RESURRECTION
1 Corinthians 15:13-26,51-55; Romans 8:22-26
I would like to speak about resurrection. It was the substance of the testimony in the Acts. The apostles preached the resurrection of the Lord Jesus (see Acts 4:33). My mind went to John the baptist, who sent his disciples to ask, “Art thou he that is coming, or are we to wait for another?”, Luke 7:19. One feature that was coming out in Christ was that He raised the dead. No one else had done that; it was unique to Christ. Only Christ can bring about resurrection. He has the power to raise the dead.
I read in John 11, a very fine portion of John’s gospel, to draw attention to the Lord’s power to raise the dead. The passage tells us that Lazarus had died. It goes on to speak of corruption – they did not embalm him with spices to slow down corruption, because already in these few days his body had become corrupted. Martha says of her brother, “Lord, he stinks already, for he is four days there” (v.39). Christ dealt with both death and corruption. He met corruption in Lazarus and He raised him from the dead. Is that not wonderful? It says, “But when Jesus heard it, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it”. God was going to glorify His Son. In Romans it says of Him, “marked out Son of God in power … by resurrection of the dead” (chap.1:4). It does not say how many, but they were dead. The time is coming when He will raise all the dead! That is how great He is. And Lazarus was in the Lord’s mind when He says in verse 23, “Thy brother shall rise again”. What an encouragement to these bereft sisters, the little household whom the Lord loved, Lazarus and his two sisters, in Bethany. Lazarus was sick and the sisters sent to the Lord for help.
We can have total confidence in Christ. You and I cannot do a thing about death, and that is why the world fears it; and they do not know what happens after death. Men are trying everything to extend life, but every one will acknowledge that a time comes when a person dies. It is solemn, is it not? When death occurs, things become fixed. If you die in your sins, then you will be raised in your sins. That is a very solemn matter: it is something that you cannot change, it becomes final. But here is One who is able to intervene, because He loved Lazarus and Martha and Mary. He loved them, and He says, “Where have ye put him?” (v.34). The Lord knew where Lazarus was, but He wanted the sisters to come with Him. If we accompany Christ, that is where we learn. You will learn things by going with Christ where He is going.
The Lord is going to the tomb. He says, “Where have ye put him?”. He knew where he was laid. He knows everything! He knows why you came here today, why you have remained. He has you in mind for blessing, He has me in mind for blessing. That is Christ, the glorious Man. He says, “Where have ye put him?” and they show Him the way. He knows what He is going to do. The Lord always knew what He was going to do. Then He says, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes on me, though he have died, shall live; and every one who lives and believes on me shall never die”.
These are statements of truth. The resurrection is so important. I was looking again at the verse, “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”, 1 Cor.15:3,4. The Lord Jesus in manhood was always in God’s mind. God allowed everything in the Lord’s life to transpire to accomplish His counsels. God has never changed His counsels and He never will change His counsels or His purpose. We sometimes say that things are ‘set in stone’, meaning they will not change. But in this world, everything is subject to change. Nothing remains unchanged in the world. Standards change all the time, usually in decline. Here the Lord says, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes on me, though he have died, shall live; and every one who lives and believes on me shall never die”. That is wonderful.
This worked out actually in this small family: Lazarus was raised from the dead and he was free of corruption. The Lord met the matter of corruption as well as death. In chapter 12 the scripture simply says that the dead man Lazarus was at the table. That is a most remarkable name to have, suggesting that Lazarus recognised that he was a dead man. Such a person will not give any trouble. I do not think Lazarus ever did give trouble, but certainly he would not give trouble after he was raised, because he recognised that he was a dead man.
In John 12, as well as the dead man Lazarus being present, we read about Mary acting spiritually. She brings ointment, but she did not bring spices. I think that she did not do so because there was and never could be any corruption in Christ. He never saw corruption. Have you thought of that? Three days in the heart of the earth, and He never saw corruption. That is remarkable; it is because He was sinless. The Lord took on the matter of sin vicariously, on behalf of the race, to satisfy the righteousness of God. That is what He did vicariously, as representative of others, but in Himself He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners”, Heb.7:26. He was made “an offering for sin”, Isa.53:10. That is a tremendous matter. The only One who could be made an offering for sin was One who was free from it. And the only One that was free from sin was Jesus Himself.
He comes into the company in the passage in John 12, and Mary had prepared ointment. As remarked, it was not to stop corruption. Spices were used to delay corruption, but she anointed His body for burial. That is very precious. It suggests that she wanted that Man to live in her affections. The scripture speaks of Him being made alive in the Spirit (1 Pet.3:18). Think of that. He suffered for sin and bore the judgment due to it, satisfying a holy God in these three hours in which He was forsaken on the cross. Then, having died and been buried, He was raised the third day. Every other man in principle went out of sight in the burial of Christ. In God’s view, every other man, including me, went out of sight forever, by His burial. You say, ‘I deserved the cross because of my sins’. But despite what I am, my sinful state, my pride as a sinner, all of that went from the sight of God not only by the blood of Christ but also in His burial. The only One that came out of the grave of Christ was Himself. That is precious.
I think these thoughts were in the affections of Mary. She wanted to anoint His body for burial. The Lord is recorded as saying, “What she could she has done. She has beforehand anointed my body for the burial. And verily I say unto you, Wheresoever these glad tidings may be preached in the whole world, what this woman has done shall be also spoken of for a memorial of her”, Mark 14:8,9. That was a special privilege given to that spiritual woman, of anointing His body for the burial. She was more spiritual than the apostles at this house meeting. She was far advanced. She wanted to go out with the glory of Christ on her. It says of a woman that her hair is her glory (see 1 Cor.11:15). She went out and the glory of Christ was on her. She had anointed the feet of the Lord and wiped them with her hair. So she went out with something of the anointing that was on Christ in her hair. That is the testimony you want. Would you not want to be seen by the world as one that in principle had anointed the feet of the Lord? What a delightful privilege! Instead of people seeing what you were previously in your life, it is the new person that is coming out in expression. It is like the newness of life spoken of in Romans (chap.6:4), through resurrection of Christ. It is wonderful.
This person is identifying herself with Christ’s death and burial; saying as it were that when Christ went in burial, that was my place. That, in principle, is what she was saying. She could not say that about Lazarus. We all have death ahead of us, if the Lord does not come first. But the believer does not fear death, because we shall be with Christ. For Mary, the glory of Christ was shining. She subjected her glory, seen in her hair, to Him. I love to think of that. When she moved about in Jerusalem, or in Bethany, she would be known as a person who had been with the Man who had been into death. She had acknowledged His death beforehand, identified herself with it, and she came out as one who was victorious. It is very precious.
The Lord says, “Suffer her to have kept this for the day of my preparation for burial; for ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always”. Lazarus is referred to as the “dead man Lazarus”; that was the history he had, but Christ is risen. You cannot say about Christ that He had a body of humiliation. It was a sinless body, a perfect body. It was the body of One who was able to take on the whole judgment of God upon sin and was able to bear that judgment and thus to clear sin from the presence of God forever. That is witnessed to in the resurrection of Christ. That is why resurrection is so important.
Christ is risen! He is now the leader of a new generation that is clear of sin and free of sin. That is the remarkable power of the resurrection of Christ. He was raised in power (1 Cor.15:43). In Romans it says that He was raised by the glory of the Father (chap.6:4), suggesting God loved to do it, that God’s heart was in it. The Father looked at Him there, lying in the sepulchre, in the tomb, and His heart went out. I do not doubt for a minute that God’s heart appreciated uniquely that perfect sacrifice, and that He already accepted it. In the day of atonement (see Lev.16), in type the whole universe was cleared of sin. Christ’s death and the shedding of His blood fulfilled what was set forth typically in the day of atonement. The universe was cleared of sin in the sight of God. As the sin-offering He was taken, and the blood was put on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat (chap.16:15); God was glorified in the removal of sin from the universe. I know the day of atonement was a type, but it anticipated the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. That is very fine to get in your soul.
We read in 1 Corinthians 15, which is a resurrection chapter. You are not taken off the earth in 1 Corinthians 15, but the truth of it is there to lay hold of, the truth of what God is going to do. Paul is assured of the resurrection, and he says, “if there is not a resurrection of those that are dead, neither is Christ raised”. The apostle writes that to stir up the minds of believers to see that Christ must be raised and that we need to be raised, and that can only be on the basis of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. He goes on to write that “now Christ is raised from among the dead, first-fruits of those fallen asleep”. God has a wonderful result in the resurrection of Christ. He is delighted with the way Christ went, providing God with a righteous basis to go on with man and to bless man. Now Christ lives again so that He might rule over the dead and the living (see Rom.14:9). That is the place that Christ has now. He will exercise rule and judgement over the world.
I am glad I am clear of judgement, because He suffered for me. He accepted the judgement that was due to me, and in being made sin and bearing the judgment I deserved, He has cleared me. He has done that for most, maybe everybody, in this hall. It is wonderful to know that for ourselves. In verse 51 it says, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed, in an instant, in the twinkling of any eye, at the last trumpet”. People say that He will come in the twinkling of an eye. Scripture does not say that. It says we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. You will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. And although it is six thousand years since Abel died, God knows where his remains are. In the twinkling of an eye, every believer, every one who has died in faith, will be raised. That is the power of the resurrection – that every one that has died will be raised. God knows where every one is. Some were drowned at sea, some died in war zones, so that no human being can tell where these people are, but God knows. It is not a big matter to God. In the twinkling of an eye every believer will be changed. I think that is remarkable. What power God will exercise in Christ, at the resurrection!
It says, “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”. Those that are alive at the Lord’s coming will need to be changed. If He comes in our lifetime we will need to be changed. We cannot take this mortal condition into glory. That is why I read the last scripture, in Romans 8. That passage refers to the redemption of the body. It shows that the body needs to be changed. We have sonship by faith: those that believe have sonship. We have it by faith. And believers receive the Spirit, the Spirit of sonship. By Him we are able to say, “Abba, Father” truly to God (see Rom.8:14, Gal.4:6), and we become responsive as sons. But this mortal condition cannot go through into what is eternal. That requires resurrection, a new condition.
The scripture that I read bears this out: “And not only that, but even we ourselves” – that is believers – “who have the first-fruits of the Spirit”. Those whom Paul is speaking of have faith; by faith they are sons of God. Then he adds, “we also ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, we also ourselves groan in ourselves, awaiting adoption, that is the redemption of our body”. That means we will have a new body, we have got to be changed. It is one thing for God to raise those who have died in faith and give them a body, not a body of dust, as we have in 1 Corinthians 15; but then “we, the living who remain” (1 Thess.4:15&17) have to be changed – the redemption of the body. Your body is needed for sonship, by adoption. That is what this means. You need your body for the expression of sonship in eternal conditions. God will attend to that. Those who are already dead will be raised and changed, but here it is those that are alive on the earth at the time of the Lord’s coming who will be changed in view of sonship. It is remarkable.
What is corruptible cannot be taken into the presence of God. Death applies to what is mortal, but we will be freed from that condition of things to be for the eternal pleasure of God. The basis of that is in the resurrection of Christ. The subject is too great for me to explain it, but there it is. God has the answer to everything in your life and mine, regarding past, present and future. The redemption of the body will bring us into the full thought of sonship. Tomorrow (the Lord’s day), if the Lord will, we will have the privilege of entering into divine service and we will be truly sons. We have faith and we have the Spirit of His Son, which is special to the assembly, the Spirit of God’s Son in us. But the condition we are in, this condition that you see, is unsuitable to the full enjoyment of sonship in our eternal state and so it has to be changed, and the basis of that is resurrection. The provision that God will make in the redemption of the body is for ever. He has looked after us and will look after us beyond what words can say. He loves us and He has sent His Son to die for us, and Christ was buried for us. It is all vicarious. Christ came out of death, He rose again. You can fasten your life to a Man that has gone through death.
It was wonderful for Lazarus to have that experience of being raised, but when it comes to Christ there is no equal. He is absolutely perfect. You can fasten your faith completely on Christ and His work. As believers in Him, everything in your life and mine in the future is settled. That is why I emphasise “the twinkling of an eye”. What is that to God? It is the quickest thing that the human mind could think of, the twinkling of an eye. And that is how long it will take God to raise and change Abel. All these men that have died in faith will be raised, changed, just in an instant. That is the power of God, and it is so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.
May it be so, for His name’s sake.
Address at Cullen
Norman Henry
4 May 2024