The Benefits of Christ at the Resurrection (WSC 38)

Last week we talked about death. We saw that death is the entrance into the realm of God’s wrath and curse. When you die, you don’t cease to exist. Your body and your soul both die – but neither your body nor your soul ceases to exist! That’s why Jesus says in John 11 that the one who lives and believes in him will never die.

Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus, and said to Martha, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and the one who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

Think about that. If you believe in Jesus, then in one sense, yes, you will die. There will come a day when your soul will depart from your body, and your body will be buried six feet under. But Jesus says that the one who lives and believes in him will never die. In other words, if your body and your soul both belong to Jesus, then you will not experience death as the horrific curse that it is.

That’s why Paul says here in 1 Corinthians 15 that there is no sting of death for the believer. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. It’s why Paul refers to the believer’s death as “sleep” (like Jesus did in John 11).

After all, the wages of sin is death. If Jesus has taken our death upon himself, then the one who lives and believes in Jesus will never die...