Why Believers Won't Be In Heaven Forever (Evangelism, Part 4C)
Series: Evangelism (Part 4C)
Author: Dr. Steven L. Childers
Title: Message of Christ’s Saving Resurrection
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is evidence that the wrath of God has been satisfied (propitiated), the bondage of Satan and death has been broken. The resurrection is the Father's amen that the work of the Son is fully acceptable to him. And so, the good news is that he is risen. It's time to celebrate, Satan and death have been conquered. Jesus has been raised from the dead.
And that's all true, but like so many things we've seen, the gospel is actually more than that. The resurrection has a much more full meaning than simply, the Father's amen or the validation of the work of the Son.
The resurrection of Jesus is also meant to shape your understanding of God’s kingdom in history as the introduction of the new age to come. This was not just an event regarding our personal salvation. It was that, but it’s even more. It was also a redemptive historical event in light of the gospel of the kingdom.
In Romans 8, the Apostle Paul teaches that when Jesus Christ was raised from the dead he was “the first born from the dead.” Understanding what Paul means is critically important in understanding the good news of the resurrection.
Why is it good news that Jesus is the first born of many to soon follow?
The Scriptures teach that when Jesus returns all things are going to be made new, including our bodies and souls. When those who are in Christ die today, their souls go to heaven and their bodies remain on earth.
But there is coming a day when Jesus will return and bring heaven back down to earth like it was at creation. He will then unite our souls with our bodies and he will give us new bodies on a new earth. As we rule on this new earth, we will not just worship but we will work without toil and with great joy for all eternity.
The good news is that the resurrected embodied and now ascended Christ is the first born of many of us to follow. He is what theologians call the “theanthropos,” the God-man, the foretaste of what is to come when Jesus returns to make all things new.
The good news is that in Jesus’ resurrection, the kingdom has finally come to earth in a way it never has before. The God-man has become the first born of what is to come. So the good news of the resurrection is not simply that death has been conquered. The good news of the resurrection is also that the new age has dawned and the first born of many is now reigning at the right hand of God. And the kingdom has already come, even though it has not yet come in all of its fullness.
Jesus said things like, “The kingdom of God is in your midst.” And “The kingdom of God is coming.” Understand that in his resurrection Jesus has given evidence of the new age, the new day has dawned.
We must be careful not to leave Jesus’ ascension out of the gospel. You hear a lot of gospel presentations today, that don’t say a thing about Jesus’ sinless life, the resurrection or ascension. The only focus is on his death. The message is, “Jesus died for you. He will change you. You need to ask him to come into your life.” It's a resurrection-less message.
The promise of the Messiah throughout the ages was that one greater than King David was going to come and sit on the throne and rule over all things. That was the hope of the Jews, that the promised Messiah would come and he would rule from his throne over all the earth on behalf of his people. The Jews had a very limited understanding of the coming promised Messiah. His reign was not to be political but spiritual.
The good news in the early chapters of Acts is that when Jesus ascended to the right hand of God, that was the promised enthronement of the long awaited Messiah, the Son of David. And what was the evidence that King Jesus, the Messiah, was now seated in authority over all things for carrying out God’s purposes for the world?
It was the pouring out of the Spirit of God at Pentecost. The good news is not that one day in the future he's going to come back and rule and reign. No, one day in the future the veil is going to be torn back and his present rule and reign will be manifested in all of its majesty. Jesus, the Christ, is now ruling and reigning over all things for the sake of his church.
In understanding the gospel, you must first enter into the fullness of Jesus’ humiliation all the way down to his temptations and the cross. And then, you can enter fully into his exaltation through his resurrection and ascension.
But don't stop at the cross. And don't even stop at the resurrection. Go all the way to the ascension of Jesus as Lord and King. Only then can you appreciate why Paul, in Romans 10, summarized the good news that was brought to the world by those who had beautiful feet, as “Our God reigns,” a quotation from Isaiah.
That's how the Apostle Paul understood the essence of the gospel: Our God reigns!
Most evangelicals today wouldn’t say that. They’d probably say the essence of the gospel is “God will forgive you!” which is only one of the benefits of our God reigning in Christ over all his and our enemies.
The good news is that the eternal son of God took on humanity, lived a sinless life, died a sinner’s death in my place, and he was raised from the dead showing victory over death, victory over the devil. And in his resurrection, he inaugurated a new kingdom on earth for the first time. He was the first born among all of us. Then he was lifted up and he ascended to the right hand of God, ruling and reigning over all of his enemies and ours for the sake of the church.
The early Christians used to greet each other, “Jesus is Lord.” What it meant is, Jesus is King. He has come. He has done battle with our enemies. He had defeated them. He has conquered them. Now he rules over them. “Our God reigns!”