Death Defeated

Easter Sunday Service

1 Corinthians 15:20-28

In verses 20-28, Paul provided SIX GUARANTEES based on Christ’s resurrection that His followers will also be resurrected from the dead.

1. THE ANTICIPATION (v. 20)
Paul declared that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead, and as such, those who die in Christ are guaranteed to be raised from the dead also.

2. THE REPRESENTATION (vv. 21-22)
Paul reasoned that if man was responsible for ushering in death through disobedience (Adam), that through one man’s obedience (Jesus), resurrection from the dead would be possible.

3. THE SUCCESSION (v. 23)
All who are in Christ will be made alive in a certain order. This sequence will commence when Jesus returns (John 14). There will not only be a resurrection for those who have died in Christ (i.e., believers), but a second resurrection (John 5:25) for this who rejected Christ and His gospel (i.e., unbelievers).

4. THE ABOLITION (vv. 24, 26)
After the resurrection of the Tribulation saints, Jesus will cast out Satan and those responsible for deceiving the people. Christ will set up His earthly reign for one thousand years and restore the earth to its original state before sin and Satan defiled it (Revelation 21). Finally, death will be vanquished, just as sin and Satan were.

5. THE SUBJUGATION (vv. 25, 27)
God the Father gave to Jesus Christ the Son rule over all that lives and all creation (Psalm 110). Likewise, Jesus Christ the Son, would is to remain in subjection to God the Father. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus earned this right of subjugation in God the Father’s plan of redemption. The universe is then brought back into perfect submission to the Father (i.e., prior to sin and rebellion).

6. THE CONSUMMATION (v. 28)
God is made all in all once more upon subjugation to the Son. Jesus Christ, by willingly subjecting Himself to the will of God the Father, was given to right to return the universe and all that lives in it back to God the Father in its original unrebellious state (1 Corinthians 11:3).

Do you know where you will spend eternity in your resurrected body? Glory to Jesus Christ for winning the battle over sin and rebellion and making it possible for you to live an eternal life in the presence of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.