Ressurection Promises

Our Lord and God Jesus Christ is the first fruits of the Resurrection, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep," (1 Corinthians 15:20), and "And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy." (Colossians 1:18). When Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, there was raising of dead, "When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He yielded up His spirit, At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They came out of the tombs after Jesus' resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people." (Matthew 27:49-53). Christ's own Resurrection differs from raising of Lazarus and Talitha (John 11:38-44, Mark 5:21-43), which was Jesus Christ who is God and Man raising them from the dead; in case of Christ Jesus' Resurrection, He alone rose Himself , "The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded," (John 10:17-18), However because Father is in Him and He in Father (John 10:30, John 17:19-23) then Father also raised Christ, and the same for Holy Spirit who proceeds from Father and Son (John 14:26, John 16:13, John 20:19-22): One Holy Trinity (One God in Three Persons); there was no mere mortal human who touched Jesus Christ's body to raise Him, Jesus rose from dead on His own (John 10:17-18) and by Power of God [Head, Trinity as aforementioned] (Romans 10:9). Jesus was and is the One Time God Man (1 John 4:1-3, John 1:1-17), Only God raised Jesus from Dead, and Jesus is God, One with Father (John 10:30) and with Holy Spirit (John 20:19-22). Amen.

In same way that Jesus rose Lazarus and the little girl from dead, and those at His Resurrection, Christ promises to raise us from dead into incorruptible bodies, bodies that are new and superior, "³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶ After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; ⁷ then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; ⁸ and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. ⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. ¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; ¹⁴ and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. ¹⁵ Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; ¹⁷ and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. ²⁰ But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. ²¹ For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, ²⁴ then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. ²⁵ For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. ²⁶ The last enemy that will be abolished is death. ²⁷ For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. ²⁸ When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.²⁹ Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? ³⁰ Why are we also in danger every hour? ³¹ I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. ³² If ^[i]from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. ³³ Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” ³⁴ Become sober-minded ^[j]as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. ³⁵ But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?” ³⁶ You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; ³⁷ and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. ³⁸ But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. ³⁹ All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. ⁴⁰ There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. ⁴¹ 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 also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised ^[m]an imperishable body; ⁴³ it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴ it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. ⁴⁸ As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. ⁴⁹ Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. ⁵⁰ Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. ⁵⁵ O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; ⁵⁷ but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord," (1 Corinthians 15:1-58) and "¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. ¹⁵ For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Behold the promises to us that we shall not be disembodied spirit, but we shall be changed, in twinkling of an eye and be given new bodies like Christ's (see John 20, whole chapter) that are incorruptible, and that do not perish! 

I think it is worth noting that the Apostles and Christ himself did not call it death, but to sleep in the LORD. Because Jesus is Life (John 14:6) and created all things (John 1:3), death has lost its sting (1 Corinthians 15:55-57), and Christ Jesus holds the keys to death and hades (Revelation 1:18). As Jesus said, "He is God of living, not the dead." (Mark 12:27). And so we are not to fear, but to rejoice in promise that Jesus Christ shall raise our bodies and give us new and superior bodies! I notice that Christ never does anything to scare us. While the evil one and his fantasy stories have tales of disembodied spirits, creeping alien rulers from space coming down to conquer, and death in nihilist sense; the truth is Jesus promises us a body for our spirit, He came humbly in a way that did not scare or frighten us, that is as child and baby, and death and its sting of fear is swallowed up in His Resurrection Life, and promise if eternal life to us (John 6:40). Our Lord and God Jesus Christ takes away all fear and replaces it with love! How we wait expectantly to be changed in twinkle of an eye and for those who are now asleep (reposed) to rise from dead and we all join in sky to be with Him! (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). 

Let us rejoice in Resurrection! That death has lost its sting, and that Christ shall raise us from the dead at His Second Coming (Return). O that we long for the day when we shall be transformed into new bodies that can no longer die, suffer pain, or torment! As hymn goes, "O Happy Day! O Happy Day!" Let us Pray that Christ Jesus comes quickly to raise those asleep from dead and to change us in twinkle of an eye into incorruptible bodies. Amen.