Sunday Resurrection (Part 2)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendroff. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures, verse by verse, with no compromise.

Adam and Christ as Federal Representatives

To show you that Jesus' work isn't isolated, Paul moves on to verses 21 and 22. Got to keep our thinking caps on here. For as by a man, in this verse, no, there's not a lot of definite articles. It's all generic talk.

For as by a generic man came death, we know who that man was, Adam. By a generic man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, now we're getting to the particulars, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Here's the point. A man caused disaster in the garden. A man has to fix the disaster. Through a man there's sin, not through a ghost, not through an angel, not through some animal, but a man caused a disaster and a man's got to fix the disaster.

By man comes death, by another man there's going to be life. We have to step back a little bit and say, this is God's universe and God does what He pleases as He pleases, only as He pleases, and here's what pleases God.

God likes representative things. Adam, you represent the human race. Jesus, you're going to represent all those in Christ. That's just the way it works. First Adam, last Adam. First man, last man. God works in representative ways.

We live in a federal government. It should not surprise us we have two senators and they represent us. When they vote to go to war, you go to war. Luther said in his own style, the idea of damning the whole world because one man bit into an apple, equally the idea of taking a lot of men to heaven because one man died on a cross.

One man does one act and it has consequences applied to every person identified in that person. So Adam sinned and all those identified in Adam fall, that is everyone. The reformers, I think, wisely called Adam a what kind of person?

A public person. He was a federal head and therefore, not only in Adam, does he affect all those who are in Adam. One Thomas Goodwin said, all men are hanging on Adam's girdle. I thought that's a way to think of it.

Every person sinned in Adam because Adam's sin was credited to their account. He was the federal representative. He brought in death and you know what? Not just death for Adam, but all those in Adam. So here's Paul's point.

What one man does affects a lot of people. Jesus is raised from the dead, it affects a lot of people. So he shows Adam commits a sin, it affects a lot of people. That's what he's doing right here. Do you see the passage again?

For by a man came death and by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. It isn't just isolated because in God's economy, there's a federal representation. One French commentator said, it is for man to repair the damage done by man.

The resurrection of Jesus isn't isolated because God works in federal thinking, in representative thinking. Adam did something, it affected all those in Adam. Christ did something, it affected all those in Christ.

And the context is resurrection, universal effect of Adam's sin, universal effect for all those in Christ being raised from the dead. That's the point. Solidarity. Adam did something, it affected everyone.

The Corinthians should know that. Yes, that's true. So now it makes it easy for him to say, in Christ, that affects everyone too who's in Christ. Representative determines the fate of the group. They're linked together.

This makes the domino effect true. Verse 22, he gets more specific. He moves from the lack of definite articles to some definite articles. For as in Adam, all die. Of course, he's not talking about any universalism in the next part here.

He's just talking about one affecting the many. All those in Adam are affected. All those in Christ are affected. So also in Christ, those who are in Christ, not everyone is in Christ. Some have Satan for a father.

But also all those in Christ shall be made alive. So you step back and you think, okay, I've got to think through this properly. Jesus has been raised from the dead. He's like the first fruits. What he does affects the many.

That's why Paul uses verses 21 and 22 to say that. But not only that, Christ's resurrection guarantees victory in the end times. If Jesus isn't raised from the dead, who's going to defeat death, Satan, sin, hell, the demons, the hordes?

Who's going to put everything under subjection of God the Father? Who's going to do that? Who's going to be the agent of God's final end times rule if Jesus is still in the grave? And that's the rest of the section, verses 23 through 28.

So Paul is going to say here in complex language, but this is his main point, that if Jesus is still dead, we haven't read the book of Revelation to say we win. You ever said that to yourself? It's kind of bad economy, kind of bad finances, bad health.

I've read the final chapter of Revelation, easy for me to say, we win. But if Jesus hasn't been alive to write the book of Revelation through the spirit, and if Jesus isn't alive to come back again so every eye can see him, we don't win.

So Paul just is saying here, Jesus is alive and he's going to be the one to win victory in the end times battles. Let's look at verses 23 and following. By the way, this is going to have not just aggregarian language of seeds, harvest, fruit.

We're going to move into military language. Jesus is the king, the mighty king, the sovereign king. He wins, he's alive. If he's dead, he's not going to win. He will have been defeated. It is finished turns into I am finished if Jesus isn't alive.

Everything is linked to the resurrection, including final events, verse 23. But each in his own order. Christ, the first fruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Verse 24, then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom of God, the kingdom to God, rather the father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

For he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. So now we have this language in verse 23 about a king coming to town. Sometimes, whether it's a Republican or Democratic president, I think to myself, do you realize how much money they just spent in Tampa when the president is going to go and speak?

Whether it was George Bush or Barack Obama, when the president comes to town, do you know all the stuff that they have to do? Back in those days, the king's coming. That language of the king's coming, this royal potentate is going to come.

They clean the roads. They put up banners. Get ready. The king is going to come. And usually the king would be paraded down and everyone who was a soldier would be behind the king in perfect order, in perfect, the Greek is tagma, in perfect military rank.

That's the word here. Each one in his own military rank. Because the domino effect of Jesus being raised from the dead affects everything. Will be raised, but also he's going to flatten, or he will raise, R-A-Z, all the enemies.

And so here's this great military picture. We move from the culture of planting to the culture of the king is coming back in all his glory. Pomp and circumstance, imperial visit. The end comes. He delivers the kingdom of God, the father, verse 24, after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

And if he hasn't been raised from the dead, he's the one that was destroyed. What's the point? What's Paul after? He's not after exactly when in God's eschatological scheme, this all happens. His point is when Jesus has been raised from the dead, or since he has been, all the powers, the cancerous spiritual powers are going to be taken care of.

Linked to the risen savior. Now, if you do want the exact timing, these are the three stages. Paul's point isn't that, but I'll give them to you anyway. The first was found 1900 years ago, where Christ, the first fruits was raised from the tomb.

2000 years ago, first fruits, the second order. Afterward, the coming of Christ, the redeemed will be resurrected. First resurrection, Revelation 20, verses five and six. Then cometh the end. After the millennial reign, the second resurrection takes place.

Revelation chapter 20, verse five. But the point here isn't that it isn't a meal pre meal. It's verse 25. He must rain until he puts all enemies under his feet. King of kings and Lord of lords. Sounds pretty familiar.

Psalm 110. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your what? Feet. King language was, you sit down there and I put my foot on you because I'm in charge.

The last enemy, verse 26, to be destroyed is what? Death. Adam's sin results in death and Jesus is alive and he'll destroy death. And in the context of destroying death, he says, verse 27, for death is going to be under dominion for God has put all things.

Context death. Verse 26 in subjection under his feet. But when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is exempted who put all things in subjection under him over and over and over in subjection, in subjection, in subjection, in subjection.

Jesus is an in subjection to death because he's alive. He puts other things in subjection. That's Paul's argument. Quoting Roman Psalm chapter eight. He gives a summary in verse 28, when all things are subjected to him, then the son himself will also be subjected to him who puts all things in subjection under him.

And even though the father and the son and the spirit are all equal in nature, there's still an eternal functional subordination, just like there was an eternity past. There will be one in eternity future to where the son gladly submits functionally to the father that God may be all and all.

There are effects to the resurrection. There's a domino that goes on. Jesus brings other people from the dead and he conquers other people because he's alive. All right, now let's think about this. You say that's pretty heady stuff.

Well, that's true. Let me give you something that's not necessarily heady, but it's mind blowing. Are you ready to just go to the passage in the Bible that when you first read it, you want to call somebody up and say, you got to get a load of this.

You first read it and you go, I just better get my glasses on. I have to read that passage. That is an amazing, wild, earth shaking passage. If it wasn't in the Bible, I don't think I could believe it.

What passage is that? Matthew chapter 27. Let's go there. This is where people are resurrected out of the tombs, walk around and start talking to people when Jesus died. The power of God causes people to get up out of their graves and walk around Jerusalem.

This is crazy, except it's true. People say, well, I don't believe in the resurrection of the dead. Well, Jesus was raised from the dead. And actually, a lot of people have been raised from the dead and here people are raised from the dead and walk around.

And we're not told what they say, but I sure would like to know what they talked about. I don't think it was sports scores. Verse 45 of Matthew 27. Now, let's just set up the context. I don't want to jump right into the verse, so let's just walk through it.

Matthew 27, verse 45. Jesus is on the cross. He's on the cross. Nine in the morning till three. Now, let's see what the text says. Verse 45. Now, from the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

So the way we reckon time there in the Bible is from noon until three, darkness. From noon to three, there's darkness. Just prior to this, you have people yelling at Jesus and condemning Jesus and shouting at Jesus, blaspheming Jesus, mocking Jesus, deriding Jesus.

And now out of nowhere at noon, the storm comes. No, it wasn't a storm. It's just darkness. Some people said it was a dust storm. Some people said it was a black Chiraco. Some people said it was an eclipse.

God brings darkness. You've got to see things through the lens of Matthew, and he's saying when it's dark at noon and dark till three, exactly when Jesus dies, and then when Jesus dies, it becomes light again.

This is a sign. This is a sign. And when you study the Bible and you'll see darkness in the Old Testament regularly, it's judgment. And Jesus is getting judged not for his own sins, but for the sins of all those who will ever believe.

Judgment. It's like God the Father has to turn his face away. And for the first time in the New Testament, here Jesus says, my God, my God, because it's no longer father, son. It's judge, jury, and executioner.

And it's over the whole land. It's over the whole land. Verse 46, and about the ninth hour, three o 'clock, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And now we're starting to understand what that darkness is. God has forsaken the Son. Who can comprehend such a thing? God forsakes the Son so that I wouldn't be forsaken. And for you, you wouldn't be forsaken.

Substitutionary atonement. And here God helps us understand what that darkness was. And some, verse 47, the bystanders hearing it said, this man is calling Elijah because it sounds like Eli, Eli. One of them at once ran, took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on the reed and gave it to him to drink.

But the other said, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come and save him. He's calling for Elijah. Let's see if he shows up. You're not going to read in Matthew. You're not going to read in Mark. You're not going to read in Luke.

You're not going to read in John where Jesus died. Jesus' control of the universe on the cross. And it says in 50, Jesus cried out again and with a loud voice, yield up his spirit. Yes, Jesus is dead, said the blasphemers.

Hooray, said the scribes and the Pharisees and the hypocrites. We've got him. And here, this is all providentially taking place. This is not by chance, not by accident. It's not some messianic complex run wild.

Jesus is perfectly dying on the cross at the exact time. So much so that three o 'clock in the afternoon, Josephus, the historian said, that's when you started killing the lambs for Passover. And they're outside killing lambs for Passover.

There's blood everywhere in the streets. And Jesus yields up his spirit. Darkness turns into light. He wasn't caught up in his circumstances, voluntarily dying, dismissing his spirit. He's the conqueror of death.

He's in charge of it all. And now come the miracles, three of them in particular. And behold, don't miss that. And behold, see how they're linked. The curtain of the temple was torn into from top to bottom.

So you've got these 70 some twisted plates of a curtain that's 60 to 70 feet tall, keeping the holy of the holy places barred from anyone else who wants to enter except the high priest once a year who came in.

And here now, God is saying, because Christ's death has given access to all, you don't need the veil to separate anymore. Can you imagine if you were a Jew and you realize, I don't have to wait for any kind of mediator anymore.

I don't have to wait for my high priest to go in once a year to have access to God. I get access to God. I don't have to stop here in the court of the women because I'm a lady. I get to keep going all the way into the presence of God.

I don't have to stop here if I'm a Gentile. I don't have to stop here if I'm a man. I don't have to stop here if I'm a Levite. I don't have to stop here every other day except for one. If I'm the high priest, I get access to God.

That's what this is. The curtain temple was torn into because we have access to God. This is where one of my friends would say, if you were a Jew, you'd turn into a Baptist. Hallelujah. Access to God.

Sacrifices. Those sacrifices that they're doing at the moment out there. Blood in the drains everywhere. What they're doing out there, obsolete. They've pointed to something and that something is a someone who just died on the cross as a sacrificial lamb.

Behold the Lamb of God. The perfect final sacrifice. Nothing more to be done. No way to approach God except through faith in the risen Son. And the veil that was literally rent that day was the flesh of Jesus.

Listen, Hebrews 9. Christ did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again the way a high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world.

But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself, just as man is destined to die once and after that to face the judgment. Christ is the veil that was torn.

Possible now to directly approach God. Hebrews 10 says by a new and living way, he opened for us through the curtain that is his body. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God.

This is on purpose. This wasn't an accident. Jews knew what the veil signified, but that's not all. What else happens? Verse 51. There's an earthquake. There's an earthquake and the rocks were split. You say, well, what's an earthquake symbolize?

Well, an earthquake symbolizing God is present in the Old Testament. God is intervening in the Old Testament. An earthquake. You can go back to the beginning of the verse and behold, but the third sign we wanted to get to, and we've got to wrap it up.

Verse 52. And the tombs were opened. You say, well, that's no big deal. You're right. When there's an earthquake, tombs are open. But the timing of it is a big deal. Now, remember, we think of burying people underground.

And if there's an earthquake, unless there's a cleavage in the earth, 10 feet deep, six feet deep, it doesn't really cause that many problems to cemetery bodies underneath. But if your tombs are above ground, cut out in rock, and there's an earthquake, well, the earthquakes split the tombs.

But this is perfect timing. The veil. Jesus dies. The lights go on. Sun goes on. The veil's torn. The tombs open. The earthquakes happened. The tombs open. And now look at this. And many, I want you to underline this word in your mind at least.

And many ghosts of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. You're all looking at me like, nah, not even the worst translation says ghost. And many what? Bodies. There's a resurrection of bodies.

We can't say there's no resurrection of the bodies. The power of Christ's death even here. And the bodies of many of those who had fallen asleep, saints, believing in God, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

I don't have time to do much here regarding this troubled verse in verse 53, but you can translate it one of two ways. Verse 53, and coming out of the tombs. That goes back with verse 52, essentially.

Raised, coming out of the tombs, period, after the resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. Or you could translate it the way ESV has done here, or NES, after coming and coming out of the tombs after the resurrection, they went into the holy city.

So these are the two options. Option one, the option that I hold, resurrection of the bodies happen at the death of Christ. They wait in the tombs, Sabbath is over, and then they go into Jerusalem after Jesus was raised from the dead.

It's option one. Option two is, Matthew's kind of looking ahead of time, past the resurrection here in Matthew 27, and says, you know, in the future, when Jesus is raised, other people are going to be raised.

But I don't hold that second view because here we have in the same kind of verb, the veil is rent, the earthquake happens, the tombs were opened. You say, well, who were these people? Some people think they were Old Testament saints, Abraham, Isaac, David.

Well, the first question is, if they were those people, they could be, I don't say they're not. But if they were, then how would they be recognized? You say, well, Moses and Elijah were recognized on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Well, that's true. So God could supernaturally make them recognizable. Or I guess if you're Samson, maybe I could recognize Samson. I know there's that guy with the long hair. Oh, Samson, big guy. I don't know.

That went over well. Was it Moses? Is it David? I think a better explanation is this. The power of Christ atoning death was so great that the tombs, the veil is ripped. The tombs are opened after the earthquake and people just get out.

And now they're waiting before they go into the city. Can't go far on the Sabbath day. Who knows what they were talking about? That would have been an interesting conversation. With bodies not glorified, but with bodies like Lazarus, they wait till the resurrection and now they walk into the city.

And I think these were people who had been alive just recently and now show up again. You know, old Yacob just died about four months ago. And now he shows up after Jesus' resurrection saying, Jesus is raised from the dead and I'm raised from the dead and you want to believe it.

I told you it was wild. The power of the resurrection. People go, well, there's no resurrection. Either one that you take, it's after the resurrection or before. And then they walk into the city. Resurrected bodies, the text says.

Show up. We're not told what they say, how long they are there. I would assume they just kept on preaching. And since they had bodies like Lazarus, they got to die a second time like Lazarus. If you wait till they showed up after the resurrection, they've got glorified bodies and then they just go to heaven like Jesus went to heaven.

Here's the point. There is such a thing as the resurrection of the body. And God made sure that when Christ died, people would have it. There'd be a testimony and they show up after the resurrection saying, Jesus is alive.

I'm alive. Jesus is alive. And you might not have seen him yet. You might be like Thomas, but I'm alive. And I'll testify to the one Christ Jesus who has been raised. A foretaste of the final resurrection, maybe.

So I have to admit, I like worshiping on Sundays for lots of reasons. I'm used to it. It's tradition. But because every single Sunday it proclaims, he is risen. He's risen indeed today. And every single Sunday proves it.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 830 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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