The Order of the Resurrection

 

1 Cor.15:22-8 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

 

First

 ‘In Christ shall all be made alive’ is evidently a reference to bodily resurrection for he uses the future tense ‘shall be’. Paul likewise mentions “having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come” (1 Tim.4:8) as Jesus spoke of “in the world to come eternal life” (Mk.10:30, Lk.18:30). Although we have eternal life, the life of God (Eph.4:18) now (Jn.5:24, 1 Jn.3:2, 5:13) there remains a crown of life (Rv.2:10, Ja.1:12) to come. This crowning of life will occur in the resurrection when this mortal body is swallowed up of life (2 Cor.5:4, 1 Cor.15:42-4). This is what Paul meant when stating “now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom.13:11).

 Paul proceeds in our passage above to detail the resurrection through the rest of the chapter. But he starts with the order of the resurrection. Notice the chronology- First, Afterward and Then. Christ was the firstborn from the dead (Col.1:18, Rv.1:5), the firstfruits. (We will suspend commenting on those saints that arose after Christ’s resurrection for now- Mt.27:52-3). That Christ is the first to rise with an immortal body (Ro.6:9) is not really disputed among believers; however what proceeds will be where the heat and light are generated.

 

Afterward

 Next we read ‘afterward they that are Christ's at his coming- then cometh the end’. Now our post-tribulation brothers see here 1 resurrection of the just at the end of the tribulation and the beginning of the millennium (Rev.20:4-6); they read the reference as ‘at his coming in the end’. This resurrection they see as what Christ spoke of as at the last day (Jn.6:39-40,44,54, 11:24). This resurrection was not a mystery (Job 19:25-6, Dan.12:1-2).

 Paul however had additional revelation he was teaching in this context. “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”(1 Cor. 15:51-2) “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 The.4:16-17) “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (Jn.14:2-3) So there is a resurrection for those that ARE Christ’s at his coming (imminent- 1 Cor.1:7, 11:26) which is before the end (then cometh the end). In this resurrection they meet the Lord in the air and go to heaven to the Fathers house to the place Christ has prepared in their new bodies.

 

Then

 Again we mentioned the resurrection Christ spoke of as at the last day (Jn.6:39-40,44,54, 11:24). Also what Job spoke of- “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:” (Job 19:25-6) And it was understood that The Lord coming back was at the end- the latter day. Zech.14:4 “his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives” (see also Dan.12:1-2). The disciples asked Christ “what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Mt.24:3) The mystery Paul was expounding in this chapter was not known at this point by the disciples during the Olivet discourse. And so then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. This is the end of the world when Christ returns and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ (Rev.11:15). And when he stands upon the earth in that day there shall be the resurrection of the just (Rev.20:4-6). In this resurrection they remain on the earth where Christ is (in contrast to going to heaven as ‘they that are Christ's at his coming’). Job 19:25-26 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth... in my flesh shall I see God: Ezek. 37:12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Rev. 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. Notice they reign on earth- Luke 1:33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Isa.24:23… the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. Dan.2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed… (Also Dan.7:27)