’
We will indeed ‘go to Heaven.’ But that evangelical phrase means much more than most Christians imagine.
Human Beings Have Physical Bodies
God did not design human beings to inhabit a new heaven and a new earth as spirits without bodies, floating around on clouds or in some lovely, but non-physical, place.
To the contrary, we all will be marvelously and physically (bodily) raised from the dead.
The righteous in Christ will be raised to physically inhabit the new heavens and earth, while the wicked will be physically raised for eternal destruction – i.e. the ‘second death.’
In this post, I aim to explore the promise of the resurrection of the dead in greater depth. In particular, I want to ask three questions of the Bible:
Does it matter if we believe in the resurrection of the dead?
What will the resurrection of the dead be like?
How does this affect our lives now?
1. Does it matter if we believe in the resurrection of the dead?
The answer to this question is a resounding YES!
The resurrection of the dead was central to the gospel message that Jesus and the Apostles preached.
There is no Christianity or gospel message without the resurrection of the dead – Christ’s and ours.
A. Resurrection is the Linchpin of Christianity.
The resurrection of the dead is so central to our faith that I like to call it the ‘linchpin’ of Christianity. What is a linchpin? It is the pin that locks a wheel onto an axle.
What happens if the linchpin is not there?
The wheels come off.
Likewise, without the linchpin of the resurrection of the dead, the wheels come off the wagon of Christianity.
Here is how Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians 15:12
‘Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.’ - 1 Corinthians 15:12–23.
If we do not believe that dead people will be raised from the dead, then that means that Christ was not raised from the dead. And if Christ was not raised from the dead, then our sins were not paid for, and we are not saved from anything.
More specifically, the Bible here clearly says that if the resurrection of the dead is not true, then:
· Our preaching is in vain
· Our faith is in vain
· We are misrepresenting God (i.e. we are lying)
· Our faith is futile
· We are still in our sins
· All those who have died believing in Christ are truly dead
· We are to be pitied more than any other people
You see, Christianity is not just about Jesus dying on a cross to pay for your sins.
If He only died on the cross, but He was not raised from the dead, then sin and death themselves were not truly conquered.
B. Resurrection sets Christianity apart from other religions
The resurrection of the dead is at the center of the gospel that both Jesus and the apostles preached, though sadly, it is frequently missing from our modern gospel presentations. For example:
Jesus promised the resurrection of the dead: “Jesus said to [Martha], ‘Your brother [Lazarus] will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live.” - John 11:23-25
Peter preached about the resurrection of the dead to 3,000 at Pentecost: ‘Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.’- Acts 2:29–32
When Paul was in the city of Athens, he was preaching ‘Jesus and the resurrection’ (Acts 17:18). The Bible does not say Paul was preaching ‘Jesus and eternal life,’ ‘Jesus and abundant life,’ or ‘Jesus and your best life now.’ Specifically, Paul preached: ‘The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’ - Acts 17:30–31
There is a common fallacy in our world today that all religions lead to the same place, or that in essence, we all worship the same god, but that we have different names for god or different ways of getting to him, or her, or it… whatever god may be. And each of these religions has an opinion on what happens to us when we die. For example:
· Ancient Greece – In ancient Greek religion, it was common to believe that the souls of humans were released from the body at death and entered into an underworld called Hades. Some versions of these views included sections of Hades that were reserved for people based on whether their deeds in life had been good or evil.
· Buddhism – teaches that people are either reborn into another being (reincarnation), or once they have attained “awakening” that they pass into nirvana, a vague state of nothingness and peace that is free from suffering.
· Hinduism – believes that souls are immortal and, similar to Buddhism, are reincarnated into new beings until they can obtain what is called “moksha” or release from the life-death-rebirth cycle, and they are absorbed into Brahman, the highest principle in the universe.
One of the things that unites many of the world’s religions is their belief that human souls are immortal and that these souls live on in various forms after death.
What happens to our souls may vary from one religion to the next. Yet, all religions teach humans ultimately end up in some eternal realm, such as Hades, Valhalla, Nirvana, or Heaven, or they are absorbed into something larger, like a god, the universe, or nature.
However, what sets Christianity apart from most, though not all, other religions is our distinct belief in the resurrection of the dead, not just the passage of the soul to another realm.
However, what sets Christianity apart from ALL other religions is that our GOD, Himself, became a Man, died, and was resurrected from the dead.
2. What will the resurrection of the dead be like?
With all the resurrection talk in the Bible by Jesus, Paul, Peter, and others, it would be reasonable for people listening to ask:
‘What will the resurrection of the dead be like?’
That is precisely what the people in the Corinthian church were asking Paul after he preached about the resurrection of the dead. This was his answer:
‘But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.’ - 1 Corinthians 15:35-44
Two things I will note in this passage:
First, we cannot be raised from the dead unless we first die. I hope this is obvious. But I point this out because Paul mentions it. He says: ‘you foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.’
And why does he say that? Because those who were listening to Paul were trying to understand the resurrection of the dead from the perspective of what they see around them in this world. They were skeptics and disbelieved in the resurrection because it did not make logical or rational sense to them. But Paul points out that the resurrection of the dead is not a normal earthly process that occurs in this life in the world around us. The resurrection of the dead is a supernatural process of God that occurs when we die to this world. The people Paul was writing to were simply thinking too small and too much about this world.
The second thing to note about this passage is that when a farmer plants a seed, that seed dies, and the new life that springs from that seed is entirely different than the seed itself. For example, look at the seed of a carrot (on the left). If we have never before seen a carrot, it would be very hard to fully visualize the type of plant that will grow from that seed.
This is precisely the comparison that Paul makes between our current, mortal, earthly bodies and our future immortal, spiritual, and heavenly bodies.
If you have never seen a resurrection body (and none of us has), it is extremely difficult to imagine what that will look like. But when our current bodies die, they will be like the carrot seeds that are sown into the ground and die.
Our resurrection bodies will be like the new carrot plants that grow up out of the seeds that were sown and died – completely different and much more glorious. Deformities of the earthly seed are completely removed in the eternal, resurrected body.
So the answer to our second question is that our resurrection bodies will be far different and more amazing than our earthly bodies are now:
Our current bodies will be sown perishable, but they will be raised imperishable
They will be sown in weakness, but they will be raised in power
They will be sown in pain, suffering, and grief, but they will be raised without sickness, mourning, or tears
They will be sown as a natural body, limited by this current, physical world; but they will be raised as a spiritual (and also physical) body designed for the new heavens and new earth to come.
3. How does the resurrection of the dead affect our lives now?
Why do we care about the resurrection of the dead?
How does that impact you and me now? I want to highlight three reasons we should care fervently about the resurrection of the dead:
First, it gives us hope. All of us, at times, experience the aches, pains, and afflictions of the flesh, of this mortal body. Some of you know the pains of the flesh on a daily or hourly basis. Some of you experience those pains, at times, to an extreme level. Our bodies succumb to all sorts of temptations, diseases, weakness, exhaustion, and grief. At times, the pains of the flesh can be overwhelming, and in this life, they can rob us of the hope that we have. But if we are believers in Jesus Christ, we know suffering and pain will be well repaid in the resurrection. Revelation 21:4 says that “[God] will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4). Reflecting on the coming future resurrection can give us great hope in the midst of the great physical turmoil we sometimes experience now.
Second, the resurrection of the dead can give us great boldness and courage. Jesus said the following: “Have no fear of them [the men who persecute you], for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:26–28). When we know that, no matter what happens to us in this lifetime, God will one day soon raise us from the dead into glorious new resurrection bodies, what in the world do we have to be afraid of? What do we need to worry about? There is no one in this life – not a friend, not an enemy, not a family member, not a boss, not a co-worker – who can do you harm permanently. There may be physical, mental, or emotional harm done in this life. But we need not fear any of it. In the end, if you love and trust Jesus, you will rise from the dead victorious. You need only to fear God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell for all eternity.
Third, the resurrection of the dead brings us comfort. When someone who loves Jesus dies, we may cry. But we usually do not cry for their soul; we know their soul is with Jesus and that one day, their body will be raised from the dead and reunited with that soul. We may cry because we see a cold, lifeless, dead body lying in a coffin in front of us with eyes that do not see us, ears that do not hear us, arms that cannot embrace us, and a mind that cannot engage in conversation and fellowship with us. We mourn the loss of the physical presence of a friend, companion, lover, mother, father, child, sibling. Yet, because we believe firmly in the resurrection of the dead, we know that with great joy, we will once again see, hear, speak, and embrace their physical presence once more. There may be nothing as beautiful in this world as the death of someone who, without a doubt, loved our Lord Jesus Christ and who, we know, will be raised from the dead into a glorious new body. This is why the Bible says, ‘Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints’ (Psalm 116:15).
Does the truth and teaching of the resurrection of the dead affect us now? I certainly hope you see that it does.
Final Thoughts
The apostle Paul was willing to give up everything he had for the sake of Christ and his hope in the resurrection of the dead. Here’s what he said:
‘I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ… that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.’ - Philippians 3:8, 10–11
The resurrection of the dead – both Christ’s and ours – is foundational and central to Christianity.
There is nothing you have in life that is so valuable that you should not be willing to trade it away to gain the glorious resurrection that awaits all believers when Jesus Christ comes again.
Aaron Hopper
Aaron Hopper calls himself, first and foremost, ‘a sinner saved by grace’ who looks forward eagerly to the return of Christ, resurrection of the dead, and restoration of all creation.
He is, secondly, the husband of a remarkable woman and father of three wonderful teenagers.
Aaron served for 22 years in the Air Force, first as an F-16 fighter pilot and later as a T-6 instructor pilot.
He is now a captain at a major US airline.
Aaron holds a seminary degree from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and has a passion for teaching and writing about the Bible.
I (Wade Burleson) knew the Hoppers before they began dating. Both were active participants in the church where I pastored while they were single and in pilot training.
Some of the most incredible stories of courage, uniqueness, and leadership come from Aaron and his wife. Hopefully, one day a book will be written about them.
A very timely post for me, having lost my soul mate handsome feller 14 months ago. Saving it and reading it often, reminding me of His resurrection and ours, thus giving hope.