THE RESURRECTION — A SURE PLEDGE

The body that had been specially prepared for Him in the incarnation (Hebrews 10:5), that had been laid down in death upon the Cross (Hebrews 10:10) was now raised and came forth from the tomb.

Matthew 28:5-6

^5 “And the angel answered and said unto the women, “Fear ye not, for I know that ye seek Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here, for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”

John 20:27

“Then said He to Thomas, “Reach hither thy finger and behold My hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing.”

In resurrection, as in incarnation, He was still the God-man. He arose from the grave on that first Easter morning with the body which He had taken in incarnation, which had been nailed to the Cross in death, which had been placed in Joseph’s tomb, which had been preserved from corruption, and which after three days had been raised from the dead. In that body, He appeared to the disciples, proving to them His identity by the nail prints in His hands and feet and the spear print in His side. In that body, He ascended to Heaven and sits today at the Father’s right hand, receiving the worship of countless multitudes out of every kindred, tongue, and people and nation who are redeemed to God by the blood of the Lamb slain on Calvary. In that glorified yet scarred body, He will live through the ages of the ages, the visible reminder to redeemed sinners “of the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

While the body of the risen God-man was the same body, yet it was a changed body. From the truth revealed in Philippians 3:20-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:42-50 it is clear that the body Christ Jesus had in resurrection was a glorified, incorruptible, mighty, spiritual, heavenly body. The limitations of His earthly life were those of His human nature; the limitations incident to the humiliation to which He had voluntarily submitted. But in the resurrection, He threw off all these fetters of the flesh. “His birth marked the voluntary self-limitation of His Godhood in His descent into our race in His incarnation. His resurrection marked His ascent out of these limitations and His return to His former glory. It was the passageway through which He went to the resumption of the unlimited powers of His Godhood” (A. E. Wood, The Person and Work of Jesus Christ, p. 56).

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the sure pledge of the believer’s resurrection. When comforting Martha about her brother Lazarus, who had been dead four days, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Just as truly as Christ’s prophecy concerning His own resurrection was literally fulfilled, will this promise to Martha concerning the resurrection of every believer also be fulfilled. The resurrection of Him, who is the Head of the body, makes the resurrection of every member of the body not only certain but essential.

1 Corinthians 15:20-23

^20 “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of those who slept. ²¹ For since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive; ²³ but every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.”

And as He rose with a glorified, incorruptible, mighty, spiritual, heavenly body, so shall we. “As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:49).

Philippians 3:20-21

^20 “For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: ²¹ who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself.”

THE RESURRECTION — A NEW BEGINNING

Colossians 1:18

^“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”

Through the last Adam, God has provided another way of union with the human race, and in Him, He has made a new beginning. Through the perfection of His incarnate manhood, God’s second Man has qualified to become the Head of a new creation. Through the victory of His crucifixion, He has put an end to the old creation, and now, through the power of His resurrection, a new order of beings is formed, of which He is appointed the executive Head. As firstborn from the dead, He becomes the Progenitor of a new race of redeemed men, the Head of a new company of people whose life on earth is to be transformed daily into His image from glory to glory and who are ultimately to share the perfection of His glorification.

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as twin events, certain definite issues in the conflict between God and Satan were met and eternally settled. The victory over Satan was fully and finally won, which robbed him of the last vestige of claim to sovereignty over the earth or the race. He is henceforth a usurper and a thief. Jesus Christ gained back all that had been lost, and now the earth and all that is therein is His not only by right of creation but by right of conquest.

To the believer in Jesus Christ, it means that the sovereignty of Satan over his life is ended, and the sovereignty of God begins; that he leaves the sphere of sin, death, darkness, and disorder and enters the sphere of righteousness, life, light, and liberty; that he ceases to be a subject in the kingdom of Satan and becomes a subject in the Kingdom of God; that he severs his alliance with Satan’s system, the world, and avows his allegiance as a member of Christ’s body the Church, to Christ Himself who is its Head. It means, in other words, that the old creation with all that pertains to it ends at the Cross and is buried in the tomb and that a new creation comes forth in the resurrection. It means that the old relationship with sin, self, and Satan is altogether annulled, and a new union with God in Christ Jesus is made, and that in this new relationship, Christ becomes not only the believer’s Savior but his Lord and his Life.

Through His death on the Cross, Christ Jesus willed to every man who will take it perfect salvation from the pollution, penalty, and power of sin; perfect victory over death, both spiritual and physical; perfect release from the bondage of Satan. Through the resurrection from the dead, He is appointed by the Father to be Executor of this will, to be the Mediator of the New Covenant, to be the Dispenser of all the blessings and benefactions which were given through grace to all those who have become sons and heirs of God through faith in Him. The resurrection of Christ Jesus is the third span in the bridge of salvation.

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Hallelujah!! The resurrection of Jesus Christ makes the resurrection of every believer a certainty. Thank You, Lord, through Your resurrection, we have been set free from the ruling of Satan, sin, and death over our lives.