"Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection." Hebrews 11:35
The “better resurrection” for which the saints of old hoped, the hope of which sustained them in times of great trial and severe persecution was exactly the same as that for which God’s saints today live in confident hope. They did not hope for a superior place in heavenly glory, but for something better than mere deliverance from temporal trouble. They lived and died in the confident hope of resurrection glory with Christ. That is the “blessed hope” of faith.
Our assurance of the resurrection is much more than belief in a point of orthodoxy. It is faith in and hope in a Person. Christ is Himself our Resurrection. This is not some fool’s philosophy. It is not a mere religious tranquilizer by which we are able to cope with the trials of life. This is the calm, confident assurance of believing hearts. It is the necessary, inevitable result of faith in Christ (John 11:25-26). The Lord Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life of all who trust him; and all who trust him shall in the last day be resurrected with him. All who trust Christ shall, indeed, “obtain a better resurrection!”
Let me show you why I hope to obtain this “better resurrection.” I live in hope of the resurrection for three reasons:
FIrst, I have been resurrected with Christ representatively (Eph. 2:5-6; Rom. 8:29-30). When the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the grave, he arose as my Representative. All that he did and all that he experienced, all of God’s elect did and experienced in him, by virtue of our representative union with him. His obedience to the law was our obedience (Rom. 5:12, 18-21). His death as a penal sacrifice for sin was our death (Rom. 6:6-7, 9-11; 7:4). This is our atonement! His resurrection was our resurrection. —This is our life!
The resurrection of
Christ is an indisputable fact of revelation and history upon which we rest our
souls (1 Cor. 15:1-8). Disprove the resurrection and you disprove the gospel – “If Christ be not raised, your faith is
vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:17).
The bodily, physical resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ necessitates the resurrection of all who are in Christ. That which has been done for us representatively must be experienced by us personally. We are members of Christ’s mystical body, the church. If one member of the body were lost, the body would be maimed (1 Cor. 12:12, 27). If one member of the body were lost, the Head would not be complete (Eph. 1:22-23). These bodies of ours must be fashioned like unto his glorious body (Phil. 3:21; John 17:24).
2
Christ was raised as the firstfruits of them that sleep (1 Cor. 15:20). The full harvest must follow. Christ is the second Adam. As we have born the image of our first covenant head, we must bear the image of the second (1 Cor. 15:21-23, 47-49). Our Lord Jesus Christ has obtained the victory over all that could hinder the glorious resurrection of his people (Sin, Death, Hell, the Grave, and the Devil - Col. 2:13-15; Heb. 2:14-15).
The covenant
engagements of Christ as the Surety of God’s elect are not complete until the
hour of our resurrection (John
6:37-40). He shall soon present his bride before his throne“holy, unblameable, and unreproveable.” In that great day he will
present all his elect to the Father, saying,
“Lo, I and the children thou hast given me.” “There shall be one fold
and one Shepherd.”
Second, I have experienced the resurrection of Christ in regeneration. The new birth is nothing less than a resurrection from the dead. To be born again by the Spirit of God is the first resurrection (Rev. 20:6; John 5:25; 11:25-26; Eph. 2:1-4). This is beautifully illustrated in Ezekiel’s infant (Ezek. 16), the dry bones that were made to live by the Spirit of God (Ezek. 37), and by the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11).
Third, I believe the revelation of God concerning the resurrection (John 5:28-29). Our Savior declared, “Whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die.” God’s elect never die!
There shall be a resurrection of life at the second coming of Christ (1 Cor. 15:35-44, 51-59; 1 Thess. 4:13-18). This will not be a secret rapture, but a glorious resurrection. The dead in Christ shall be raised. After their resurrection, all the saints living upon the earth shall be raised into glory. Then, there shall also be a resurrection of damnation (John 5:29).
The
wicked and unbelieving shall be raised by the power of Christ in order to be
judged and condemned. The believer shall be raised by virtue of his union with
Christ in order to be judged and rewarded with everlasting glory. The wicked
shall be raised in wrath. The believing shall be raised in love. The wicked
shall be raised for execution. The righteous shall be raised for a wedding. “Prepare to meet thy God.” Soon you and
I will stand before the living God in judgment (2 Cor. 5:10-11).
Let us comfort one another with these words. Let us be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. What we now do is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:59). Would you have part in the first resurrection and in that glorious resurrection to come? Awake (Eph. 5:14), believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall never die.