The Death of Death
1 Corinthians 15:1-28
A doctor in a third world country was once asked by a visiting professor, “What’s the death rate around here?” And he replied, “Same as any place. One death per person.” You’ve no doubt heard the adage that the only things that are certain are death and taxes, but really if you’re a high-flyer then death is the only sure, universal human experience. We might live for 5, 10, 20, 50, 70, 100 years, but in the end we all die and there’s not a damn thing we can do to avoid it. It’s a sobering thought, and it’s a thought that most people don’t dwell on too much. In fact, we tend to avoid talking about death, don’t we? That, I think is one of three major responses to death that I see amongst Australians. We ignore, almost pretending its not there but all the while knowing in the back of our minds that it is there. The second is to get angry. Why has my loved one, my friend been taken by death? And anger is a perfectly reasonable response because death is our enemy, death is God’s enemy. And the third response it to be supremely confident. It’s amazing how people who are otherwise not at all religious suddenly become experts on what happens when we die. How many times have you heard at funerals someone confidently asserting that the deceased has gone to a better place. Early last year in Melbourne a young man was tragically killed at a train station. He apparently went to the defence of a woman who was being assaulted and ended up being pushed onto the tracks in front of a train. And one of his mates said this in a media interview: “I know he’s gone to a better place full of beer and hot chicks.” This guy knew nothing about heaven and nothing about how you got there, but he could assert that he friend was there. But whatever our response, death has a power over us. We fear it, we desperately try to avoid it, yet we know it’s inevitable.
But what I want to suggest to you today is that it’s not inevitable. It doesn’t need to have the power over us that we give it. In fact, it’s already been defeated and its power is waning.
And the reason I can say that is because of one thing, and that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. No doubt most of you have come along here today expecting to here something about this resurrection: after all, it is Easter Sunday and that’s what we’re supposed to be talking about. But many of you may not have fully realised just how important it is. I’m not sure where you stand on the resurrection. Maybe you believe completely and utterly that Jesus rose on the third day. Maybe you’ve heard it over and over again and you might even say you believe it, but you’ve never really thought about it. Maybe you dismiss the claim as fanciful – how can anyone in the 21st century believe someone can rise from the dead. But I hope that we can all understand by the end of this service that is a very important topic to discuss. It’s not a question about some odd event in the ancient world in a “believe it or not” category. It’s a profound claim of reality about Jesus, but not only about Jesus but about you and me and the world we live in. And it has important implications for God and for the future of the universe and my future and your future. It is a claim that is at the very heart of the Christian faith.
And its at the very heart of the passage from 1 Corinthians 15 that we heard read earlier. We’re going to deal with that passage under three main headings today. You’ve got an outline, and the outline will also be on the screen and the bit we’re on at the moment will be highlighted in red so hopefully that will make it easier to follow. Anyway, let me begin at vs. 12: 1CO 15:12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
First some points of explanation. When we talk about “the resurrection of the dead” we’re not just talking about Jesus. We’re talking about a time in the future when all the dead, billions upon billions of them, will be raised to life and judged by God. The Bible teaches that that’s going to happen when Jesus returns. However, there were some people in the Jewish world when the apostle Paul was writing this letter, and some people in the church in Corinth who didn’t believe there was going to be this resurrection of the dead, yet the implication is that they still held that Jesus had risen. So Paul picks apart their argument. It’s pretty simple and logical, in the end. If there is no resurrection, if God doesn’t raise the dead, then Jesus has not been raised. And if Jesus has not been raised then Christianity is a waste of time. Paul and others who say they saw Jesus risen are liars; Jesus hasn’t defeated sin and death, so we’re not forgiven, we’re still in our sins, we’re still facing punishment; our faith is futile; and there’s no hope for the future, neither for us or for those Christians who have already died. There are some pretty heavy consequences for Jesus not being raised. The whole tower of Christianity comes crashing down if we take away the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
According to the most recent polling I could find, more than 80% of Australians believe in God. 70% identify themselves as Christians. And 48% believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. I found these figures quite troubling, but not for the reasons you might expect. You see, there’s this discrepancy between the 70% of people who say they are Christians and 48% who say they believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Because what 1 Corinthians is saying to us is that you can’t be a Christian, you can’t be someone who is forgiven by God and who has a hope of an eternal future in heaven without knowing that Jesus rose. What that 22% of people think it’s all about I don’t know, but they’re sadly mistaken if they think they can have a resurrection-less Christianity.
But the other problem I have with those statistics is this: if 48% of Australians really believe Jesus rose from the dead, then why do only 5% of Australians go to church? Why are even less than that committed to Jesus, committed to trusting and following God? Some of you might say, well it’s because they’re too busy, life is so hectic with family and work and everything else that I just don’t have the time. But quite frankly that’s garbage. If one of your children were dying and you were at work and said “sorry, I’m just too busy to do anything about it”, it would be sick and stupid. You wouldn’t do it. You’d recognise the importance and drop what you were doing and rush to their side. The claims of Jesus are like that. To know that Jesus really did rise from the dead and to know the consequences of that when it comes to how we spend eternity, to know that and to say I’m too busy to be a Christian is sick and stupid. If I’ve offended anyone by saying that then, well, good! The message of Jesus dying and rising from the dead is meant to challenge us and cut us to the bone.
It’s sick and stupid because of the consequences of the resurrection. If Jesus really rose, then God is really there. If Jesus really rose then he really must be the Son of God. If Jesus really rose then he really did die to save us. And if Jesus really rose, there really is a resurrection of the dead, there really is life after death and there really is a day of judgment coming. When the Apostle Paul was in Athens he said this: 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
That’s a pretty strong word isn’t it: proof. But its message is clear. If Jesus really did rise on the third day, then God is going to call us to account for how we have treated him. If Jesus really rose then there is heaven and there is hell.
They are the logical consequences from belief in the resurrection. So I don’t think that being too busy is the real reason for most people. The real reason is that people don’t actually believe it. We might have been brought up with it so we say we believe it. We might even think we believe. Have a look at that second verse from the passage in Acts: 32When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject." More and more people in Australia sneer openly at the very concept of resurrection, but even more sneer inwardly. They think “I haven’t seen it with my own eyes. No one I know has been raised from the dead. It’s unscientific.” Whatever the reasons, we don’t genuinely believe it actually happened – because if we did we’d do something about it.
Well at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul briefly explains why it is logical and rational to believe in the resurrection. I could spend my whole half hour going through the evidence for the resurrection here this morning, but I’m only going to spend five or so minutes on some important points. If you’re interested in discussing it more, please talk to me after the service.
Now before we read the section from the passage together, one thing I want to note. One of the major objections I hear to the resurrection can be summarised like this: “People just don’t rise from the dead. It’s impossible, and unless I see it with my own eyes I’ll never believe it.” Two things to say about that position: Firstly, if you’re not going to believe something because you haven’t seen it with your own eyes, then you’re not going to believe in very much. According to you, nothing happened before you were born. Your parents weren’t born nor did they have a childhood. And moreover, the vast majority of things that have happened during your lifetime didn’t happen either, because you weren’t there to see them. It’s nonsensical. Nobody actually functions like that. We just pull out that excuse when we don’t want to believe something. The normal way we work is based on evidence and testimony from others, and that’s what I’m going to be looking at in a minute. But secondly, when my students at school say to me “but people don’t rise from the dead, it’s impossible”, I say “I agree with you”. People don’t rise from the dead. And remember here we’re not talking about a resuscitation, we’re talking about someone who’s been hung up on a cross, speared through the side into the heart and who’s been buried in a tomb for two days. But the fact is that if people did rise from the dead, if it was a common occurrence, then we wouldn’t be here talking about it today. Resurrection is impossible, and that’s what makes Jesus’ resurrection so spectacular and so significant. I’m going to suggest that at this particular moment in history, the creator of the universe, the creator of all these scientific laws we’ve got, reached beyond the grave and raised his Son from the dead. If you accept the fact that there is a God, or even that there might be a God, you have to accept the possibility of supernatural things happening. To just dismiss it because that sort of thing doesn’t happen is in fact anti-intellectual and is doing yourself a disservice.
So, back to 1 Corinthians 15: 1CO 15:3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
The way the study of history works, the way the law works, the way everyday interaction works is based on the testimony of others, on witnesses. Here, Paul goes through all those who were witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. Peter, the twelve, James, all the apostles, Paul himself, more than 500 at one time. If we got all those witnesses together and gave them just 10 minutes each to make their statements, we’d be listening to them without any breaks whatsoever for about 3.5 days. And Paul makes sure he points out to the Corinthians that most of these witnesses are still living. In other words – if you don’t believe me, you can go and ask them! And because the Christian community at that stage was still small, it would be have very likely that people in the Corinthian church would have known who some of them were and would be able to ask them. This is very compelling evidence. If that many people witness a single event and testify to it, it’s almost undeniable. You just don’t get mass hallucinations shared by 500 people at once.
But if you’re the sort of person who is the ultimate skeptic, then look at the example of Thomas which was read to us from John 20. He’s got the sworn testimony of all these close friends of his, but still he won’t believe. Even seeing isn’t good enough for him – I won’t believe unless I touch the scars on Jesus hands, he says. And then Jesus appears before him and he’s forced to throw away his unbelief because he’s faced with undeniable evidence. And Jesus says to him: you believed because you saw, but blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed.
We have the testimony, we have the empty tomb, we have the changed lives that we see in the apostles and in the world around us. As Jesus said, blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.
But what did Jesus’ resurrection achieve? What was its purpose? Well, if you were here on Friday you might remember the last thing that Ted said at the end of the service – we must never talk about the death of Christ without talking about the resurrection. It comes as a package. The message that Paul is passing on to the Corinthians is in vs. 3 1CO 15:3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, Christ died for our sins, he took the punishment we deserved for our wrongdoings, for our disobedience. But if he had stayed dead, there would have been nothing significant about Good Friday. Read vss. 20-26 with me: 20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
You’ve probably all heard the story of Adam and Eve. They disobey God by eating the fruit of the one tree that is forbidden and so they bring upon themselves a curse. The ground will be hard to work. The woman will have pain in childbirth. But most of all, they will die. That’s the curse that God puts human beings under. In the first few chapters of Genesis God creates a sinless, deathless world but it is ruined by the disobedience of Adam and Eve, it’s ruined by the disobedience of humanity, by the disobedience of you and me. And the punishment for this disobedience is that Adam and Eve are thrown out of the garden, the way to the tree of life is blocked and they are put under a curse. And the curse is death. From dust you came and to dust you will return, God says to Adam.
Through Adam death was brought into the world. But through Jesus we have life. That’s what Jesus brings. He is the firstfruits of the resurrection. And where there are first fruits there will be second fruits and third fruits and fourth fruits – those who belong to Jesus will be raised up with him when he returns, caught up with him in victory. Everything will be put under the feet of Jesus, including death.
There’s a magnificent picture of heaven in Revelation 21 and 22. It’s the great city of God where God’s people will live with him without suffering or sickness or sin forever. We will get to meet God face to face. And then as part of the culmination of this awesome picture, it says that a great river runs through the city and on each side of the river stands the tree of life which is for the healing of the nations. And there is no longer any curse. No longer any curse. And Revelation is pointing us way back to the other end of the Bible, to Genesis and to Adam where this curse started and it’s saying now you can come again and feast on the tree of life and soak in its immortality. For sin has been defeated in Jesus. He died to take the sin of the world. And he goes again to complete his victory.
There’s a great poem that I studied in high school. It’s called Death Be Not Proud, and it’s by a Christian poet by the name of John Donne. It was at the beginning of the 17th century.
DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee, 5
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell, 10
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell’st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
I’m not going to unpack the whole poem, although I’d love to, but hopefully you were able to recognise the mocking tone, the dismissal of the power of death. Some have called death mighty and dreadful says the poet, but you’re not like that. In fact death, you can’t kill me. Because after I die, after one short sleep, I’ll wake eternally and be with Christ in heaven forever. And then death, you shall be no more, death thou shalt die.
How do you feel about death? Do you fear it? Does it make you angry? Are you like that oft-quoted Woody Allen line: “I’m not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens”? Or perhaps you’re confident like that young man’s friend who died in on the Melbourne railway station? I like to summarise the average Australian’s attitude to life after death like this: “If there’s a heaven, then I’m going to be there.” And so most Australians continue to live in this delusion that their future is secure because at least they’re not as bad as the serial killer they see on the news.
But some people have a reason to be confident. And that’s because they belong to Christ. They put their trust in him and they follow him – they’re not too busy for God. Christ has died for our sin and has risen for our victory. Death is not the end, friends. Jesus demonstrated that. Death is not the end. And that can be a good thing or a bad thing. I know that when I fall asleep I’m going to be waking up again to eternity with God, meeting him face to face, living with him in a place where there’s no more death or mourning or crying or pain. I don’t fear death because I know where I’m going. And I know where I’m going because I belong to Jesus. But if you don’t belong to Jesus you can’t have that confidence. If you want to know how you can know your future and how you can belong to God, please ask me or Ted after the service, or write a question down on the card you’ve received and pop it in the box at the entrance to the church.
Let me close with the words of Paul at the end of chapter 15
54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
1CO 15:55 "Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"
1CO 15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
