March 8, 2023

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

Physical resurrection is a surety for those who have died in Christ. But in the here-and-now I must ask myself: am I experiencing the spiritual resurrection from my old life of sin that He came to provide? Baptism symbolizes death to sin and rising to walk a new path illuminated by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a joyful celebration indeed, but simultaneously it is an affront to the old sin nature that wants to rise up and dominate. Also it is an acute irritation to the devil who wants to take as many down with him as he can; he doesn’t go down without a fight! He is not only the instigator of sin, but then he accuses sinners before God for sinning!

The lifelong process of our sanctification is accompanied by a living hope which we, by faith, are empowered to live out and share. Jesus rose from the dead as the antitype of the wave sheaf. His resurrection happened on the very day that the wave sheaf was to be held up before the LORD. This symbolic ceremony had, for over a thousand years, been celebrated. The first heads of ripened grain from the harvest fields were gathered and taken to Jerusalem at Passover. The sheaf of first fruits was a thank offering waved before the LORD. Not until this was presented could the sickle be put to the grain. The sheaf dedicated to God symbolized the harvest to come. Christ’s resurrection is the pledge of resurrection for all the righteous dead.

But now Christ has risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep . . . But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. 1 Corinthians 15:20,23

The coming of Christ is the glorious Day that His followers await with joyful anticipation. It will be the best day yet for the dead in Christ and also for His servants who are alive and remain (1 Thessalonians 4:16b,17a). But the best day yet is also the worst day yet for Satan and the angels who were cast out of heaven with him. It will mark the beginning of one thousand years of isolation upon the desolated earth (Jeremiah 4:23-26; 25:33; Revelation 20:2) with no living humans to tempt and harass and lead astray. His hatred and dread of this day is behind the false teaching that there will be no such glorious reunion in the air of all the heaven-bound. The notion of people trickling, piece-meal, into heaven (or hell)—if believed—neutralizes the doctrine of Christ’s triumphant return to gather His people. It is the deceiver’s goal to diminish Jesus and to replace the teaching of His word with false doctrines.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 (see also John 14:1-3 and Isaiah 25:9)