Dear
friends in Christ, subjects of Christ the King,
The great Apostle Paul wrote at length about Jesus’ resurrection; his physical,
bodily resurrection from death and the grave. A dead king is not a satisfactory
king, let alone an excellent king. The apostle would establish the reality of
Christ’s kingship by preaching, “He was raised on the third day according to
the Scriptures.” 15:4
Many in Corinth had trouble with the very idea of a resurrection from the dead. Such a thing went against the idol of their human reason. Dead people, they said, just do not come back to life.
The Holy Spirit inspired the apostle to include these words to affirm the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. The Spirit’s power would create belief in Jesus’ empty tomb. Even more than the reality, the Spirit would create faith in the purpose for Jesus’ resurrection, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
A living king is an excellent king. It means when the battle ended, the king is still standing to reign. We apply that victory to Jesus Christ on this Christ the King Sunday. Christ the King is Risen to Reign. He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep; he brings all things under his rule except God.
We might call the verses that precede our text “the awful alternatives to Easter.” Some in Corinth were preaching and teaching that a physical, bodily resurrection of Christ from death is neither likely nor possible. If that were the case, Paul pointed out, “our preaching is useless and so is your faith…your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…Then those who are asleep in Christ are lost.” 15:16-18. If there is no resurrection for Christ, there is no resurrection for us. If the king is dead, his reign has ended. Then, our hope is only for this life, and more the pity.
We pity the poor Christians whose useless, lying preachers teach them what those preachers learned in the seminary, that the resurrection of the body does not mean a physical coming back to life…Paul does not mean a resurrection of the flesh in 1 Corinthians 15 but is simply saying that we are saved as individuals and do not lost our individuality in the next life…resurrection is not the return to life of the physical body.
The apostle begins our text, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” The “indeed” is an important particle that sets the stark contrast to those awful thoughts of no resurrection. Christ’s bodily resurrection and ours are intimately joined. His reign as Christ the King and our citizenship in the kingdom of grace and kingdom of heaven are interdependent.
Paul used the picture of the first harvest of a crop. This firstfuit was the promise of more to come. It was the promise of abundance. Just as our deaths are the continued harvest of Adam’s death, “as in Adam all die,” so from Christ’s resurrection come all other bodily resurrections, “so in Christ all will be made alive.”
Christ’s resurrection is the prime cause, the fountainhead, the firstfruits, of the resurrections that the Bible tells us about, and all the empty graves, including ours, when our King comes again. Then, he will hand the kingdom over to his heavenly Father. Between now and then, he brings all things under his rule except God.
When the battle is ended, the excellent king is still standing to reign. Jesus’ life on earth was the battle our Savior fought for the good and for the deliverance of his people. With every action, our Lord brought his and our enemies under his power. It is the like the king who makes his vanquished foes lie on the ground and then places his boot on their necks. Of King Christ, Paul wrote, “For he has put everything under his feet.”
Those vanquished foes are every “dominion, power and authority.” These are the rulers of the realm of evil. Paul mentioned them also to the Ephesians, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
It is in our struggle against them that we “are strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” Our strength and our power are the victorious reign in our hearts of our King, Jesus Christ. He already has won the victory for us in his resurrection. “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Adam brought death into the world as the wages of his sin. We share in Adam’s sin and in Adam’s death. At the same time, Christ’s righteousness brought life into the world as the gift of God his Father. We share Christ’s righteousness. We share Christ’s life. We live under his rule now and forever.
The final consummation of our King’s victory will be displayed when Jesus returns in glory. The Son will hand over to God the rule over everything his Father had given him. That rule does not include the Father because the Son according to his humanity does not rule overGod. This is an expression of the mystery we confess in the Athanasian Creed. “The Son is equal to the Father as to his deity, less than the Father as to his humanity.”
When Jesus returns, he will bring our complete and perfect inheritance with its full use we do not enjoy yet. Listen to Luther describe the meaning of the words, “that God may be all in all.” Everybody will find all wants that are now satisfied by all things satisfied in God himself. When he will reveal himself, we will be satisfied in body and soul and will no longer stand in need of so many things as we do now here on earth,”
At the sound of the last trumpet, before his judgment seat, we saints triumphant will cry out with the hymn writer, “Look, you saints, the sight is glorious, See the Man of Sorrows now.” TLH 216. The battle is over. Christ the King is Risen to Reign. Amen. <SDG>