CHRIST'S RESURRECTION AND THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

Justification is my favorite doctrine in Scripture. As a sinner there was no way I could please God, no way I could neutralize or pay for my own sin. But when God justified me by His grace He went on record declaring me righteous. He didn't wave a magic wand and declare me to be innocent. His holiness would not permit it. There had to be a basis for declaring me righteous. The ground upon which my justification is built is the substitutionary death of His son Jesus Christ. The shedding of His blood demonstrates the righteousness of God "that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith is Jesus" (Romans 3:26 NKJV). What a marvelous plan! Man's plan of salvation by good works is offensive to God and to anyone who has been saved by God's grace.

Now how do I know I am justified? How does Christ's resurrection assure my justification? Romans 4:25 says Jesus our Lord ... "was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification" (NKJV, my emphasis). Charles Baker on this passage quotes Lewis Sperry Chafer, "He was raised, because our justification was effected, not in order to give us justification" (Charles Baker, "A Dispensational Theology", p. 376). His resurrection is the assurance of my salvation. Having this assurance is essential to growing in Christ.

The Spirit Who Raised Christ Gives Life NOW To My Mortal Body

This is the result of being "in Christ." Christians are part of the only "in" crowd that matters. We take our identity from being "in Christ." I have been made alive together with Christ, have been raised up together with Christ, and have been made to sit together with Him in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:5,6). Eternal life is thrilling for the believer, not for its duration, but for its quality. It is the life of Christ; His life is now my life. My body is dead because of sin, but my spirit is alive because of righteousness. The Spirit "who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you" (Romans 8:11 NKJV). The same power used in raising Christ from the dead is giving life to my physical body, a body subject to death. This life force in me is the Holy Spirit. I can live according to the flesh and "die," or by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body and "live" (Romans 8:13).

Paul presents this same thought in Galatians 2:20. I have been crucified with Christ, and now He lives in me. The life which I am now living in my mortal body I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. He is faithful to live His life through me. He alone can live the Christian life. As I reckon myself to be dead to sin and alive to God and yield myself to Him, He allows me to experience the victory he has already won (Romans 6:11-13).

Paul's aspiration was to know Christ "and the power of His resurrection" (Philippians 3:10, NKJV). It was his life long goal to grow in experiencing this power. He desired his life be conformed to Christ's death, because it was his death also. With Christ I died, was buried and was raised, so that I now can live a new kind of life (Romans 6:4).

I Have the Assurance of My Resurrection (If Necessary!)

A few months ago my mother passed away. She joined my father who preceded her by ten years. I miss them both, and because they were believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, I have assurance from God's Word that there is going to be a great reunion some day. In Paul's dissertation on the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 he says, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable" (verse 19, NKJV). Our confidence in God extends to those who are now "absent from the body and present with the Lord." Paul continues, "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (verse 20).

I know just enough about farming to appreciate the significance of the firstfruits. Israel, in receiving the Law, had three annual feasts. One was the Feast of Harvest or Firstfruits. It was celebrated when the crop in the field was at maturity, ready for the harvest to begin. The firstfruits belonged to the Lord and were brought to His house. It was a sample of the crop that was to come. It brought hope and expectation to the farmer.

In rising from the dead, Christ is the firstfruits of Christians who have died. Christ's victory imparts confidence to us. My parents and all believers who have died will experience the resurrection.

But wait a minute! Not all Christians are going to die! However, "we shall ALL be changed" (verse 51). Our yearning is that Christ will come in our lifetime. What a wonderful thought - the "blessed hope."

Paul says "we also have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body" (Romans 8:23, NKJV). When Christ comes for the Church the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we alive ones will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. In giving us these details as "the word of the Lord," Paul tells us to use these truths to "comfort one another" (1 Thessalonians 4:15, 18). It comforts only when it is certain. Christ's resurrection gives us this assurance.

God intends for us to live with confidence and assurance; confidence in the Lord and not in our flesh. Why then do so many of us fall apart when adversity strikes? I believe it is because we fail to trust God in that situation.

We may not trust Him because we do not know who we are "in Christ" and what we have because we are in Him. Remedy? Get in the Word! Learn your position in Christ. Learn to rest in Him.

Too many of us do not trust God because we really don't believe Him. We mouth the right words and know that even catastrophes "work together for good" (Romans 8:28) but fail to trust God during the crisis. Shape up! God is faithful. His desire is for you to live with His assurance. The great hymn says it well, "because He lives I can face tomorrow."

Reprinted with the author's permission from the April 1998 edition of "Truth" Magazine.

"Truth" is a bi-monthly magazine emphasizing the distinctive doctrines of the Dispensation of Grace. Subscriptions are available from Grace Gospel Fellowship, P.O. Box 9432, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49509. The subscription price is $12.00 to receive "Truth" for one year (six issues).

Taking God's Grace to the World!

Return to The GraceLife(tm) Menu Page for more studies about the Gospel of the Grace of God.