“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the
gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your
stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached
to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on
to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according
to the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)
There is possibility to live in vain even after becoming a
Christian if we don’t hold firmly to the word preached through the apostles and
prophets. What we have received is on which we have taken our stand. By his
gospel, we were delivered and freed from the bondage of darkness, futility, and
frustration and we are being saved if we hold firmly to the word of the gospel
of our Lord Jesus preached in the first century and throughout the centuries.
What is this gospel? Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures. Christ was prophesied to be cut off but not for Himself but for
us (Daniel 9:26). Christ was hung on a tree as the ransom sacrifice for the
sins of the world. Why is His death the gospel? It’s because only death can
bring up a new life. This principle of life is everywhere in our midst. For example,
exam time for students. They behave completely different like cutting off party
and fun but spending time in preparation. Christ was chosen to pay the price of
the sins of the world. He obeyed God the Father because His death is the only
way to redeem the fallen race. Hence, the death of Christ is our death. We died
with Christ (Galatians 2:20).
Then Christ was buried. The dead must be buried because it
is useless and inoperable. When we died with Christ our old self died. That old
self must be buried since it died and rendered useless. The old self is what we
received in Adam, sin. Burial implies no revival of the old self which must remain
buried. There is no such a case that the dead are not buried.
The power of God is stronger than the power of death, so
Christ was raised from the dead on the third day according the Scriptures. The heavens
eagerly waited for the resurrection of Christ Jesus and shouted for the victory
and joy of the glory of God as the power manifested in His body. He was the
firstfruits of resurrection from the dead. The resurrected body is made by the
hand of God. It fits perfectly for eternity. The law of gravity and thermal dynamics
cannot hold of it. The power of death renders nothing to the resurrection body.
This is a true hope for humanity which God intended to restore, even before the
creation of the world.
Our bodily resurrection is what we hope for in the future. We
are eagerly waiting for the bodily redemption. However, we rose again with
Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). The gospel
of Christ Jesus is not only the fact but part with us. The living Lord Jesus
Christ is with us by means of the indwelling Spirit now and forevermore. That’s
the good news. Christ Jesus who has been raised from the dead is available anytime
and anywhere to all who comes to Him by faith and becomes the dynamics to
handle the challenges and obstacles in our midst.
It’s not automatic cruising since we have been born again in
Christ, but continual submission to the Lord Jesus Christ since we died with
Christ and buried with Him. A whole new way of arrangement has been set up for
all the Christians in Christ that we function and operate not in the flesh but
in the spirit. We have been made alive in Christ to fully and perfectly obey
Lord Jesus Christ by the power of resurrection. We are living such a marvelous
life in Christ.
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