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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 15:4, 14, 17; Rom. 1:4; 4:25; 6:8-10; John 10:17-18; 11:25; 14:19-20; 20:17, 19-20, 26-27; Acts 2:24; Rev. 1:18; Luke 24:13-43; Eph. 2:6; 1 Pet. 1:3; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 3:10; Heb. 2:11-12
We have seen the first two steps in God’s plan of redemption—the incarnation and the cross of Christ. Now we will consider the third step—the resurrection of Christ.
The death of Christ accomplished a full redemption and dealt with all our problems, and it fulfilled all God’s requirements related to our redemption. Nothing needs to be added to Christ’s redemption. However, the resurrection of Christ is still necessary for the effective accomplishments of His death to be applied to us (1 Cor. 15:14). His death redeemed us from our sins and satisfied God’s righteous requirement. His resurrection, however, enables us to receive His life and to be joined with Him, that is, to enter into Him and receive the benefits of His substitutionary death. Through His resurrection we also become the righteousness of God in Him and are acceptable to God (Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:17; 2 Cor. 5:21).
Although we were included in Christ’s death on the cross, He can sow the element of His mysterious death into our being only because He became the life-giving Spirit in resurrection. Although His death destroyed Satan (Heb. 2:14), we can experience His overcoming of Satan only because His Satan-overcoming life has entered into us through His resurrection. Although He tasted death for us and nullified death (v. 9; 2 Tim. 1:10), His life has been made available to us only because of His resurrection. Without resurrection His life would not be able to enter into us. We can receive His life, and He can enter into us to be our life so that we may be joined to Him, participate in His death, and experience the accomplishments of His death only because of His resurrection.
If Christ were not resurrected, how could He save us? If He were held by death, how could He give us life? If He could not overcome death, how could He save us out of death? If He could only redeem us from sins but not overcome death, how could He deliver us from the law of sin and of death (Rom. 8:1-2)? If He were not raised from the dead to be designated the Son of God in the power of resurrection, how could people believe that He is the Son of God (1:4), and how could He give people His life and make them sons of God to fulfill God’s eternal plan? The fulfillment of all these matters depends on His resurrection. Without His resurrection the fulfillment of these matters would be impossible. His resurrection is essential.
In fact, without the resurrection of Christ we would not even know of His redemption, much less receive His salvation. Without Christ’s resurrection how could we know that He has redeemed us from our sins, that His death has satisfied God’s righteous requirement, and that God has accepted His redemptive death on our behalf? Without Christ’s resurrection from the dead, how could He demonstrate that He tasted death for us, that He destroyed Satan, who had the might of death, and that He nullified death? Christ’s resurrection enables us to know these matters. His resurrection is the proof and assurance of these matters. Christ’s resurrection enables us to know, believe, and obtain these things.
The Lord Jesus’ resurrection is a reality, just as His redemptive death is a reality. His death is different from that of every other person. We die because we have committed sins, whereas Christ died to redeem man from sin. We die because we are overcome and held captive by death, whereas Christ died in order to overcome and nullify death. We have no choice other than death, because we are under sin. He died because He was above sin. Except for His desire to redeem us, He could have chosen not to die. We die involuntarily and reluctantly. He died voluntarily and willingly. He willingly died for us and laid down His life for us (John 10:17-18). We die because of sin, and we are subject to the judgment of death and unable to escape. He died for the redemption from sin, and He removed the judgment of sin.
Our sin offends and contradicts God’s righteousness; consequently, God’s righteousness condemns us to death and puts us to death (Rom. 6:23). Because Christ’s redemption fulfilled and satisfied God’s righteousness, God delivered Him out of death and raised Him from the dead according to God’s righteousness. We are held by death because we have been overcome and captured by death, but Christ died to overcome and nullify death. When He died, He could not be held by death; instead, He came out of death in resurrection (Acts 2:24).
Death is very strong (S. S. 8:6). No one can resist when death comes. Hades collects those who have been taken captive by death (Rev. 6:8); death gains people through sin as a sting (1 Cor. 15:55-56). When people are stung by sin, they fall into the hand of death and are unable to resist. In contrast, the Lord Jesus did not fall into death because of sin. He did not know sin, and He was without sin (2 Cor. 5:21). He was never contaminated by sin. The devil, who has the might of death (Heb. 2:14), tempted the Lord to sin and even attempted to put Him to death. However, the Lord overcame him entirely. Satan’s intention in tempting the Lord was to put Him to death through sin. However, Satan’s temptations were rebuffed by the Lord, and he could not gain anything from the Lord. The Lord caused Satan to have nothing in Him (John 14:30). Satan was unable to inject death into the Lord or put Him to death, as he had done with Adam.
Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus went to the cross and entered into death in order to do God’s will and carry out God’s plan to accomplish redemption, deal with sin, nullify death, terminate the old creation, and destroy Satan. He willingly walked into death instead of being captured by death. He determined to nullify death through death voluntarily, instead of being overcome by death and being taken captive by death involuntarily (10:17-18). Acts 2:24 says, “Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pangs of death, since it was not possible for Him to be held by it.” When the Lord entered into death, Satan, who has the might of death, must have exhausted all the power of Hades and death to hold Him. Although Satan uses death to hold those who have been taken captive by sin and death, he cannot use death to hold the Lord, who walked into death voluntarily to nullify death through death by the resurrection life in Him.
Satan has the might of death (Heb. 2:14), but the Lord is the Author of life (Acts 3:15). The Lord is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). Although death is strong, it is not stronger than life and resurrection. Life swallows up death, and resurrection overcomes death. The Lord is the resurrection and the life, so it is impossible for Him to be held by death. Instead, He overcame death. Death can hold only those who do not have life; it cannot hold the Lord of life. In His resurrection the Lord broke through death and Hades. His powerful resurrection life caused Him to overcome death, break the hold of death, and resurrect from the dead. He entered into death and walked into Hades in order to save us. After three days He walked out of Hades and was raised from the dead, overcoming death forever because of the great power of His life (1 Cor. 15:3-4). Death cannot lord it over Him (Rom. 6:9; Rev. 1:18).
The Lord Jesus died as a man with a human body, because He put on humanity. When He was resurrected, He still was clothed with humanity and a human body. When the disciples saw Him after His resurrection, they thought that they had seen a spirit, a ghost (Luke 24:37), but He showed them that He still possessed a body with flesh and bones (v. 39), the body that had been crucified on the cross. Although His body had been transfigured into a body of glory by His life through resurrection (Phil. 3:21), the marks from the nails on His hands and feet and from the wound in His side were still present on His body for the disciples to see and touch (John 20:25-27). His body of flesh and bones could also partake of food (Luke 24:39-43). A human body was nailed to the cross, and the Lord Jesus still had a human body after resurrection. In His resurrection He did not put off His human nature. The Lord Jesus put off the aspect of the old creation in His human nature, which had been put on in His incarnation, and He put on the aspect of the new creation in His resurrected human nature. Thus, He brought His redeemed humanity into the new creation of God (2 Cor. 5:14-17).
Just as the Lord became flesh in order to bring God into the humiliation of humanity in the old creation, He died and resurrected to bring redeemed humanity into the glory of God’s new creation. Just as He became flesh to bring God to earth so that God could be joined to man to bear the likeness of man, He died and resurrected to bring man to the heavenlies so that man could be joined to God to bear the image of God. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He was both God and man; He was man yet God. Now that He is in heaven, He is still both God and man; He is God yet man. After His resurrection He still possesses humanity. Today Christ in heaven has divinity and humanity, just as He did on the earth. His humanity in incarnation was part of the old creation, but now His humanity in resurrection is part of the new creation. He had a body of humiliation, but now He has a glorified body. His divinity was mingled with humanity in incarnation; now His humanity has entered into divinity in resurrection.
Although Christ’s resurrected body has a physical form, it is no longer limited by time and space like it was before His resurrection. His body now is in resurrection and in glory. With such a body He can come and go freely at any time and in any place, appearing one moment and disappearing the next. On the day of His resurrection the disciples were in a house with all the doors closed, but He still appeared and stood in their midst (John 20:19). On the road to Emmaus He walked with two disciples, but they did not recognize Him (Luke 24:13-16). They recognized Him only after He entered into a house with them, reclined at table, and broke the bread; then He suddenly disappeared from them (vv. 29-31). These incidents show that Christ has a physical human body after His resurrection that is no longer subject to the limitations of a human body in the old creation. His body has changed in nature and has been transfigured; it has been freed from the slavery and bondage of the old creation into the freedom of the glory of the new creation. We cannot apprehend this freedom in our old-creation body, but He will bring us into the freedom of this glory when He comes again and redeems our body (Rom. 8:21-23).
Christ’s redemption was accomplished through His death, but the issue of His redemption was brought forth in His resurrection. Furthermore, His resurrection enables us to participate in His redemption. We appropriate and enjoy His redemption in His resurrection. First, His resurrection raised us up together with Him. We were included not only in His death but also in His resurrection (6:8). Just as the people and the living creatures in the ark passed through the waters of the flood (Gen. 7:1-16; 8:13-19), we also passed through death together with Christ and were raised up together with Christ. In God’s eyes we died together with Christ in His death, and we were raised up together with Him in His resurrection (Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:6). We died with Him, and we were raised with Him. By dying with Him, we were delivered from everything that is not of God; by being resurrected with Him, we entered into everything of God. Through Christ’s resurrection we entered into God to enjoy everything of God. Everything of God is our portion in His resurrection.
Because we were resurrected with Christ, we also ascended together with Him. Ephesians 2:6 speaks of our being raised up together with Him and being seated together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Ascension is related to resurrection. We were earthly people; however, through the resurrection of Christ we not only entered into everything in God but also entered into the heavenly realm to become heavenly people. His death delivered us from a natural, earthly position; His resurrection ushered us into a new, spiritual, heavenly realm. We have attained a heavenly position and enjoy every spiritual blessing in this position. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies has became our portion in His resurrection.
Not only were we under God’s condemnation because of our sinful acts, but our very constitution was one of sin (Rom. 3:23; 5:19). Hence, Christ not only bore our sins but also became sin on our behalf on the cross (2 Cor. 5:21). By dying on the cross, He took away our sins and terminated our constitution of sin (Rom. 6:6). When He was raised from the dead and brought us into the new realm of resurrection, we were justified in Him, and we became righteous and acceptable to God (4:25).
Christ’s death dealt with our sins and our constitution of sin. It terminated our old man, which was under condemnation, and it terminated everything of the old man. It also ended our condemnation before God. Christ’s resurrection brought us into a new position by our being justified by God and by becoming the righteousness of God in Him. In His death He bore our sins and became sin on our behalf. In His resurrection we gained Him as our righteousness and became the righteousness of God in Him. In His resurrection He became our righteousness so that we in Him would not only be righteous before God but also become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). He is not only righteous before God, but He is also the righteousness of God. Because we have participated in His resurrection, He has not only become our righteousness to make us righteous before God, but He has also made us the righteousness of God in Him as well.
Righteousness relates to God’s procedure and God’s law. Only that which is in accord with God’s procedure and law is righteous. We used to be contrary to God’s law, and our conduct and living were not in accord with God’s procedure. Thus, we were unrighteous before God. All our unrighteousness is related to ourselves, and all our righteousness is related to Christ. Christ’s death dealt with our unrighteousness, and His resurrection enabled us to enter into Him and to gain Him as our righteousness. His being is absolutely in accord with God’s law, and everything related to Him is absolutely in accord with God’s procedure. In resurrection He became our righteousness so that we would be in accord with God’s procedure and law. His resurrection causes us to be in full accord with God because we are in Him. In the resurrected Christ God sees us as absolutely righteous. In the resurrected Christ we are in absolute accord with God and thus fully acceptable to God.
The death of the Lord Jesus terminated our fallen human life, whereas His resurrection imparted His eternal divine life into us. Through His resurrection we can partake of His life, which was released from within Him by His death. His resurrection is the source of our regeneration (1 Pet. 1:3). The life of God, which was concealed within the Lord Jesus, was released through His death so that it could enter into us through resurrection, thus regenerating us. In His resurrection we were not only saved by God but also born of God. We were not only justified by God but also regenerated by God. We received the Lord Jesus as our righteousness so that we might be acceptable to God, and we received Him as our life so that we might be born of God.
Righteousness is outward, and its emphasis is on our position. Life is inward, and its emphasis is on our disposition. In His resurrection Christ became our righteousness so that we might obtain an acceptable position before God outwardly. He also caused us to receive His life so that we might receive the divine nature of God inwardly. The resurrection of Christ caused us to be justified so that we might have a proper relationship with God, and His resurrection caused us to be regenerated so that we might have a union in life with God. The resurrection of Christ enabled us to meet God’s requirement of righteousness, and it also imparted God’s nature into us. Because of His resurrection we can come forward to God and even live in God. We can see God’s face and partake of His divine nature. We can have fellowship with God, and we can be mingled with God (John 14:20; Gal. 2:20).
Through Christ’s resurrection we not only received His life for our regeneration, but we also received Him into us to be our life (Col. 3:3-4). Actually, His life entering into us is just Himself entering into us, because He is life. Through His resurrection He can enter into us to be our life so that we may partake of Him. Through His incarnation He was joined to us, and through His resurrection we were joined to Him. Because He was joined with us in His death by His partaking of blood and flesh, He was able to die on our behalf. Because we are joined with Him in His resurrection by our receiving His life, we can partake of all that He is. His death terminated every negative thing in us, and His resurrection germinated every positive thing in us. His death delivered us from ourselves and everything belonging to us, and because of His resurrection we can receive Him and everything belonging to Him.
Through the death of Christ we no longer have to live by ourselves or as ourselves. Because of His resurrection we can live by Him and live as He lives (John 14:19). He is in us as life, and this life cannot be held by death. Through the power of His resurrection He delivers us from everything of ourselves and everything belonging to sin and death so that we may experience His death, be conformed to His death, live in Him daily, and be transformed into His image from glory to glory (Phil. 3:10; 2 Cor. 3:18).
The death of Christ causes us to put off everything other than Christ; the resurrection of Christ causes us to receive everything that is of Christ. Because of His resurrection He can live in us, and we can live in Him; we are fully joined as one with Him (Rom. 6:5). Since He is in God and one with God, His resurrection has brought us into God and joined us with God. Through His resurrection God can live in us, and we can be joined with God. In His resurrection we are fully joined as one with God.
After the Lord Jesus terminated the old creation, He brought the man whom He had redeemed into the new creation through His resurrection. We were the old creation; His death terminated Adam and everything of Adam. It terminated our old man and old life, that is, what we were in the old creation (v. 6). Then the resurrection of the Lord Jesus caused us to partake of Him and receive His life for regeneration. In this way we were made the new creation: “The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
Unlike the old creation, the new creation is not another man who has been created by God with His power but is apart from Him. The new creation is man in union with God, created by God with His life in Himself (Eph. 4:24). The old creation does not have the element of God’s life and nature; it has only man’s element. The new creation, however, has the element of God’s life and nature through the mingling of God and man. The new creation is the redeemed creature mingled with the life of the Creator so that creature and Creator are joined as one.
God has not yet made all things new because the new heaven and the new earth have not yet come, and the New Jerusalem has not yet been manifested (Rev. 21:1-5). However, Christ’s resurrection has made us a new creation and the firstfruits of His creatures (2 Cor. 5:17; James 1:18). In this new creation we have been given a foretaste of the manifestation of the New Jerusalem that is full of God’s light and life, in which the righteousness of God dwells (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:23—22:5). Righteousness dwells in the new creation, and the new creation is full of life and light. In the new creation there is no unrighteousness, death, or darkness; there is only righteousness, life, and light. This is the result of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Originally, the Lord Jesus was God’s only begotten Son (John 1:18; 3:16), the One who had God’s life and bore God’s expression. According to His eternal plan, however, God desires that many would have the life of His Son, become His sons, and receive the sonship. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus fulfilled this purpose in God’s plan. Through Christ’s resurrection God regenerated us so that we would have His life and become His many sons. Originally, God had only one Son, the only begotten Son, but through His resurrection Christ became the Firstborn among many brothers, the many sons who were regenerated through His resurrection (Rom. 8:29; 1 Pet. 1:3).
Before the Lord Jesus died, He called His disciples friends (John 15:15), but on the morning of His resurrection He called them brothers (Matt. 28:10). This is because His resurrection caused the disciples to receive His life and become His brothers and God’s sons. Just as God is the Father of the Lord Jesus, He is also the Father of the Lord’s brothers (John 20:17). On the day of His resurrection the life of the Son of God entered into the disciples, and they received the divine life. Thus, they were all of One. This is the reason that He is not ashamed to call them brothers (Heb. 2:11).
At first, the Lord Jesus was the only grain, but now He has borne “much fruit” (John 12:24). This fruit is the same as He is in life and nature. Originally, He was the only begotten Son of God; now He is the Firstborn among many brothers. Originally, He alone had the life of God and was able to know God (Matt. 11:27); now He can declare the name of God to His many brothers and lead them to know God because they have the same divine life. He has entered into glory (Luke 24:26), and He will lead His many brothers, God’s many sons, into glory as well.
The resurrection of the Lord brings us to a point where we are exactly the same as He is, having the life of God in order to express God. We are sons of God with Him; we are His brothers and partners. The sonship that we received in the Lord’s resurrection is the top blessing in God’s salvation.
Hebrews 2:12 says, “I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise to You.” This verse is quoted from Psalm 22:22. In this psalm the Spirit of Christ describes through the mouth of David the sufferings of Christ’s death. The words quoted in Hebrews 2:12 from this psalm are spoken in the context of the resurrection of Christ. This verse shows that the brothers, produced by Christ in His resurrection, are the church. Individually speaking, those who were regenerated in Christ’s resurrection are His brothers; collectively speaking, they are the church, His Body.
Just as Eve was brought forth when Adam was awakened from his sleep (Gen. 2:21-22), the church was produced when Christ was resurrected from the dead. He is the grain of wheat that died and has grown to become many grains (John 12:24). Collectively, the many grains are the church, the corporate expression of Christ. In incarnation the life of God entered into one person, Jesus the Nazarene, through whom God was expressed. Through Christ’s death and resurrection the life of God entered into many people, through whom God is expressed corporately. This corporate entity is the church, which is composed of those who have received God’s life through Christ’s resurrection. We are the church because of Christ’s resurrection. Christ produced the church with His life through His resurrection. The church was produced in the resurrection of Christ.
Christ’s resurrection brought about the positive aspects of God’s redemption. Although Christ’s death accomplished God’s redemption, His death mainly dealt with the negative aspects of our problems before God. The resurrection of Christ, however, allowed God to fulfill His plan and attain His positive goal. The death of Christ is the foundation of His redemption and the basis for His resurrection, but the accomplishments of His death were made effective and real to us through His resurrection. Therefore, a person who desires to receive the Lord’s salvation must believe in His resurrection (Rom. 10:9). When we testify for the Lord, we also must testify concerning His resurrection (Acts 1:22; 2:32; 3:15; 4:33).
