1 Corinthians 15:20-28 (Rom. 5:12-14)

Few words in Scripture ring with such hope and give cause for such great rejoicing as those at the beginning of this passage: BUT NOW CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD!  All the negatives of 15:12-19 are not true; we are not miserable people having no hope beyond this life.  All the positives of today’s passage are unquestionably true because Christ is risen from the dead.

In 15:20-22 we are confronted with two great certainties.  The first is the certainty of death.  In Adam all die.  God established death as the penalty for sin and told Adam this in Gen. 2:16-17: in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.  Satan knew they would not die physically that very day (Gen. 3:4) and so deceived them.  But in fact they did die that day.  They died spiritually, separated from God so that they hid from the One with whom they enjoyed fellowship.  No longer did they enjoy their relationship with God but now entered into a state of enmity with God.  

Scripture makes clear (Rom. 5:12-14) that Adam stood for all Mankind in the Garden of Eden.  His sin was passed down from generation to generation, to our very day.  Thus sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned (Rom. 5:12).  Death is an inevitable, inescapable problem or enemy (15:26).  

But you may wonder, why are the dead said to have fallen asleep (15:20)?  Sleep refers to death (John 11:11-14).  In our passage what is asleep: the body or the soul?  We are talking about resurrection of the body.  Christ was conscious after His death and before His resurrection (1 Peter 3:18-20).  There are souls in heaven, before their resurrection, that cry out to God (Rev. 6:9-11).  In Luke 16:19-31 both the rich man and Lazarus were conscious in death.  To be absent from the body (is) to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8).  Sleep is a profound term because it speaks of death as temporary and manageable; eventually everyone will be resurrected.  The raisings of Lazarus (John 11:40-44) and Jairus’ daughter (Luke 38:49-56) demonstrate these very truths.  

Romans 5:14 tells us that Adam was a type or figure of Him who was to come.  In the same way that Adam stood for all men, so Christ stands for all men.  Even so in Christ all shall be made alive.  Resurrection of the body is as certain as the death of the body because Christ is the firstfruits.  Two days after Passover was the day of firstfruits, which was quite possibly the day of Jesus’ resurrection.  Firstfruits from the early barley harvest were brought to the temple, thanksgiving to God for the harvest that was to come.  In the same way the resurrection of Christ is God’s assurance of many resurrections to come.

Today thank God for His Son, Jesus Christ.  It was not possible that He should be held by (death) (Acts 2:24), our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Tim. 1:10).