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CHRIST’S RESURRECTION VICTORY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

Richard Brown

I desire to say a few words as to the greatness of our Lord Jesus, and the greatness of His resurrection victory. Think of how tremendous it is that the Lord Jesus has not only been raised from among the dead, but that He is now seated at the right hand of God. I have been especially struck with the opening of Psalm 110: “Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put thine enemies as footstool of thy feet” (v 1). “Jehovah”, that is God, said that to “my Lord”, that is Jesus. How great must a man be to be welcomed by God, to be invited by God, to take His place beside God! God has never said that to anyone else, and indeed no other man would be worthy or able to take that place. How great must Jesus be that God should actually invite Him to “sit at my right hand, until I put thine enemies as footstool of thy feet”. Think of this too, that God has undertaken to make all His enemies to be the footstool of His feet. God has pledged Himself to do that. The position today is that Jesus is at the right hand of God, and He is waiting for that moment when God will make His enemies the footstool of His feet.

Now, it seems to me that there is something that we need to think very carefully about in this connection. If God would exalt a man like that, there is something that we all need to take account of. What is God saying to us? What is He setting forth in Jesus? What is it about this Man, speaking simply, that has so drawn forth God’s approbation? Then to understand that God is to make His enemies the footstool of His feet. That consideration ought to lead all of us to review where we stand in relation to Him. I should not like to be among His enemies. I should not like to be made the footstool of His feet. Until that time God is having Him heralded forth as glad tidings, so that rather than being His enemies persons should be subdued by His grace, and brought into subjection to Him. I want you to lay hold of what a tremendous thing it is that Jesus should now be seated at the right hand of God.

What I want to show you from the chapter we have read, this great resurrection chapter, is how the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is something which is going to affect every single person who has ever lived. There is no one who will be left untouched, in some way, by the resurrection of Christ. For many it is going to mean unspeakable blessing. For many persons the resurrection of Christ is nothing but good. But we must also accept that for some it is going to mean solemn judgment. The fact is, as a consequence of the resurrection of one blessed Man, every other person will in one way or another be affected.

What the apostle Paul does in this chapter is to begin with the resurrection of Christ, and then to proceed step by step to show us all the glorious consequences that flow from it. I want to look at those briefly tonight.

What we have in the first verses that we read are what we might speak of as the great gospel facts: “Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he was raised the third day, according to the scriptures.” These are the gospel facts, and you cannot shake them. Whether you believe them or not does not alter them. We would that you might believe them because the salvation of your soul depends upon it.

When Paul says, “Christ died for our sins”, he begins where we all need to begin. If there is any one here who is exercised about his relationship with God, he must understand that we have to begin with the question of our sins. I need to understand that because God is holy, and because I am a sinner, my sins stand between me and God. If I am to be brought into right relationship with Him, then this great pile of sins which stands between me and God needs to be dealt with. What is more, it needs to be dealt with to God’s satisfaction. There was nothing that we could do to put away those sins. That is what gives meaning to this, “that Christ died for our sins”. That is the great thing to understand. The question that I raise with you is, Are you amongst those persons who can say, “Christ died for our sins”? Paul was writing of himself and the Corinthians. But Paul and the Corinthians are now dead. Therefore, the immediate point in the gospel preaching today is you and your sins, and me and my sins. Can all here say, in sincerity, that “Christ died for our sins”? I am thankful that by God’s grace I can say that Christ died for my sins. I do not know how it is with you, but I am finding more and more as time goes by what a tremendous thing it is to understand that Christ actually died for my sins. Sometimes I feel that I have hardly begun to understand it; first of all to think that somebody else should die for my sins, that somebody else should actually suffer for the things that I have done; but more than that, that it should be Christ, God’s anointed Man; it should be the one Man who is such an infinite source of pleasure and satisfaction to God, that He should die for my sins! Peter says, “who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree”, 1 Peter 2: 24. Is that true? Can it be that my Lord Jesus actually bore my sins? He actually felt the burden and the pain of the things that I have done. I can hardly believe it. Yet I do believe it. I rest my soul on it. The salvation of my soul depends upon the fact that Jesus has died for my sins. I am thankful that by grace I know what it is to have my sins forgiven, and I know what it is to have peace with God. Now, dear friend, what about you? You say, I would love to know peace with God. You can know it. You say, How can I know it? You must to turn to God in repentance and in faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. “Repentance towards God” simply means that you tell God what it is that you have done, and tell Him that you are sorry for what you have done. The more deeply we enter into that the more conscious we shall be of God’s forgiveness. Then “faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ” means that you believe that when Jesus died on the cross it was for you. It is a fact that He died. It is a matter of faith that He died for you. I can assure you, on the clearest testimony of God’s word, that if you will turn to God in repentance, and in faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, then God will be free to forgive fully every last one of your sins. How blessed that is! And it is all because Christ has died for them.

The next thing that Paul says is that “he was buried”. I wonder if you have ever thought about that. We have heard before of how Jesus bore our sins upon the cross, and how He died there for guilty sinners, but has it ever occurred to you that Jesus was not raised from the cross? He went into the grave, and He was there for three days and three nights. Why does Paul bring that in here? The apostle is building up to this great resurrection, and he wants to bring home to our souls that Jesus really died. He was laid in a tomb, and the stone was rolled across it. He was left there for three days and three nights. Jesus lay among the dead.

Then it says, “he was raised the third day, according to the scriptures”. I want you to get hold of this, for the resurrection of Christ has been well referred to as the cardinal truth of Christianity. The resurrection of our Lord Jesus is the one truth upon which all else hangs. If Jesus has not been raised from the dead then there is no salvation for you and me. Paul says, “if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (v 17). If Jesus is still lying in the grave, His blood, though ever precious to God, would have no cleansing power for the sinner. The reason why there is salvation for you tonight, is because the Man who died for our sins is now seated at the right hand of God: it is not only because He has He died for our sins, but also because God has raised Him from among the dead. Why is that so important? Because by raising Him from among the dead God is telling us that He is perfectly satisfied with Jesus. In raising Jesus from among the dead God wants you to understand that all that Jesus has done is enough for Him to put away every last one of your sins. The great cardinal truth of the gospel is that Jesus is with God now. We have to ask ourselves, Do we really believe that? No one will argue with me about it here, for we have all heard the gospel before. But do we really believe the fact that the Man who died for our sins is now living at the right hand of God?

Where we read in verse 20, the apostle Paul proceeds to expand on some of the glorious consequences that flow from Christ’s wonderful resurrection. He says, “But now Christ is raised from among the dead, first-fruits of those fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also resurrection of those that are dead. For as in the Adam all die, thus also in the Christ all shall be made alive”. And so, dear friend, what I want you to understand, in the first place, is that as a consequence of Christ’s resurrection every other person is going to be raised. You say, I thought it was just believers. No; as a consequence of Christ’s resurrection every single soul who has ever lived is going to be raised. They will not all be raised at the same time; this scripture shows us that they are going to be raised according to their rank. It shows us that God has ordered things according to their priority; and I think we can understand therefore why it is that Christ should be in the first rank: “the first-fruits, Christ”.

I would like to give you some impression of what has accrued to God personally from the resurrection of Christ, of God’s personal pleasure in raising Jesus from among the dead. We sang:

By the glory

Christ was claimed, on earth who died. (Hymn 404)

God could not leave Him there, this blessed Man who had glorified Him in His life, and supremely in His death. It was a matter of righteousness that God should raise Him from among the dead. You say, God must raise Him. Yes; and if God must raise Him, then heaven must receive Him. Peter says that He is the one “whom heaven indeed must receive”, Acts 3: 21. Think of heaven’s gates swinging open to receive this glorious Saviour. The Psalmist says, “Lift up your heads, ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in”, Ps 24: 7. Think of Him, the glorious Saviour, going in triumph into the glory. There He is now, as we sang of Him this morning:

Centre of glory and love (Hymn 311)

Think of Him there as the one who is the delight of His Father’s heart, the one who is worshipped by the angels, the light and joy of heaven. I love to think of Him in that place where all adore Him. As Hymn 14 describes it:

Grateful incense this, ascending

Ever to the Father’s throne;

Every knee to Jesus bending,

All the mind in heav’n is one.

How glorious to think of it! We feel our praises are feeble, but think of Him there; He is in that place where all adore Him: all the mind in heaven is one. There are no questions about Jesus in heaven. Heaven is alight with His glory. It gives a thrill to my soul to think of Him there. It rejoices my heart, more than I can tell you, to think of my beloved Saviour who suffered so much for me, who bore my sins in His body, in that place there where He is the light and joy of heaven. The world had no place for the lowly Saviour. It says that He was “the stone which the builders cast away as worthless”, 1 Peter 2: 7. What words to be used of the precious Saviour! The picture is of a builder taking up a stone, and finding absolutely no use for it whatever, and discarding it just like that. But God has taken Him and given Him the highest place. You say, He is beyond suffering now. Yes, He is beyond suffering. But it is much more than that. For heaven is ablaze with His glory! He fills the place! What a glorious Saviour He is! Well may we sing those words:

Jesus, Lord Jesus, we love and adore Thee;

Glorious Thy Name, all our praises above. (Hymn 4)

I trust that the light of these things may touch your heart, “the first-fruits, Christ”.

Then he says, “then those that are the Christ’s at his coming”. That tells us something else. Not only has Christ been raised, but there is a whole band of persons who belong to Him who are also going to be raised.

Friend, listen carefully, the resurrection has already begun. The first rank has already gone, for Jesus is in the glory. The second rank is getting ready to go, “those that are the Christ’s at his coming”. We are waiting for Him. We are waiting for that loud triumphant cry. We are waiting for that blessed resurrection morning, when we shall be taken to be with Him too. That is what we are looking forward to. You say, How can you be so bold about these things? How can you be so sure that you will be included? There is one simple reason: it is because I know that I am one of “the Christ’s”. It is not through any merit of my own; I have none. It is not because I am a sinner less than anyone else. But for the simple reason that I know that I am Christ’s, I am going to have part in this glorious resurrection harvest. Now, what about you? I want you to understand that the resurrection has begun, and the saints are waiting to go. We have Christ and the glory before us. I ask you soberly, Are you coming with us? We are waiting to go in, and we want you to come too. We would that you might receive Christ, and that you too might take your place among the ranks of the redeemed, awaiting that glorious resurrection morning. As I have said, the first rank has gone in, and the second rank is waiting to move. You cannot lose any time. You dear young people, listen to this, do not think that you can leave it until some other time. We have not a moment to lose, because this great resurrection has already begun. You can come with us; you can be amongst us if you will become one of Christ’s; by receiving the blessed Saviour you will be numbered amongst His own.

Now, there is another side to this. It is not entered into so much as far as this chapter is concerned, but there is what I might refer to as ‘the last rank’. Scripture tells us that there is to be a “resurrection of judgment”, John 5: 29. It is solemn to consider. It is almost too awful to think of persons being raised simply in order that they may be judged. But it is a testimony to the glory of Christ’s resurrection, and His power, that as He Himself says, “Wonder not at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice”, John 5: 28. The other day as we were burying an aged sister in one of those crowded London cemeteries, where there are massed ranks of tombs, stretching one after the other as far as the eye can see, those words came into my mind, “all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall go forth”. How majestic that is! How it brings home to our souls the power of Christ. For the unsaved the prospect is too awful to consider, that there are persons who will be raised in order to face their eternal ruin. Oh may God preserve any here from being among them! May God preserve any one of us from being in the last rank! We would appeal to you, once more, to understand that this great resurrection harvest has begun. We would that you might find your place among the redeemed, in order that you should have your own blessed part in it. Think of how great the resurrection of Christ is, that it affects every other soul who has ever lived.

The second great consequence of His resurrection that is referred to here, is that all things are to be subjected to him. God will ensure that. It speaks of a time “when all things shall have been brought into subjection to him”. And it presses the point that the only one who is not put into subjection to Him is God Himself. But that only serves to emphasise that every other single soul will, sooner or later, be brought into subjection to Christ. God has already given all things into His hands, and it is His purpose that Christ “might have the first place in all things”, Col. 1: 18. You say, I do not see it. There is not much evidence in the world to show that all things have been subjected to Christ. Well, the writer to the Hebrews takes up that point. He says, “we see not yet all things subjected to him, but we see Jesus. . . crowned with glory and honour”, Heb 2: 8,9. The writer would say, The greatest thing has happened. It is a greater moral triumph that there should be a living man in glory, that Jesus should be crowned with glory and honour, than that one day all things are to be subjected to Him. If God can raise Jesus, if God can crown Him with glory and honour, it is a small thing for Him to bring everything into subjection to Him. The purpose of the gospel is that you and I might be brought into subjection to Him now, that we might be subdued by His grace, and that we might surrender ourselves to Him.

Now, where do you stand in relation to these things? Often one finds that when the gospel is preached we tend to stop at the forgiveness of our sins. But there is a further thought in the gospel, and it is that each of us should be brought to that point where we are prepared to surrender our lives to Christ. What about it? In these sober moments, as we sit under the sound of the gospel, there is the opportunity for all of us to review where we are, and to review our course. The question I raise with you is, What is the governing principle of your life? If you consider the decisions that you have made, the things that you have done, and the places that you have been to, what do they reveal as to the governing principle of your life? Is it self, or is it Christ? Is it your own will, or is it subjection to Him? We have to face the fact that we prefer our own wills to His. But one purpose of the gospel is to bring home to us this appeal: look at God’s thoughts about Him; what a blessed Person He must be to have so drawn forth God’s approbation; is He not worthy to be surrendered to? Then consider too that He was great enough to die for your sins and to accomplish the eternal salvation of your soul. If He was great enough to satisfy God with respect to the putting away of your sins, what can He not do for you now? I trust that you might get some sense of God’s appeal in the gospel. God would love you to be brought into subjection to Christ; firstly, because it is full of blessing for you; and secondly, because every time a soul surrenders to Christ, we are another step forward in the accomplishment of God’s great plan that Christ should have the first place in all things. So we would appeal to you, on God’s behalf, that you might indeed surrender your life to Christ. Some of us, in the very small measure in which we have given ourselves to Him, have proved the unspeakable blessing that comes from so doing.

Again, there is a solemn side to it because there is a day coming when even His enemies will be brought into subjection to Him. That shows us that we cannot trifle with the gospel. We would urge you to take advantage of being subdued by His grace. I would not want to be among His enemies, for if one thing is certain, it is that God is going to vindicate His Christ. We often reflect on the precious suffering pathway of Jesus, and on the way He was reviled by men. But I ask whether you have you ever considered what it must have meant for God to look down upon His beloved Son in such incongruous circumstances? I ask you soberly, have you ever thought what it must have meant for God to witness men spitting in the face of His beloved Son? He heard the taunts that they hurled at Jesus all through His life, and especially at the cross. One of the things that was thrust at Him when He was on the cross was that “He trusted upon God; let him save him now if he will have him”, Matt 27: 43. That was a challenge to God. It is challenge that will not go unanswered. To think that Jesus was there to meet God on behalf of sinners and they could say, “if he will have him”. Oh the provocation of God! Oh the challenge to His throne! As I say, that is a challenge that will not go unanswered. God is going to establish beyond doubt that He will have Christ; and He will have Him instead of every other man. God is going to vindicate His Christ, and I want to be on the victorious side. I would not want to be made the footstool of His feet. God is going to show Him to the world, and every one will be made to bow the knee to Him. Would you not do it now? Do you see how much He means to God? Do you see God’s desires for Him? How God loves Him! Would you not be brought into subjection to Him now? The subjecting of all things to Jesus is a very great consequence of His resurrection.

Now I pass on to verse 51, where we have the final great consequence of His glorious resurrection, that not only has Jesus won a great victory for Himself by rising from among the dead, but I want to show how His victory extends to all His saints. It is rather like David of old, who distributed the spoils of his victory among his friends (see 1 Sam 30: 26).

Paul says, “I tell you a mystery”. What is that mystery? I do not think the mystery is that the dead will be raised, because there are plenty of examples of that in the scriptures. I do not even think that the mystery is that the dead will be raised and changed because, as the apostle says in verse 37, you have a testimony to that in creation, that when you plant a seed it grows up into something else. As I understand it, the mystery is this: there are persons who are going to be changed who have never died at all! Think of the glory of that! He says, “We shall not all fall asleep”. We do not have that in common. It may be that some in this room will fall asleep, and it may be that others will not fall asleep. Think of the mighty power of death, this dreaded power, before which every other man, one after another, has gone down, however great or good he may have been. What would men, with all their advancements, not give to overcome the power of death? Yet as the result of one Man’s resurrection there are going to be thousands and thousands of saints who will never die at all!

Then he says, “we shall all be changed”; that is the thing we all have in common. We are all going to be changed, “in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must needs put on incorruptibility, and this mortal put on immortality”. Oh, dear friends, can we get the glory of this into our souls? It comes home to us especially when we bury some of these aged saints, who were outwardly broken in mind and body, who outwardly were a picture of abject weakness. It is lovely to think that when they are taken their spirits go to be with Jesus. But the next thing they will know, as far as their bodies are concerned, will be incorruptibility and immortality! Who would credit such things to human beings? We could not have guessed at these things. And it is all thanks to the glory of one blessed Man, who has wrought such a change on behalf of His beloved people.

This is something that “must” be: “For this corruptible must needs put on incorruptibility, and this mortal put on immortality.” Why must it be? Because Jesus wants us in His presence, and wants us there in a condition where there will be nothing to hinder our enjoyment of His love, nor His of ours. For that is what we await. He has given us the victory. May we get that into our souls. We have to wait for the change, but we have not to wait for the victory. I make that special appeal to the dear older brethren, who face their twilight years: what do we know of present victory over the power of death? He “gives us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ”. May we receive it from His hands.

I do not want to occupy you with the change, but with the glory of that one blessed Man who has accomplished it for us. We wait for Him. I look forward to His coming because it will be our first opportunity to see His face. Have you ever wondered what He will be like? The question was asked, What will Christ be like when He comes? The reply was that He will be “altogether lovely”. He will. I think when we see Him we shall find that He is all that our longing hearts could wish for. Our beloved Saviour is coming to take all His precious ones to be forever with Himself. This scripture tells us that it could happen at any moment. Thus the glorious fruits of Christ’s resurrection victory extend to all His saints.

May His glory lay hold of our souls. That is what we would desire as we come to the end of this occasion, that you should be left with an impression of Him. One’s simple desire in taking up the preaching of the gospel is to honour Him, our beloved Lord Jesus; that you might see Him, the delight of His Father’s heart, the joy of the saints, the One who is worshipped by the angels, the light and joy of heaven. Friend, if you will honour Him tonight, if you will receive Him into your heart, if He will have a greater place in your heart than before, then this gospel will have achieved its purpose. Oh that you might receive Him, our Lord Jesus. We commend Him to you in God’s Name.

LONDON

21 May 2006

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