2015.04.05_Believe in the Resurrection

God is Still at Work

God is the living Father. Because He is living, He was doing His work in the beginning and in the past, and is doing His work even now. When we say that God is living, we are not confessing something that is abstract. To believe in His living existence means to believe that He is still at work this present.

We believe that Jesus is Christ, and in the word Christ there is the meaning of ‘the One sent’. So the fact that Jesus is Christ is in itself showing that God is still at work. That is because no one would be sent if nobody sends him.

Christ’s Resurrection

Christ has delivered extraordinary news to us. He said, “I am the resurrection. Do you believe this? If you do, then you also will resurrect and have everlasting life” (Jn 11:25-26). Our faith is to know that Jesus is the resurrection, and have the hope that we will also resurrect through Him.

Before creating man on the sixth day, God created seed-bearing plants on the third day. Just as the testimonies of the prophets preceded Christ, God gave a natural revelation of the resurrection by first creating the seed before He did man. Since the creation of the world until now, plants continue to exist because of the seed. When a seed falls to the ground and dies, it sprouts and grows to produce fruit a hundredfold. This characteristic of the seed hints that there is resurrection for man.

The first thing man confronts when he comes before God, is the faith conscience called the Law. The role of the Law is to bring out the confession from man that he is a sinner. The wages of sin is death. And man confirmed as a sinner is doomed to eternal punishment in the lake of fire in Hell. While man was headed for such punishment, Jesus was sent to the earth. He was not of mankind born from the union of two people. He is the Son of God born through the body of a virgin. God’s Son was born as the seed of the woman. And this is called Immanuel.

Immanuel is something that can neither be accepted biologically, medically, or rationally. Nevertheless, we have to acknowledge that God has done what is impossible with man. When the angel brought news of conception to her, Mary asked, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” The angel answered, “For no word from God will be void of power,” to which Mary replied, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:26-38). The Son of Man was thus born through the virgin.

The conclusive evidence of Immanuel is resurrection. Jesus was sentenced and executed as a sinner. People believed that He had violated the Law and deceived the people. Most of those who witnessed His death could not but agree that He was a sinner. Nevertheless God raised Him to life. God Himself testified to the fact that Jesus is the blameless Son of God.

Jesus Christ has resurrected. One time, even five hundred people simultaneously witnessed Him resurrected. Gospel of Luke was actually a report submitted to Theophilus, which Luke had compiled based on the testimonials from those who witnessed Jesus’ resurrection. As persecution against the church was intense at the time, it was risky to go around asking people about Jesus. However with the aid of Theophilus, Luke was able to collect testimonials about Jesus relatively freely. The book of Acts which was Luke’s second report, records the works Jesus did through His disciples after His resurrection and ascension.

The fact that we were baptized is another strong testament to the fact that Jesus resurrected. Jesus commanded His disciples to give baptism after He had resurrected. And those who receive baptism are baptized because they believe that Jesus resurrected. After receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the disciples baptized as many as 3000 people because they too believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This baptism given to those that believe in His resurrection still continues today.

Resurrection of Those United With Christ

Whoever believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ also believes in his own resurrection. When Jesus asked, “Do you believe in me?” He was not asking if we attend church. He was asking, “Do you believe that I am the resurrection? Do you believe that you too will resurrect if you believe in me?” The sad thing is that quite a number of Christians today are interested in living righteously and attaining moral perfection while actually having no interest in the resurrection.

After resurrection, Jesus appeared before His disciples and called their attention to receiving the Holy Spirit (Jn 20:22). In the past, if anyone desired to come before God, all that they could rely on was their own morality and efforts. However after Jesus resurrected, the help of the Holy Spirit is imperative. The Holy Spirit comes into those who have been baptized (Acts 2:38). Receiving baptism means to have the faith in Jesus’ resurrection. Thus it can be said that the Holy Spirit comes to those who believe in the resurrection of Jesus.

Baptism is the act of being united with Jesus Christ. Though He was without sin, He carried the sin of mankind and died on the cross. Those who acknowledge His death as their own death receive baptism and thus join in His death. Our fleshly desires do not disappear just because we are baptized, and there are some people who doubt the power of baptism for that reason. Yet just as light came to be when God said, “Let there be light!” His word concerning baptism certainly gets fulfilled, that we are united with Jesus Christ through baptism. Though the Israelites subject to Pharaoh’s rule in Egypt, once they had crossed the Red Sea they became God’s people. In the same way, we have joined in the death of Jesus Christ by being immersed under water, and then in His resurrection as we come out of the water.

The flesh for Christians and non-Christians alike starts to decay and soon returns to dust once breathing ceases. Some people misunderstand resurrection as the flesh that already returned to dust being brought back to its original form. However flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. When Jesus returns, our souls that are presently living by the word of God and the Holy Spirit’s inspiration will be transformed into an imperishable body.

Hope of Resurrection and Observing the Lord’s Day

Christians who believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ assemble together and worship on the Lord’s Day, the day after Sabbath on which He resurrected. Worship is to see God’s face. Who is it that desires to see God’s face? In Acts 20:7 it says, “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread.” Breaking bread is to commemorate Jesus’ death, moreover commemorate His resurrection. Only those who believe in Jesus’ resurrection have hope in their own resurrection, and it is such people that seek to see God’s face. Some people feel tired and annoyed of having to go to church and worship every Lord’s Day. This shows that they do not have any hope in the resurrection. Would they be able to enter the first resurrection?

Hebrews 10:23-27 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.” The confession of our hope is the resurrection. We must encourage one another, stirring up love and good works, as we hold fast to this hope. We should not follow those who forsake assembling together. Would God meet with those who do not want to see His face? After we have come to know the Truth, we must not act as though we are still under the original sin.

If one has truly united with Jesus Christ, he would firmly hold to the hope of resurrection while keeping his fidelity of faith like a bride waiting for her groom. He would not find the Lord’s Day worship as boring or tiring. Instead he would prepare his offering in advance and give with joy, just as the Lord said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21). And it is when we have such longing to see His face that God too will be pleased with us.

To simply come and sit in the church during worship does not guarantee a person will enter the first resurrection. While the countless people of Israel loved God, only 144 000 of them will later take part in the first resurrection (Rev 7:4). Unless people have a true and sincere longing for the resurrection, there is no guarantee that they will partake in the first resurrection. Hence we must not hold fast to the hope of resurrection without wavering.

Hope and Joy of Resurrection

The goal of our faith is resurrection. There are occasionally people who say “the goal of the cross”. However the aim of our faith life is not to be crucified but to attain to the resurrection. Philippians 3:10-14 says, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

The reason we dedicate while we are in this world is the glory that we will receive on the day of resurrection. It is also because of the hope of resurrection that we give offerings. Even though people cannot see our hearts, God does. He meets anyone that desires to see His face, but turns away from those who do not. It says in 1 Corinthians 15:19, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” If anyone attends the church zealously but has no hope in the resurrection, he is indeed most pitiful.

For those who have the hope of resurrection, their hearts are filled with joy. Jesus said, “But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves” (Jn 17:13). The sad thing is that many Christians are more concerned about their fleshly living on earth instead of having the joy of resurrection. For the flesh, seeking daily bread is sufficient. But as Jesus said, it is God’s kingdom and righteousness that we must first seek.

The Holy Spirit comes upon the one who has been baptized, and testifies that he has the hope of resurrection. Only those who have the hope of resurrection and thus are filled with joy could enter the first resurrection. Would it be possible for someone who loathes the Lord’s Day to take part in the first resurrection? Can a person who is indifferent toward the resurrection be able to partake in the first resurrection? Jesus has resurrected. And we will resurrect on the day He returns. The souls that believe this will be filled with hope and joy.