Spir Dynamics 1272-74 4/16/98; Eph 382, 612ff, 643ff, 652, 778, 818, 1027; Spir Dynamics 173
4/11/93
A. Definition.
1. There are two returns from the dead.
a. Resuscitation means a person returns from the dead in a body of corruption and eventually dies again; e.g., Lazarus, Paul (1 Cor 15), two boys in the Old Testament, Elijah and Moses during the Tribulation.
b. Resurrection means a person returns from the dead in a body of incorruption and never dies again.
2. Therefore resurrection is rising again from the dead in a human body, and never again being subject to death.
3. Resurrection is the beginning of eternity for the person.
4. Resurrection is one of the basic doctrines all believers must understand for spiritual growth, Heb 6:1-2.
5. Anyone who dies during the Church Age has an interim body in heaven until the resurrection of the Church at the Rapture.
6. We will have a resurrection body like Christ’s, but not all resurrection bodies will look alike. There are different types of resurrection bodies depending on your success or failure in the Christian life and your attitude toward doctrine.
7. Resurrection is a New Testament doctrine. While it is mentioned in the Old Testament, it did not occur historically until the Christocentric dispensations: the great power experiment of Hypostatic Union and the great power experiment of the Church Age. The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union terminated with the resurrection, ascension, and session of the humanity of Christ. The great power experiment of the Church Age will terminate in the resurrection or Rapture of the Church.
B. The Sovereignty of God and Physical Death.
1. While the believer has control over his life in the execution of the protocol plan of God through consistent positive volition toward doctrine and through the use of his portfolio of invisible assets, he has no control over the manner or time of his physical death. He cannot prolong his life or cut it short (except by suicide). Neither does he have any control over the manner of time of the resurrection.
2. The death of the believer is always a matter of the wisdom, integrity and sovereignty of God.
3. Apart from being alive during the Rapture of the Church, all believers will experience physical death.
4. The manner of our physical death is a matter of divine wisdom and omniscience. The death of the believer is always God’s victory. The type of believer makes no difference; all go to heaven. Distinction among believers is not made until the Judgment Seat of Christ.
5. Therefore, the death of the believer is always God’s victory. The believer’s death means he is absent from the body, face to face with the Lord, in a place of “no more sorrow, no more tears, no more pain, no more death,” and the Lord’s timing is perfect - neither too soon and never too late. Death always comes at the exact right time.
6. Winners or invisible heroes can die in one of two ways: painlessly and quickly or painfully and prolonged. Losers can also die in one of two ways: painlessly and quickly or painfully and prolonged. God chooses both the manner and the time of death.
7. Sometimes God will allow a mature believer to die in a painful and lengthy way to demonstrate the power and grace provision of God for the believer in spiritual adulthood. Also a loser can die the sin unto death by dying in his sleep quickly and painlessly.
8. Hence, you cannot judge other believers by the manner of their death, just as you are mandated not to judge other believers in living. We are eliminated as experts when it comes to understanding or even evaluating the death of anyone.
9. So the manner of our physical death is determined by the wisdom of God. This is another reason why, regarding loved ones who die, “we do not mourn as those who have no hope.” No matter how “accidental” a death may appear, or no matter who was negligent or at fault, the death of a loved one was all in God’s timing and from His wisdom. Therefore, we have no right to be bitter or vindictive or in any subjective arrogance.
10. Therefore, no believer can judge the reasons or the cause of the death of a fellow believer. It is not subject to either our judging or speculation.
11. Every generation of believers in the Old Testament died a physical death. Moses had a dramatic death, climbing the mountain and the Lord taking him home from there. Elijah had a ride to heaven in a special conveyance. But there was no resurrection in the Old Testament.
12. There could not be a resurrection in the Old Testament, for the first resurrection in history was that of Jesus Christ at the end of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
13. Death is one of the greatest expressions of the grace of God. The time of our physical death is a wise decision from the sovereignty of God. He doesn’t keep us here beyond His point of wisdom, and He does not take us home before His point of wisdom.
14. God is perfect; His wisdom is perfect. God is perfect; His decisions are perfect. God decides the time and manner of the death of each of us.
15. As Job said when he heard of the death of his children in a terrible storm: “The Lord gave; the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
16. Rom 8:38-39, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.” So death does not separate us from God.
17. Ps 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”
18. Phil 1:20-21, “On the basis of my confident expectation and hope that I shall not be put to shame in anything. But in all boldness, Christ shall even now as always be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For me living is Christ, and dying is profit.”
C. The Resurrection of Christ: the Pattern for the First Resurrection.
1. The first resurrection is pictured as a battalion pass-in-review, and therefore, is divided into four echelons, 1 Cor 15:20-24.
a. Alpha Company: the resurrection of Christ at the end of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, for He is “the first fruits of them that slept.” Mt 28; Mk 16; Lk 24; Jn 20-21; Acts 2:31-34.
b. Bravo Company: the resurrection of the royal family of God at the end of the great power experiment of the Church Age, Jn 14:1-3; Phil 3:20-21; 1 Cor 15:51-57; 1 Thes 4:13-18; 1 Jn 3:1-2.
c. Charlie Company: the resurrection of the Old Testament believers and Tribulational martyrs at the end of the Tribulation and the Second Advent, Dan 12:13; Isa 26:19-20; Mt 24:31; Rev 20:4.
d. Delta Company: the resurrection of the millennial saints at the end of the Millennium.
2. The first resurrection in all of human history is that of our Lord at the end of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
3. There are two general resurrections:
a. For believers only: resurrection to eternal life. The resurrection body is eternal and permanent, superior to that of angelic creatures, Dan 12:2; Jn 5:24-29; 1 Cor 15:20-22; Rev 20:6,13. This resurrection is called the “first resurrection.”
b. For unbelievers only: resurrection and cast into the lake of fire forever, Mt 25:41; 1 Cor 15:24; Rev 20:5-15. This is called the “second resurrection” or the last judgment.
4. There are two directions for the two resurrections.
a. The direction for the first resurrection: eternal life.
b. The direction for the second resurrection: eternal condemnation and judgment.
5. The difference between the two is one’s attitude toward Christ. Jn 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him.” As long as anyone is alive, he has the opportunity of entering into the first resurrection simply by believing in Christ.
6. Each one of the Christocentric dispensations terminate with resurrection, giving great significance to them.
a. The first Christocentric dispensation is the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. It terminates with the resurrection, ascension, and session of the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
b. The second is the great power experiment of the Church Age. It terminates with the resurrection of the royal family of God.
7. While in the Old Testament dispensations there was an occasional miracle of resuscitation, no resurrection occurred.
8. Until Jesus Christ died on the cross, there could be no resurrection. The first resurrection in history is that of Jesus Christ in Hypostatic Union.
9. Physical death is the prerequisite for resurrection. There are two exceptions:
a. The Rapture generation of the Church Age.
b. The millennial believers alive at the end of time and human history.
D. Physical Death as a Prerequisite for Resurrection, 1 Cor 15:50-52.
1. Verse 50, “Now this I affirm, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.”
a. Paul uses the phrase “the kingdom of God” in the sense of the eternal state of the Church. He says we cannot live in eternity in the body we now possess. It is body of flesh and blood, not a resurrection body.
b. The physical body is not capable of living off of planet earth out in the universe, as angelic creatures can.
c. Corruption refers to the human body which is subject to physical death. Incorruption refers to the resurrection body, which is a durable, permanent body which can never die physically. It refers to the eternal state where death has been abolished. 1 Cor 15:26, “The last enemy that will be abolished is death.” Eternal life can only exist in the eternal resurrection body.
2. Verse 51, “Behold, I teach you a mystery: we shall not all sleep but we shall be changed,”
a. The mystery doctrine applies to the great power experiment of the Church Age only, the dispensation in which there is no prophecy and about which there is no prophecy, Rom 16:25-26; Eph 3:1-6; Col 1:25-27.
b. In this analogy, sleep applies only to the physical body (not to the soul). The body “sleeps” because the soul and spirit are absent from that body in an interim body waiting for the resurrection.
c. “Changed” means we receive a resurrection body in exchange for our former physical body.
d. Paul is saying here that we will not all die physically. One generation will receive their resurrection body apart from physical death.
3. Verse 52, “in a moment, in the winking of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we [Church Age believers alive at Rapture] shall be changed.”
a. This resurrection occurs instantly. It is not a prolonged process! (Evolution is 100% wrong!) When God does something with regard to life, it is done instantly. Man was created instantly. The universe was created instantly. God imputed life to your soul at physical birth instantly! God provides resurrection bodies faster than you can wink or blink your eye! This is God’s definition of a moment.
b. This is a reference to the trumpet of 1 Thes 4:16; it not the same trumpet as that in Rev 11:15 (from which misinterpretation comes post-tribulational rapturists). The trumpet in Rev 11:15 is the herald’s trumpet, announcing Jesus Christ as the new ruler of the world. The trumpet here is an analogy to its military use in the ancient world for the assembly of troops. In this case, the troops consist of the royal family of God. Hence the trumpet in this context refers to the resurrection or Rapture of the Church.
c. The trumpet is used only for those who are already dead, living in heaven under ideal conditions of great happiness. So those who have died will receive their resurrection bodies first. Then those alive at the Rapture will receive their resurrection bodies.
d. So the two categories of resurrection are mentioned here. The first category receive their resurrection bodies through physical death. The second category is alive at the Rapture and receives their resurrection bodies apart from physical death.
E. The Significance of Resurrection as the Lord’s Victory.
1. In Jn 11:25, Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me shall live even if He dies.”
2. Just as the death of the believer is the Lord’s victory, so the resurrection of the believer is the Lord’s victory.
3. The resurrection of the believer is the wise and sovereign decision of God. This means that the believer’s volition, cognition, and individual merit are not factors in the resurrection or the Rapture of the Church.
a. The resurrection is strictly the Lord’s victory. For just as we have no control over the manner or time of our death, so we have no control over the manner or time of our resurrection. This is completely a matter of the wisdom and sovereignty of God.
b. Your resurrection does not depend in any way on your merit or life. Winners and losers alike receive a resurrection body equally. No distinction is made between winners and losers at the point of receiving resurrection bodies.
c. The Rapture will never occur by the merit of any Christians; e.g., because of the gathering and declarations of nitwit believers. We don’t bring on the resurrection by what we do, by our predictions.
d. So resurrection is far greater than we can imagine. For in resurrection, God makes no distinction between those who completely fail to execute the Christian way of life and those who succeed in executing the Christian way of life. The resurrection has nothing to do with our winning the tactical victory in the angelic conflict or failing to do so. It has everything to do with who and what the Lord is! The resurrection is one thing you must completely divorce from any principle of spiritual merit!
4. The time, place, and manner of the resurrection of the Church is God’s perfect decision based on the completion of the body of Christ, called the royal family of God.
5. Just as the believer has no control over the time, manner, or place of his death, so he has no control over the time, manner, and place of the resurrection.
6. All believers in human history are part of a great resurrection. The first resurrection is depicted as a battalion review. (See point C.)
7. Like the death of the believer, resurrection or the Rapture is the decision of the sovereignty of God. Therefore, it is His victory alone.
8. This victory illustrates the principle of grace because resurrection is totally the work of God provided for all believers, whether they are winners or losers. Resurrection is divorced from any form of human ability or human achievement. It is strictly a matter of grace.
a. Just as the grace policy of God has provided everything the believer needs for time, so the grace policy of God has provided everything the believer needs for dying, death, heaven, resurrection, and the eternal state.
b. Therefore, the resurrection of the Church is strictly God’s grace and God’s decision. Therefore, it is God’s timing and God’s victory.
c. The Church Age believer does not know the manner, place, or time of the resurrection.
d. Since resurrection of the Church Age believer does not depend upon any system of works or self-righteousness or human merit, or any form of speculation as to its time, it is strictly God’s grace and God’s victory.
9. Resurrection is God’s decision, God’s grace, and God’s victory.
a. Since the resurrection of the Church is divorced from any form of human ability or any form of human achievement, it is compatible with the grace of God and another manifestation of God’s victory in human history.
b. The resurrection of the Church is the wise and sovereign decision of God, totally apart from human merit or preparation.
c. Therefore, the Rapture is not subject to man’s timetable or man’s speculation.
d. Human speculation is never a part of Biblical eschatology.
e. The Rapture is imminent because no prophecy must be fulfilled first. Therefore, it can happen at any time.
f. The time of the Rapture is God’s decision; it is not our decision or our desire.
g. Therefore, in the meantime, we as members of the royal family of God live every day as unto the Lord, not every day as unto the Rapture of the Church.
h. The resurrection of the Church does not depend on any system of Christian speculation, Christian works, self-righteousness, human merit, or setting dates.
10. Resurrection is a matter of the sovereignty, wisdom, and power of God. Therefore, resurrection is a part of the grace policy of God. It is the Lord’s victory, never the believer’s victory.
a. The believer’s victory is the execution of the protocol plan of God in time. God’s victory is the death and resurrection of the believer.
b. Just as we do not know when we are going to die, we do not know when the Rapture will occur. This means that the believer’s volition, works, merit, or service is not a factor in the Rapture of the Church.
c. Just as the believer has no control over the time, manner, or place of his death, so the believer has no control over when the Rapture will take place.
d. The Rapture is imminent, because no prophecy must be fulfilled before it occurs. The Rapture of the Church is strictly the grace of God and therefore God’s victory.
11. 1 Thes 4:13-18.
a. 1 Thes 4:13, “We do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as the rest who have no hope.”
(1) When the unbeliever approaches the grave, it is a time of no hope, a time of death and separation and the end of everything.
(2) But when the believer approaches the grave, he recognizes that this is only the beginning, and that the short time spent on this earth is nothing compared to the eternal state.
(3) We don’t grieve as those who have no hope because the death of the believer is the sovereign decision of God, therefore, His victory.
b. 1 Thes 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again [and we do], even so, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.” This is analogous to body sleep, and then awakening in resurrection. This is not soul sleep. The soul of the believer never dies. You are alive when you fall asleep and alive when you wake up. The soul is still alive even if you die in your sleep. The soul simply leaves the body and goes into an interim body face-to-face with the Lord.
c. 1 Thes 4:15-16, “For this doctrine we communicate to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God; in fact, the dead in Christ shall rise first.”
(1) The voice command of Gabriel (who is in command of the angelic college of heralds) assembles those who are alive on the earth. The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit provides for them resurrection bodies. They go from the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit to the resurrection body. God the Holy Spirit provides resurrection bodies for living believers, 1 Pet 3:18, “For Christ died once for all as a substitute for our sins, the Righteous a substitute for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Holy Spirit;” Rom 8:11. This fulfills the phrase of 1 Cor 15:54, “this mortal will have put on immortality.” The Holy Spirit, who indwells the believer’s body, will change the believer’s body from a mortal body to a resurrection body without that believer going through death. If God the Holy Spirit did not do this, then those who are alive at the Rapture would have to die instantly to get a resurrection body from God the Father. But they do not have to die to get a resurrection body. God the Father at the trumpet sounds provides resurrection bodies for the believers in interim body who are face-to-face with Him in heaven.
(2) The trumpet command is for the assembly of the dead in Christ. The omnipotence of the Father provides for them resurrection bodies. These believers are the dead in Christ in heaven, and they receive their resurrection bodies from their Father in heaven.
d. 1 Thes 4:17-18, “Then we who are living and remain on the earth shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort each other with these doctrines.”
(1) Resurrection is a doctrine of comfort and blessing, but only to those who have personally believed in Jesus Christ. The comfort is grace, and the fact that resurrection is the Lord’s victory.
(2) But for those who reject Christ as Savior, there is judgment at the second resurrection, Heb 9:27.
13. 1 Cor 15:53, “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
a. Putting on incorruption is a reference to the resurrection body given to those who have died, a body never again subject to death.
b. For those who are alive at the Rapture, they will receive an immortal body that is not subject to death and eternal in nature.
14. 1 Cor 15:54, “Now when this corruptible will have put on incorruption [resurrection body through death], and this mortal [resurrection body while alive] will have put on immortality, then the doctrine that stands written [Isa 28:5] will occur [come to pass]: `Death has been swallowed up because of the victory.’”
a. The ultimate victory for the royal family of God is the resurrection. Why is it such a fantastic victory? Because it includes winners and losers, positive and negative believers. Just because certain believers fail to execute the protocol plan of God, they are not excluded from the resurrection due to the grace of God. The resurrection makes no distinction between winners and losers in the Christian way of life.
b. Physical death of losers does not deprive the Lord of the Lord’s victory! It’s not our victory! Resurrection is the Lord’s victory! This is obvious for the mature believer, having already had an experiential victory of becoming an invisible hero. But this is the Lord’s victory of grace, since resurrection applies to all believers alike. No distinction is made between winners and losers.
c. So the final phrase, “Death has been swallowed up because of victory,” is very important. Man has absolutely nothing to do with receiving a resurrection body. The passive voice means that all believers receive resurrection bodies. No merit, no distinction is involved.
d. While the believer through positive volition and epistemological rehabilitation after salvation can have control over his life while living, the believer has no control over the manner or time of his death, and no control over the manner or time of his resurrection. Receiving his resurrection body will occur instantaneously.
e. Therefore, resurrection is a grace function from the sovereignty and wisdom of God. Our resurrection body is an eternal memorial to the grace of God.
f. Resurrection is a total divine victory. We can take no credit for it, for we have no part in it.
g. Death has been swallowed up and destroyed BECAUSE of the Lord’s victory! There will be no death in the eternal state. Death is abolished with the possession of the resurrection body. So this quote is reference to the strategic victory of our Lord Jesus Christ in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. The sign of our Lord’s strategic victory was His resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of the Father.
h. Resurrection terminates each of the Christocentric dispensations, i.e., the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union and the great power experiment of the Church Age.
F. Resurrection is the Lord’s victory, 1 Cor 15:55-56.
1. Verse 55 (quote from Hos 13:14), “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The only victory is God’s victory of resurrection. Death has no victory! The sting of death is given in verse 56.
2. Verse 56, “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law;”
a. “Sin” here, the imputation of Adam’s sin at physical birth, has two results: real spiritual death and subsequent physical death. This is in compliance with Gen 2:17, in which God warned Adam, “The day you eat from this tree, dying thou shalt die.”
b. So the sting of death is the old sin nature, for this is “sin” in the singular. c. The fact that you sin after salvation does not prevent you from dying and going to heaven and receiving a resurrection body. It’s like being alive but unhealthy or ill. So you don’t feel well when you sin, but you’re still born-again and going to heaven.
d. If sin has a power, it must be defined. The Mosaic Law defines and reveals personal sin: 1 Tim 1:8-10.
G. The Grace of God and Resurrection, 1 Cor 15:57.
1. There could be no greater monument to the grace of God than resurrection. Verse 57 says literally, “but grace belongs to God.” This is an idiom, and so is translated “but thanks to God who gives to us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
a. Notice that this is a victory which God gives to us. It’s not a victory we earn! You can earn a victory by becoming a mature believer, executing the protocol plan of God. But there’s one victory you cannot have; it’s a gift: the resurrection body. The resurrection body is a monument to God’s victory. There are two victories here.
(1) The first victory is the victory over death for every believer in Jesus Christ whether you are a winner or loser believer.
(2) The second victory is the victory of resurrection.
b. This victory illustrates grace. Because resurrection, like our physical death, is the work of God to all believers, winners and loses alike. Therefore, resurrection is totally divorced from any form of human merit or human achievement or even legitimate attainment in the protocol plan of God. The believer’s resurrection is God’s grace and God’s victory.
c. Here is another reason why no Old Testament believer was resurrected. For until our Lord went to the cross and achieved the strategic victory of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, no one could be resurrected. He could not be resurrected until He became true humanity at the virgin birth. In other words, God could not give a victory that had not yet been attained.
d. In the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, Jesus Christ died physically on the cross, was resurrected by the omnipotence of God the Father and omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, ascended, and sat at the Father’s right hand. At that point, the victory was completed. That was the strategic victory of the angelic conflict, the termination of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. Now He has a victory to give not only to us, but also to all the Old Testament saints at the Second Advent.
e. The positive believer through postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation (cognition of doctrine) can have control over his life as a function of his own volition. He can execute through positive volition the protocol plan of God.
f. But this control through his positive volition ends at the point of his physical death. No believer has any control over the time or manner of his physical death, nor over the time or manner of his resurrection. These are dependent upon the wisdom, omniscience, and sovereignty of God.
g. So while the believer has control over whether he is a winner or loser in time, he has no control over two factors: the time, place, and manner of his death, and the time of the Rapture of the Church.
h. The victory is the resurrection of the Church Age believer at the Rapture. It is patterned after the resurrection of the humanity of Jesus Christ at the end of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. The victory is given to every believer, regardless of his spiritual status or any failure on his part. No failure can eliminate you from resurrection.
i. The carnal believer, the reversionist, the cosmic believer is a loser; but he will receive a resurrection body at the Rapture. The mature believer is a winner, an invisible hero, and he will likewise receive a resurrection body at the Rapture of the Church. But in addition, the winner will receive escrow blessings for eternity.
j. The resurrection is neither earned nor deserved. It is given to all Church Age believers at the Rapture of the Church.
k. “Through our Lord” means the Lord belongs to every believer. He is our Lord whether we are winners or losers.
l. Just as Jesus Christ was resurrected at the end of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, so the royal family of God will be resurrected at the end of the great power experiment of the Church Age. This establishes precedent between the two Christocentric dispensations. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the pattern for the resurrection of the Church Age believer.
H. Summary of Grace and Resurrection.
1. Grace is illustrated by the resurrection or Rapture of the Church. That is the impact of Phil 3:20-21.
2. Just as the grace policy of God has provided everything the believer needs for time, the grace of God provides everything the believer needs for dying, for death, and above all for resurrection.
3. What heaven provides for each Church Age believer in time heaven also supplies for each Church Age believer in the eternal state. The link between them is resurrection, the official way in which we enter into the eternal state. When we die, our soul and spirit are absent from the body and face to face with the Lord in a state of perfect happiness until the resurrection occurs.
4. Resurrection does not depend on any form of human merit nor any form or system of human achievement. This means no believer earns or deserves a resurrection body nor even the set time when the resurrection will occur. Both winners and losers receive a resurrection body exactly like that of our Lord. Whether you are carnal or spiritual, whether you succeed in executing the protocol plan of God or fail miserably, you will have a resurrection body as a loser. 5. Hence, resurrection is strictly the grace of God, strictly the Lord’s victory. It is never the believer’s victory. That’s why 1 Cor 15:57 says, “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
6. The believer’s control of his life to execute the protocol plan of God, to become a winner or loser, terminates on earth. The potential of your control over your life occurs only as long as you are alive, where you bring your positive volition to available doctrine.
7. However, the believer has no control over the time and manner of his death, nor over the time and manner of the resurrection. The believer has no say as to when the Rapture will occur. All the believer can do is to recognize the immanency of the Rapture.
8. The believer’s victory is related to his politeuma privileges in time for the execution of the protocol plan of God and his subsequent glorification of God through becoming an invisible hero.
9. The believer in time has control over whether he is a winner or loser regarding the protocol plan of God. The believer’s victory is his utilization of his politeuma privileges for the execution of God’s plan. But the believer has no control over the time or manner of resurrection. Resurrection is strictly the grace of God; the Lord’s victory — never the believer’s!
10. Resurrection is the Lord’s wise and perfect decision, and is not subject to man’s speculations or even man’s time table. The Rapture is imminent because there is no prophecy to be fulfilled before it occurs. However, the actual time of the Rapture is God’s decision, not our decision. Therefore we must live every day as unto the Lord, not as unto the Rapture of the Church.
11. Yet we are told that we have a right, under the principle of occupation with Christ, to be “waiting with keen anticipation for the blessed hope, for the resurrection, even the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” in Tit 2:13.
a. We are told in Rev 22:7, 12, 20 that our Lord is coming soon. Those verses teach the doctrine of the imminency of the Rapture. They were written in A.D. 96.
b. So the believer must anticipate resurrection, but he must live his life as unto the Lord under the principle of occupation with Christ, the priority solution to life.
12. Death and resurrection are never under the control or the merit of the believer. The victory in death is the Lord’s victory, for salvation through personal faith in Jesus Christ has removed the sting of death and has neutralized the power of the grave. The victory of resurrection is the fact that every believer, regardless of his status in time, winner or loser, is resurrected at the same time: the Rapture of the Church.
13. 1 Cor 15:54-57. There is no victory in resurrection unless you have personally believed in Jesus Christ. The victory of resurrection is patterned after the resurrection of the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.
14. The Lord’s victory of resurrection is given to every Church Age believer at the Rapture, regardless of whether he fails or succeeds in God’s plan in time.
a. While the carnal believer is a loser in time, he will still receive a resurrection body at the Rapture.
b. The mature believer, a winner in time and an invisible hero, will also receive his resurrection body at the Rapture; not because he’s a winner, but because resurrection is the Lord’s victory.
I. Your Challenge in Application of Resurrection, 1 Cor 15:58.
1. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, become stabilized, not distracted, and excel in association with the work of the Lord [great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union carried into the great power experiment of the Church Age] at all times, because your labor for the Lord is not empty [vain].”
2. The Greek word GINOMAI means to become something you were not before. Because we have no control over our death, burial, and resurrection, we do have control over our lives now. We have the opportunity to use our free will to execute the protocol plan of God. God has provided unlimited divine assets, the portfolio of invisible assets, by which we execute the protocol plan of God.
3. To “become stabilized” means you have the right to use your own volition to execute and fulfill the plan of God. You have the right to learn Bible doctrine, to utilize your portfolio of invisible assets, to use the omnipotence of God - all to the glory of God. You can only glorify God by executing the protocol plan of God. When you do this, you are in a stabilized condition.
4. The apposition, “not distracted,” more clearly defines what it means to become stabilized. Distractions are anything you put before Bible doctrine.
5. To “excel” means to be outstanding, to become an invisible hero. This means you have personal impact, national impact, international impact, and angelic impact.
6. It is called “your labor” because you use your volition during this time on earth. Your volition determines your control or lack of control over your life. “Your labor for the Lord” are the decisions you make; not your Christian service. It is your positive decisions daily, your evaluation of what is important in your life, the importance of Bible doctrine, the daily perception of Bible doctrine, your spiritual growth.
7. Losers live empty lives. Winners’ lives are not in vain.
J. Resurrection and the Omnipotence of God.
1. Christ died twice on the cross that we might be born twice. He died spiritually to provide salvation. He died physically because His work was finished.
a. Our first birth is natural generation, in which God the Father creates human life and imputes it to the soul at birth.
b. The second birth is regeneration, by which God the Holy Spirit creates from His omnipotence a human spirit for the imputation of eternal life by God the Father.
c. In both the first and second births, the omnipotence of God is involved. 2. This anticipates the principle: the power that sustained the humanity of Christ on the cross and gave Him the enablement, the endurance to bear our sins, is the same power made available to us for the fulfillment of the protocol plan of God. The power that resurrected Christ from the dead is the same power delegated and made available to every Church Age believer for the fulfillment of the protocol plan of God.
a. The omnipotence of God is delegated, distributed, made available to every Church Age believer for the utilization of the tactical victory of the angelic conflict, which is the fulfillment of the protocol plan of God, the function of the unique life and the lifestyle of wisdom, resulting in spiritual maturity and glorification of God in this intensified stage of the angelic conflict.
b. The royal family of God is designed and empowered to glorify God. This becomes the highest destiny ever given to any group of believers in any dispensation!
3. In physical death, our Lord Jesus Christ had a trichotomous separation. His body went into the grave. His human spirit went into the presence of God the Father in the third heaven. His human soul went into the first compartment of Hades, Paradise, where all the Old Testament believers resided until the resurrection of Christ.
4. When we die, our soul and spirit go into the presence of the Lord in heaven, accompanied by Christ who indwelt us. For we are said to be “absent from the body and face to face with the Lord.” So there is no splitting up of the soul and the spirit in the death of the believer. But our Lord’s physical death was unique. Being face to face implies that we have a recognizable interim body in heaven until the Rapture.
5. In the meantime, our Lord’s body was in the grave for three days and three nights. Lk 23:53 documents this clearly.
6. When the work of salvation was finished, our Lord said to the Father, “Father, into Thy hands I dismiss My spirit,” Lk 23:46, and His human spirit went into the presence of the Father. 7. He said to the dying thief in Lk 23:43, “Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.” His soul went into Paradise, a compartment of hades.
a. Ps 16:10 prophesied, “You will not leave my soul in hades.”
b. Acts 2:27, “His soul came out of hades.” Cf Eph 4:9.
c. While He was there, according to 1 Pet 3:18-21, the Holy Spirit guarded the soul of our Lord in hades. And by means of the Spirit, the soul of our Lord went down to Tartarus, where He made the victorious proclamation to certain fallen angels.
8. Just as our Lord’s spiritual death was unique—He was judged for all of our sins, so His physical death was unique—He had a trichotomous separation.
9. God the Father is said to be the agent of the resurrection, Eph 1:20. Col 2:12, 1 Thes 1:10, Rom 6:4, and 1 Pet 1:21 all say that God the Father raised Him from the dead.
10. But Scripture also says the Holy Spirit raised Him from the dead, as in Acts 2:24, Rom 1:4, Rom 8:11, and 1 Pet 3:18. So God the Holy Spirit is also the agent of the resurrection.
11. The omnipotence of the Father sent our Lord’s human spirit through billions and billions of light years of space to His body in the tomb. Simultaneously, the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit returned His human soul from Hades to His body. Now rejoined in the resurrection body, our Lord walked through the stone. Later on, an angel rolled away the stone so that the world could see and verify the resurrection. The power that resurrected Christ was made possible to a human being from the omnipotence of God the Father and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit.
12. Scripture.
a. Eph 1:20, “which power He put into operation by means of Christ when He [God the Father] raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand.”
b. In Acts 2:31 Peter said, “He [David] looking ahead spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that He was neither abandoned in Hades nor did His flesh see decay.”
c. Rom 6:4, “Therefore, we have been buried with Him [Christ] through baptism into death [baptism of the Spirit] in order that, as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
d. 2 Cor 13:4, “For indeed He was crucified because of weakness [ours], yet He lives because of the power of God.”
e. That is why Paul said in Phil 3:10, “that I may come to know Him and the power of His resurrection.” 13. Hence, the importance of epistemological rehabilitation after salvation. Cognition of the resurrection includes understanding divine omnipotence as the mechanics. The same divine omnipotence becomes the mechanics for the two great events of history: the execution of the protocol plan of God, and the Rapture of the Church.
14. Christ did not use His own divine power in His resurrection. During the incarnation, our Lord voluntarily restricted the independent use of His own divine attributes, including His omnipotence, in compliance with the Father’s plan for the incarnation and the strategic victory of the angelic conflict.
15. Christ could have used His own omnipotence at the cross; He could have delivered Himself and raised His own body from the dead. But instead, He depended upon the omnipotence of God the Father and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit. This is taught in Jn 10:17-18: “For this reason, the Father loves Me, because I lay down My soul that I might receive it again. No one has taken it [My life] from Me; but I lay it down from the source of Myself. I have the power to lay it down [i.e., the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit sustaining Him in prototype divine dynasphere]; I have the power to receive it again. This mandate I have received from the Father.”
a. Jesus Christ surrendered His human spirit to the Father in heaven and His soul to the Holy Spirit in Hades that He might receive His soul and spirit again.
b. “I have the power to lay it down.” The humanity of Christ had the power to surrender His own life by means of the sustaining omnipotence of the Holy Spirit inside the prototype divine dynasphere.
16. However, during the incarnation, the deity of Christ was still holding the universe together.
a. Col 1:16, “By Him were all things held together.”
b. Heb 1:3, “Upholding all things by the word of His power.” 17. The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union emphasizes all three members of the Trinity, but only the omnipotence of God the Father and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit pertain to modus operandi of the humanity of Christ, and then the modus operandi of every Church Age believer.
18. The power of resurrection.
a. Our Lord had the power and authority to receive His life again. This authority or power came from the omnipotence of God the Father, who restored our Lord’s human spirit to His body, and from the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, who restored our Lord’s human soul to His body.
b. At that moment, the human spirit and soul of our Lord rejoined His body in the grave through the agency of the omnipotence of God, and the humanity of Christ was resurrected.
c. In His resurrection body, He walked through the solid stone of His tomb. The resurrection body is designed so that it can walk between the space of molecules!
19. So although Jesus Christ Himself had the power to bring Himself back from the dead, in obedience to the mandate of the Father, and in reliance upon the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit; our Lord in Hypostatic Union voluntarily restricted the independent use of His omnipotence and established the pattern for the successful fulfillment of the protocol plan of God in this Church Age.
20. Therefore, during the period of His physical death, Jesus Christ did not exercise His omnipotence to benefit Himself, to provide for Himself, to raise Himself from the dead, or to glorify Himself in any way.
21. The identical omnipotence of God the Father and omnipotence of the Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is the same power that has been provided for us in grace to execute the protocol plan of God. The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union turned history around, for now in the Church Age the same omnipotence of God the Father and omnipotence of the Holy Spirit is available to you in the mechanics of the protocol plan of God and in the promises and guarantees in our portfolio of invisible assets.
a. The omnipotence of God the Father is available to you related to your portfolio of invisible assets.
b. The omnipotence of Jesus Christ is available to you, for He not only holds the universe together but at the same time perpetuates human history a day at the time.
c. The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit is available to you related to residence, function, and momentum inside your very own palace, the operational-type divine dynasphere. 22. Never before in history has so much divine omnipotence been available to so many believers for the glorification of God through the execution of His will, His plan, and His purpose. You have available to you the greatest power!
23. The omnipotence that raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also raise you as believers at the Rapture of the Church.
a. The omnipotence of God the Father will provide the resurrection body for all the dead in Christ.
b. The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit will provide a resurrection body for all who are alive on the earth at that time.
24. Phil 3:20-21, “For our politeuma is in heaven, from which we eagerly await for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform this body of our humiliation so that it will be like the body of His glory on the basis of the power that enabled Him to bring into subjection all creatures to Himself.”
25. Therefore, the victory of resurrection is given to every believer in Jesus Christ regardless of his spiritual status in time, whether he is a winner or a loser.
a. The carnal Christian is a loser living in the cosmic system, steeped in reversionism, under organized arrogance. He is often much worse than the unbeliever, yet he will receive a resurrection body at the Rapture of the Church.
b. The mature believer is a winner, an invisible hero. He has executed the protocol plan of God. He has maximum invisible impact in life. He will receive a resurrection body also at the Rapture, but he too is still a part of the grace system.
c. Neither winner nor loser deserves the right to have a resurrection body and to live in the presence of God forever.
d. The difference between winners and losers in the eternal state is a matter of escrow blessings and rewards; it is not a matter of the resurrection body.
26. Since resurrection is the Lord’s victory, both winners and losers will spend eternity in the presence of God in resurrection bodies. That is grace based upon 1 Jn 5:11-12. “In fact, this is the deposition: that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has this eternal life. He who does not have the Son does not have eternal life.”
27. God’s grace and God’s victory begins at salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, continues in time under the protocol plan of God where we do have some control as to what kind of believers we are, and it concludes in the eternal state where we have no control at all.
28. The same power, the omnipotence of God the Father and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, that raised Christ from the dead is the same power by which the Church Age believer fulfills the protocol plan of God. If we’re going to use this power, we have to know that exists, we have to know that it’s available, and we have to know the mechanics of utilization.
29. 1 Pet 1:3-8, “Blessed be the God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; to obtain an inheritance [the resurrection body] which is incorruptible and undefiled, and does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are guarded by the power of God through faith, for a deliverance ready to be revealed at the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various categories of suffering; that the proof of your faith [doctrine], being much more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in the praise, the honor, the glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And though you have not seen Him you love Him, and though you do not see Him now but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”
a. What is this “living hope?” It is the fact that your power, abilities, and strengths will contribute nothing to Christianity. God has provided the power, the ability, and the strength through regeneration, made available in the protocol plan of God.
b. An inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled is an inheritance based on divine power rather than human power, on God’s grace rather than human accomplishment. It will not fade away because God’s power cannot fade.
c. The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same power that provides eternal security for every believer, winner or loser.
d. The “deliverance” refers to the resurrection of the Church, effected by the omnipotence of God the Father and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit. The power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power by which Church Age believers have eternal security and the means of fulfilling the protocol plan of God.
e. This passage explains the death of the believer in terms of God’s grace, and the future of the believer in terms of resurrection. For resurrection belongs to every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
30. Rom 1:4, “Who was demonstrated the Son of God by means of power belonging to the Holy Spirit, by means of the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
31. Rom 8:11, “Now if the Spirit from Him [God the Father] who raised Jesus from the dead indwells you [and He does], He [God the Father] who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.” There is no spiritual life apart from the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit.
a. God the Holy Spirit returned the human soul of Jesus Christ to His body in the tomb. God the Father returned our Lord’s soul to His body in the tomb. Therefore, it is not surprising that both God the Holy Spirit and God the Father play a part in the resurrection of the Church.
b. God the Father provides the resurrection bodies for those who are in interim bodies in heaven when the rapture of the Church occurs. God the Holy Spirit, who is indwelling believers who are alive on earth when the rapture of the Church occurs, provides the resurrection bodies for living believers.
c. Compare Eph 1:19-20, “and what is the surpassing greatness of His power to us who have believed for the working of His superior power, which power He put into operation by means of Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.” The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same power that gives you a resurrection body in the future. That same power has been given to us for the execution of the unique spiritual life of the Church Age.
32. 1 Pet 3:18, “Because Christ also once died with reference to sins, the righteous on behalf of the unrighteous, in order that He might bring us to God; on the one hand, having died physically, but on the other hand, having been made alive by means of the Holy Spirit.” We were brought to God by grace. It was the work of the Father who judged our sins from His omnipotence. It was the work of the Son who endured the cross; it was the work of the Holy Spirit who sustained the humanity of Christ for the most intense and awful suffering the world has ever known.
33. Phil 3:10, “that I may come to know Him and the power of His resurrection. . .”
K. Old Testament Illustrations of Resurrection.
1. The doctrine of resurrection was well known to Old Testament saints. Both Daniel and Job made personal application of the doctrine of resurrection through the problem solving devices. Both used the faith-rest drill to metabolize and apply the doctrine of the resurrection to their adversities and pressures. Both demonstrate a personal sense of destiny and occupation with Christ.
a. Daniel noted the prophesy of resurrection in Dan 12:2, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, those to everlasting life, and that is the first resurrection, but others to disgrace and everlasting shame.” This is a reference to the Jews (Tribulational martyrs) who were rescued and mentioned in Dan 12:1.
b. Job made application to the doctrine of resurrection in the time of his suffering, Job 19:25-26. Job turned to the doctrine of resurrection for comfort in his suffering, “And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end [of Jewish client nation states] He will rise up from the dust, even after my skin has been destroyed, yet without my flesh I shall see God.”
2. Abraham in his tent illustrates resurrection, because he knew he had his real home in heaven.
a. Heb 11:9-10, 13, “By means of faith-rest [application of doctrine to experience], he [Abraham] lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” The city of Abraham will be suspended above the earth. “On the basis of faith, all these [Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob] died, not having received the promises, but having seen the same from a distance [looking into the future], and having saluted and embraced them; furthermore they acknowledged that they were strangers and transients on the earth.”
b. God had made a promise to Abraham that he would receive all of the land as far as he could see and farther to the north, south, east, and west, Gen 12. Heb 11:9 also refers to the eternal city of Abraham mentioned in Rev 21:2, “And I saw holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride dressed for her husband.” Rev 21:10.
c. Abraham looked forward to living in this permanent city of the eternal state, so that he continued to live in a test rather than use his great wealth to build a palace and to fortify all of his wealth. Living in a tent in Abraham’s time was very dangerous because of roving bandits and armies moving back and forth. Abraham had a wall of fire protecting him. Therefore, he needed no more to protect him than a tent. Living in a tent was his testimony that God’s promise was more real to him than what everyone else thought or said, and Abraham was the wealthiest man of his time. Living in a tent was a testimony of the faith-rest function of Abraham and his personal sense of destiny. He was not disturbed that this promise was not being fulfilled in his lifetime because he understood the doctrine of resurrection. Abraham was not happy because of his family and his wealth but because of his relationship with God. The function of the problem solving devices eventually led to the application of the doctrine of resurrection to his experience.
d. Abraham was ordered to offer his only son as a sacrifice, Heb 11:17-19, “By means of faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his uniquely born son; to whom it was said, `In Isaac your seed will be called.’ He concluded that God is able to raise [Isaac] even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type.” Isaac was uniquely born because God had to revive Abraham and Sarah’s sexual ability in old age for Isaac to be conceived. Abraham knew that if he killed his son as a sacrifice, God would raise him again, because God must fulfill His word “in Isaac your seed will be designated.” Abraham used four problem solving devices to conclude that God would immediately resurrect his son because God had made a promise regarding Isaac.
e. Once we begin to understand the power of the resurrection and once we put that resurrection power into operation through the power solving devices, then we have a testimony that causes the elect angels to stand up and cheer and causes us to have no shame at the judgment seat of Christ.
3. Heb 11:22, Joseph ordered, while he was dying, that his bones (body) be taken to Israel. What he did while dying was greater than anything he did during his life. “By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus to the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones.” Gen 50:24-26, “And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely concern Himself about you, so that He will take you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath, saying, `God is going to deliver you, therefore you will carry my bones up from this place.’ So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.” There was no tomb for Joseph. His coffin remained above ground for 475 years as a testimony that he knew he would be resurrected. In Ex 13:19, we see that Joseph’s coffin went at the head of the column when the Jews left Egypt. For forty years it marched through the desert as a testimony of the faithfulness of God and the certainty of resurrection. In Josh 24:31-32, his bones were finally buried, “And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the Lord which He had done for Israel. Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the piece of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph’s sons.” Joseph’s coffin was a testimony to how Joseph believed in resurrection.
a. Joseph understood that the physical death of the believer is a matter of both grace orientation and doctrinal orientation; for God selects the time, place, and manner of our death. While Joseph had control over his life while he was living, he had no control over the time, manner, or place of his death. The death of Joseph was a matter of the sovereignty, wisdom, and integrity of God.
b. Joseph’s unburied coffin was a testimony to the faithfulness of God, God’s timing, and to the fact that the only application of Bible doctrine comes through the problem solving devices. When this application is made, it goes right back into the stream of consciousness in terms of spiritual values.
c. Resurrection is a matter of the sovereign judgment of God, therefore, resurrection is strictly a grace function. Jn 11:25, “Jesus said to her [Martha], `I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies.’”
4. Principles.
a. Just as the believer has no control over the time or manner of his death, so he has no control over the time or manner of his resurrection. Only God knows when the body of Christ is completed and the Rapture of the Church will occur. When people start putting dates on the Rapture, it is false doctrine. God wants us to live one day at a time and every day as unto the Lord.
b. Like the death of the believer, the resurrection of the believer is a matter of God’s timing, God’s decision, God’s victory, 1 Cor 15:57.
c. The resurrection is God’s victory, because the resurrection is totally the work of God apart from human merit or human achievement. The resurrection is God’s victory for all believers, winners or losers. Resurrection always tempers our sorrow when loved ones die, because we know that we will be raised and spend eternity with them.
d. Just as the grace policy of God has provided everything the believer needs for time, so the grace policy of God has provided everything the believer needs for dying, death, and resurrection.
e. While the believer has much control over whether he is a winner or loser in the plan of God for time, he has no control over the time, place, or manner of his death or the time of his resurrection.
f. Resurrection is the Lord’s sovereign decision, and is not subject to either man’s speculation or man’s timetable. However, we do know that Joseph will be resurrected at the Second Advent with the unconditional covenants to Israel being fulfilled before his very eyes. Joseph will stand with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham is a resurrection body.
g. Death and resurrection are not under the control or the merit of the believer. The victory of death is the Lord’s victory; for salvation through personal faith in Christ has removed the sting and the power of the grave. The victory of grace in resurrection includes every believer after Christ the firstfruits: the Rapture of the Church—royal family of God, the Old Testament saint and tribulational martyrs at the Second Advent, the millennial believers at the end of the millennium.
L. Resurrection is a part of the Gospel, 1 Cor 15:1-4. The Gospel includes the spiritual death of Christ bearing the sins of the world, His physical death, and His resurrection.
M. The Importance of Resurrection Related to Faith in Christ, 1 Cor 15:12-17. Without resurrection, faith is in vain.
N. Resurrection emphasizes the difference between a theophany and Christophany.
1. A theophany is an appearance of Christ prior to the First Advent and can be as an animate person or inanimate thing.
2. A christophany is an appearance of Christ after His bodily resurrection, Mk 16:9-14; Lk 24:13-43; Acts 2:32. There have been nineteen appearances of Christ in resurrection body.
O. The resurrection of Christ is part of His strategic victory of the angelic conflict, 1 Cor 15:20-25. The body is asleep waiting for resurrection. The soul never sleeps. We have an interim body while waiting in heaven for our resurrection body.
P. Resurrection is necessary for perpetuation of the line of David and fulfillment of the Davidic covenant, Rom 1:3-4; 2 Tim 2:8. During the First Advent the Jews rejected Christ as their King. Therefore, the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant is postponed until after the Church Age.
Q. The resurrection of Christ indicates the completion of the ministry of justification, Rom 4:25. Christ was “raised because of our justification.” We are justified, therefore, Christ had to be raised. Because justification was completed on the Cross, the Father was free to resurrect Christ.
R. The Agents of the Resurrection of Christ.
1. God the Father, Col 2:12; 1 Thes 1:10; 1 Pet 1:21; Heb 13:20.
2. God the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:24; Rom 1:4, 8:11; 1 Pet 3:18.
3. Christ Himself, Jn 10:17-18.
S. Resurrection is necessary for advance of the Father’s plan, Isa 53:10. T. The resurrection of Christ is the basis for the believer’s confidence in the future, 1 Pet 1:3-5, 21; Phil 3:21.
U. Resurrection and the Tactical Victory of the Angelic Conflict by the Royal Family, Rom 6:4. 1. The tactical victory of the royal family is the advance to maturity.
2. The royal family is formed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 3. Tactical victory is believer’s heritage, 1 Cor 15:57-58.
4. The royal family is motivated to advance to maturity through identification with Christ in His resurrection, Rom 6:4.
V. The Mechanics of Resurrection.
1. 1 Jn 3:2. “Beloved [royal family], we are now the children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know, however, that if He should appear we shall be exactly like Him [similar in resurrection bodies] because we shall see Him just as He is.”
2. Phil 3:21, “Jesus Christ, who will transform this body of our humiliation so that it will be like the body of His glory on the basis of the power that also enables Him to bring into subjection all creation to Himself.” We are similar to Christ in our resurrection body but not identical.
W. The Error of Speculation about the Rapture.
1. The Rapture is imminent. This means that no prophecy has to be fulfilled before the resurrection occurs.
2. Rev 22:7, 12, 20 says “I am coming soon.” “Soon” connotes imminency. This statement was made in A.D. 96; it is now 1988. Throughout all these centuries, the Rapture has not occurred.
3. The Rapture could occur tomorrow or 1000 years from now.
4. The Rapture of the Church does not depend on human merit, but on the grace of God. 5. The Rapture will not occur until the royal family is complete. We do not know who will be the last person to be brought into the royal family.
6. The time of the Rapture is God’s decision.
7. The believer’s decision must be to live one day at a time under the priorities of God’s grace and God’s provision. That requires our perception, metabolization, and application of doctrine. Consistent postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation will result in daily spiritual growth, the execution of the protocol plan, and the glorification of God by becoming an invisible hero.
8. The time of the Rapture is God’s decision and God’s victory, not ours. Therefore, the believer must live one day at a time, using the ten problem-solving devices and growing in grace. 9. This does not hinder Tit 2:13 or 1 Cor 1:7, which say we eagerly wait for the Rapture of the Church. Occupation with Christ means eagerly waiting for the Rapture without falling into those blasphemies of human decision based on human speculation. This refers to the blasphemy of setting a date for the Rapture or announcing what is the Rapture generation.
10. The only healthy attitude toward the Rapture occurs when the believer reaches spiritual adulthood. He has the right attitude from cognitive self-confidence of spiritual self-esteem, cognitive independence of spiritual autonomy, and cognitive invincibility of spiritual maturity.
11. In every generation of the Church Age, the believer must anticipate the Rapture. This anticipation is part of occupation with Christ, the priority solution to life.
12. Personal love for God the Father, occupation with Christ, and a personal sense of destiny demand that the believer lives his life as unto the Lord only one day at a time.
13. Death and resurrection are never under the control of merit; they are only under the control of God’s grace.
14. Death and resurrection of both winners and losers is God’s victory.
15. As God’s victory, the Rapture of the Church is the function of the sovereignty, wisdom, and power of God.
16. Death and resurrection are under the Lord’s direct control. The sting of death and the power of the grave are removed by maximum doctrine resident in the soul. 17. The victory of resurrection is the fact that all Church Age believers, winners or losers, are resurrected at the same time.
X. To whom does the victory of resurrection apply?
1. It applies to every believer, winner and loser.
a. The carnal Christian is a loser living in the cosmic system, steeped in reversionism, arrogant to the point of spiritual blindness, and yet he will receive a resurrection body along with every winner.
b. The mature believer is a winner, an invisible hero, who has executed the protocol plan and glorified God in time. Obviously, he receives a resurrection body at the same time.
2. So it is a part of the grace policy of God that believers, both winners and losers, receive their resurrection bodies at the same time.
3. The difference between winners and losers is in the eternal state; it is a matter of escrow blessings and rewards.
4. At the Judgment Seat of Christ after the Rapture of the Church, winners and invisible heroes receive the distribution of their escrow blessings for the eternal state. Losers have resurrection bodies and blessings, but they do not have the escrow blessings for the eternal state. 5. The loser cannot lose his salvation; however, he can lose his escrow blessings. Being irrevocable, his escrow blessings remain forever in the presence of God.
6. 1 Pet 1:3-8, “Blessed be the God, even the Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are guarded by the omnipotence of God through faith, resulting in salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In this, you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various testings; that the proof of your doctrine, being much more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in the praise, glory, and honor at the Rapture [revelation] of Jesus Christ. And though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”
Y. Conclusion.
1. Both the death and resurrection of the believer are the wise and sovereign decision of God.
2. The believer has no control over the time, manner, or place of his death, or even if he will die.
3. Since the resurrection of the believer is totally the work of God, it is obviously God’s victory.
4. Since the resurrection is the work of God for all believers, winners or losers, it is a matter of grace and never a matter of human merit.
5. Therefore, the believers resurrection is both God’s grace and God’s victory. The category under which you die is always God’s grace, because God disciplines us in grace even when we are dying the sin unto death.
6. Just as the grace policy of God has provided everything the Church Age believer needs for time, so the grace of God has provided everything the believer needs for dying and resurrection.
7. The resurrection of the Church Age believer does not depend upon any form of human merit. This means that the believer’s volition, works, merit, service, is not a factor in the resurrection of the Church. It does not depend upon how good or bad you are as a believer.
8. Just as the believer has no control over the time, manner, or place of his death, so he has no control over the time of the resurrection. You cannot make a better world to which God can come back. The resurrection of the Church does not depend on any system of Christian works or self- righteousness or human merit or setting dates for the Rapture. It is blasphemous to try and put leverage on God as to when the Rapture should occur. You can pray for the Rapture and that prayer will not be answered. Resurrection is God’s victory, never the believer’s victory.
9. The rapture or resurrection of the Church is imminent and could happen at any time. No prophecy has to be fulfilled before it occurs. Human speculation is not a part of eschatology; for eschatology is Bible doctrine.
10. Since the resurrection of the Church is divorced from any form of human ability or human achievement, it is compatible with the grace of God and another manifestation of God’s victory in human history.
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© 1989, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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