The Resurrection of Jesus Christ Part II

by Benjamin Dean

Contents Outline

8. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JESUS’ RESURRECTION

Jesus’ Resurrection as Declaration, Example, and Instrument
God Declared the Full Identity of Jesus
God Endorsed the Teaching of Jesus
God Confirmed the Redemptive Value of Christ’s Atoning Work
The Victory in Principle Over Sin and Death
The Perfection of Christ’s Humanity in Eternal Union with his Divinity

9. THE BENEFITS OF JESUS’ RESURRECTION

Justification: Reckoned Right with God
Regeneration: Made Alive to God Now by Spiritual Resurrection
Resurrection of the Dead: The Outcome of Global History
Newness of Life

10. THE CONSEQUENCES OF JESUS’ RESURRECTION

The Beginning of the End of History
The Judgment of Jesus
In Place of a Conclusion

8. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JESUS’ RESURRECTION

Jesus’ Resurrection as Declaration, Example, and Instrument

‘The physical resurrection of Christ is not an isolated historical fact. It is inexhaustibly rich in meaning for Christ himself, for the church, and for the whole world.’¹ Certainly, the significance of Christ’s resurrection saturates every aspect of New Testament teaching. Its meaning may be presented in several ways. Geerhardus Vos, for instance, expressed the significance of Jesus’ resurrection in three respects:

(1) As declaration – Christ’s resurrection proves who he is and what he achieved.

(2) As example – Christ’s resurrection provides a model and pattern of what will happen to believers.

(3) As cause – Christ’s resurrection is the basis upon, and the instrument and means by which, believers will be resurrected.²

However presented, the resurrection was an event of colossal magnitude. This is Warfield:

‘we have in it a decisive proof of the Divine origin of Christianity; a revolutionary revelation of the reality of immortality, a demonstration of the truth of all Christ’s claims and the trustworthiness of all his promises, an assurance of the perfection of his saving work, and a pledge of our own resurrection.’³

We shall consider the meaning of Christ’s resurrection in terms, firstly, of its significance, secondly, of its benefits and, thirdly, of its consequences.

God Declared the Full Identity of Jesus

The resurrection declared the full identity of Jesus. This event, more than any other, revealed and proved who he really was and is.

His Divinity

Firstly, the resurrection demonstrated Jesus’ identity by confirming his divinity.

The cross was integral to his task, but ‘the Son of the living God’ could not be bound by death; rather, he would overcome being killed by being raised on the third day (Matt 16:16, 18, 21). That he was worshipped – ‘they took hold of his feet’ (Matt 28:9) – showed that the risen Christ was understood to be fully Divine. After the resurrection, Jesus was clearly recognised as ‘God’ (John 20:28). As Hilary expressed it in the fourth century, ‘No nature but that of God could have risen by its own might from death to life.’⁴ Vos explains,

‘The fact that he could bear eternal death, without succumbing in that struggle, is in itself irrefutable proof of His Divine nature. A mere creature would be swallowed up by that death and would never again be able to hold his head high. He, in contrast, could not be held by that death.’⁵

In the introduction to his letter to the Romans, Paul emphasises that we must view Jesus Christ not just from the point of view of his earthly humanity, as absolutely important as that is (Rom 1:3), but also from his unique relation to God. The whole of God, ‘in power according to the Spirit of holiness’ (Rom 1:4), God in his singular holiness and power, has acted in the resurrection, and therefore that resurrection declares that this resurrected Christ is the unique Son of God (Rom 1:4), ‘who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.’ (Rom 9:5).

The work of God in the resurrection of Christ, then, quite naturally results in the doctrine of the Trinity, for the resurrection demonstrates the Son’s claim to be one with the Father and therefore fully Divine (John 10:30; 17:11; cf. 1:1, 14; 3:18; 10:34-38; 12:45). The true identity of the risen Son of God is seen to be bound up with the name and nature of God being the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt 20:19).

Eternal Son and Messianic King

Secondly, the resurrection unmistakably confirmed Jesus’ messianic kingship, sealing as solid fact that Jesus is God’s eternal Son, Christ, and Lord (Rom 1:3-4).

(‘Christos/Christ,’ of course, means ‘Messiah,’ the figure promised in the Old Testament Scriptures, who would in due course come and be the one individual determinative and central to God’s ultimate saving acts. Of note, the New International Version deploys ‘Messiah’ instead of ‘Christ’ at the opening of Mark’s Gospel: ‘the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.’)

When the New Testament speaks of Jesus being ‘raised up,’ using the words egeiro and anhistēmi, it does so against an Old Testament background practice of referring to the ‘raising up’ of priests, judges, kings, and prophets. Rather than being forsaken permanently (Mark 15:34), the angel told the women at the empty tomb that Jesus had been raised (ēgerthē, Mark 16:6). To speak in this way of Jesus being ‘raised up’ includes not only his physical bodily resurrection from the dead but also his vindication, authorization, appointment to the role of Messiah, incorporating the offices of Priest, King, and Prophet. ‘The resurrection implies the installation or enthronement of Jesus in his office as Christos.’⁶ It amplifies and extends all Christ’s offices as Prophet, Priest, and King. It exalts him as messianic in each of these regards. It vindicates Christ himself as the one by whom universal human history will be consummated and through whom all will be raised from the dead at the end of the age (John 11:24-25).

Were Christ to have remained dead, his demise would have been essentially no different to any ordinary person. But the resurrection was evidence of Christ’s eternal divine Sonship. This was necessary in the face of accusations that he had falsely and fraudulently claimed to be the Son of God (Luke 4:3, 9; 22:70-71). Having been ‘condemned … as deserving death’ on a charge of blasphemy (Mark 14:61-64), the resurrection was ‘the Divine reversal of the sentence which the world passed on Jesus.’⁷ It announced ‘in power’ that he definitely is the eternal ‘Son of God’ (Rom 1:4; cf. John 2:19).

That he was raised up made certain his messiahship and lordship (Acts 2:22-24, 36). It validated Christ’s mighty acts and miracles, ‘doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil,’ attributing them to the anointing power and presence of God’s Spirit (Acts 10:38). Though the light of his resurrection, Jesus was revealed to be ‘the Author of life’ (Acts 3:15), God’s ‘Anointed’ King (Acts 4:26), ‘Leader and Saviour’ (Acts 5:31), and ‘Judge of the living and the dead’ (Acts 10:42).

Christ’s kingship began at the point of creation (Jn 1:1-4; Col 1:15-20; Heb 1:2-3). Of one being (homoousios) with God the Father, the Son was always Lord. Jesus was never anything less than King of God’s Kingdom. He was never without absolute rule over all creation. But to begin with, as he came to rescue his creation that was now lost in sinful rebellion and darkness, Jesus’ glory and kingship was voluntarily hidden in his humanity, and it was especially hidden in his humiliation, rejection, suffering, and death. His condition as a servant meant that his fuller true identity was, for a time, veiled.

‘During his entire earthly ministry, Jesus’ identity (according to his own testimony) awaited future confirmation. He did not play into the hands of those who sought to force him into an instant identification. He often taught that the confirmation of his ministry would be revealed in future events.’⁸

Yet, even Christ’s mighty deeds and words during his earthly life and action amounted to an initial verification. Final and ultimate proof of Jesus’ name and nature awaits his second coming in judgment of the living and the dead at the climax and conclusion of history (Rev 22:10).⁹ But the resurrection declared his identity in an unprecedented manner, and so heralded a new phase of Christ’s kingship. The resurrection reinforced and reiterated the universal kingship of Christ. More specifically, it marked ‘the commencement of his reign as mediatorial king.’¹⁰ The special glory of Christ’s rule after his suffering (Luke 24:26) is that he grants forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Spirit (Acts 2:33, 38), and reconciles us back to the Father. In short, following his resurrection from the dead the rule of Christ accomplishes and directs God’s saving rule.

Jesus is Lord

Not only was the absolute lordship of Christ shown by his defeat of sin and death, but the resurrection was also a manifestation of his unchallenged ongoing rule. After his resurrection, Jesus declared to his disciples: ‘all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me’ (Matt 28:18). The omnipotence of Christ manifest by his resurrection was by contrast with the apparent obscurity, poverty, and insignificance of his earthly circumstances. By resurrection, his position, profile, influence, and power were now obviously limitless and universal. ‘Christ’s resurrection inaugurated his supremacy over all.’¹¹ Having been raised by God, the one who had previously been rejected was now glorified (Acts 3:13) as the ‘cornerstone’ in whose name and person salvation is exclusive (Acts 4:10-12). The risen Lord is the exalted ‘Leader and Saviour’ (Acts 5:31). He rules as Lord, ‘far above’ all powers, ‘not only in this age but also in the one to come’ (Eph 1:21).

The critical Christian claim that ‘Jesus is Lord’, which appears in one form or another more than 100 times in the New Testament, rests on the assumption that he lives. It is plausible solely on the basis of his resurrection. ‘For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living’ (Rom 14:9). The resurrection, then, signals Christ’s universal lordship. ‘In the resurrection of Christ we have the assurance that he is the Lord of heaven and earth whose right it is to rule and in whose hands are gathered the reins of the universe.’¹² Upon the ground of his own ultimate government, Christ issues the command to proceed with world evangelization. It was the Christ who had conquered death who commissioned the disciples. He is alive as Almighty Lord and Companion: ‘surely I am with you always’ (Matt 28:20). That ‘all nations’ were to be made disciples indicated that the resurrection of Christ is of universal worldwide significance among every ethnic grouping on earth.¹³

The risen Christ does not wield omnipotence in a vacuum. Rather, he holds supreme authority in the context of both corrupt human authorities and evil spiritual rulers, powers, and principalities, inspired and led by Satan (Eph 1:21; 6:12; Rev 12:7-17). But the resurrection demonstrated Christ’s overthrow of rebellious humanity and his subjugation of rebellious angelic powers. The forces that relentlessly attack God’s people and oppose God’s purposes – all these have been ‘put … under his feet’ (Eph 1:22). ‘He is the Prince of life, the source of salvation, and the one appointed by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 3:15; 4:12; 10:42).’¹⁴

God Endorsed the Teaching of Jesus

During the period of Jesus’ public ministry, we are told that God ‘attested to’ him, certifying his unique role and identity with public miracles, ‘mighty works and wonders and signs … in your midst’ (Acts 2:22). But following his public killing, Jesus’ entire life and death was accredited by God through the performance of a public super-miracle in raising him up (Acts 2:23-24, 32).

Now, a great deal of Jesus’ public ministry consisted of teaching. What he said was received by some with excitement, gladness, and wonder, but by others with anger and indignance (Matt 21:12-17). Even those closest to him found some things that he had to say pretty hard to handle (John 6:60). Confirming the substance of Jesus’ message was a chief objective in God raising him from the dead.¹⁵ The resurrection endorsed the teaching of Jesus. His resurrection threw new light upon his words, vindicated the truth and authority of Jesus’ teaching and promises, including claims about his own person and deity. ‘By his resurrection he set a seal on all the instructions which he gave and on all the hope which he had awakened.’¹⁶

From the perspective of his own claims, the resurrection demonstrated that Jesus was who he said he was. Speaking figuratively to some of his opponents and implying his resurrection, Jesus pointed to spending ‘three days and three nights in the heart of the earth’ as the unmistakable accreditation of his role as ‘Teacher’ (Matt 12:38-40). Although it went over the heads of his hearers at the time, that he was raised confirmed the truthfulness of his claims. That the resurrection was foretold by Christ and occurred against expectations points to the authority and certainty of his broader teachings, for what happened in his dying and rising again was anticipated by what he had said (Matt 28:6).

Without the resurrection, the teaching of Christ would have crumbled to dust and amounted to nothing. It would have been discredited, scandalized, and lost in obscurity. Had he not risen, what he said and taught would have died with him. But the resurrection publicly endorsed the prophetic office of Christ, establishing that he was God’s supreme spokesman and God’s true witness. Indeed, the resurrection revealed that Jesus was God speaking in person. It ratified and reinforced the fact that Christ was the Logos, the revelation, communication, reason, and Word of God. ‘This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him’ (Luke 9:35).

The risen Jesus, remember, continued to speak to, instruct, and teach his disciples. We have extensive records of Christ’s spoken interaction during his resurrection appearances. It was through the various conversations of the risen Christ with his disciples up until his ascension that he explained to them the full meaning and significance of his incarnate life and public ministry, as well as issued instructions for the ongoing witness and mission of his followers (Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:44-49; John 20:17-29; 21:1-23; Acts 1:3-8). The teaching of the apostles, as they reflect upon and proclaim the reality of Christ’s person and work, has its origin in these teaching sessions conducted by the risen Christ as he established and spelled out the meaning of things to the apostles. The contents of their subsequent message and mission, then, relied upon earlier extensive explanation and instruction first-hand by the risen Christ himself. The appearances of the risen Christ were revelations, occasions during which he made himself known not merely through visibly appearing but through teaching his disciples (John 21:1).

God Confirmed the Redemptive Value of Christ’s Atoning Work

The resurrection of Christ followed a very public, very shameful, very painful, and very violent death. Crucifixion was a judicial execution. Dying this kind of death, Christ’s cause appeared to have collapsed, being consumed by both the condemnation of man and the wrath of God. But the resurrection contradicted this, confounding regular human intelligence, reversing the expectations and conclusions of rebellious humanity regarding the nature and purposes of God. His resurrection did this by asserting and confirming, as a surprising sequel to his death, that his humiliation and hurt had not been in vain but an actually victorious saving activity (Acts 2:23-24).

Christ’s resurrection was a reversal of the death sentence. It was the de facto proof of Jesus’ atoning death for others being final, finished, and valuable. It was the practical evidence that nothing was lacking in his obedience, and that his death achieved redemption. ‘The Father, when he brought Christ again from the dead, derived the declaration that there was nothing more to bear and to die, that his obedience in all its parts had been perfectly provided.’¹⁷ The resurrection was the Triune God’s emphatic ‘yes’ to everything Christ achieved in life and death. It was the assurance that Christ’s work was complete, and redemption was accomplished.¹⁸

The Power of Sacrificial Love

The atoning death of Jesus Christ was the supreme expression and proof of God’s love (John 3:16-17; Rom 5:6-8; 1 John 4:8-10). It manifested the essential Divine love of God between the Father and the Son (as the Son freely and completely obeyed the Father’s command), as well as the saving Divine love between God and sinful people, whom until reconciled by Christ’s death remain enemies of God (Rom 5:10). The resurrection demonstrated the power of such love.

Cursed by God, Raised by God

Furthermore, the resurrection validated the whole extent and effect of Christ’s humiliation. In humility he had set aside ‘the form of God’ – his eternal state of manifest deity, majesty, and sovereignty – in order to perform saving service in veiled ‘human form,’ the ‘form of a servant … becoming obedient to the point of death’ (Phil 2:6-8). His resurrection was then the conclusion of his whole incarnate career, from conception and birth, through early life and public ministry, to final suffering, death, burial, and descent to hell. Christ’s resurrection was the culmination and outcome of the entire dramatic sequence of Christ’s humiliation. It was the turning point at which he passed from humiliation to exaltation, from indignity to honour, from ignominy to glory.

In Scripture, death on a cross was a sign of God’s curse laid as just punishment upon one who had violated God’s law (Deut 21:33). This cursing by God was what Christ underwent at his crucifixion. ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us’ (Gal 3:13). Resurrection from death by God lifted the curse from us and vindicated Christ. Resurrection reversed the penal judgment of God, showing that Christ was ‘acquitted of guilt’ and worthy of receiving ‘the right to eternal life.’¹⁹ Here is Broughton Knox:

‘Cursed by God, raised by God: it was this paradox that became the centre of the preacher’s gospel and was the reason why “there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” … the crucifixion of Jesus and the cursing by God is put by the preachers in the sharpest juxtaposition with his being raised from the tomb and exalted to the throne by God. God cursed him, and God vindicated and crowned him.’²⁰

Christ crucified and raised by God, Christ cursed and vindicated by God, is the sum and substance of the apostolic gospel (Acts 5:30; 10:39-40; 13:29-30), for it is the foundation of forgiveness and the means of deliverance from judgment.

The Eternal Effect of Jesus’ Suffering and Death

The cross of Christ, then, may only be understood in terms of what went before it – the acquisition of our entire fallen human nature at his birth – and by what came almost immediately after it.²¹ The resurrection manifested (1) that far from being an accident, Jesus’ death was the decisive event of his incarnate ministry, and (2) validated that what Jesus accomplished by his death was effective. ‘That he died manifests his love, and his willingness to save. That he rose again manifests his power, and his ability to save.’²² Christ can save not simply because he died but because he proceeded and progressed through a sacrificial death on a cross. Christ’s resurrection confirmed that the suffering and death of Jesus were the means and method ordained by God to obtain salvation. That God raised Christ from the dead showed that salvation had certainly been secured through Christ’s death. ‘He who became accursed for our sake is the blessed of the Father. He who on the cross was forsaken of God is the Son in whom the Father is well pleased. The rejected of the earth is the crowned one of heaven.’²³

The resurrection manifested the everlasting meaning and significance of Christ’s substitutionary suffering and death in our place. It is the supreme confirmation and endorsement by God of Christ’s ‘death on a cross’ (Phil 2:9) as a decisive atonement for sin (1 Cor 15:17).

‘Not only were the marks [on the resurrection body of Christ] confirmation that the man who appeared to the disciples really was Jesus (and not an angel, for example) but they are also reassurance that the price paid for our sins has not simply disappeared. It remains etched on the body of the risen Lord as proof that we have indeed been ransomed and redeemed for all eternity.’²⁴

A Risen Saviour

Moreover, the meaning of Christ’s crucifixion is only understood from the perspective of Christ’s resurrection and super-exaltation (Phil 2:9). Without rising, Christ’s death would have been ineffective. The resurrection declared the saving impact of Christ’s death as a totally effective and powerful ‘saving happening from God’s side.’²⁵ That he was raised underlined the value of his death as payment in full of the penalty for sin, fully meeting the demands and requirement specified by God’s own law through ‘becoming a curse for us’ (Gal 3:13). Here is Brakel:

‘As long as Christ still suffered and death had power over him, the final penny had not as yet been paid. His conquering of the last enemy, death, and his triumphant appearance as being alive, were evidences that sin had been fully atoned for, the ransom had been paid, God’s justice had been satisfied (being satisfied with this atonement), and that thus Christ was justified (1 Tim 3:16). Consequently all God’s children have been reconciled in him. There is not one sin, not even the least part thereof, for which satisfaction had not been made, and therefore they are free from all guilt and punishment.’²⁶

That he was ‘brought again from the dead’ (Heb 13:20) proclaims that he is a risen Saviour. ‘Actually, the resurrection is the direct fruit of the cross, and the Father ensured that Jesus, his Son, was the first to experience the inherent worth of his own salvific work.’²⁷ Furthermore, because he is alive and death does hinder him, ‘he continues forever.’ Christ fulfils his office of ‘permanent priesthood’ by virtue of being raised to life. Deathlessness is a condition of his ability to save, fulfilled through his drawing ‘near to God’ and always living ‘to make intercession’ for his people (Heb 7:23-25).

The Victory in Principle Over Sin and Death

Christ’s resurrection accomplished the defeat of human death in principle and the defeat of your death and mine in particular. The victory of Christ’s death was a hidden victory, but the death of death in the resurrection of Christ was a manifest and revealed victory. It ‘clearly signals God’s triumph over the power of sin and death in the person and work of Jesus.’²⁸ It is the sign of a new start for humanity.

Dealing with Death

People today are probably less realistic about death and more poorly prepared for it than at most previous points in history. In many places now, technological advancement and medical procedure means death is routinely hidden from view. This makes distraction from death and the practical (if not theoretical) denial of it much more possible than perhaps would have been the case even just a few decades ago. Death never has, so to speak, been a particularly easy or popular subject of conversation. But for a variety of reasons people today are generally (much) more reluctant to discuss it and overall (much) less clear about what it means and entails.

Death, we recall, is the effect of sin, the catastrophic consequence of disobedience, the result of wrong against God (Rom 6:23). Human death made its entrance through the first human couple (Rom 5:12). To counteract death, ‘by a man’ came ‘the resurrection of the dead’ (1 Cor 15:21).

‘In the resurrection of Christ it was proved that there was a man who could not be contained by death, could not be ruled by Satan, by the power of corruption, who was stronger than the grave and death and hell. In principle, therefore, Satan has as a matter of fact no longer the dominion over death. Christ by his death has overcome death (Heb 2:14).’²⁹

The resurrection demonstrated that Christ died to defeat death and to bring an eventual end to it. It was a definitive triumph over sin, evil, death, and the devil. It marked ‘God’s victory in man’s favour in the person of his Son.’³⁰ ‘In general it means the victory in principle over death.’³¹

Christ’s resurrection is, then, ‘sufficient proof of the undoing of death,’ and ‘the death of death.’³² In his coming to life again the decisive blow was ‘struck against the darkness.’³³ It was a triumph over death in general through the introduction of ‘indestructible life’ (Heb 7:16). The slaying and destruction of death in Christ’s death was completed in Christ’s resurrection, as his ‘fullness of life’ absorbed and swallowed up death in his own body.³⁴ In his resurrection, ‘The power of death was contained so that it not only could not continue working further, but soul and body are brought together and reunited through a new outflow of life. There was a communication of life, and indeed a communication of eternal life.’³⁵

The power of death amongst us continues despite its defeat by Jesus Christ, but his resurrection ensures that the destruction of death will eventually be completed in the resurrection of all believers (1 Cor 15:26). For the time being, believers live through the interval between the breaking in of the new age by Christ’s resurrection and their own ultimate resurrection at the consummation of all things. In the meantime, as we shall see, believers are already spiritually resurrected, being raised up with Christ (Eph 2:6; Col 3:1), living a new life in him as we say ‘no’ to the devil and ‘yes’ to loving service of God and each other (Eph 2:10). But in the end the effects of our own bodily death will also undone, for our future physical bodily resurrection at the time of the second coming of Christ is guaranteed by Christ’s physical bodily resurrection in the past (1 Cor 15:20, 23). ‘[T]he heavenly Son of Man (Dan 7:13) shared in this earthly state in order to secure for fallen humanity a spiritual body of imperishable glory in the resurrection.’³⁶

‘It is God’s way to lead his children to heaven by way of many crosses. Temporal death also belongs to this. This is not a punishment upon sin as such, but is nevertheless a difficult and painful way which they must traverse together with all men. Their death, however, by virtue of the death of Christ, is without sting and curse, and thus is but a departing in peace.’³⁷

Relaunching Humanity and Renewing Creation

Christ’s resurrection from the grave abolished the effects of sin, lifted human nature out of perversity and corruption, liberated humanity from bondage to futility, rescued it from Satanic power, restored it from decay, as well as cancelling, reversing, and overruling the power and process of death itself. It signalled the creation of a new humanity, with the eternal Son himself as its representative and leader (Heb 2:5-9). By raising Christ, God reconstructed, refashioned, and reconstituted human being, human life, and human reality. His resurrection redirects humanity to its ultimate objective. It was not merely a restoration of humanity, but its exaltation to a higher ultimate state.

Some detect the total novelty of Christ’s resurrection emphasised by its timing in the day, with his arising early in the morning, ‘toward the dawn’ (Matt 28:1). ‘He who is the Morning Star (Rev 22:16), the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2), the dayspring from on high (Luke 1:78), and the Light to lighten the Gentiles, became alive again at the breaking of the day.’³⁸ The New Testament expresses the resurrection’s novelty by calling the risen Lord the ‘firstfruits’ (aparchē, 1 Cor 15:20) of a rescued, regenerated humanity, and of a re-created world. This is because Jesus’ resurrection indicated, ultimately, the creation of a new cosmos, for his resurrection is God’s first act of universal regeneration and renewal.

In the death of Christ, sin had been judged and evil condemned. In the resurrection of Christ, the effects of sin were decisively reversed and the presence of evil effectively banished and eliminated. It demonstrated God’s complete victory over sin, death, and the devil, breaking their power, and securing our own immortality (1 Cor 15:53-57; Rom 8:34-39; 2 Tim 1:10). In this way, the resurrection indicated and ensured the eventual arrival of a new creation when the old order of things passes away as all things are made new (Rev 21:4-5).

The Perfection of Christ’s Humanity in Eternal Union with his Divinity

By reuniting Christ’s soul with a new stronger spiritual body, the resurrection maintained and preserved the enfleshment of God’s Word. By incarnation, the eternal Son had obtained ‘a second (human) nature without surrendering his Divinity.’³⁹ Having acquired a human nature at the point of conception, he assumed at the point of resurrection ‘a glorious new humanity, the perfect image of his own image.’⁴⁰ The resurrection of the Son of God confirmed and continued his incarnation, raising and honouring human nature to an unprecedented degree. ‘His birth and death were natural. He really was born and really died in a way familiar to human existence. His conception and resurrection were preternatural: he was conceived and raised in a way without analogy.’⁴¹ By resurrection the Son’s human incarnation became permanent.

In becoming permanent, the resurrection of the incarnate Son developed and clarified the nature of the relationship between God and humanity. His bodily resurrection not only reinforced the genuineness of his incarnation but also introduced his humanity in its eternal form. The resurrection in fact proved that at his conception in the womb of Mary the eternal Son of God had acquired a human nature completely and permanently. From that point on, the Son’s Divine nature was forever truly and fully united with his human nature in the person of Jesus Christ, doing so in such a way ‘that the heart of man and the heart of God beat in the risen Lord with one pulsing movement, one indistinguishable passion to save and bless.’⁴² The resurrection did not change Christ’s humanity into Divinity, but elevated his real, genuine humanity to its maximum capacity in union with his Divinity. ‘Christ was the God-man in both his humiliation and his exaltation. However, the manifestation of his Divine nature varied according to his state.’⁴³ His resurrection revealed his humanity in its greatest state of perfection⁴⁴ and displayed the union of Divine and human natures in its everlasting form. It was the culmination and resolution of the Word made flesh.

‘Thus, the Son of God, who had assumed in the incarnation humankind’s fallen nature, the sin-marred image of himself, now, in the resurrection, is the first, through the Holy Spirit, to assume the restored and recreated image of himself. The Son, who as God is the perfect image of the Father, and in whose image man was first created, now bears the perfect likeness of himself, and so of the Father, as a risen man. The Son is now the perfect image of the Perfect Image.’⁴⁵

The image of God that humankind in Adam and Eve together were created is a relational image, a created analogy to the eternal relations of love and fellowship that constitutes the being of the triune God, between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Gen 1:26-27). And so now, with his genuine humanity elevated to its maximum capacity, Jesus continues as our brother, our high priest, the one true mediator between man and God, praying for us to the Father (Heb 2:14-18, 4:14-16, 7:25).

9. THE BENEFITS OF JESUS’ RESURRECTION

‘Such and so many are the Saviour’s achievements that follow from his incarnation,’ wrote Athanasius, ‘that to try to number them is like gazing at the open sea and trying to count the waves. One cannot see all the waves with one’s eyes, for when one tries to do so those that are following on baffle one’s senses. … for the things that transcend one’s thought are always more than those one thinks that one has grasped.’⁴⁶

In rising from the dead, Jesus Christ launched God’s renewal of humanity.⁴⁷ His resurrection both represented our restoration and resulted in it, achieving the full justification, regeneration, resurrection, and perfection of creatures made after the image and likeness of God. By virtue of being alive now and forever as the human being who is God over all, the person of Jesus Christ ‘with his whole capacity is ours.’⁴⁸ As the one who ‘died and came to life’ (Rev 2:8), his return from the grave expressed and set in motion the climax, outcome, and fulfilment of created human destiny, providing people with ‘an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven’ (1 Pet 1:4). ‘What benefit do we receive from the resurrection of Christ?’, asked Zacharias Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus. ‘First, by his resurrection he has overcome death, that he might make us partakers of the righteousness which by his death he has obtained for us. Secondly, we also are now by his power raised up to a new life. Thirdly, the resurrection of Christ is to us a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.’⁴⁹ We shall consider each in turn.

Justification: Reckoned Right with God

According to Romans 10:9-10, confessing that ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believing ‘with the heart’ ‘that God raised him from the dead’ is necessary to being ‘justified’ (put in the right with God) and ‘saved’ (delivered from evil). The faith, that is, which justifies has necessarily to be faith in the risen Jesus. A person is ‘counted’ or ‘reckoned’ righteous only through trust ‘in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord’ (Rom 4:24). This is because in revealing his identity, endorsing his teaching, and affirming the value of his death for our sins, the empty tomb vindicated Jesus as righteous (John 16:10). This was its ‘judicial significance,’ for the resurrection was in truth a ‘judicial exaltation.’⁵⁰

In raising his Son from the dead, God the Father demonstrated his absolute material power over the physical realm, fulfilled his covenant promises, and exercised absolute moral perfection by declaring Christ to be righteous.⁵¹ The objective in so doing was ‘our justification’ (Rom 4:25). That is to say, Christ’s resurrection signalled the delivery of God’s verdict upon Christ’s obedience to God’s law, and thereby brought about our being reckoned right with God. ‘By the resurrection,’ wrote Vos, ‘the judgment is pronounced that the body made up of the elect is righteous before God. … What comes to pass with the individual believer is nothing other than the personal realization of this objective justification.’⁵²

The Public Declaration of Our Acquittal

It is of course equally true that it was Christ’s death which achieved our justification, for we are said to be ‘justified by his blood’ (Rom 5:9). Clearly, regarding the justification of Christ and believers, Christ’s death and resurrection are tightly linked. Here is Bavinck:

‘[Christ’s] death was a sacrifice which fully atoned for sins, and which brought in an eternal righteousness. But because he had achieved the perfect reconciliation and forgiveness for all our sins by his passion and death, he arose and had to arise. In the resurrection he himself and we with him are justified. His arising was the public declaration of our acquittal. … Christ was raised for our justification in this other sense also that he could appropriate to us personally the acquittal implied in his resurrection. But for his being raised again the reconciliation wrought by his death could not have been worked out and applied. … [By virtue of his resurrection] he can by way of faith cause us to share in the accomplished reconciliation. His resurrection is at one and the same time the evidence and the source of our justification.’⁵³

The death of Christ, then, displayed the righteousness of God in the Son’s bearing of God’s judgment and wrath upon sin in our place. Yet by themselves Christ’s suffering, death, and burial appear only hopeless and weak. It was Christ’s resurrection that confirmed the power and effect of God’s righteousness in and through Christ’s death. The resurrection is an open manifestation of God’s approval, and, in that sense, Christ’s resurrection achieves our justification.⁵⁴ ‘God’s declaration of approval of Christ is also his declaration of approval of us.’⁵⁵ By overcoming death – the ultimate consequence of sin – his resurrection proves the ‘efficacy of justification … [for] the completeness of the favour appears more clear by his coming to life again.’⁵⁶ That Christ was raised up, vindicated, and declared innocent and righteous guarantees our forgiveness and acceptance to God.

Righteousness Restored and Life Raised Up

Together with Christ’s death, then, Christ’s resurrection provides the objective basis for salvation in relation to God’s law. The resurrection is integral to the legal foundation of redemption from sin and reconciliation to God, for it validates, secures, and vindicates the impact of Christ’s atoning death. By his suffering and death Christ’s obedience bore the penalty of sin. Without his resurrection, however, Christ’s righteousness would have remained in defeat and death. But by resurrection his righteousness was raised, revived, and shown to accepted by God and so triumphant and victorious. Together, Christ’s death and resurrection provide the objective legal foundation upon which God ‘justifies the ungodly’ (Rom 4:5). To state that Jesus was raised to obtain our justification (Rom 4:25) ‘is to say that his resurrection authenticates and confirms that our justification has been secured. The resurrection of Christ constitutes evidence that his work on our behalf has been completed.’⁵⁷ Here is Calvin’s expression of the point:

‘This is as if he had said: “Sin was taken away by his death; righteousness was revived and restored by his resurrection.” For how could he by dying have freed us from death if he had himself succumbed to death? How could he have acquired victory for us if he had failed in the struggle? Therefore, we divide the substance of our salvation between Christ’s death and resurrection as follows: through his death, sin was wiped out and death extinguished; through his resurrection, righteousness was restored and life raised up, so that – thanks to his resurrection – his death manifested its power and efficacy in us.’⁵⁸

Regeneration – Made Alive to God by Spiritual Resurrection

‘The Lord’s bodily resurrection,’ wrote Augustine, ‘is a sacrament of our inner resurrection. … His one resurrection bestowed two resurrections on us.’⁵⁹

Regeneration refers to the first resurrection. It is the term describing resurrection of the human spirit and soul, the crossing and passing over of the individual person from spiritual death to spiritual life (John 5:24).⁶⁰ The justification of Jesus Christ and of those united to him by faith in his death and resurrection provides both the ‘legal ground for the regeneration of the elect’ and ‘the active cause’ of their regeneration.⁶¹ In other words, by Christ’s resurrection ‘the reality of eternal life is guaranteed for all who trust in the gospel (1 Cor 15:1-4, 20),’⁶² for believers are brought to new life ‘as a consequence of the resurrection of Christ’⁶³ (Rom 6:4-5; Eph 2:4-5; 1 Pet 3:21).

The term ‘regeneration’ (palingenesia, combining palin, again, and genesis, birth, origin) appears just twice in the New Testament. In Matthew 19:28, it is used in an all-encompassing sense, referring to the renewal and restoration of all things at the rebirth of cosmos, marking the beginning of a new world ‘when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne.’ In Titus 3:5 ‘regeneration’ is used in a far narrower sense to describe the new birth of individual persons. Here the term specifies a person’s spiritual rebirth or spiritual resurrection. It is the bringing back to life again, the renovation and renewal of the unbodily, non-material yet personal, aspect of an individual human being. The eternal life of individual persons begins in time at the point of a communication of new life in their regeneration by the working of the Holy Spirit through ‘the word of truth’ (Jas 1:18; 1 Pet 1:23).

Born Again to Eternal Life in the Present

In John’s Gospel, the themes of new spiritual birth, eternal life, and resurrection are closely connected (John 3:18; 5:19-30; 11:24-29). The additional or second birth by the Spirit into eternal life that is completed by the eventual resurrection of the dead ‘at the last day’ are the most significant transitions any human person will ever make. The Father and the Son possess power to bring eternal life to those who are physically and spiritually dead, returning to life those who hear Jesus’ voice and believe in him. ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die’ (John 11:25-26). To believe in Christ is, at the point of regeneration, to cross over from a state of spiritual and relational death and to enter immediately into eternal life, and so to never die in any absolute spiritual sense, to never see death in relation to God, but to live now continuingly and unceasingly in Christ with God (John 3:36; 5:24; 8:51).

Because Jesus ‘gave himself as a ransom to death’ and by his death made ‘a path to the resurrection of the dead. Human beings still die biologically, but death no longer has the final word: it is death in Christ, filled with hope of resurrection in Christ.’⁶⁴ But as well as a final future bodily resurrection ‘on the last day’ (John 11:24), Jesus activates spiritual resurrection in the present day. Indeed, being in himself ‘the resurrection and the life’ (John 11:25), Jesus is coequal with the Father in raising the dead and giving eternal life (John 5:21). Similarly, in another place we are said to be ‘born again to a living hope’ not through Jesus’ death but through his resurrection from the dead (1 Pet 1:3).

These passages, then, indicate that it is the resurrection of Christ which both represents our inner regeneration and activates or causes it, being as it were the catalyst of our coming to new spiritual life. ‘His resurrection is the meriting cause of ours.’⁶⁵ That Christ was raised to new life with God in the middle of history means that we may receive an additional birth and be made ‘alive to God’ (Rom 6:11) in the middle of history. ‘The enlivening of Christ’ involves the enlivening of all those belonging to him.⁶⁶ ‘The power needed for our spiritual resurrection is inherent in the resurrection of Christ.’⁶⁷ Wrote Calvin: ‘let this be regarded as a fact: the beginning of our salvation is a sort of resurrection from death unto life, because when it has been granted to us to believe in Christ for his sake, then at last we begin to pass over from death to life.’⁶⁸ The new spiritual birth is a type of resurrection, of standing up and a coming to life again in relation to God, whereby we move through regeneration from a state of spiritual death in ‘trespasses and sins’ (Eph 2:1), becoming ‘alive together with Christ’ (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13), and being brought to ‘newness of life’ (Rom 6:4).

‘[A]s the risen Lord and Saviour, the glorious incarnate Son rightly possesses the authority to send forth the new life of the Holy Spirit, the Divine endowment of his sacrificial death. Through his Spirit humankind can once more be recreated in the Son’s own Divine image and likeness. Thus, Jesus became, as the risen incarnate Son, the new Adam – the father of a new human race (Rom 5:14; 1 Cor 15:45).’⁶⁹

Two Steps to Rising with Christ

Christ’s resurrection, then, ‘inaugurated his restoration of humanity.’⁷⁰ It symbolized and resulted in the justification, regeneration, and resurrection of believers. That Christ died, yet was regenerated and came back to life, means that we too may be regenerated and come back to life. In fact, human beings take possession of the benefits of Jesus’ saving work by dying and rising with Christ. This occurs in two steps or stages: (1) immediately by new birth and spiritual resurrection to eternal life now (Titus 3:5), whereby we ‘never die’ (John 11:26), that is, we never see spiritual death, death in relation to God, and (2) ultimately, at the regeneration of all things (Matt 19:28), when the regeneration of individual persons is finally completed in our bodily resurrection from the dead and our entrance into everlasting life in the perfect world of God’s reborn, renewed, and revitalized cosmos where the resurrected and ascended Son of God and Son of Man rules forever. ‘We believe,’ said Augustine, ‘in the resurrection of the soul now and in the resurrection of the body at the end.’⁷¹

The Resurrection of the Dead – The Outcome of Global History

The bodily resurrection of Jesus close to the city of Jerusalem some two thousand years ago is a matter of all-encompassing and eternal significance, for it determines the everlasting purpose and goal of global history. ‘Universal history, if its intent could be grasped, would constitute the decisive revelation of God.’⁷² Only at the end of all things, on the last day, will we fully know and understand ourselves. But in the meantime, the resurrection of Jesus pictures the end-point and objective of all history, past, present, and future. It does this in two ways.

On the one hand, the physically resurrected person of Jesus represents the eternal condition of human beings in the Kingdom of God. Christ’s resurrection is an example of believers’ resurrection. Their destiny is to share with Christ in the resurrected state that he has already realized. His resurrection provides the pattern for ours. On the other hand, the resurrection of Jesus causes our resurrection, directly bringing about the completion of the eternal destiny of human creatures in eventual bodily rising again‘on the last day’ (John 6:39, 40, 44; 11:23-24). That is to say, ‘the resurrection of Christ functions instrumentally for the resurrection of the body of believers.’⁷³ His resurrection effects our resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus laid the foundation for our resurrection. In this way, resurrection captures and expresses the meaning of universal human history. History proceeds toward a future conclusion which remains hidden from the present order of the world but is already revealed in and realized by Jesus Christ.⁷⁴ He ‘will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body’ (Phil 3:21).

Created With Great Potential

Like the creation of the universe, the creation of human beings in the beginning was deemed ‘good’ and ‘very good’ by God (Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). The inbuilt excellence of the human creature comprised of both material-physical and relational-spiritual elements was an essential goodness, a goodness by virtue of being created by a supremely good Creator. All creation, including humanity, is excellent because it participates in the Creator’s absolute and infinite goodness. The goodness of the original creation, human and non-human, however, did not entail its completion. The original creation carried and contained within it a clear capacity for growth and development. Part of the goodness of human beings as originally created was real potential for progress and maturation, whether moral, physical, intellectual, or relational.

The plunge of human beings into rebellion and sin, and the corruption and death of all aspects of created human nature, material, spiritual, and relational, made necessary humanity’s deliverance from evil by God through redemption, rescue, and restoration. The climax of God’s mission to redeem fallen humanity occurred at the incarnation of the eternal Son and Word of God in the fully human and Divine person of Jesus Christ. In the person of his Son, the Creator acquired a fully human nature, body and soul, physical and spiritual. Here, in the Word becoming flesh, we have the fullest possible affirmation of both bodily human being and the goodness of material-physical human life.

The resurrection of the dead is a restoration and transformation at history’s end of the whole human person, body and soul. The physical bodily resurrection of the incarnate Son of God reinforced and completed in principle God’s commitment to the value and worth of the human image of God made flesh in the creation of Adam and Eve. The enfleshment of the eternal Word at the incarnation and the permanent, perfected re-enfleshment of the Word at the resurrection of Christ, underlined and double underlined the ultimate worth and significance in God’s sight of physical human bodies and physical human life. God thought so much of Christ’s body that he brought it out in a new edition by resurrecting it in the middle of history. Not only so, but God thinks so much of our bodies that he will supersede the current pilot version of them, marred as they are in sin, by launching a new, revised, and enhanced edition of them at the end of history.

Decay and Death Are Not Irreversible

The resurrection of Christ then affirms the lasting goodness of embodied human life. Although the physical decay and biological loss of bodily death and decomposition appears to be irrevocable, resurrection shows that these things are – in God’s hands – not at all irrevocable but very much reversible and retrievable. Resurrection demonstrates that, in the Kingdom of God, death is not ultimate but penultimate. Its essential effect is captured in the report of ‘many bodies of the saints who had fallen’ being ‘raised and coming out of their tombs after [Christ’s] resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many’ (Matt 27:52-53).

Christ’s bodily life stopped only to be swiftly restored and superseded.⁷⁵ He very quickly received back a new and much improved version of his body. So will we. Christ’s resurrection reveals that, despite appearances, death is not in fact permanent but provisional. Because Christ’s death did not put an end to him, so our death will not put an end to us.

Jesus’ Resurrection and Ours Are One Reality

The resurrection of the dead at the end of the world fulfils and finalizes God’s saving purposes.

‘Our resurrection … marks the completion of the church’s salvation. … Christ’s reign is to culminate in the total vanquishing of death and the resurrection of his church in the power of the Spirit. … Christ’s resurrection and ours are, in essence, one reality. … the relation between the resurrection of Christ in AD 33, and ours at the end of the world is so close, so unbreakable that if one part were not true the other would also be false. … The resurrection is a single phenomenon, its parts separated by indefinite time. The nature of the resurrection body is the same both for Christ and for us … those who belong to him will share in the resurrection body which is powerful, glorious, incorruptible and under the impetus of the Holy Spirit.’⁷⁶

The Old Testament contained real hope of resurrection and everlasting life in the presence of God, but the resurrection of Christ laid a deeper, greater, foundation for human hope about the eternal future. In the New Testament, resurrection is not, as it were, some inbuilt potential carried by each human being resulting from being made up of a body containing an immortal soul. Resurrection is not an inborn principle or quality of the individual, even by virtue of being created by God. Rather, the resurrection of the dead totally depends upon and results entirely from the resurrection of Jesus Christ. ‘The resurrection of the believer is … primarily … the transforming effect of the resurrection of Christ, yet not an effect in the sense of some new and subsequent event, but effect as something that is already implicated in the resurrection of Christ.’⁷⁷ Resurrection is a recreation of the human person purely by virtue of the resurrection of Jesus for us and on our behalf. More specifically, the resurrection of the dead at the end the history is a direct consequence of Jesus’s resurrection during history following his substitutionary and penal death wherein he dealt once for all with sin, guilt, death, and hell for us and on our behalf.⁷⁸

Total Immunity to Death

Many philosophies and religions believe in the everlasting continuation and immortality of the individual human spirit, but the individual human body is often viewed as undesirable, superfluous to personality, and transitory. But according to Scripture the death and resurrection of believers follows the pattern laid down in the death and resurrection of Christ (1 Thess 4:14). ‘We shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his’ (Rom 6:5). ‘God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power’ (1 Cor 6:14). And Christ’s resurrection was essentially physical and spiritual. To reach immortality, his body underwent a tremendous physical change in being reunited to his soul.

That Christ was raised bodily by God and appeared in undying material form demonstrates God’s intention to conform believers to Christ’s likeness, similarly physically immortal, deathless, bodily indestructible.⁷⁹ ‘Immortality means deathlessness, immunity to death, not being subject to death or to any corrupting influence that might lead to death.’⁸⁰ It is the removal of deterioration and decomposition. It means being given an unceasing type of bodily-spiritual life that is placed permanently beyond death. In the New Testament, deathlessness ‘is not a present possession of all men, but the future acquisition of Christians, for immortality is participation in the eternal life of God, that is, enjoying fellowship with Christ. … In this way, immortality and resurrection are complementary notions.’⁸¹

Although, as we have seen, the Old Testament Scriptures contain clear expectations of immortality, their knowledge of its nature was relatively limited. But with the abolition of death by the resurrection of Christ ‘life and immortality’ was brought properly and fully to light (2 Tim 1:10). So not only does our hope of inheriting ageless, undying, never-ending, glorious life and goodness (1 Cor 9:25; 1 Pet 1:3-4, 23), and of becoming permanently immortal and imperishable, depend on his resurrection. The nature of our eventual physical resurrection corresponds exactly to Christ’s.

The physical existence and the material world that we currently experience cannot carry over in its present form into the eternal world, for it is mortal. God alone is, in essence, not subject to decay, diminution, and death. For immortality to occur, the physical and material conditions must change, not only of our bodies but also of our souls, our spirits and, indeed, the whole created environment. At his resurrection, Christ’s mortal body – subject as it evidently was to injury, weakening, and death – was replaced by an immortal one. As his physical resurrection involved a creative renewal and transformation of his original body, so our bodily resurrection will involve a similar renewal and transformation of our own physical bodies.

The resurrection of believers takes place, then, in stages. At the point of regeneration, believers immediately attain unceasing, eternal life in communion with God and all the saints. By the Holy Spirit, Christ is always present in the world with his disciples, ‘to the end of the age’ (Matt 28:20). When believers die, they immediately reside ‘at home with the Lord’ but ‘away from the body’ (2 Cor 5:8). But in biblical teaching, believers attain immortality only after receiving a new replacement body, like Christ’s ‘glorious’ risen body (Phil 3:21; cf. 1 John 3:2), at their resurrection on the last day.

Total Transformation of the Whole Person

Not only so, but resurrection entails a transformation of the whole person, a change and reunion of the individuals’ body and soul, a transformation of the total living individual embodied human spirit and personality.

‘That is glorification. It is the complete and final redemption of the whole person when in the integrity of body and spirit the people of God will be conformed to the image of the risen, exalted, and glorified Redeemer, when the very body of their humiliation will be conformed to the body of Christ’s glory.’⁸²

Having said this, it may be unnecessary to go as far as some have done and suggest that the resurrection of individual persons involves the restoration of their bodies using the whole identical physical material of which it originally existed.⁸³ Clearly this is what happened in Christ’s own unique case, for his dead body did not decay or disintegrate. But there is an obvious difference here, for our death (unlike Christ’s) does entail the disintegration of our bodies. Added to this, the cells of our bodies (excluding the brain) are continually being lost and replaced while we now live. So, the notion of our resurrection body being, at the atomic level, this very same body we presently have is difficult.

How it can conceivably be that our resurrected and perfected bodies then shall carry the same unique characteristics as now makes us ‘us’ is hard to resolve. ‘[H]ow we shall recognize one another. Will be look young or old? … The precise details are hidden from our eyes, and we shall have to wait and see what happens when the time comes.’⁸⁴ Our knowledge of these things is real and substantial yet, nonetheless, partial and provisional. ‘[W]hat we will be has not yet appeared’ (1 John 3:2). Two matters, however, are crucial: (1) like Christ’s, our own unique personal recognizable bodily identity is retained and continues at our resurrection, and (2) like Christ’s, the glorified ‘spiritual body’ acquired at the resurrection of the dead is genuinely physical but substantially changed, while nonetheless remaining clearly recognizable as our own unique individual body.⁸⁵ Resurrection of the body is resurrection of the person.⁸⁶

Companions of Christ in the Life to Come

Christ’s resurrection, then, is a vicarious act, it was accomplished for others and undertaken for their benefit.

‘The resurrection of Christ carries within it the notion of corporate resurrection. The seed that is raised up is not only Jesus the Messiah as an individual but the body of all those who are involved with him in his anointed humanity. In Christ the whole resurrection is already included in a decisive way. The New Humanity is already raised up in Christ.’⁸⁷

As he did not die for himself but for the good of others, so he did not rise for himself but for the good of others. Moreover, Christ’s resurrection (like his death) occurred for the benefit of his people and in union with his people. His triumphant victory over sin and death is for his people. ‘Christ rose again that he might have us as companions in the life to come.’⁸⁸ That is what makes it glorious. What was begun in him by resurrection, ‘must be completed in all the members.’⁸⁹ It guarantees the eventual bodily resurrection of all the dead (1 Cor 15:20-23; Rev 1:17-18). ‘His resurrection drags ours in his train.’⁹⁰ It is the forerunner of and prelude to our own resurrection. ‘The raising of the body of believers … stands in connection with the resurrection of the body of the Mediator, and it is the Spirit of Christ who effects this connection [Rom 8:10-11].’⁹¹ It is the pledge and prototype for the resurrection of believers.

The pattern of Christ’s resurrection is different from ours, for instance, in that his body did not rot in the tomb or disintegrate. But nevertheless, his resurrection (like his death) is an event in which we participate and have fellowship. On the statement ‘you have been raised with Christ’ (Col 3:4), Calvin comments: ‘God raised his Son from the dead, not to make known a single example of his power, but to show toward us believers the same working of the Spirit … that he may quicken what is mortal in us.’⁹² Believers have the exact same quickening and life-giving operation of the Holy Spirit in common with Christ. In raising Christ from the dead, the Father raised him as Head of the church, the assembly of believers from whom Christ cannot conceivably be separated. In rising, Christ is the ‘firstfruits’ of the general resurrection of the dead, for ‘at this coming those who belong to Christ’ will rise also (1 Cor 15:23).

Necessary and Inevitable

There is, moreover, a necessity about this. The citizens of heaven may be happier than we currently are, but they are not more secure than we already are.⁹³ Believers must put on immortality and incorruption (1 Cor 15:53). The ‘must’ here results from the certainty of Christ’s own resurrection and the certain effect of it. Again, the event of our own individual resurrection is achieved by union with Christ (Rom 8:11).

‘The resurrection of Christ relates not only to the resurrection of Christ himself but … to all those who are “in him,” to the new humanity of which he, as the last Adam, is the head. The resurrection of Christ is thus a federal act, an action on behalf of others, but one which also secures for them personally what Christ personally enjoyed.’⁹⁴

So, resurrection is the route to immortality not only for Christ but also for us.⁹⁵ ‘He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence’ (2 Cor 4:14), for ‘since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep’ (1 Thess 4:14).

Christ’s resurrection was inevitable. Having been obedient to death as a substitute for sin and having accomplished redemption at the price of his own life given up to death, it was not possible for death to hold onto him (Acts 2:24). Death could not keep him. So, it is similarly inevitable for those in Christ. It is impossible for those in Christ to be held by death. The death of Christ was reversed by resurrection. The death of those who are in Christ will be reversed by resurrection. This is Bavinck: ‘By his physical resurrection it was first proved that he, by his obedience even unto the cross and the grave, had perfectly conquered sin and all its consequences, including death, had, so to speak, thrown it back out of the human world, and had ushered in a new life of incorruptibility.’⁹⁶

A Great Deal Still to Come

With the resurrection of believers from the dead the benefit of Christ’s triumphant victory over sin and death is finally applied, distributed, made public and visible. The resurrection of the dead has not already occurred (2 Tim 2:18) but awaits the consummation of all things at the end of the world (1 Cor 15:12-55). Much is realized now already, but a great deal is yet to come. Salvation reaches its completion with ‘the redemption of our bodies’ (Rom 8:23). Bodily resurrection is not immediately or presently available now. Only when ‘the former things’ have passed away shall death be no more (Rev 21:4). At that point, and not before, ‘shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting.”’ (Cor 15:54-55). The promise of death’s demise is partly what lay behind the words of comfort spoken by the angel to the women at the empty tomb, ‘Do not be afraid’ (Matt 28:4-5). ‘Come and see the place where he lay’ (Matt 28:6). It was to bring deliverance from the bewilderment, distress, dread and fear surrounding death in general and Christ’s death in particular.

The First and Best Part

All of God’s intentions for his people are enacted and expressed first in Jesus Christ. Jesus was raised from death ‘as the firstfruits of those have fallen asleep’ (1 Cor 15:20; cf. 15:23). In Old Testament teaching, ‘firstfruits’ were the first and best part of the harvest (Exod 23:19). As the first and the best part, ‘firstfruits’ stand for the whole. By virtue of his resurrection, Christ is the firstborn of creation and the firstborn person arising from the dead (Col 1:18). As the firstborn of the new humanity, the God-man is also the best part of regenerated humanity. As the firstfruits and the firstborn, Christ is super-exalted above all powers and dominions in every age, past, present, and future, and he is given by ‘the Father of glory … as head over all things to the church’ (Eph 1:20, 22). He rises from the dead before us in time and superior to us in status, yet he does so for us and for our benefit, both to accomplish our own resurrection and to assure us of its certainty ‘by receiving a sort of guarantee substantiated by his.’⁹⁷

‘By the resurrection the believers are born again to a lively hope (1 Pet 1:3). By it they have obtained the imperturbable conviction that the work of salvation has not only begun and continued, but also will be carried out to the end. In heaven the incorruptible, undefilable, and unfading legacy is preserved for them, and on earth they are by God’s might preserved in the faith for the salvation which in the last time will be revealed to them.’⁹⁸

Every Single Human Being Will Be Resurrected

The Father’s determined will, explained Jesus, ‘is that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day’ (John 6:40). His assertion, ‘I will raise him up/it up,’ is repeated several times (John 6:39, 44, 54). The resurrection of Jesus, then, contains within it a universal aspect. ‘The resurrection of Jesus as an act of God is a decisive event, a final judgment, which affects the entire state of human existence, the whole situation in which we have our being, and as such affects every human being.’⁹⁹

Yet the supremacy of Christ in the resurrection of the dead carries with it a shadow side, for ‘there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust’ (Acts 24:15). The resurrection of the dead involves the future physical resurrection of both believers and unbelievers, thus directly impacting and with devastating affect those who die outside of saving union with him (Rev 20:11-15). Unbelief turns its back to the light that streams from the cross and the empty tomb, and creates the shadow side. ‘They, too, will leave the grave at his voice.’¹⁰⁰ Whilst the future resurrection of the righteous fulfils their expectations in every regard, the resurrection of the dead at the voice of Christ is to include a resurrection of the unrighteous as an introduction and preliminary to the final judgment of God upon evildoing.

It is the risen Lord Jesus Christ who executes the resurrection of the dead: ‘an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live’ (John 5:25). Or again, ‘an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment’ (John 5:28-29). The resurrection of the dead establishes a new created order by a twofold event, whereby the godly commence glorified bodily eternal life, and the ungodly, those who have continued in unbelief and rebellion to turn their back on what God has done for us in his Son, are delivered bodily into eternal punishment.

Newness of Life

In the meantime, the resurrection of Jesus Christ the Lord remains the cause and source of a new order and kind of life in the present world, for it is the ground upon which believers ‘walk in newness of life … dead to sin and alive to God’ (Rom 6:4, 11; 2 Cor 5:15; Gal 2:20). Robert Doyle explains how this works:

‘The resurrected one has sent his Spirit, and those who are united to this Christ by faith are possessed of his power, and already experience the beginning of the transition from this age to the age to come. They have moved from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, from sin and death to liberation and life (Eph. 1:15-2:10; Col. 1:13; 1 Pet. 2:9; Phil. 3:7-10).’¹⁰¹

The resurrection is, then, the foundation of the believer’s risen kind of life in the here and now (Eph 1:18-2:10; Col 2:9-15; 3:1). Because Christ is in himself the resurrection and the life, those who believe in him enter into eternal life, living unceasingly though they die (John 11:25-26). Being ‘raised with Christ’ we may, and we must ‘seek the things that are above, where Christ is,’ setting ‘our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth’ (Col 3:1-2). ‘By these words,’ comments Calvin, ‘we are not only invited through the example of the risen Christ to strive after newness of life; but we are taught that we are born into righteousness through his power.’¹⁰²

Resurrection is a Moral Reality

Resurrection is, then, an ethical category and a moral reality. It is a behavioural realm, shaping the character and determining the quality of existence now, for authentic Christian life is the genuine consequence and result of being raised up with Christ to ‘newness of life.’ ‘Christian ethics depends upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,’¹⁰³ for it is his being raised up from death (and nothing else) that secures redemption from the power of sin. ‘The new life believers live they live in the fellowship of Jesus’ resurrection.’¹⁰⁴ This means living already, now, presently, moment by moment in a whole life union with the risen power and life of Christ, enabled by it, joined to Christ in his death and resurrection, spiritually, personally, and directly (Rom 6:1-10; 2 Cor 5:14-15; Eph 2:6; Col 3:1; 1 Pet 4:1-2).

Living and Behaving in Union with the Risen Jesus

So, the moral bearing of life in the power Christ’s resurrection is actual by virtue of our real personal and spiritual union with the risen Jesus himself. Christ is united to us, and we are united to him. This union with Christ means not only that he died and rose for us but also that we died and rose with him. ‘It is this fact of having risen with him in the power of his resurrection that insures for all the people of God deliverance from the dominion of sin. … [and] provides the basis for the sanctifying process.’¹⁰⁵ Because Christ was raised bodily in the past, by regeneration we too are raised spiritually in the present, bodily in the future, and in between times made capable of genuinely godly ‘raised up’ living because we are joined personally and really to the risen Lord forever (Rom 8:34; Col 3:1-17; 1 Pet 3:21). Here is Bavinck:

‘Just as there is no reconciliation without a preceding forgiveness, so too there is no forgiveness without a succeeding sanctification and glorification. The objective ground for this inseparable connection between justification and sanctification lies in Christ himself. He not only died, but was also raised up. And what he died, he died unto sin … so that what he lives, he lives unto God (Rom 6:10). His life now belongs, now that after his death he has perfectly loosed the bonds of sin, solely to God. Hence when Christ now arrogates [takes or claims] to a person by way of faith the fruits of his death – namely repentance and the forgiveness of sin – he at the same time also gives that person a new life.’¹⁰⁶

Not only so, but the risen Christ lives in and with his regenerated people (Gal 2:20). Endeavouring for the sake of ‘life and peace’ ‘to set the mind on the Spirit’ occurs successfully for a person solely through their indwelling by the life-giving Spirit ‘who raised Jesus from the dead’ (Rom 8:6, 11). Being ‘in’ Christ involves being reckoned ‘dead to sin and alive to God’ (Rom 6:11), quickened through the immediate resident presence of precisely the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead (Rom 8:11). In death, Christ broke ‘off all relationship to sin,’ saying, as it were, ‘farewell to sin.’¹⁰⁷ Fastened and joined to Christ in his death, believers also ‘died to sin’ and need not ‘still live in it’ (Rom 6:2). Instead, being attached and bound to Christ in his resurrection a person may ‘walk in newness of life’ (Rom 6:4).

The union of believers with Christ in death and resurrection means that their ongoing life and existence already has the nature of life raised from the dead, tasting already, now, ‘the powers of the age to come’ (Heb 6:5). Being ‘raised with Christ’ is an indicative, referring to an established state of solid spiritual fact. The indicative entails the imperative of putting sin to death, putting away everything contrary to the character of Christ, and putting on everything conforming to it (Col 3:1-17). ‘We ought, therefore, he says, to die to our body, that we may live to God in Christ Jesus, who after the assumption of our body of sin, lives now wholly unto God, uniting the nature He shared with us with the participation of Divine immortality.’¹⁰⁸ Because physical human life is by Christ’s bodily resurrection shown so clearly to be of eternal value and worth, our present physical bodily and material life takes on new significance. Life lived now in the power of Christ’s resurrection possesses, then, a character which aspires to immortality (Rom 2:7).

A Position of Certain Victory

Living to God in the light and power of Jesus’ resurrection is life led from a perspective and position of certain, overwhelming victory. This is because by resurrection Christ triumphed over every power standing hostile and opposed to God’s people and purposes, attaining victory in principle over sin, evil, death, and the devil (Rom 6-8; 2 Cor 4:4; Col 2:11-15; Heb 2:14). Warfield expressed the matter thus:

‘Our brother, who has like us been acquainted with death – he it is who rules over the ages, the ages that are past, and the ages that are passing, and the ages that are yet to come. If our hearts should fail us as we stand over against the hosts of wickedness which surround us, let us encourage ourselves and one another with the great reminder: Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David!’¹⁰⁹

Relief to the Conscience

Integral to the resurrection’s victory is its revelation of the reality of forgiveness by God, of peace and reconciliation with God. The risen Jesus’ greeting ‘shalom’ (John 20:19, 21, 26) captured the way his resurrection brings believers peace with God. This is Brakel:

‘If someone senses the dreadfulness of guilt and punishment, views God as being provoked by sin to that there is no peace but only terror within the conscience … let him then turn about and by faith behold Christ as having risen from the dead, which is the evidence of perfect satisfaction. Receive him who calls you and offers his fullness without price.’¹¹⁰

Resurrection, then, brings relief to the conscience. It is a marvellous liberation.

Taking the Offensive Against Death

The fear of death, though real and horrible, need not be excessive or overwhelming. Anxiety need not be undue, for Christ’s resurrection displays the beating of death on our behalf, laying the basis of all hope in the face of death (1 Cor 15:18-19; 1 Pet 1:3, 21; 3:21-22). The resurrection declares that victory is won already. Death is effectively conquered, we shall experience immortal life in the presence of Christ. It ‘tells us that our enemies, sin, the curse and death, are beaten. … We must still reckon with them, but fundamentally we must cease to fear them anymore. … We may live in thankfulness and not in fear.’¹¹¹

Against the threat of imminent death, Athanasius went so far as to urge all ‘disciples of Christ’ to ‘despise death,’ to ‘mock at it’, and by way of return ‘take the offensive against it,’ going enthusiastically to meet it. Resurrection promises relief from, as well as reward, and repayment for all affliction, loss, pain, and trial endured during this life. ‘Now that the Saviour has raised his body,’ he wrote, ‘death is no longer terrible, but all those who believe in Christ tread it underfoot as nothing, and prefer to die rather than to deny their faith in Christ, knowing full well that when they die they do not perish, but live indeed, and become incorruptible through the resurrection.’¹¹²

Cultivating the Same Mind and Love as Jesus

Knowing Christ and ‘the power of his resurrection’ (Phil 3:10) involves ‘being of the same mind [and] having the same love’ (Phil 2:2). In terms of attitudes, values, loyalties, deeds, feeling, vision, and overall direction it means reflecting and reproducing the pattern of Christ’s life and experience. ‘Having a hope in God … that there will be a resurrection’ (Acts 24:15, 21) renews, informs, and invigorates all aspects of personal and corporate belief, character, and behaviour.¹¹³ In the face of danger, difficulty, temptation, and hardship, hope of resurrection is a sufficient and actually endless source of strength.

Dying and Living Again Every Day

In practical terms of day-to-day lived experience, newness of life, is characterised by a pattern of death and resurrection, of mortification (putting to death) and vivification (bringing to life). Life in Christ combines and intertwines a type of dying and living again. In fact, participating and sharing in the sufferings of Christ, ‘becoming like him in his death,’ is, says the Apostle, the God-given means of attaining the resurrection of the dead (Phil 3:11). ‘On this side of the final parousia, the only way to enter into the power of Jesus resurrection is by a willingness to share his sufferings, and so become like him in his death.’¹¹⁴

Christ’s resurrection, then, provides both motivation and power for holy living. The power of Christ’s resurrection personally present alongside with and inside within the Christian (Gal 2:20) places them in a position of tremendous strength, making passivity appear flat and unappealing, and Christ-oriented activity both possible and effectual. ‘If one then unites himself with the risen Christ by faith,’ wrote Brakel, ‘one will also become aware of the life-giving power which proceeds from Christ to quicken souls.’¹¹⁵

There is Always Tomorrow

‘Let this therefore be a first step,’ counselled Calvin, ‘that a man depart from himself in order that he may apply the whole force of his ability in the service of the Lord.’¹¹⁶ If it is true, as Calvin believed, that the substance and sum of the Christian life is ‘the denial of ourselves,’ extreme dedication to God at endless expense of sinful self-centredness is practicable and possible only because ‘the man himself may no longer live but hear Christ living and reigning within him.’¹¹⁷ The resurrection of Christ shows, then, that in God’s hands, pain, suffering and every expression of self-constraint has meaning and direction, for deliverance from it and triumph over it does indeed come by the omnipotence of God. The power of resurrection means that one may persist in certain knowledge that there is always tomorrow.

By way of summary, ‘the Christian presently lives a life hid in Christ – born from above by the power of the Spirit, embodying and declaring the good news, going about doing good, willing to die for the truth, living in newness of life and in hope of the resurrection of the dead.’¹¹⁸

Owning the Future

The lives of human beings undoubtedly are shaped by their future expectations. What we believe about ultimate outcomes altogether determines the manner with which we behave and live now. Different futures determine different attitudes and approaches to the present. A sense of the ending inspires the shape of living. For all human beings, a vision of the future is decisive in handling the present, and this is doubly the case for those believing and trusting in Christ’s resurrection from the dead. This pattern of logic is clearly expressed: ‘If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above … Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth’ (Col 3:1-2). In John’s Gospel, with its special emphasis on realizing eternal life in the present, there is a similar emphasis on enjoying now the life that is risen (John 3:36; 4:14; 5:24 etc.).

The resurrection means that Christ and his people own the future. Because the immediate and ultimate future belongs to him, so it also belongs to all who are joined to him. Being ‘born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead’ (1 Pet 1:3) implies that the future is safe and secure, for the resurrection of Jesus is its guarantee. It brings a ‘revelation of life and immortality … to a dying world.’¹¹⁹

Coping Calmly and Confidently with Pain and Suffering

Indeed, resurrection comprises the context for understanding suffering and adversity Christianly. In general, and this was exemplified by the apostles and other first-generation believers, death need hold no terror, and life’s difficulties, losses, pains, ambiguities, hazards, trials, and persecutions – however severe – may be approached with calm, courage, and confidence, for with Christ’s resurrection the outcome of all things in personal and universal history was already crystal clear, i.e., a glorious awakening from death to immortality with him.¹²⁰

The Apostle Paul, like us, admits anxiety as opponents to the gospel continually seek to mar and crush its progress (Phil 2:25-30). Jesus himself speaks at some length about anxiety. The perspective he offers to make it better is the undiminishable certainty of God’s coming kingdom, and the glorious outcomes it brings. ‘Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom’ (Luke 12:22-32). That kingdom, at work amongst the Christians at Philippi, is the hope that gives perspective and help to Paul’s anxiety (Phil 4:4-7).

Here is Hilary of Poitiers:

‘In this calm assurance of safety did my soul gladly and hopefully take its rest, and feared so little the interruption of death, that death seemed only a name for eternal life. And the life of this present body was so far from seeming a burden or affliction that it was regarded as children regard their alphabet, sick men their draught [medicine], shipwrecked sailors their swim, young men the training for their profession, future commanders their first campaign; that is, as an endurable submission to present necessities, bearing the promise of a blissful immortality.’¹²¹

Devoted to Service of the Gospel

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul concludes his three-step argument regarding the resurrection of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the resurrection of the body, with a summary exhortation: ‘Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain’ (1 Cor 15:58). Having already considered the case evidence for resurrection at length and in the strongest possible terms, this appeal is not an exhortation for godly living in general (as in 15:33-34), though it certainly includes ‘whatever one does as a Christian.’¹²² But with the expression ‘the work of the Lord’ (1 Cor 15:58), Paul more specifically takes up again the chapter’s overall theme of standing in the gospel, originally introduced by the chapter’s opening statement (1 Cor 15:1-2).

Indeed, in various places, Paul uses ‘labour’ to refer exactly and specifically to the ministry of the gospel (1 Cor 3:8; 4:12; 16:16; 1 Thess 3:5; 2 Thess 3:8; 2 Cor 6:5; 10:15; 11:23). Paul is saying that, based on these stupendous realities (certain hope of physical resurrection, substantial victory in the present and complete final victory in the future over sin and death), the existence and life of the newly risen and transformed person is to be solid, consistent, abundant in, and full of the kind of hard work that is focussed persistently and precisely on these great truths of the gospel.

In terms of doctrinal convictions, believers are to be loyal to these elementary gospel truths, they are to be engaged continually in ‘those kinds of activities’ which are specifically Christian, and they are to be occupied especially in those that are ‘specifically in the interest of the gospel,’¹²³ i.e., commending it, communicating it, proclaiming it, and otherwise promoting it confidently in every possible manner and way. Believers are urged (actually, they are charged) to overflow in service of the gospel, aware that every effort to commend the death and resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and resurrection to life matters ultimately, because it matters to the God who raised Christ, who raises the dead, and who certainly rewards those who faithfully serve him.¹²⁴

Not only so, but Jesus’ resurrection itself released new spiritual power for effective Christian ministry, for radical obedience to God, and for substantial success in struggling against the sin that remains in our lives (Eph 1:19-20). ‘This new intensified power for proclaiming the gospel … and triumphing over the opposition of the enemy was given to disciples after Christ’s resurrection from the dead and was part of the new resurrection power that characterised their Christian lives.’¹²⁵

Fellowship, Evangelism, and Mission

In the Fourth Gospel, Jesus’ appearance on the beach, the miraculous catch of fish, the subsequent meal and dialogue with his disciples (John 21:1-25), express themes related to these. The miraculous catch of fish points to the power of the Risen Christ being made available to the church in fellowship, evangelism, and mission (21:1-13). The Risen Lord requires radical love and commitment from his disciples, even to death (21:15-23), but he is more than prepared to provide resources sufficient for success with faithful endeavour and witness. The impressive size of the catch promises a comparably great outcome to mission (21:6, 11). Having said this, specific results may be left in the Lord’s hands because resurrection from the dead guarantees that, whatever the circumstances of a disciple’s path in life and ministry, following Christ, the ultimate outcome of eternal life in the Kingdom of God is fixed and certain (21:19, 21).

Omnipotent Authority and Omnipresent Company

Because Christ is alive, he is always present with his people, empowering their life and existence, sustaining them in weakness, with the same kind of power that effected his resurrection. The omnipotent authority of the risen Christ over all of God’s kingdom ‘in heaven and earth’ combined with his continuing permanent omnipresent companionship across all time – ‘I am with you always’ – is the basis upon which disciples – learners and followers – throughout every nation are to take him as their Teacher (Matt 28:18-20).

The point is that Christ’s resurrection inducts and initiates us now into the spiritual realities and moral patterns of his risen kind of life. It introduces and provides, for the benefit of current day-to-day and moment-by-moment Christian existence, the transforming power of God. It creates and injects a new kind of life and reality in which believers participate now experientially and practically in the present. ‘If believers’ eyes are turned to the power of the resurrection, in their hearts the cross of Christ will at last triumph over the devil, flesh, sin, and wicked men.’¹²⁶ Spiritual energy connected with, equivalent to, and resulting from Christ’s resurrection from the dead by the Holy Spirit’s power (Rom 1:4) produces a progressive sea-change of present faith experience, as believers await the more complete change in the future when we attain to the resurrection from the dead (Rom 8:10-17; Phil 3:10).

10. THE CONSEQUENCES OF JESUS’ RESURRECTION

The Beginning of the End of History

There is a finality to Jesus’ redemptive work, teaching, healing, suffering, dying, rising. But its very decisiveness should not obscure Jesus’ ongoing work for, it is ‘the living and reigning Christ who has always been the object of the adoring faith of Christians.’¹²⁷ Being risen, he is today very much alive and well, currently active and present with his disciples ‘always, to the end of the age’ (Matt 28:20).

Palestinian Jews of the early first century expected the resurrection of the dead no sooner than the very end, at the climax of the historical process. Bringing all things to their conclusion this way was something that only God could accomplish. Human beings did not create themselves. Neither could they complete themselves. So, at the time that Jesus rose, resurrection meant God’s final consummation of universal history, for the age to come was expected to begin with the resurrection of the dead. That the resurrection of Jesus had taken place, therefore, meant that the end had already arrived and that the distinctive final event promised by God had now begun to occur far earlier than expected. Resurrection of the dead had started.

There is a similar schedule with regards to the kingdom of God. The public ministry of both John the Baptizer and of Jesus himself had commenced with an urgent message concerning the presence of God’s kingdom being directly and immediately ‘at hand’ (Matt 3:2; 4:17). Yet it soon became equally clear that establishment of the kingdom of God would also proceed in stages, being finally wrapped up with the coming the eternal kingdom at the end of the world (Lk 22:29-30; Rev 11:15). Jesus’ resurrection reinforced this teaching, again by anticipation already in the present of the expected end of all things at the last. The resurrection signalled the conclusion of God’s kingdom purposes. With the appearance of the risen Christ, the long-promised messianic rule over the cosmos began ahead of time, arriving in advance not merely in word and prophecy but in practice and reality.¹²⁸ ‘Only on the basis of the resurrection can we say that the righteous and peaceful dominion of humanity has been restored. … [and] Christ’s heavenly reign is openly acknowledged, embraced, and experienced as a living reality.’¹²⁹

Anticipating the Eventual Outcome

Christ’s resurrection, then, marked the transition and turning of the ages. The various meetings of the risen Christ with his disciples recorded in the Gospels are anticipations and revelations of the eventual outcome – perfected fellowship between God and humanity as God dwells directly and permanently with mankind (Rev 21:3). By raising Jesus from the dead, God set the new creation in motion, and started the process through which all things will ultimately be reconciled, renovated, and restored.

‘The resurrection of Jesus is an event that happens within history in continuity with the living event of the whole historical existence of Jesus, yet as an event of fulfilled redemption the resurrection issues in a new creation beyond the corruptible processes of this world, on the other side of decay and death, and on the other side of judgment, in the fullness of a new world and of a new order of things.’¹³⁰

In Christ’s resurrection, then, the eternal age to come penetrated the present age. By it, the end of history in which the entire created order will be renewed in a manner only conceived ‘in a mirror dimly’ (1 Cor 13:12), is gotten under way in the middle of history. ‘The resurrection of Jesus heralds an entirely new age in which a universal resurrection or transformation of heaven and earth will take place, or rather has already begun to take place, for with the resurrection of Jesus that new world has already broken into the midst of the old.’¹³¹

A New Age, a New Time, a New Condition

From the third day onward, with the beginning of the new post-resurrection life of Jesus, so also began a new age, a new time, a new condition and shape of life and existence, the beginning of the new world.¹³² ‘By it the veil of sense was lifted and men were permitted to experience the reality of that other world to which we are all journeying.’¹³³ Many evils mark this present age, but with Christ’s resurrection the powers of the coming age ‘have broken in already, with Christ as the firstborn of the dead.’¹³⁴ The resurrection of Christ provides a powerful vision of the eventual outcome of God’s project, exercising and putting on display in the present the power and reality of the eternal future.¹³⁵

History’s Hinge and Inflection Point

The resurrection of Christ is, then, the hinge and inflection point of all history, for it signals the arrival of the age to come promised by God, total deliverance from evil and establishment of a new creation. Christ’s resurrection in the middle of history indicates the dawning of the end of history. It sets in motion a transition to the new creation and fulfilment of God’s Kingdom in heaven and earth. In the resurrection of Christ, the new creation is introduced and initiated such that anyone ‘in Christ’ is in truth even now ‘a new creation’ (2 Cor 5:17). Indeed, the resurrection of Jesus and the hope of our resurrection which is consequent on it, is completely attached to the hope of renewal encompassing all creation (Rom 8:18-25). The new creation of individuals begins with their spiritual regeneration at the new birth. It will be completed with their physical regeneration in the rebirth of heaven, earth, and all things (Rev 21:1, 5). In the risen Christ, God’s ultimate intentions for human life began to be realized. Although the promised end has yet to be realized completely and fully, it has already gotten under way. Because Jesus is alive, resurrection is a past event, a present reality, and a future prospect.¹³⁶ ‘The resurrection of Christ … goes on into all eternity. In its time it brings with it the resurrection of the believers, their regeneration, and the victory over heaven and earth.’¹³⁷

The Judgment of Jesus

Resurrection and judgment are linked at various points of biblical teaching (Luke 14:14; 2 Cor 5:1-10; Heb 11:35). The one implies the other (Matt 10:28; 25:41; Mark 12:26; John 5:25, 28-29). Not only in Scripture are death and the resurrection of the dead preludes to final judgment, but in fact ‘the resurrection of Jesus was the ground and proof of the fact that he was the judge, for judgeship is an exercise of lordship. The supreme accolade of the king is that he is the judge of his people. Jesus, Lord of all, is judge of all.’¹³⁸ Jesus rose from the dead as our representative, yet he rose also as our Judge. The resurrection of Christ indicates that he is the one whom God has appointed Judge (Acts 10:42; 17:31). The future judgment of the whole world and all its inhabitants, living and dead, is given to the risen Christ.

Implied in this is the fact that the resurrection of the dead will be universal in scope. All people who have died since the creation of the world until the return of Christ will be raised. In this manner, following death, all ‘the dead, great and small’ will stand before ‘the great white throne and him who is seated on it’ (Rev 20:11-12).

In another place, Jesus spoke of a ‘coming hour … when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out’ (John 5:28-29). At that juncture there will be a great distinction between ‘those who have done good’ and ‘those who have done evil.’ Future ‘resurrection to life’ and future ‘resurrection to judgment’ are counterparts (John 5:29). The Judge who determines the present condition (John 5:19-24) and eternal destiny of those raised from death, life or condemnation (John 5:25-30), is Jesus himself. As an early hymn sings to Jesus, addressing him as ‘the everlasting Son of the Father’: ‘When you had overcome the sharpness of death, you did open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. You sit at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father. We believe that you will come to be our Judge.’¹³⁹

The First Resurrection and the Second Death

Three times Jesus repeated that he will ‘raise up’ those who believe in him (John 6:40, 44, 54). In still other places, he says that those who believe in him ‘will never die’ (John 11:25-26) and that he is preparing permanent places for them (John 14:2-3). Those who are alive in Christ will stand in the final judgment of Christ and meet him as Judge and Saviour, going on from that point to be directly and immediately with him forever. The resurrection of those aligned to Christ occurs ‘first’ (1 Thess 4:16) in order that they may reign with him (Rev 20:4-6). On the other side, the unbelieving, those reanimated outside of Christ, meet him only as Judge and proceed to a ‘second death’ (Rev 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8), receiving irreversible condemnation and continuing to exist and ‘suffer the punishment of everlasting destruction, away from the presence of the Lord’ (2 Thess 1:9). ‘The one who rejects me,’ Jesus said, ‘and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day’ (John 12:48).

The Day is Fixed

This connection of Christ’s resurrection with his final Divine judgment of all people was dominant in the preaching of the apostles. ‘God raised him on the third day … ,’ Peter explained, ‘And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:40, 42). The resurrection confirmed the certainty of God’s final judgment of all the living and the dead, and that this final judgment is explicitly through Jesus. ‘God,’ proclaimed Paul in Athens, ‘has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man who he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead’ (Acts 17:31).

Implementing the Ultimate Will of God

On the one hand, then, the gospel of the resurrection proclaims salvation from final divine judgment by forgiveness through faith in the risen Lord Jesus.¹⁴⁰ This brings unshakeable calm, security, assurance, comfort, courage, and joy in a world of sin, wrath, and death. On the other hand, the gospel of the resurrection stresses universal human accountability, of all thoughts and actions and of every person before the judgment of God. This gives great weight and dignity to all human life and every aspect of it. It means that justice will ultimately prevail for history is moving towards its final objective in God’s purposes where all things will be put right. Resurrection in relation to judgment means that the will of God shall ultimately be done.¹⁴¹

In Place of a Conclusion

Lord, who created man in wealth and store,
      Though foolishly he lost the same,
            Decaying more and more,
                 Till he became
                        Most poor:
                        With thee
                  O let me rise
            As larks, harmoniously,
      And sing this day thy victories:
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

My tender age in sorrow did begin
      And still with sicknesses and shame.
            Thou did so punish sin,
                  That I became
                        Most thin.
                        With thee
                  Let me combine,
            And feel thy victory:
         For, if I plant my wing on thine,
Affliction shall advance the flight in me.¹⁴²

—

1
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 367.
2
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.5.47-48; Single-Volume Edition, 582-83.
3
Warfield, Selected Shorter Writings, 1:201.
4
Hilary of Poitiers, The Trinity, 7.12; NPNF 2.9:122.
5
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.5.54; Single-Volume Edition, 592.
6
Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection, 33.
7
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 369.
8
Oden, Systematic Theology, 2:456.
9
A good treatment of fourteen key Scriptural passages is Stephen Motyer, Come, Lord Jesus! A Biblical Theology of the Second Coming of Christ (Apollos, 2016).
10
Robert Letham, The Work of Christ (IVP, 1993), 220.
11
Joel R. Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology (Crossway, 2020), 2:1129.
12
Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ, 545.
13
Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew (IVP, 1992), 746.
14
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 370.
15
See Habermas, The Risen Jesus and Future Hope, chapters 2-6.
16
Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ, 544.
17
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.5.48; Single-Volume Edition, 582; slightly amended.
18
Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ, 544.
19
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.5.48; Single-Volume Edition, 583.
20
Knox, Selected Works, 3:41, 43.
21
Richard Lints, ‘Soteriology,’ in Mapping Modern Theology, eds. Kelly M. Kapic and Bruce L. McCormack (Baker, 2012), 287.
22
Warfield, Selected Shorter Writings, 1:200.
23
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 369.
24
Bray, God is Love, 595.
25
Barth, Church Dogmatics, I/2, 114.
26
Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, 1:632; slightly amended.
27
Thomas Weinandy, ‘The Eternal Son,’ in The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity, eds. Gilles Emery and Matthew Levering (Oxford University Press, 2011), 397.
28
Doyle, Eschatology, 26.
29
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 368.
30
Karl Barth, Dogmatics in Outline, trans. G. T. Thomson (SCM Press, 2001 [Orig 1949]),113.
31
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 367.
32
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.5.48; Single-Volume Edition, 582.
33
Graham Cole, Against the Darkness: The Doctrine of Angels, Satan, and Demons (Crossway, 2019), 141.
34
Augustine, Homilies on the Gospel of St. John, Tractate 12.11, NPNF, 1.7:85.
35
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.5.48; Single-Volume Edition, 582.
36
Waltke, Old Testament Theology, 254.
37
Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, 1:634.
38
Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, 627.
39
Gerald Bray, Doing Theology with the Reformers (IVP Academic, 2019), 138.
40
Thomas Weinandy, ‘The Eternal Son,’ 397.
41
Oden, Systematic Theology, 2:496.
42
H. R. Mackintosh, The Person of Jesus Christ. Third edition (T&T Clark, 1914), 371.
43
Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:905.
44
This point was made with special force by Tertullian (AD 155-220), the North African founder of Latin Christianity, in his companion works, On the Flesh of Christ and On the Resurrection of the Flesh; ANF, 3:521-594.
45
Weinandy, ‘The Eternal Son,’ 397.
46
Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 54; ed. St. Vladimir’s, 93.
47
Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:1130.
48
Calvin, Institutes, 3.14.15; 784.
49
The Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 45; ed. Schaff, Creeds, 3:321-22.
50
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.5.46; Single-Volume Edition, 581.
51
A good recent treatment of this matter is Matthew Barrett, ‘Raised for Our Justification,’ in The Doctrine on Which the Church Stands or Falls: Justification in Biblical, Theological, Historical, and Pastoral Perspective, ed. Matthew Barrett (Crossway, 2019), chapter 12.
52
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.5.48; Single-Volume Edition, 584; slightly amended.
53
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 370.
54
Knox, Selected Works, 3:90.
55
Grudem, Systematic Theology, 2nd ed., 756.
56
John Calvin, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans (Calvin Translation Society, 1849), 185-86.
57
Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans [BECNT] (Baker, 1998), 244.
58
Calvin, Institutes, 2.14.13; 521.
59
Augustine, The Trinity, 4.6; trans. Edmund Hill (New City Press, 1991), 157.
60
Refer to Augustine’s exposition of John 5:19-30, Homily 19 sections 8-23, and especially sections 13-14, in Homilies on the Gospel of John 1-40, trans. Edmund Hill (New City Press, 2009), 346-47.
61
Habermas, ‘Resurrection of Christ,’ 744; slightly amended.
62
Habermas, ‘Resurrection of Christ,’ 744; slightly amended.
63
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.5.48; Single-Volume Edition, 584.
64
Peter Bouteneff, ‘Christ and Salvation,’ in The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology, eds. Elizabeth Theokritoff and Mary B. Cunningham (Cambridge University Press, 2008), 98.
65
Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, 1:635.
66
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.5.48; Single-Volume Edition, 584.
67
Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, 1:634.
68
Calvin, Institutes, 3.14.6; 774.
69
Weinandy, ‘The Eternal Son,’ 397.
70
Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:1130; slightly amended.
71
Augustine, Homily 19 in Homilies on the Gospel of John 1-40, trans. Hill, 348.
72
Oden, Systematic Theology, 2:454.
73
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.5.48; Single-Volume Edition, 584.
74
Wolfhart Pannenberg, Basic Questions in Theology, 1:15.
75
The term is appropriate, since ‘supersede’ can mean ‘take over from,’ but if read as ‘displace’ or ‘overthrow,’ it would be inaccurate regarding Jesus’ resurrection. Having said this, a stronger meaning is not inaccurate for our resurrection, given Paul’s radical comparison concerning our bodies pre and post resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. There is much more continuity in Christ’s body, pre and post resurrection, than ours.
76
Letham, The Work of Christ, 220-221; slightly amended.
77
Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection, 36-37.
78
Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection, 35.
79
Calvin, Institutes, 3.25.3; 990.
80
Oden, Systematic Theology, 2:474.
81
Doyle, Eschatology, 27.
82
John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied (Eerdmans, 1955; The Banner of Truth Trust, 1961), 175.
83
E.g., Augustine, The City of God against the Pagans, 22.20; trans. R. W. Dyson (Cambridge University Press, 1150-52.
84
Bray, God is Love, 509.
85
Paul Helm, The Last Things (The Banner of Truth Trust, 1989), 52-53.
86
Doyle, Eschatology, 27.
87
Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection, 34.
88
Calvin, Institutes, 3.25.3; 991 [emphasis supplied].
89
Calvin, Institutes, 3.25.3; 990.
90
Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ, 545, slightly amended; Warfield, Selected Shorter Writings, 1:201.
91
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.5.48; Single-Volume Edition, 585.
92
Calvin, Institutes, 3.25.3; 991.
93
Jones, Knowing Christ, 168.
94
Helm, The Last Things, 50-51.
95
Cyril of Alexandria, Fragment 317; ACC Matthew, ed. Simonetti, 307.
96
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 368.
97
Calvin, Institutes, 2.14.13; 522.
98
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 371.
99
Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection, 34-35.
100
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 3.5.48; Single-Volume Edition, 585.
101
Doyle, Eschatology, 27.
102
Calvin, Institutes, 2.14.13; 522.
103
Oliver O’Donovan, Resurrection and Moral Order, 13.
104
Murray, Redemption, 163.
105
Murray, Redemption, 48-49.
106
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 370.
107
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 371.
108
Hilary of Poitiers, The Trinity, 9.13; NPNF, 2.9:159.
109
Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ, 546.
110
Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Faith, 1:632; slightly amended.
111
Barth, Dogmatics in Outline, 114; slightly amended.
112
Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 27; ed. St. Vladimir’s, 57.
113
An extensive treatment of how resurrection-based hope changes all of life in every regard is Timothy Keller, Hope in Times of Suffering (Hodder & Stoughton, 2021), 83-216.
114
Doyle, Eschatology, 27.
115
Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, 1:634.
116
Calvin, Institutes, 3.7.1; 690.
117
Calvin, Institutes, 3.7.1; 689-90; 689-701.
118
Oden, Systematic Theology, 2:482.
119
Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ, 543.
120
Hilary of Poitiers, The Trinity, 1.13; NPNF, 2.9:44.
121
Hilary of Poitiers, The Trinity, 1.14; NPNF, 2.9:44.
122
Gordon Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Eerdmans, 1987 [Revised edition, 2014]), 808.
123
Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 808.
124
Gerald Bray ed., Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. New Testament VII. 1-2 Corinthians (Routledge, 2012 [Orig. 1999]), 184.
125
Grudem, Systematic Theology, 2nd edition, 755-56.
126
Calvin, Institutes, 3.10.6; 719.
127
Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ, 541.
128
Oden, Systematic Theology, 2:458.
129
Michael Horton, Pilgrim Theology: Core Doctrine for Christian Disciples (Zondervan, 2011), 216-17.
130
Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection, 86.
131
Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection, 31.
132
Barth, Dogmatics in Outline, 113.
133
Warfield, Selected Shorter Writings, 1:198.
134
Horton, Pilgrim Theology, 221.
135
Horton, Pilgrim Theology, 218.
136
Paul Beasley-Murray, The Message of the Resurrection (IVP, 2000), 17.
137
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 371.
138
Knox, Selected Works, 3:30-31.
139
‘You, O God, we praise’ [Latin, Te Deum laudamus].
140
Knox, Selected Works, 1, 60.
141
Leon Morris, The Biblical Doctrine of Judgment (IVP, 1960/Wipf & Stock repr., 2006), 72.
142
George Herbert, ‘Easter Wings,’ available at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44361/easter-wings [accessed 19 June 2021]; slightly amended.

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