Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 15, please. 1 Corinthians 15, classic text in which the Apostle Paul explains the significance of and the necessity of the doctrine of bodily resurrection. First, the resurrection of Christ, and then the resurrection of those who belong to him. Paul, very simply, I don't think I need a long introduction for you folks, Paul argues that if there is no resurrection of the dead, which by the way, apparently that was a teaching or a thought, there is no resurrection of the dead, that was making some inroads into the church community in Corinth. And it would probably fit with the Greek thought of the time about how our goal should be to be free from the body, be free of the material and just be spiritual. There were those kind of thoughts religiously and philosophically. But whatever the reason, there was this pagan or outside influence even coming into the church so that people were questioning if there was such a thing as bodily resurrection. But Paul argues if there isn't a resurrection of the dead, then Christ never rose from the dead. and the Christian faith is empty, if that's the case. But he picks up then in our sermon text, which is just nine verses in 1 Corinthians 15, starting in verse 20, Paul has gotten done with rebuking the Christians for even countenancing that thought, even considering it as possibly valid. But he says, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. That's the fact, that's the truth. In fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, then it is coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God, the father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed. If you miss everything else, get verse 26 is the key to the whole text. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For quoting the old Testament, God has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says, Psalm 8, all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is accepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. Don't worry too much. I don't intend to do deep dive on each single verse here, but I do want you to get all the verses together in the big point. As we think about the risen Christ's last enemy, which is death. The risen Christ's last enemy. Verses 20 to 23, first of all, Paul is saying that the resurrected Christ secures such resurrection, that kind of resurrection, bodily resurrection. He secures that for his people. Verse 20, In fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. That's the truth, the foundation stone of your faith. Without that, you have no Christian faith. Now, because that's true, not only did Christ rise from the dead, but that means the same kind of glorious bodily resurrection for all who belong to him. Christ is the first fruits, here in verse 20, of the resurrection harvest. So he says, he's the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. So there we notice again, that that picture in the Bible sleep is often used in the Bible as a word for death, right? Um, since those who sleep in the dust of the earth, the prophet Daniel was told will awake in that context. It was some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. So resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked, the prophet Daniel was told but those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake. But then particularly in the New Testament, those who are the righteous, those who believe in Christ, they sleep not just because they will someday be raised, but because whereas the wicked will rise to a second death, a second living death, if you will, the righteous, death for them is only a sweet sleep in Jesus Their souls are conscious, don't misunderstand that. But for their body, their death is a sweet sleep in Jesus from which they will wake to eternal life. It's not really death, it's just sleep. Now, when he says Christ is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, he's assuming you know something about Old Testament thoughts and ideas about firstfruits. The first products, fruits of the harvest. These firstfruits were gathered in the Old Testament under the law of Moses. God told them to gather these firstfruits to offer to God in recognition of his faithfulness for providing the crops in due season. Here I'm quoting from Simon Kistemacher. Moses told the Israelites to offer before the Lord on the day after the Sabbath, following the Passover feast. Paying attention to that, the day after the Sabbath following the Passover feast. When's that? Easter. As we would say it, Easter Sunday. On that day, the Israelites were to offer a sheaf of the first grain that was harvested, Leviticus 23, 9-11. And then exactly seven days later, they were to present an offering of new grain to the Lord, Leviticus 23, 15-17, and you can go to Deuteronomy 26 as well. So again, when did Christ rise from the dead? He rose on the day when the firstfruits were offered to God. Also, when did Christ send his Holy Spirit to empower the church to spread the gospel, resulting in 3,000 souls harvested for God on that first day? Well, the day of Pentecost, when the new grain was offered to the Lord. So there were a number of firstfruits sort of things, but Pentecost was 50 days after Passover, essentially. And that was a more new grain of a different sort of crop offered to the Lord. So this all lined up with what had been laid out in types, pictures, shadows in the Old Testament. And Leon Morris here says, the first fruits point us to the first sheaf of the harvest, which was brought to the temple and offered to God. It consecrated the whole harvest. Moreover, first fruits imply later fruits. Both thoughts are to the point here. Christ was not the first to rise from the dead. Indeed, he had himself raised some. Lazarus, Jairus' daughter, right? Jesus gave some people a sort of resurrection from the dead. But they would die in due course. Kind of stuck for Lazarus. He had to die all over again at some point, right? But as Morris says, Christ's resurrection was to a life that knows no death. And in that sense, he was the first and the forerunner of all those who were to be in him. The resurrection of Christ is a pledge and proof of the resurrection of his people. That really is the point here. For this kind of resurrection to eternal life, in the flesh, Christ was the first. And as such, he was the head of his people and he brings all his people with him, all the harvest after him. He's the first offered to God. alive from the dead, in this sense. That's why Colossians 118 calls him the firstborn from the dead. He is the head of the body, Colossians 118, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. He's our forerunner, the author and perfecter of our faith, as Hebrews 12 calls him. Now, so you have it there in your notes. Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection harvest. Verse 20, we go to the next two verses. And then Christ is the head of a new humanity who rise from death. We're the harvest of which he is the first fruits. We are the new race, the new humanity of which he is the head. First 21 for as by a man came death because of what Adam did in disobeying God, violating that covenant of works because of what Adam did. We all experienced death. Death came to all. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. So Matthew Henry says, all who die through the sin of Adam, I'm sorry, all who die, die through the sin of Adam. All who are raised rise through the merit and power of Christ. Again, I often try to emphasize this Eternal life is a free gift to us in Jesus, right? But someone paid for it. Someone earned it. Jesus earned it. It's his inheritance. It's his due for his obedience to the father, the perfect son of man, the perfect last Adam. And so we get for free what he earned in our place. But Matthew Henry, he says, so all who are raised rise through the merit and power of Christ. But the meaning is not that, as all men died in Adam, so all men without exception shall be made alive in Christ. Christ rose as the firstfruits, therefore those that are Christ's, as it puts it in verse 23, shall rise too. Again, you have to ignore the whole context and what's said in verse 23 about the group he's talking about. You have to ignore all that if you're gonna go universalist here, as some heretics have. Well, everyone gets eternal life. Everyone on Earth. No, that's not what he's saying. But everyone in Adam gets one thing. Everyone in the last Adam, Christ, gets something quite different. Verse 23, Christ is the first to rise, and his people will rise at his coming. Verse 23, but each in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, then it is coming those who belong to Christ. There it is, those who belong to Christ. By the way, And this is really important. When? When do Christ's people rise? This isn't just... There's false teaching out there that can sound quite attractive, called full preterism, that says there is no coming day of resurrection, no coming event of Christ's bodily return and the judgment of the living and the dead. There's no future event of bodily resurrection Some will say, well, it's just us going to heaven when we die. No, that's not the whole doctrine of resurrection. But it's at Christ's coming that those who belong to Christ will rise. That word for coming is that word that takes on a very specific connotation in the New Testament, parousia, often a royal arrival in splendor. The great king is arriving in all his pomp and glory. with his whole train, his whole retinue of attendants, with all his troops, in fact, the angelic troops in this case. It's the parousia, Christ's coming in power and glory, and we go out to meet him as the victor. That's when Christ's people rise bodily from the dead. So a few, a quick smattering of New Testament texts where that same word is used in the same way about the same event. Matthew 24, 27. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming, the parousia, of the Son of Man. 1 Thessalonians 4, 15. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, Paul says, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, the parousia of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. So he's gonna say those who have already died physically, who are Christians, will rise first from their graves before we join them in the air. 2 Thessalonians 2, 1-2. Now concerning the parousia, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. No, you'll know by certain signs when it's come. Later in that chapter, verse 8, and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his parousia, his coming. Then there's James 5, verses 7 through 9. Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Same word. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, The judge is standing at the door. Two more. 2 Peter 3, 4. They will say, ungodly men with their ungodly desires, they will say, where is the promise of his parousia, of his coming? For ever since the father fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. There is no second coming. That's what Peter is arguing against in 2 Peter 3. One more, 1 John 2, 28. And now little children abide in him so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his parousia, his coming. All right. So Christ is the first to rise and his people will rise at his coming. So we have the big picture now. The resurrected Christ secures that kind of resurrection for his people. Now the second, big point of the text, verses 24 to 28, explains this from a different angle. What's the point, and also how do we know that Christ's resurrection is not unique, but all of us will get it too? Well, the reigning Christ, the reigning Christ on the throne, must subject all opposing powers, even death, I even included this wording so you could really get it there in your notes. There's a symmetrical pattern of ideas in verses 24 to 28. There's a pattern there. Verses 24 and 28 mirror each other, so it's like a sandwich. You have the bread on the two sides, so you have the same thing on top and bottom, and then you have the key right in the middle. So verses 24 and 28 mirror each other, and verses 25 and 27 mirror each other as well. And then the emphasis is on verse 26, right at the center of that pattern. Remember, I pointed out that verse as we read through it. But we get the idea first from 20 verses 24 and 28, that Christ's coming will consummate, bring to its great goal. It'll consummate his father's rule. Verse 24 says, then comes the end, it is coming, then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God, the father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power. Or down at verse 28, when all things are subjected to him, then the son himself will also be subjected to him, who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. Of course, people can get all tied up in knots of how does this show good theology because God the son is equal in power and glory with God the father. But look at it more simply, OK? Of course, these verses are particularly focusing on Christ's role as the perfect man, as the last Adam, and what he accomplishes as the Son of Man, glorified. Of course, it's not saying that God the Son is somehow lesser in his essence than God the Father, and that's why he's subjected to him. The whole point is, what he's getting at is, The reason Christ comes is to finish what he started in his first coming and what he is still doing until the second coming. Christ's coming will bring to its goal and consummate his father's rule. God sent his son in one sense to put everything right on this earth that's in rebellion against God the father, right? So the idea would be like, um, a king sending his son, the crown prince, to correct everything in a place in his empire that's in rebellion, right? So, Jesus Christ came to do a lot of things, but from one angle, you look at it, he came to put down all enemies, all rebellion against God's rule, his rightful rule. So it fits in with, for instance, what the Old Testament prophet said, Zechariah 14 verse 9, I'm quoting from the Nazby here. And the Lord will be king over all the earth. This is speaking in the context of the second coming. The Lord will be king over all the earth. In that day, the Lord will be the only one and his name, the only one. See, there's all these, this every rule, every authority, every power, there's all these powers and authorities that are in rebellion against the highest authority, against God. Uh, one day when Christ returns, he will set everything right so that there's no more active rebellion. It's all crushed. But, and that includes the results of our fall, like death itself, the curse of death. includes all evils in this world God made this world remember God made this world in six days and He called it very good, right? So every evil in this world is in some sense Every evil every tragedy even it's not how God made things to be in the beginning It's under his full control according to his decree But it's not the way God in that sense intended it from the beginning So every evil, moral, ethical, but also in the sense of effects of the fall, all that has to be done away with and made right. The last thing on that list of enemies is death. Then in verses 25 and 27, as we get closer to the middle of the sandwich, Christ's objection of all things is demanded by scripture. Because here he quotes, he quotes the Psalms. Verse 25, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. First of all, we could look at Psalm 110. The Lord says to my Lord, David says, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool, or put them under your feet. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter, rule in the midst of your enemies. So Christ is enthroned in heaven now, as he is actively ruling over all things and guiding them toward that end of putting down every enemy, putting them all under his feet. So doing them all. But then we also can go to Psalm 8, where Paul is actually quoting words about mankind's intended role in God's world. Verse 27, especially he quotes Psalm 8, for God has put up all things in subjection under his feet. That's the Psalm 8 quote. But when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he has accepted who put all things in subjection under him. But notice God is the one subjecting all things to Christ. Paul is actually quoting Psalm 8 again about man's intended role in this world. So back to Genesis. God made man in his own what? His own image and likeness. And he said, have dominion, exercise rule over all this that I've made, right? So Psalm 8 is reflecting on that. Psalm 8, starting in verse 3, David says, when I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, God, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, the Elohim, and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet." There's where Paul's quoting. You've put all things under man's feet. Oh, wrong page, there we go. Now we see this quoted also in Hebrews 2, which helps us a little bit. Hebrews 2 verse 5, for it was not angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere. What is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. So in Hebrews it's saying, quoting Psalm 8, this is the design that man is over all God's creation and effectively rules it all, and is in charge. There's nothing that's in rebellion against him as God's representative. Hebrews says right now under the fall of the curse, we don't have this kind of dominion we were made to have over the earth, not to the full extent. We don't yet see everything in subjection to man. But next verse, we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone. So watch what is happening in the New Testament. They look at Psalm 8, they see this is how God made man to be, but the fall drastically changed that so we don't have the full dominion we ought to have under God. That's where Jesus comes in, where he enters our race to bring us where we were meant to be. And Jesus will bring us to that goal of properly representing God in his image and likeness and properly ruling over God's creation. So, in Christ's resurrection and glory, in one sense, Paul says in Ephesians 1 that this has already happened. Ephesians 1 20, the power that God worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet. There's the quote. And he put all things under Christ's feet, that is, and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. So in a sense, God has already put all things under Christ's feet by exalting him to the place of highest authority as the glorified son of man, the head of a new humanity, and as the glorified son of David, who now sits on a throne higher than the one David ever sat on. But in another sense, not everything is yet subjected to Christ. Practically speaking, he is overall and much greater than all. But this is a process in which through which he makes it all a reality. Everyone can see all powers opposed to Christ must be brought to nothing. They must be destroyed. That's what first Corinthians 15 is saying. And that will happen. And the climax of it all, the wonderful crescendo of it all, the completion of it all, I should say, will be at Christ's coming. Because, verse 26, Christ's last enemy to destroy is death. That's virtually a quote. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. So, in conclusion, here's where We can stop struggling with the text, trying to make sense of it here in the afternoon before lunch and all that. And we can simply deal with the plain point. Death is all around us. Given very little time, it will overtake us. It threatens Christ's bride, in fact. It's still a tragedy. Death is the sundering of body and soul. Death dampens the joy of Christ's bride, his people, his church. It's a terrible curse on God's world. It's a power by which the devil hopes to destroy our entire race, Hebrews 2 says. But Christ will destroy it, and that is central to his mission. If death, even physical death, is not ended, if death does not die, Christ fails his mission. So we know there's a bodily resurrection, you see. Without a bodily resurrection of all his people, too, Christ fails. Hebrews 2, 14 and 15, since therefore the children whom God, the many sons whom God planned to bring to glory through Christ's sufferings, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He, Jesus himself, likewise partook of the same things, of flesh and blood, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. Remember also from Revelation 1, we ended with the first service with this. Revelation 1, where Christ, the risen Christ says to John in this vision, he says, fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades." He has the keys. He has the full dominion and control over death and the grave, death and hell, if you will, too. In Revelation 20, verse 14, we see that when Christ sits on His great white throne of judgment, His royal throne, and all nations are gathered before Him Matthew 25 puts it. Revelation 20 pictures death and Hades being thrown into the lake of fire. Death itself is set to the second death, banished eternally from God's good creation now. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire, it says. And that said before, before the wicked dead are thrown into the lake of fire. The point is, death itself is an enemy. Death, and here's, okay, I could really take a rabbit trail here. This is why we can't believe in an evolutionary origin of the earth sort of storyline as Christians, right? Death is not just a natural part of the way God made things from the beginning. Death and suffering and decay and all this. It's an intrusion, in one sense, imposed by God as judgment for sin, but it's not the way things are supposed to be. in God's good world. And so it is an enemy in the end analysis. Christ will put it down. So as a Christian, you don't need to, you're not supposed to feel all happy and gleeful about physically dying. You should be happy and joyful to know what's on the other side of death for you as a believer. Being with Christ, which is far better, Paul says, but we're not supposed to feel good about death. It's an enemy. It's like a dog that Christ holds a leash to now. But remember the scene in Revelation 21, verses 3 and 4, when God has created new heavens and a new earth. The first heaven and first earth have passed away. It says, I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, meaning weeping, that sort of mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. We can't imagine a world like that, can we? when there's no sorrow of any kind. It's not because everyone is just like in a coma or something. Everyone is filled with life like they've never been before. But there's not a reason to shed one single tear, let alone to fear death. Death is gone. So when is this that the resurrected Christ finally destroys death? Again, it's His coming, but Later in the chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, of course, Paul opens that up more. It's his coming when Christ raises his sleeping people from their graves and he glorifies them along with the living saints. Verse 50 of the same chapter. I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery. That is something that we would know nothing about unless God had revealed it to us now, gloriously. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, that is, not all Christians will die off at some point, but we shall all, whether living or dead, awake or asleep, we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. That's when death is destroyed. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So again, death is one of our greatest enemies, but it is now Christ's prisoner. And one day soon, Christ will execute the sentence of destruction on that prisoner. He'll put death to death. Death will be forever banished to the lake of fire and will never more ravage Christ's dear people. And that is the answer to humanity's greatest fear. We must look to him and live. By faith in the risen Christ, we must hide ourselves in him. You do right to fear death if you are outside Christ. So, look to Him and live. It's that simple. Look to Jesus in faith, embrace Him by faith, what He did in the place of His people. If you come to Jesus, you have everything that He won, including the death of death, including eternal life, in other words. Let's pray together, shall we? Our Lord and our God, make this real to us in our affections, our imaginations, our hearts, and thus to our wills. Change our unducked and our thoughts and our words change our lives by these truths. We thank you for the full meaning in all aspects of the fact that whoever believes in your only begotten son, whom you sent into this world, whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that as you said, you are the resurrection and the life Whoever believes in you, though he die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in you will never die. And one day, those who sleep in you will receive the same bodies, but wonderfully transformed, fit for eternal life. We thank you and we ask you to change our hearts by these truths. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.