50 Implications of the Resurrection (Part One)

Join us this week as Ben breaks down part one of 50 implications of the resurrection. He takes us through the promises we are given in Scripture that we can hold on to because death could not hold Jesus in the grave. The resurrection changes everything.

Over the next few talks, we will look at 50 implications of the resurrection and how it affects our everyday lives. It is important not to think of each sentence as a separate category but as a different dimension that illuminates the different angles of a diamond when light hits it as it's rotating.

If the tomb is empty, then these things are gloriously true.

1. Jesus was declared to be the Song of God in power. Romans 1:1-4.

• Jesus was always the Son of God, and that didn't just happen suddenly after he rose. The pre-existent Son of God became Son of God the Messiah, and then when He accomplished His death and resurrection, He was declared Son of God in power: the new status and function as He relates to us, Jesus Christ our Lord.

2. Jesus overpowered death. Acts 2:24.

• Jesus was so righteous and powerful that death could not hold Him. Death takes everything from everyone. Only one man faced death and won. God raised Him up. "Loosening the pangs of death" is a play on words. "The abyss can no more hold the Redeemer than a pregnant woman can hold a child in her body."-G. Bertram. Jesus didn't cheat death, slip out of death, or escape death, He broke death's grip, and it couldn't hold Him...and He took the keys. Revelation 1:17-19.

3. Jesus forever stands outside the dominion of sin and death. Romans 6:9-10.

• In the Bible, sin, rebellion against God, and death, the absence of God's life-giving presence, are bound and reign together. God rules over all, but the reign of sin and death oppress us. Jesus stepped in and faced death, but unlike Lazarus who had to die again, Jesus, once and for all, stood outside of death's power. Sin breaks us, but because He's so powerful, He broke something in sin. He brought death to the death of evil.

4. Jesus lives to God. Romans 6:10.

• "Dominion" is built off the Greek word "kurios," which means "Lord, Christ. Jesus is Lord over what He defeated.

5-6. The record of debt against us has been canceled. Authorities and rulers have been disarmed and put to shame. Colossians 2:12-15.

• Sin has caused a debt and the darkness has a claim over us. The devil's greatest weapon against you is the truth that you have unforgiven sin. God saw the debt, acknowledged it, and nailed it to the Cross with Jesus. Jesus became the representation of humanity and paid our debt of sin and death. How do we know that it was sufficient? Because the grave couldn't hold Him. He silenced the boast of sin and grave. You now have no unforgiven sin, so He disarmed the devil and made a public spectacle of him.

7. Jesus now stands preeminent over everything. Colossians 1:16-18.

• He created all things, sustains all things, and all things are made for Him. As we broke with the Father and our world came under sin and death, everything got messed up, but because of Jesus, He is the firstborn of the dead that He might be preeminent in everything. The created world has been subject to frustration, but Jesus through His death and resurrection, has started a new humanity, the Church. The Church is free from sin and the grave. He is Lord over creation and recreation. He's the head of all creation and the Church. The CEO is our Dad. He's intimate.

8. God's immeasurable great power is toward us if we believe. Ephesians 1:19-20.

• The same power that raised Christ from the dead is working for you. It's not just power, it's immeasurably great power. Immeasurably is "hyperballo", "ballo" means "to throw", and "hyper" means "over", so the meaning is to overthrow, surpass, or beyond. Greatness is "megethos" meaning massive. All of the rest of the words in this verse are synonyms for power. Paul is saying, "I wish you knew the surpassing massiveness of His power, according to the power of His power of His power." "Dynamis" means coiled inherent energy. "Energeia" means the movement of energy that went to work. "Kratos" means democracy, theocracy, or authority. "Ischys" means His might, power.
• "I wish you understood His potential inherent energy that He mobilized. It was strong enough to overcome boundaries and take over. He beat death and raised His Son because He has immeasurable greatness to His power."
• He didn't just raise Jesus; He seated Him above all thrones, dominions, and powers. Why would Paul say that? Many were coming out of the occult, dark practices and forces, and oppression. Paul comforts them by saying that Jesus dominates everything they are afraid of.

9. We are blessed by a call to turn from wickedness. Acts 3:26.

• We were bound, but Jesus broke the chains and called us to be with Him. Get out of where you were. Your old life is not bringing you life.

10,11. Jesus is our leader and Savior who gives repentance and forgiveness. Acts 5:29-31.

• It's one thing to save someone from something, but that doesn't make them your master. But Jesus rescues us and then calls us to come with Him. He's not an insecure dominating leader. The first thing He does is give us something. He gives us repentance. Repentance is to see that there is no life in the direction you are walking and to turn around. In the same breath, we are given the ability to repent and forgive; we're not bound to our sins.

12. We'll be saved if we believe God raised Jesus from the dead. Romans 10:9.

• Believe that He is who He says He is and did what He said He would do, and that it counted for you.

13. You are justified. Romans 4:25.

• He was raised for our justification. Justification is right standing before God. He looks at us and says, "You're good." So, constitutionally you're still a mess, but positionally you're good with God. Not because you've done everything right but because you're attached to His Son. He associated with us in death so we could associate with Him in the presence of God.

14-16. We are not condemned, Jesus stands at God's right hand interceding for us, and we cannot be separated from God's love. Romans 8:33-37.

• We know what you did, but you're not condemned; you're justified. On what basis? On Jesus interceding for you. Nothing that anyone can say can change that. Jesus vouches for you, and because of that, nothing can separate you from God's love. You may wrestle with sin, and God hates it. He hates it because He loves you, but nothing can separate you from the love of God because your blood has been purchased by the one who reigns over all thrones, dominions, and authorities forever.

17-19. We're born again to a living hope; we're shielded by God's power until that hope is revealed, and our trials now have a redemptive arc as well. 1 Peter 1:3-7.

• Hope and confidence are rooted in evidence. We have hope that we'll be resurrected in the future because He was resurrected in the past. If death wasn't His end, it's not ours either. He was raised and seated in the Heavenlies, so we'll be with Him be He told us we would. We also have a hope of inheritance because we've been born again. Peter is writing to people who have lost everything for Jesus. Still, he's reminding them that they have an inheritance that is unstained by evil, unimpaired by time, and compounded by immortality, purity, and beauty. You cannot lose.
• You are shielded until that day is revealed. He's got you. His trials ended in glory, so our trials will have some glory as well. There's something of value in all my pain. We can condemn the murder of Jesus, but He used it for redemptive purposes. So, we can condemn the difficulties in our lives, but we know God will use those too. The resurrection shows us that tragedy is not the end of our story.

20. Our faith and hope are in God. 1 Peter 1:20-21.

• We don't believe in the teaching of a moral philosopher; we believe in the Son of God. When you believe in the Son, you believe in the Father. Jesus Christ has mended the dislocation we feel in the universe. Our faith is not just in Jesus; it's in the Father He desperately wants you to meet.

21. We don't need to be afraid. Revelation 1:17-18.

• John was afraid of death when he saw the resurrected Jesus. All that we are afraid of has death attached as well. What scares us does not scare Jesus. Death couldn't hold Him. He's bigger.
• If the tomb is empty, if He's been declared the Son of God in power, who overpowers death and stands forever outside the dominion of sin and death, and He lives to God. If our record of debt has been paid and our enemy has been disarmed and put to shame. If Jesus is preeminent over all things, His immeasurably great power is towards us who believe, and we are blessed by a call to turn from wickedness. If we have a leader and Savior that gives repentance and forgiveness that God raised from the dead and saved us, justified us, and not condemned us because Jesus is at the right hand of God interceding for us so that we cannot be separated from His love. If we are born again to a living hope, given an imperishable inheritance, we will be shielded by God's power until the revealed day. If all our trials are redemptive and our faith and hope are in God- then we do not have to be afraid.