Risen with Christ
Matthew 28:1–7 (AV)
“1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. 5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. 6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.”
Each year we remember the resurrection of Jesus. We celebrate in lots of ways. We may hold sunrise services to commemorate the events of that early morning visit by Mary and the other Mary to the burial place of Jesus. We may eat ham, or some other food prohibited under the Mosaic Law to remember that because of Jesus we are not under Law, but under grace. Celebration and commemoration are certainly warranted. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the crux of history. It is the seminal event that changed everything including the calendar. The resurrection of Jesus is crucial to life whether one chooses to believe it or not.
Paul preached the resurrection as he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (AV) “3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” He underscored the importance of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:14–18 (AV) “14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
The resurrection of Jesus is the best news ever, but the good news does not stop there. Let us look at Romans 6:3–5 (AV) “3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
All who believe on Jesus for righteousness have been crucified with Him, buried with Him (I love how Paul uses the word “planted” here) and raised with Him. Someone reading this passage from Romans 6 might think that perhaps this resurrection of ours is not yet made real; that the text is speaking only of heaven. Let us examine that idea and see what scripture says elsewhere.
In Colossians 2:12 (AV) we find that we were “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.” Then in Colossians 3:1 (AV) we are told, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” The verse assumes that you are risen. We find this expressed another way in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (AV). There we read, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” This sounds like springtime. New growth springing forth out of what had been dead. The transformation from death to life is hard to imagine. Once summer has come, it seems that the brown lifeless trees, twigs, and plants have always been green and full. The change is radical and complete.
It is said yet another way in Romans 8:11 (AV) “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” The Holy Spirit lives in you. If you were crucified with Christ, yet the Holy Spirit lives in you then you must have been raised. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 22:32 (AV) “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” The new life to which you have been raised is not like your old earthly, fleshly life.
That old form of life was mortal. That old form of life had an end. Your new life has no end. It is immortal. It is indestructible. It is everlasting. I think this is what Paul meant when he said that if the Spirit who raised Christ from the dead dwells in us, He would quicken, or make alive, our mortal bodies. Scripture is clear that our heavenly bodies will not be like the bodies we have here. (I heard those inner cheers)
We see this clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:51–54 (AV) “51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
Since our bodies will be transformed, or remade, into an incorruptible heavenly form we can see that Paul’s statement that the Spirit will quicken our mortal bodies must refer to this newness of life into which we have been raised, as we saw back in Romans 6:4. The life-giving Spirit who has come to call us His home has made us alive together with Him.
This is made clear in Ephesians 2:4–6 (AV) “4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:” It is also spelled out in Colossians 2:13 (AV) “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;”
Jesus rose from the dead. He can never die again. We find this wonderful news in Romans 6:9 (AV) “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.” That is exceedingly good news because it assures us that the work He came to do is finished. He came to take away sin. He died to pay for all of it, and it worked. As Father would have it however, it does not end there. Let us read on through the next couple of verses. Romans 6:10–11 (AV) “10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Do you see that? He died to sin once and He is now alive never to die again. Good news right? But the passage goes on to include you. Verse eleven begins with the word “likewise.” In the same way, reckon yourself. Outside of western movies, we do not often say reckon. The Greek word is Λογίζομαι (logizomai) and it means, Account, Consider, Count, Esteem, Impute, Reckon, Reckoning, Think. Father is telling us to think of ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God in the same way the Jesus is. Alive never to die again.
Here is the way Paul communicated this idea to the saints in Galatia, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (AV) This verse is one that has been very important to me. At first it seems a little confusing. I am crucified yet I live, but not me, it is really Christ living in me, but I still live an earthly life in the temporal realm, I just do it by faith. There is a lot going on here.
Another verse that helps me get a handle on this one is Romans 6:6 (AV) “6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Our old self was crucified with Christ. That self no longer lives. It was crucified so that the body of sin could be destroyed. The old self, body of sin is that sinfulness that we inherited from our ancestor who walked in the Garden of Eden. That was destroyed and its destruction freed us from bondage to sin. Sin is no longer our master. Romans 6:7 tells us so. It says, “For he that is dead is freed from sin.”
This leaves us in an awkward state. We are free from sin, but we are dead. Like Paul, we live, yet not us, but Christ lives in us. Jesus is the source of life. We have already seen that the Holy Spirit lives in us and that He quickens, or makes alive, our mortal bodies. The next thing Paul told the Galatians was that the life he now lives here on earth, he lives by faith in Jesus. He is reckoning himself dead to sin and alive to God. He simply trusts that God is in him, giving him life. He trusts that he is no longer a slave to sin, indeed he is a slave to righteousness, as he illuminates later in Romans 6.
The resurrection is a big deal. It is important for us to remember it, to celebrate it, to commemorate it. It changed everything about our relationship to God. In truth, for those of us who are not ethnic Jews, it provided a way for us to relate to God where none had existed before. (see Ephesians 2:12) Even more than that, it changed us. When we change our minds about sin and admit we cannot help sinning, agree with God that the work Jesus did is the only hope we have of righteousness, and thus believe Him, we too are resurrected from the dead. The spiritual death into which we were born is the problem. Spiritual life is the cure, and His name is Jesus.
All of this is the reason why the name of Jesus is above every name and at that name one day every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God.
Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and while you are at it, tell them they are risen too.
