Luke 20:27-40
O Lord, we pray that the visitation of Your grace may so
cleanse our thoughts and minds that Your Son Jesus, when He shall come, may
find in us a fit dwelling place; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and
reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Heaven lacks a number of things. No stress. No hunger. No
tears. Best of all – there is no cemetery there - because there is no need for
one. Heaven is where the living God rules and reigns. And you have His promise
that you will live with Him there.
These people do not die. Rather, they shared eternal life
with Christ. There is no death in heaven.
For the LORD is the God of the living – as Jesus teaches – He
is NOT the God of the dead but of
the living. For all live in Him. As the
Savior teaches, We serve an eternal God, the LORD of life, the God of the
living. V.38
In the creed, we confess: “I believe in the resurrection…” To believe in the resurrection
gives life an aim, purpose and goal. We all need goals in life. The trouble
with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the
field but you never score – putting points on the board!
Jesus our Lord and Redeemer gets us off the bench and into
the game and guarantees that we will be productive. Jesus’ words about our resurrection, which is
the cornerstone of our faith, have meaning for us today as we close out the Church
Year. Your Christian life is lived and expressed through resurrection power for
we truly are EASTER PEOPLE!
The LORD, who was, and is and is to come, knows all about
your sufferings and has “come down to deliver them.” (Exodus 3:8)
Two words make up our theme for today, “Saints Triumphant.” What is a Saint? A saint is any believer in
Christ. Because of faith in the Savior you are blessed – you are a ransomed and
redeemed child of God. You have been given a connection, a union, an eternal
bond with the Lord Jesus.
But there’s more, you are a triumphant saint – successful
conquering and victorious. Because Jesus has triumphed over the forces of sin,
death, and the devil to Him belongs the victory. As the Savior reigns, He
passed the spoils of victory to you. You
have a Savior full of mercy! He does the work and gives you the credit. In Christ,
we are saints triumphant!
I. The Old Testament teaches
the resurrection from the dead.
A. The Sadducees
try to use the Old Testament to disprove the resurrection Saying, “Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man's
brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother
should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. There were therefore seven brethren: and the
first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her to wife,
and he died childless. And the third
took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and
died. Last of all the woman died
also. Therefore, in the resurrection
whose wife of them is she? For seven had her to wife.” (Vv. 28-33)
B. Jesus
uses the Old Testament to prove the resurrection. “And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry,
and are given in marriage: But they
which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from
the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any
more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being
the children of the resurrection.
Now that the dead are
raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the
dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.” (Vv.34-38)
C. Other Old Testament passages support the resurrection.
“For I
know that my redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the
earth: And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes
shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” (Job
19:25-27)
“Thy dead men shall live; together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” (Isaiah 26:19)
“And many of them that
sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some
to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2)
II. The New Testament teaches
the resurrection.
A. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection,
and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”
(John 11:25)
B. The resurrection consists of
The restoration and glorification of the
body. “So also is the resurrection of the
dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in
dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural
body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first man Adam
was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Howbeit that was not
first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which
is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord
from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is
the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the
image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”
(1 Corinthians 15:42-49)
The reunion of the body and the soul. The definition of death
according to Scripture is the separation of the body from the soul. Solomon
writes thus, “and the dust returns to the
earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7) When you and I say
farewell to someone we love who has died it is not the last good-by. We shall
see each other again. On earth, they heard the Savior’s voice. In heaven, they
see His face.
Yet, soon and very soon, we shall see the King. On the last
great day, soul and body will be reunited.
Our souls will be reunited with our transformed physical
bodies, brought back to life from the dead. Says St. Paul, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:52) “For
the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice
of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in
Christ will rise first.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16)
C. Our resurrection has its basis in Christ’s
redemption of the human family and in His resurrection.
“That
if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your
heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.” (Romans
10:9)
“And if Christ be not
raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17)
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” (1
Thessalonians 4:14)
D. Application: Jesus’ resurrection has
significances for us not only on Judgment day but also right now; already in
this life it affects us. The spiritual resurrection empowering us to live even
more and more in harmony with the Father’s will.
III. It is consistent with the
nature of God
A. God created human beings for life not death.
“For he is not a God of the dead, but of
the living: for all live unto him.” (Vs. 38)
B. The Father sent His Son to rescue fallen
humanity.
He buys us back redeems us. “For even the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
He gives us new life. – “Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
C. This gives power, purpose, and meaning to our
life “…for all live to Him.” (Vs. 38)
“Christ the life of all
the living, Christ the Death of death, our foe. Who, Thyself for me once
giving. To the darkest depths of woe, Thro’ Thy suffering, death, and merit, I
eternal life inherit: Thousand, thousand thanks shall be, Dearest Jesus unto
Thee.” [2]
Passive Sentences – 4%
Readability – 80.6%
Reading Level-5.3
[1]
All Saints © Ed riojas, Higher Things
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