05242020 1 Cor 15:50-58 Victory In Jesus
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Introduction
Introduction
The Mystery of Riddles
Three times I have been divided
doing what God had decided.
Twice a garment was the tool
that led me to obey God’s rule.
I was the threshold of new things
and the limit of many kings.
Once God’s son I did embrace.
Once the ark stood in my place.
Never have I walked the ground,
nor in the heavens was I found.
What am I? (The Jordan River)
Riddles were a type of word puzzle widely used in ancient times, both for entertainment and as a test of wisdom. Riddles allow the speaker to obscure valuable information from those who do not have ears to hear while at the same time disclosing a vital truth to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Typically, the language of a riddle functions on two levels: it conveys a straightforward meaning and a symbolic or allegorical point that is understood only by discerning individuals.
To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles.
In Ezekiel 17:1–10, a symbolic riddle compares King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to an eagle. And, in the New Testament, a mathematical riddle appears in the mysterious number of the beast, 666 (Revelation 13:18).
Jesus sometimes used riddles to outsmart His opponents, such as the case when He asked, “How can Satan cast out Satan?” in Mark 3:23.
Every tombstone is his pulpit, every newspaper prints his text, and someday every one of us will be his sermon. Who is he? Death.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”
God is glorified by concealing information because a certain level of mystery about spiritual matters increases our sense of wonder. God hides some truth so that we must search it out. Like looking for seashells or panning for gold, rarely do we find the most valuable treasures scattered on the surface of God’s Word.
Could it be that God includes riddles in the Bible because treasured truth must be searched for as we rely on the Spirit of God to direct our digging?
The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians was written to correct several errors that the Corinthian believers had come to believe in their search for the answer to questions about death and the resurrection from the dead.
Ideas have consequences. If our thinking is based on wrong ideas about the way things are, then our doing based on those ideas will lead to living life incorrectly and our thinking about the way things should be.
One of the errors that some of the Corinthian believers had cone to believe is that there is no bodily resurrection for Christians. Chapter 15 is Paul’s teaching regarding our bodily resurrection.
Here he brings to a conclusion the argument that begins in v. 35.
But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?”
as he asked and answers two questions:
How (nature of the resurrection) are the dead raise?
What kind of body (manner of the resurrection) is the resurrection body? He says:
The resurrection isreasonable (36-44)
The resurrection iscertain (45-49) based on Christ’s resurrection and resurrected body
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Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 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. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 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. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 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.
Pray
The emphasis in these verses is upon the necessity of transformation in order to enter heaven (vv. 50, 53)
The emphasis in these verses is upon the necessity of transformation in order to enter heaven (vv. 50, 53)
Both the living and the dead must be transformed (vv. 51-52) and the resurrection/transformation will take place at Christ’s coming again signaling the final defeat of death. (vv. 54-55)
The Westminster Confession of Faith Section 2
2. At the last day, such as are found alive shall not die, but be changed: (1 Thess. 4:17, 1 Cor. 15:51–52) and all the dead shall be raised up, with the self-same bodies, and none other (although with different qualities), which shall be united again to their souls for ever. (Job 19:26–27, 1 Cor. 15:42–44)
Here’s the answer to the question
“Is it possible for the dead to be raised? With what kind of body will they come? (v. 35)
Paul concludes this chapter with a powerful promise of a bodily resurrection for Christians and the VICTORY in JESUS that those who are found by God grace trusting in Him will experience in all its fullness when Christ returns.
Today we live in the reality of Christ’s resurrection - the first fruit of those who sleep.
Through Christ the end has begun, but it is not fully experienced. This is sometimes referred to as “the Now and the Not Yet”
So we today we must live in hope of . . .
...The Great Transformation (vv. 50-53)
...The Great Transformation (vv. 50-53)
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
This Mystery - doesn’t refer to what is currently hidden, but to what was once hidden and has now been revealed through Christ.
“flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”
I once had a beta fish. If you know anything about fish, they are made for water and can’t live long outside of it. Sushi was sort of like us - he seemed to be perfectly happy living within the boundary of that bowl - breathing that water of life. He had great freedom in that water. He was protected by those boundaries, but he wanted more. He became restless in the confines of that environment his master had given him. One day he jumped out of that bowl and the safety of that water and guess what happened. He died because his body was not well suited for breathing air.
In a similar way our bodies now are well suited to living upon this earth but if we were to try to jump out of the environment our master has made for us into that place we call heaven - into the presence of God, we would not live a second. It would be like jumping into the reservoir without scuba gear. Our bodies as they are now are not designed to breath that glorified air of heaven, they must be transformed. For some that will happen suddenly and quickly at Christ’s return. Others sleep until Christ’s return.
So today we live in hope of . . .
...The Great Triumph (vv. 54-56)
...The Great Triumph (vv. 54-56)
For those who are trusting in Christ, the power of death has been broken. Death is no longer master over them because “death no longer is master over Him” (Rom 6:9)
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. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;
This is not just a NT doctrine that somehow originated in the mind of Paul. It is something spoken about by prophets of the Old Testament
He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken.
Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from My sight.
The wages of sin are death (Romans 6:23)
God’s law reveals His standards and when those laws are broken they reveal man’s sin. If there were no law, obviously there could be no transgression.
for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.
Then Paul says in verse 56:
“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.”
Paul is saying that sin inflicts its sting of death through the law. The law shows us our sin, and the result of our sin is death.
Death’s victory has been overcome by Christ’s perfect obedience to the demands of the law and his paying the penalty the law requires. Death’s deadly sting has been taken away - the stinger itself has been plucked - through Christ’s resurrection. In other words, the sting of death is “powerless over the dead”
Imagine you are riding in a car with your BFF. Honey Bee - sting - allergic child - father catches bee takes the sting himself to spare the child.
Imagine you are riding in a car with your BFF. Driving along you both notice a honey bee buzzing around in the car. You are highly allergic to bee stings. It’s pouring down rain, so the windows remain up. You BFF calmly reaches his hand out - grabs the bee with his enclosed fist. The bee stings him and not you. He releases the bee, but it has lost its stinger and is now no threat to you. I’m told that honey bees can only sting once
In the same way, the sting of death has been taken for us by Christ.
The law, which is good, functions as the agent of sin because it either leads to pride over our achievements, on the one hand, or reveals the depth of one’s depravity and rebellion against God on the other.
In either case, it becomes death-dealing instead of life-giving.
Death is not just the result of decay through normal human processes, it is the result of the deadly poison, sin itself, which becomes all the more energized in our lives through acquaintance with the law. So in exulting in Christ’s victory over death, Paul is reminded that that victory is the final triumph over the sin that brought death into the word and over the law that has emboldened sin. Both sin and the law have already been overcome in the cross....
So we must live in hope of . . .
...The Great Thanksgiving (v. 57)
...The Great Thanksgiving (v. 57)
but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Because of Jesus’ perfect obedience to the Law (Rom 5:19) and the satisfaction He made for its victims, those who trust in Him have been “released from the Law” as their means of righteousness.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—
For those who are in Christ death has no more power (Heb 2:14-15), because God has freed those who are in Christ from the power of death and the fear of death.
Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
For those who are IN CHRIST death is but the passing of our spirits from this life to the next, the leaving of earth and going to be with Christ.
In Christ’s victory over death, death’s sting is removed;
Revelation 21:4 ESV
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
AND BECAUSE OF ALL THIS...
...The Great Exhortation (v. 58)
...The Great Exhortation (v. 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.
Paul always bases exhortation for doing upon doctrine - practice upon principles
Therefore....When our hope in the reality of the resurrection gospel is clear and certain we will have great motivation to be abounding in the work of the Lord as we overflow with overdoing
Work is not a result of the fall, although it has been affected by it.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight
Because God has so abundantly overdone Himself for us who deserve nothing from Him, we should determine to overdo ourselves (if that were possible) in service to Him, to whom we owe everything.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
Reasonable rest is important and necessary, but until the Lord returns there is work to be done.
Every Christian has been bought with a price and should work uncompromisingly as the Lord has gifted and leads each one to serve.
Our money, time, energy, talents, gifts, bodies, minds and spirits should be invested in nothing that does not in some way contribute to the work of the Lord.
Our praise and thanksgiving must be given hands and feet.
So we conclude asking and answering these questions - How are the dead raise? What kind of body do they have?
Transformed
Triumphant (Victorious)
Thankful
Always abounding
Paul ends here as he began (1 Cor 15:1-2)
Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
There he was concerned, because of the denial of the resurrection by some, whether his own “labor” was in vain.
Now, after the strong evidence for the resurrection presented, he concludes with such faith as the ground, the basis, for continued work in the Lord knowing that our work is not in vain.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.