Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: 1 Corinthians 15 | Date: September 19, 2021 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Open your Bibles, if you will, to Acts chapter 4, and then place a marker there and go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning with verse one.

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you, as of first importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised the third day in accordance with the scriptures, that he appeared to Cephas and to the twelve, then he also appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James and to all of the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me, for I am the least of the apostles unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that was with me, whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed. Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there’s no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all people to be pitied. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, this is a marvelous and familiar passage of your word. We pray that you will give us a clear grasp of it, give us a grasp of it in relation to our broader study on the doctrine of salvation, and give us through it a greater appreciation of the salvation that we enjoy in Christ and a great anticipation of what is still to come in him. We pray in his name. Amen.

We have been looking at the doctrine of salvation in some detail, and most recently we’ve been trying to articulate the various aspects of the significance of the death of Jesus Christ. Just what was his atonement? And so we’ve looked at ideas like the mission, the saving mission of Christ. We’ve looked at his death as a sacrifice. We’ve looked at his death as a propitiation, as redemption, and various themes like that as we’ve been trying to look at the various aspects of significance of his death. And we culminated that with a couple of times looking at the subject of Christ triumphant in his death.

That will become significant again in a couple of weeks when we get to that, but now I want to look at the doctrine of salvation as it relates to the resurrection of Christ. That, of course, is the subject of 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and those early verses that we’ve read.

The Hope Of Resurrection In The Old Testament

The hope of resurrection is a dominant feature of Judaism in the Old Testament, and it’s a dominant feature of Judaism still in the New Testament times, in the times of the Gospels. In the Old Testament, the forward look was that God would come. He would send his Messiah, and in the day of Messiah he would enter in this age to come, in which the dead would be raised, and the righteous would be vindicated before God and stand before him vindicated.

We have several wonderful statements of that in the Old Testament. Job, I’m sorry, chapter 19—one of Job’s bursts of faith in that book: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth, and after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.” In Isaiah chapter 25 in verse eight, it says he will swallow up death forever, which is an unusual kind of metaphor—swallowing up death, eating it, devouring it, spitting it out; it’s done. The eventual defeat of death is looked forward to in Isaiah 25 as a resurrection.

Isaiah 26, we have the same thing: “The dead shall live, their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy, for your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.” And then very famously, Daniel chapter 12: “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as you’ve never seen since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” So there again, the resurrection is spoken of as sleeping and waking up. The great hope of the Old Testament was that in that day of Messiah, he would raise the dead and they would be vindicated before God.

When we come to the New Testament times, the times of the Gospels, that hope is very much still alive. You see that reflected, for example, in Martha’s statement to Jesus. You remember at the tomb of Lazarus, she affirms that Jesus is the Messiah, and she affirms that there is going to be a resurrection in that day. And then Jesus, of course, affirms, “I am the resurrection and the life.” But that hope of resurrection was alive and well. The division between the Sadducees and the Pharisees was the division between naturalism and supernaturalism. They were the modernists, the liberals of the day, and they had come to deny that doctrine of the resurrection. But the Pharisees and the vast majority of Israel at large looked up to the Pharisees, holding this doctrine of the resurrection to come.

The Resurrection Of Christ In Apostolic Preaching

Well, with all of that in the background, it is no surprise then that the resurrection of Christ became a prominent note in the apostolic preaching. And I want to give you a bit of a sense of that as well before we get to 1 Corinthians. You can scarcely imagine what went through the minds of the apostles, not to mention everyone else, that Sunday morning after Jesus had been crucified and everyone had seen him dead, and he had been buried in a tomb, and now three days later, the tomb is empty and he’s gone. And he starts showing up and talking to people. Paul talks about that here. He talked to the women. He talked to James. He’s seen of all the twelve. Even Thomas saw him, who doubted him. And then lastly, Paul, and then 500 others he mentions as well. You can hardly imagine what that would have been like to see that this man who had been dead is now back to life.

And so it became a central feature in the preaching of the apostles. And that’s why I had you look at Acts chapter four. In Acts chapter two, you remember Peter preaches at Pentecost and emphasizes the resurrection of the dead, that it was foreseen in Psalm 16, where David speaks of Christ’s resurrection. But look at this in Acts chapter four, verses one and two: “The priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” So we have the Sadducees here greatly annoyed that they’re preaching, and what they identify as the nature of their preaching is they’re preaching the resurrection of the dead.

I’ll see more of that in a minute. Chapter four, verse 33, we have a summary characterization of the apostles’ preaching again, where it says, “with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” If you’d like to turn over to chapter 17 of the book of Acts, you have the philosophers at Athens, and they were put off with Paul’s preaching now, Acts 17 verse 18, because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. This is the point at issue that the apostles pressed.

Look at Acts 23 verse 6. Here the apostle Paul characterizes his own preaching: “It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” I’m on trial for preaching what? The resurrection. And then chapter 24 verse 21, we have the same thing: “It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I’m on trial before you.” So this is a prominent, central theme of the apostles and their preaching in the book of Acts.

And in fact, it is a gospel essential. We see that in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 3 and 4 there that identify the core elements of the gospel: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was raised again the third day according to the scriptures as well. Paul makes other statements about it very famously, one that we’ll look at next week, Romans chapter 4 verse 25: “He was delivered over for our offenses and raised for our justification.” And here in 1 Corinthians 15, as I say, it’s very obvious it is a gospel essential. The resurrection is inseparable from the cross, but it is no less an essential part of the gospel.

The Resurrection Of The Age To Come

Now, just to give you a sense of things where we’re going with this, it was an essential part of their gospel to preach the resurrection of Jesus. In other words, the resurrection of Christ has significance—saving significance—for us. Now, it’s an interesting thing because if you look in systematic theology books, typically when you come to the doctrine of the resurrection of Christ, they’ll defend the resurrection, the historicity of the resurrection of Christ, and they may even give notice at this point in the systematic theology to its significance for our resurrection in the future that we’ll talk about this morning. But seldom do you find any of them making mention of the saving significance of Christ’s resurrection for today. And that’s going to be our study for today and next time as well.

The question here then is, what is it about Christ’s resurrection that makes it so significant to the apostolic preaching? Why is the resurrection of Christ so central? And basic to that answer is, first of all, to say that Christ’s resurrection was recognized as that resurrection of the age to come. In other words, it was not just a resuscitation like Lazarus, where he would come to life, but then live out his life and die again. This is the resurrection of the age to come. Jesus’ resurrection was that resurrection.

Now, that’s one of the reasons I pointed you to Acts chapter four. Look back there again, Acts chapter four and verse one: “The priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.” Why would the Sadducees be so annoyed that Jesus preached the resurrection? Of course they don’t believe it. But what’s the point here? Notice what it says. They are annoyed because they’re teaching the people and preaching or proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

So picture it here: you have the Pharisees on one side, the Sadducees on the other. The Pharisees say there will be a resurrection of the dead; the Sadducees say there will be no resurrection of the dead. And the apostle Paul comes in and says, “Guys, I got news for you, it’s already happened.” That’s the significance of preaching in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. We find that again, if you look back at some of the passages in Acts that we saw. Look at Acts chapter 26, verses 22 and 23: “To this day I have had the help that comes from God.” This is the apostle Paul. He’s standing before King Agrippa and Festus is there as well, the procurator. “To this day, I’ve had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass, that Christ must suffer, and that by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

Notice that statement: Christ would be the first to rise from the dead. He’s the first one. Now, in fact, there had been other—we call them resurrections, but I think to be more specific, we should call them resuscitations—in the biblical history, Lazarus being the most famous. Resuscitations where he comes back to life. But Jesus is the first to be raised from the dead, meaning that he is the one who has been raised in that resurrection. He’s been raised to the age to come. That great Old Testament hope that in the end God would raise the dead in the day of Messiah and that his people would be vindicated—that’s the resurrection they’re looking forward to, and that exactly is the resurrection of Jesus. And that’s what Paul is proclaiming here.

Well, there are other passages. I won’t go to them all, but let me just play out this idea of Jesus being part of that resurrection. Think of the contrast. You remember when Lazarus was raised from the dead. Remember how the narrative goes. There’s a whole scene ahead of time and the discussions that are fascinating, and then finally we get to the moment and Jesus says, “Lazarus, come forth.” So Lazarus, who’s in the tomb, is now out of the tomb. Remember what Jesus says next? “Loose him and let him go.” You see Lazarus all wrapped up in his grave clothes. Would he hop out or something? But he can’t move. He’s wrapped up in those, and Jesus says, “Loose him and let him go.”

That was not the case when Jesus rose from the dead. You remember when the disciples—when Peter went into the tomb and looked? What’d he see? The grave clothes, all still in place. Collapsed a little, maybe. There they are, but the body’s gone. He’s part of the eschatological resurrection, the resurrection of the age to come. He is the first one to go there. That’s why when the stone was moved from the tomb of Jesus, it was not moved to let him out. It was moved to let others look in to see that he was gone. We have sudden appearances by Jesus after that to the women, to Peter, to the twelve in the upper room. Physical barriers are no obstacle. John makes a point to tell us that in John chapter 20: the doors being shut in the room, he appears to them. Jesus’ resurrection was unique. It was the first of its kind. It was the resurrection into the age to come.

Christ The Firstfruits

Now then, that is Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We’ll spend most of the rest of our time here. In the context, as we’ve read, verses one to 11, Paul is reviewing for them the essence, the central essentials of the gospel, and that is the death and resurrection of Jesus, verses three and four. And he expounds on that in the verses to come.

And then we come to verse 12. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 12: “Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there’s no resurrection of the dead?” Okay, here’s where Paul’s been going in this passage. He’s been articulating the nature of the gospel, as essential to it as the death and resurrection of Jesus. And now we get to the point. Evidently there’s a problem in Corinth—a lot of problems in Corinth. One of them was people are teaching that there’s no resurrection of the dead. Paul comes along and says, “Here’s the gospel, the gospel that you believe by which you’re saved and in which you stand unless you believed in vain. This is the gospel that we’ve all embraced. Christ died for our sins according to the scripture. He’s raised again the third day according to the scriptures. If you said that, how in the world can you say now, verse 12, that there’s no resurrection of the dead?” It’s already happened. You’ve already acknowledged that at the front door. That’s Paul’s argument. You can’t deny the resurrection of Christ and be a Christian who’s embraced the gospel, because embracing the gospel, you’ve already acknowledged that the resurrection has happened. It has happened in Jesus.

Now that’s his argument in a nutshell. Verses 13 to 19 then show the consequences of the denial. If you deny Christ’s resurrection, then we’ve got no gospel to preach. We’ve got no faith that’s worth anything. We’re still in our sins. And if we do this Christian thing, we are one miserable lot. This whole argument is grounded in the eschatological nature of the resurrection of Jesus, that he has been raised into the age to come. He’s the first one. In fact, verse 20: “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.”

Now our translators and the NIV translators have done something similar here. They’re wanting to emphasize the “but in fact” nature of the statement, and that’s there. But very literally here, the translation is “but now.” I think that’s more the significance here that Paul is getting at. But now Christ has been raised from the dead. Now that resurrection has already happened. And then notice the word “firstfruits”: “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

The firstfruits. The firstfruits was a feast in the Old Testament economy that was held in the beginning of the grain harvest in the early spring of each year. It was instituted in Leviticus chapter 23. You see a fuller account of it in Deuteronomy chapter 26. When it came to be the grain harvest, the time of the grain harvest, you’d gather just a sampling of your grain and take it into the priest at the tabernacle as a firstfruits offering. You’d give it to the priest. He would wave a sheaf of grain before the Lord. It was a time of thanksgiving, a time of acknowledgment that all that we have in our prosperity comes from God. And so it’s a time of worship and not just thanksgiving, but devotion to God. They’re offering a first fruit to God: “Here, this is for you who gave it to me in the first place.”

But the firstfruits were just that. They were the first fruits of the harvest. And so the first fruit takes on the significance of a pledge and a hope and a sampling of a fuller harvest that’s still to come. And because the first fruit is a sampling of a full harvest to come, the first fruits comes in the scriptures, both Old Testament and New, to take on a fuller symbolic significance. So for example, in Jeremiah, God can speak of Israel as “my first fruits of the nations.” It harks back to the Abrahamic covenant, the problem that Israel had trouble with even in the time of Jesus and the apostles—that this isn’t just a Jewish thing, that this is going to the nations. Israel was the first fruit of the nations. Paul expounds that at length in Romans 9 to 11.

We find it in the New Testament in Romans chapter 16 and 1 Corinthians chapter 16: Epaenetus, a man by the name of Epaenetus, and then the household of Stephanas are the first fruits of Achaia. That is, they are the first believers of a great company of believers that would come from that region—the first fruits. Paul speaks of it in terms of the Holy Spirit, the first fruits of the Spirit, that is the initial blessings that we have by the Spirit of God now in this age. They are just the first fruits of a full harvest of blessing that will come in the age to come.

That’s the background, then, to this idea of firstfruits. Now, in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says Christ, verse 20 and verse 23, Christ is the firstfruits. In his resurrection, he’s the firstfruits of a fuller harvest. He’s the first one of a great harvest of resurrection that will still come. And his whole argument, then, rests on this idea, when he talks about our resurrection. His whole argument rests on the fact that Jesus has already been raised ahead of us into that resurrection and he will bring us with him.

Now you can just hear the false teachers in Corinth saying something like, “Oh yeah, I know Jesus rose from the dead. It’s the future resurrection that I’m denying.” And Paul is saying you can’t do that because his was that. That’s the whole argument. His resurrection was the first one of a larger resurrection that is still to come. And so Jesus is the guarantee of our resurrection, but more than that, he’s the first sampling of us. He’s the head and the forerunner of a great company that will follow.

In verses 20 and following, here we have Paul’s argument, and it turns really on our union with Christ, and he does some Adam Christology here. Verse 20: “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by one man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.” His whole point is that Christ is the hinge. He has gone ahead into that resurrection, and we who belong to him, because we belong to him, will be taken with him in resurrection as well.

There’s actually another word in the New Testament that’s a very important term in this—a word it’s translated sometimes forerunner, sometimes captain, founder, the leader of our salvation. The idea is that of one who goes ahead for the rest of the team, or the one in military operations who goes ahead for the rest of the unit, clears out the path, makes sure it’s safe, and takes them with him. That kind of thing. And Jesus was our forerunner in that sense. He came, he died, he paid the penalty of sin, he conquered death, rose from the dead, and takes us with him in it all.

Well, that’s Paul’s argument here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Sin’s penalty, death, would have continued forever, except that Christ has come and has defeated death, been raised from the dead, and not by himself. He takes us with him. And that’s why you find the language a couple of times in the New Testament, in Corinthians and Thessalonians, when it speaks of our resurrection, it says, “God will raise us with him.” God will raise us with him. That is, we’ll catch up to where he has already gone. And this is what Jesus meant at the tomb of Lazarus when he said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He didn’t say simply, “I will raise the dead.” “I am the resurrection.” That is, those who are joined to Christ are joined with him not only in his death, but in his resurrection as well.

Now we’ll explore this more fully when we come to the doctrine of union with Christ, but you can see the significance of it already. Jesus has gone into the age to come, and because we are joined to him, in union with him, we will follow him in that resurrection. The only difference, the only difference between Jesus and us in this respect is the difference of timing. Verse 23: “But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.” So the only difference between him and us in this respect is a question of timing. So Christ will return. We’ll catch up with him in resurrection.

And then verses 24 and following give us details with regard to end-time events. Verses 35 and following then tell us about the nature of the resurrection body. What will that body be like? And then it all climaxes in verse 49: just as we have been, just as we are born of the man of dust, so also we shall bear the image of the man of heaven. Just as we’ve borne the image of the man of dust, we shall bear the image of the man of heaven. That is, our resurrection body will be like Jesus’ resurrection body. In Paul’s words in Philippians, we shall be made like his glorious body.

And then here in verses 51 and following—this is a familiar passage to you—the question comes up: what about then those who are living when Jesus returns? If when Jesus returns, the dead will be raised, transformed into his glorious body, what about all those righteous people who are still living at the time of Jesus’ return? And Paul says, well, they’ll receive a resurrection body without having died, which is definitely a pretty cool deal.

The Saving Significance Of Christ’s Resurrection

All right, now our series studies is the doctrine of salvation. How is all of this relevant to the doctrine of salvation? Two ways.

Number one, this resurrection that he’s talking about here, when we finally catch up to him and are being raised from the dead, that is the consummation of our salvation. Nothing left. We’ve got it all at that point. Body and soul redeemed in total, restored in every way. That is the consummation of our salvation. And there is always that forward prospect in the doctrine of salvation, looking ahead to when we will be saved. Yes, we’ve been saved. Yes, we are saved. But we’re looking ahead to when we will be saved in its consummate way. And that is the doctrine of the resurrection. We’ll probably deal with more of that when we finally get to the doctrine of glorification.

How is this significant then to the doctrine of salvation? Number one, resurrection of Christ and our resurrection with him is the consummation of our salvation.

But number two, and here’s where I’ll spend the rest of our time, although I’ll have to be quick. Number two, our resurrection with Christ is not entirely future. You’ve got to see this to see the significance of Christ’s resurrection in its saving dimensions. Our resurrection with Christ is not entirely future. New Testament writers present our present experience of salvation in terms of an association with Christ in his resurrection experience. That’s how the New Testament writers describe our salvation. It’s a participation with Christ in his resurrection experience.

So for this, look over at Ephesians chapter 2. Keep in mind now, what is the significance of this resurrection of Jesus in terms of our salvation? One, the resurrection that he has experienced is one that we will catch up to and have the consummation of our salvation. But two, our resurrection with Christ and our experience of resurrection with Christ is not entirely future.

So look at Ephesians chapter two, verse one: “And you were dead.” There’s the metaphor. “You were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now is at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you’ve been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places.”

So here Paul is speaking of the great change that has been the experience of every believer. Verses one to three, we were dead: indifferent to spiritual things, no interest in the things of God, we’re dead. We’ve lived accordingly, lockstep with the devil in the world; we’re just one of them, dead in trespasses and sins. And then verses four and five, you have this great divine interruption. God made us alive. But notice it’s not just “made us alive.” Made us alive together with Christ. And he raised us up with him. So we were dead, and now the Spirit of God has come and joined us to Christ, and we now become joined with him in his resurrection experience. And that results in a new kind of walk. Verse 10 talks about that: “We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

So resurrection with Christ has this experiential dimension. It’s not just something we look forward to in the future. It is something every believer has already experienced. This life-transforming experience that we call conversion is grounded in our participation with Christ in his resurrection. And that’s why you’ll hear us say sometimes: salvation consists—this is the theological way to say it—salvation consists in union with Christ in his death and resurrection. Salvation consists in union with Christ in his death and resurrection. Well, that’s a theological way to say it. And there’s an “already” and a “not yet” aspect to that. That’s the theological way to say it.

The experience is, there’s been a great change. We’ve been raised from the dead. Verse one, we were dead. You remember what that was like when you were dead? In trespasses and sins, indifferent to the things of God, no interest. And then verse five, God made us alive with Christ. So yes, Jesus has been raised from the dead, and yes, when he returns, we’ll be joined with him in resurrection from the dust of the earth. But even if only in measure, already in real experience, that resurrection has already taken place, and each of us gives exactly that testimony. Nothing short of saying we’ve been raised from the dead with Christ can explain the nature of the transformation that we have undergone in what we call conversion.

Verses 1 to 3: wander about in our lostness, dead in trespasses and sins. Verses 4 and 5: this only until God interrupts and raises us from the dead, joins us to Christ in faith and we’re raised with him into the age to come. And then verse 10: it results in a new walk of life. That is the testimony of every Christian.

You heard me say it before. I grew up in a home where the gospel was part of the air I breathed. I heard the gospel, I heard the gospel, heard the gospel, heard the gospel, heard the gospel. And one Sunday morning, it was all different. I saw myself, and I saw my need, and I saw Jesus. I’d never seen him before. I ran to him in faith. How do you explain that? What was different? Why that day? What happened? The apostle Paul says we’re raised from the dead with Christ. And every believer has the same experience. We have different details and some can remember the moment, some can’t and all of that. But this is the testimony of every Christian. We continued on in our indifference when the things of God meant nothing to us until suddenly that’s all that mattered. Raised to new life. God in his grace joins us to Jesus Christ.

And every, every blessing of salvation that we enjoy, we enjoy because now we are joined to the resurrected Christ. And we share with him in what he has accomplished. Ephesians chapter 2 here, in focus, is the doctrine of regeneration. “Born again” is another metaphor that’s used. Joined to Christ in his resurrection, we’ve been raised to new life. But it’s the same thing with regard to the doctrine of sanctification. It’s the same with regard to the doctrine of perseverance. It’s the same with the doctrine of glorification. All of it is only because we have been joined to Christ in his resurrected state, experiencing now ahead of time the resurrection to which he has already passed. And joined to him, we have every blessing that he has accomplished in his redemptive work. Some of it’s still to come in its fullness, but already participating with Jesus in that resurrection.

So once again, all of this points us to the exclusive value of Jesus Christ. Where are you if you don’t have Christ? If you are not joined to him in faith, where are you? Where you are is lost, dead in trespasses and sins. Your only hope is to be joined to Him and experience in Him the resurrection of the age to come—now in measure, but certainly in full in time to come.