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March 31, 2023
Key Verses: 42-43 "So also the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible and will rise incorruptible. It is sown in lowliness and will rise in glory. It is sown in wretchedness and will rise in power."
The death of Jesus Christ and His resurrection are the central point of the Christian faith. Through Jesus' death we have received forgiveness of sins, and through His resurrection we will also be resurrected. His death and resurrection are the core of the Good News.
Although Christians fundamentally believe in Jesus' resurrection, they do not think about it much in their daily lives, but mainly about their current concerns. Of course, we should think about our current things and do them properly. However, we should keep our resurrection hope alive so that we can burn in the Spirit.
Because Easter is approaching, I want to talk about our resurrection hope. For this purpose, I would like to explain a part of the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians by Apostle Paul.
1. The symbol of the caterpillar and the butterfly
When I was little, one of my acquaintances said in mockery that the kingdom of heaven was already crowded, so there was no room left there.
Most people have difficulty believing in the resurrection of Christ, and thus in their own resurrection, because they can hardly imagine the resurrection.
In general, special young people think little of the resurrection because they are mainly focused on their current concerns.
When I was about 8 years old, I was injured in my right hip joint. Still, I did not think of my future seriously. But when I became about 17 years old, I thought about my chance of survival with my injured hip joint seriously. That's why I decided to attend a university to have a job chance. During my preparation for the entrance examination of the university I once got into the thought whether my effort would be worthwhile, if my life would end later with my death anyway to nothing. Then I became nihilistic and lost the desire to prepare for the entrance exam. But I suppressed this nihilistic thought, studied hard again, and passed the entrance exam with a good grade. And through the invitation to study the Bible, I was able to believe in Jesus Christ. Then my nihilistic thought disappeared because I could believe in the resurrection, so I became a happy person.
Now I would like to talk about our new body of resurrection.
The resurrection is something very different from the aliving. The resurrection is not a return of the dead to an earthly life. Rather, the resurrection means a transformation into a heavenly body. Our earthly body will decay with our physical death. But a believing person will put off his earthly body and be awakened in a heavenly body.
That is why Paul says in verses 42-44, "It is sown corruptible and will rise incorruptible. It is sown in lowliness and will rise in glory. It is sown in wretchedness and will rise in power. It is sown a natural body and will rise a spiritual body."
Our earthly body is corruptible, lowly, miserable, and natural.
But our heavenly body will be incorruptible, glorious, powerful, and spiritual.
So, we will put on a whole new body on the day of resurrection.
What happened to Christ on Easter morning - that is the essence of the Good News. What happened to the body of Jesus Christ will happen to us also. We will be resurrected like Christ and put on an incorruptible, glorious, powerful and spiritual body. And we will have blessed fellowship with Christ with all the saints and worship Him.
That is why the resurrection of Jesus is the Good News for us.
That is why Paul says: "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither shall corruptible things inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed; and that suddenly, in a moment, at the time of the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise incorruptible, and shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (50-53).
All who believe in Jesus Christ will one day suddenly be transformed. Everything will be different than before. What exactly the new resurrection world will look like, the Bible leaves open. But one thing is clear: There will be no more death. We will put on a new body - out of the old body as mortal, into the new body as immortal. Our identity will still be preserved, so that we will be able to recognize friends, acquaintances, spouses, family members, and also ancestors of faith such as Abraham, Isaac, and so on. But we will be quite different. The resurrection is not simply the continuation of the previous life, but the transformation into a new life.
The comparatively most beautiful example of transformation could be the transformation of the caterpillar into a butterfly. Caterpillar and butterfly are the same living being, but they look totally different. While the caterpillar crawls on the ground, the butterfly flies in the sky. A similar transformation happens when we are resurrected. At physical death, we leave this three-dimensional world and go to the heavenly world where the new life is.
Paul describes the resurrection as follows: Christians put on new bodies at the resurrection. The mortal puts on immortality and the corruptible puts on immortality. This fulfills the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah:
"Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your sting? But the sting of death is sin; but the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"
We can easily understand this word as follows: "Our bodily death is the just punishment for sin according to the law. But thanks be to God that Christ has given us forgiveness and eternal life through his death and resurrection."
Our resurrection can also be compared to the fact that through Jesus Christ we become victors over sin and death, take off our old garment, i.e. our earthly body, and put on this victory jersey, namely our resurrection body.
Our new resurrection body will also be like this.
Our resurruction body will have both a continuous quality and a non-continuous quality at the same time.
The resurrection body, however, is not a reanimation of the dead body. Lazarus was resuscitated once. But he eventually had to die again.
The resurrected Christ is not prevented by time or space.
Jesus was able to enter even through the closed door.
Our resurrection body will not be like a spirit of demon, because the spirit of demon has no body.
Apostle Thomas could touch the wound of Jesus.
The last time will be the new time so that God fully reveals His goodness and perfection.
We will be changed into a new creation like Jesus Christ.
Our new body will be like the body of Christ.
Our characteristic features will remain after the resurrection so that we can recognize our friends, family members, former spouses and also ancestors of faith.
Above all, we will see glorious God or Jesus and His glory.
We will be like angels. We will be full of joy and grace, so we will be overjoyed and will not need marriage. We will not be entangled with each other, but will have a warm, close relationship.
We will experience God's grace, glory, beauty, etc., and rejoice and glorify Him.
We will be full of holy desires there, worshipping God from the heart and loving all the brothers and sisters in faith warmly and holily.
2 Our Confidence of Victory
The resurrection of Jesus is the Good News because Jesus gives us victory over all our enemies and gives us new resurrection bodies so that we will have fellowship with Christ together with all the saints.
This has become possible because Jesus Christ, through His resurrection, has put an end to death, all fears and all powers once and for all.
Now our thoughts are to adjust to our changed, new situation. We are to get used to the fact that the power of death is finally broken with the Easter. Unfortunately, many Christians still live in their old thought world of death, although they believe in Jesus Christ.
Of course, as long as we still live in this world, the sad language from our mouths will not disappear completely. We need time and effort until our confidence in Jesus Christ prevails over dark powers. Jesus has conquered death. And with his resurrection he has made a beginning to defeat all powers and forces completely. Until then, however, we will experience despair, loneliness or futility from time to time. And these difficulties can sometimes be very bad.
But we still must not lose hope and joy, because we have the last word in Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ says:
"I am the first and the eternal and the living. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever, and have the keys of hell."
When we trust Jesus Christ, we triumph over all. This is what people of faith have experienced time and again from generation to generation.
When we trust Jesus Christ, we do not remain in a pessimistic mood. Rather, we become a confident, radiant people.
Often we become impatient just thinking about what we see with our eyes. The world always has many problems. When we forget our resurrection future, we become uncertain. But if we firmly believe in the resurrection, we need not be insecure despite many problems, but we can rejoice. We can be serene and joyful.
That is why Paul says in verse 58:
"Therefore, my dear brethren, be firm, steadfast, always increasing in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
If we consider the resurrection merely as a biblical statement, our lives will be in great danger.
Our faith in the resurrection must have a living effect in our personal lives, family lives, and relationships with others. There we will already experience a heavenly bliss.
People who count on the resurrection live differently than those who do not have this hope. They trust on God and know that bodily death is not everything. Because of their trust, they have confidence of Christ's resurrection, they have a well-founded hope.
For example, we do not need to be discouraged in the face of the problems we have.
Today, many people talk about the "I"-society. But we are to form a liability community through the faith in the resurrection: a community with well-founded hope. We should always live from the hope that has been given to us since Easter. We are not supposed to be optimists with the motto "It will be alright", but people who are determined by the hope of the resurrection. We are to be encouraged people by the words of the Bible "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
We are to extend this liability community by speaking of our hope to others.
I had presented a testimony at the end of the year 1977. In Acts 7:55, "But he (Stephen), full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God."
I was deeply impressed by this Bible verse at that time and preached about Stephen. Peter Suh, the church leader in Daejeon, South Korea, suggested that I call myself "Stephen" to be a friend of the Germans. For a while, however, I was afraid of this name because I did not want to die as a martyr. But in Germany I realized that Germans cannot pronounce my Korean name "Myeong-Hwan" correctly. That's why I introduced myself as "Stephan." Then they could immediately shout "Hello, Stephan!"
So God gave me this name to be a joyful resurrection witness.
May God renew our resurrection hope and live and work hopefully and joyfully as witnesses of Jesus' resurrection.
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