Resurrection and Ascension

Order of Service

• Prelude
• Announcements
• Call to Worship — Isaiah 33:5-6
• Hymn — I Will Exalt You, God My King (Psalm 145B)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Westminster Larger Catechism Reading — Questions 18, 19, and 20 (Providence)
• Hymn of the Month — Give Praise to God (#220)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
• Sermon
• Closing Prayer
• Hymn — Join All the Glorious Names (#377)
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: The Resurrected, Ascended, and Returning Christ

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

I. Christ as Resurrected

• A. The resurrection is a historical event, not merely a set of principles; Christianity's doctrines rest on it as a real, datable occurrence under Pontius Pilate.

  1. 1 Corinthians 15:17-19 — if Christ is not raised, we are of all people most to be pitied.
  2. The specificity of the Apostles' Creed ("the third day he rose again") is deliberate and historical.

• B. The resurrection brings clarity — it is like glasses being put on after walking in darkness.

  1. Old Testament type: Elijah raises the widow of Zarephath's son (1 Kings 17:24); the widow declares, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true" — it is the resurrection that confirms Elijah's prophetic word.
  2. In the Gospels, especially John, the disciples did not understand Christ's sayings until after the resurrection; despite witnessing miracle after miracle, they hid in fear at his death until the resurrection removed all doubt.
  3. The resurrection is the seal of the Father's word at the baptism and transfiguration — "This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased" — just as the healing of the paralytic in Matthew 9 was a visible sign confirming Christ's authority to forgive sins.

• C. The resurrection declares Christ's authority over death and Hades.

  1. Revelation 1:17-18 — "Fear not. I am the first and the last and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades."
  2. Hebrews 2:14-15 — through death Christ destroyed the one who had the power of death (the devil) and delivered those held in lifelong slavery by the fear of death.
  3. Satan no longer holds the keys to death and Hades; Christ does, expelling the fear of death for all who are found in him.

• D. The deepest human longing for freedom is ultimately a longing for resurrection life.

  1. Every narrative, story, and revolution reflects the fallen image-bearer's longing for the liberty lost in the fall — liberty with God for eternity.
  2. True freedom is found not in submission to the flesh (a cruel slave-master) but in binding one's yoke to the resurrected Christ.
  3. The church's recitation — "The third day he rose again from the dead" — is the kingdom of God's declaration of true independence and liberty in Christ the risen King.
  4. Unlike earthly republics ("a republic, madam, if you can keep it"), there is no "if" in the kingdom of Christ, for the one who holds the keys to death and Hades is alive forevermore.

II. Christ as Ascended

• A. Christ's states of humiliation and exaltation frame his person and work.

  1. His humiliation begins at conception in the Virgin's womb and ends at the grave.
  2. His exaltation is inaugurated at the resurrection and completed when he sits down at the right hand of God the Father and pours out his Spirit (Pentecost).
  3. Theologian Richard Gaffin demonstrates that the work of Christ's first coming is not complete until he is enthroned and pours out the Spirit in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

• B. The pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost is the sign and seal of Christ's enthronement, not an ongoing repeatable pattern.

  1. In Acts, the Spirit is poured out specifically on Jews in Jerusalem, on Samaritans, and on Gentiles (Cornelius's household, Acts 10) — a redemptive-historical, epoch-shaking event demonstrating Christ's rule.
  2. Charismatic/miraculous gifts were always meant to confirm the word of the Lord, not to be ongoing independent phenomena.

• C. Christ's ascension as King means he rules all things now for the sake of his church.

  1. Ephesians 1:22 — "He put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."
  2. How many kingdoms have come and gone since Christ said "the gates of hell shall not prevail against my church"? All are footnotes of history, yet the church built not on the sword but on the self-sacrificing cross endures.
  3. The logic of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-19): "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations." His authority is the grounds for the mission.
  4. God's providence — as seen in the catechism — superintends all events for the sake of his bride, the church; what the kingdoms of this world mean for evil, Christ means for the good of his church (Genesis 50:20).

• D. Christ's ascension as High Priest after the order of Melchizedek means he ever lives to intercede for his people.

  1. Hebrews 8 — he entered the true tent, the true holy of holies, of which the earthly tabernacle was only a copy and shadow.
  2. Why do we need a continual high priest if the cross is finished? Because the accusations do not stop — Satan still accuses, and our sin still nags at us.
  3. 1 John 1:9 — "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us" — because we have an advocate with the Father, our high priest who ever lives to intercede.
  4. As Moses interceded for Israel after the golden calf, reminding God of his past redemption and staying his wrathful hand, so Christ at the right hand perpetually presents his finished work — "It is finished" (τετέλεσται) — before the Father; not because the Father forgets, but because the Father delights in the mediation of the Son and in forgiving his people through that finished work.

III. Christ as Judge

• A. The Apostles' Creed — "From there he shall come to judge the living and the dead" — speaks of Christ's second coming as the great separation.

  1. John 5:28-29 — all in the tombs will hear his voice; those who have done good to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
  2. This general resurrection involves both the reprobate and the people of God — wheat and chaff, sheep and goats — separated by Christ.

• B. Judgment as separation is a theme running throughout all of Scripture, always coinciding with salvation for God's people.

  1. The Garden — Adam and Eve are exiled from Eden (judgment/separation), yet God prevents them from eating the tree of life and being confirmed in damnation (hidden mercy).
  2. Noah — his family is separated from the rest of humanity facing God's wrath; the separation is salvation for Noah and his household.
  3. The Exodus — separation of Israel from Egypt; judgment falls on Egypt while the separation is salvation for Israel.
  4. The exile — the land receives Sabbath rest, separated from the covenant-breaking Israelites; judgment on Israel, a kind of salvation for the land.
  5. The final day of the Lord will be the separation of all separations — judgment for the reprobate, salvation and rejoicing for the people of God.

• C. The resurrection is the public assurance that the appointed Judge is coming; the days of ignorance are over.

  1. Acts 17:30-31 — "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
  2. Isaiah 9:6-7 — "Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end… the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this." The Father appoints the Son as judge; Isaiah 9 has begun and is now known to all because Christ has been raised and seated at the Father's right hand.
  3. 1 Corinthians 15 — at his second coming Christ will complete his victory over death, then hand the kingdom back to the Father.
  4. We are in the last days, the last hour; the Judge who holds the keys to death and Hades is coming. The call is: repent and believe — you can claim ignorance no longer, for Christ has been raised.