The entire consensus of thinking outside of conservative Christian circles 

spiritualizes the resurrection.

Life magazine carried a lead article on the resurrection, and the content was a repetition of the ancient heresy of spiritualizing the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

In some of our churches many of the illustrations of resurrection fall short. An egg, a bulb, or a dormant plant do not represent a resurrection, for there is a germ of life resident in all of these.

Christ’s body was a dead body - there was no life in it. 

His body was raised up.

"He was buried" is the clear and succinct statement of Scripture. 

This means His body was buried, and no body was more dead than His. It was a crucified body, and when the enemies had done with it, Scripture says that our precious Saviour,

Lord Jesus Christ was marred more than any man. 

His body had been scourged, punished, and crucified;

a spear had been thrust into it.

There was no life in it.

Kind friends took His body down from the cross and embalmed it. 

When He did appear to His disciples, He said, 

"A spirit does not have flesh and bones such as ye see Me have." 

It was a new glorious body.

This is our first important consideration.

The second consideration that comes to our attention is most important yet neglected. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection was not a restoration to this life; 

it is unique and unparalleled in the history of the world. 

The Bible records only one resurrection. 

Someone will say, 

"But what about Lazarus? What about the son of the widow of Nain? What about the little girl who was raised from the dead?" 

Dear reader, none of these were resurrections; they were restorations to this life. 

They were resuscitations.

Medical science has on record a case of a man whose heart stopped beating for five minutes, and I believe that there are cases of even a longer cessation, after which the patients have been restored to life. They want to call this resurrection, but it is not in the biblical sense.

The fact is that Christ Jesus did not return to this life; 

He was not wakened out of sleep; 

He didn't put on His old flesh garment. 

Rather, 

He went through to the other side of death. 

He came out of the grave in a new, glorified body. 

That is something that is completely unique. He knocked both ends out of the grave. 

Christ made a thoroughfare of death;

He went straight through and came out on the other side. 

That is exactly what apostle Paul talks about in 

1 Timothy 6:16    "Who only (speaking now of Christ) hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen."

Our Saviour, Lord Jesus Christ is the only One who has been raised from the dead in a glorified body.

When our Lord Jesus Christ came forth from the grave, He came forth in a glorified body. Thus He introduced a new order. 

He began a new creation; He entered a new realm which had never been entered before.

A brand new creation; 

it was the beginning of the church.

The resurrection of Christ Jesus is the most important event to ever take place.

It is more stupendous than the creation of Adam in the Garden of Eden. When Christ came back from the dead, He began a new creation. And now we read:

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:22). 

It is to me quite amazing how little has been made of this creation born in His resurrection.

The scarcity of writing on this subject is appalling. There are very few hymns that are written on the resurrection compared to the large number written about the cross.

Why has there been this neglect of the resurrection of Christ? 

The answer is obvious: it is because there has not been an emphasis on the fact that He came back into a new order, to begin a new creation. 

And that creation is the church.

In Colossians in my opinion, apostle Paul makes one of the most important statements in the Bible; 

"Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His Dear Son" (Colossians 1:13).

That is absolutely tremendous is it not!

We are born into the family of Adam, and because of the entrance of sin into the family, drudgery, doubts, darkness, defeat, and death have come to all of us. 

These all came through Adam - and 

"In Adam all die."

As we look around us, all the folk whom we see, as well as ourselves, are dying, for all are in Adam, and in Adam all die. 

But Praise be to our God that our Saviour Lord Jesus Christ came down to this earth and entered into the human family, went to the cross and died for our sins, was put in the grave, and on the third day came out in a glorified body in newness of life.

Thus He is able to take us out of the kingdom of darkness and sin where we are lost and lead us into His kingdom. 

Christ Jesus is the last Adam and He is forming a new creation by His resurrection from the dead.

This is the reason He has given to His own in this world a new nature, one that can be obedient to God. 

One characteristic of the new nature is that it can be obedient to God - but it needs empowering -  it needs the Holy Spirit of God. 

So Paul (inspired by the Holy Spirit of God) writes:

"So, then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:8).

I don't  know how much good you do - that is, what your neighbors call good - but regardless of what it is, if it is not of the Holy Spirit it cannot be pleasing to God.

If what we are producing in our lives is just the works of the flesh rather than the fruit of the Spirit,

none of it is pleasing to God.

Whatever we do has to be done through the working of the Spirit of God in our lives. Therefore, we simply cannot boast of anything that we do because if there is indeed any good, it is of the Spirit of God, and not of us.

If we do it, it is not lovely at all.

"But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (Romans 8:9).

We have the Holy Spirit because God’s Word says that we do.

In the fifth chapter of Romans it says that when we are justified by faith, the Holy Spirit is given to us and that we are indwelt by the Spirit of God.

That is the mark of a genuine child of God.

"And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness" (Romans 8:10).

God gives us the Holy Spirit because of His grace.

He doesn’t go into a community and say, "I’m looking for the outstanding people here that I might indwell them." Not at all. It seems to me as if He does the opposite, that He looks for the worst, lost sinner, the one who knows he must be born-again.

"Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Romans 8:12-14).

Our Lord Jesus gave us the same picture when He said,

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:27).

Our Lord Jesus Himself, who is our Good Shepherd, leads His own sheep and His own sheep, the ones He has chosen, are all mixed up with the rest of the sheep in this world but when He calls His own sheep, they certainly know Him and they get up and they follow Him.  

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God," -

The Spirit of God dwells in us and in times of trouble, when we are going through a struggle, when it looks pitch dark around us, when we have been misunderstood, or when our friends have turned on us and our families have cast us off,  it is at those times when the Spirit of God will bear witness with our spirit that we are indeed a child of God, and the Spirit in us just cries out, "Abba, Father."

"One with God is a majority."

It was the Holy Spirit of God that was bearing witness with his spirit that he was a son of God and in  that dark, dark hour, Martin Luther tells us that he just cried out to God.

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10).

Christ Jesus is the propitiation for our sins:'

and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world (see 1 John 2:2).

Propitiation means "mercy seat."

It is the same as the Old Testament word atonement, meaning "to cover."

In the tabernacle in the Holy of Holies there was the ark of the covenant. On top of that ark there was a highly ornamented lid crowned with two cherubim of solid gold, facing each other and looking down upon the lid of the box. The ark was a very beautiful thing, for it was all made of acacia wood, and covered inside and outside with gold. The lid was called the mercy seat. 

It was here that the nation of Israel met God in the person of the high priest. Once a year and only once a year, the high priest came into the Holy of Holies, bringing blood to be sprinkled on the mercy seat. That is what made it a mercy seat because they could meet God only in that way. God loved them, but He didn’t simply slop over with love and say, "You can come to Me any way you want." This was the way they were to come to God.

On that great Day of Atonement, the high priest went in and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat. 

That meant that the nation was accepted by God for another year, and then they would need to go through it all over again the following year.

Now here in the verse before us, our Precious Saviour, Lord Jesus Christ is called

the propitiation for our sins" which means that

He is the mercy seat for our sins.

He is the mercy seat because He died for us -

Our Saviour Lord Jesus Christ 

"  ...  was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."

In Romans 1:4  it is said of our Lord Jesus Christ:

"And declared to be the Son of God, (not made to be the Son of God) with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."

Christ became our Great High Priest by His resurrection from the dead, and that is His Present Ministry.

We read further of Him in Hebrews 9:11-12 

"Of good things to come"  really means good things that have come to pass. 

Oh, the good things that have come to us through Him!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3).

"A greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands." 

This tabernacle is nothing that man has built down here. 

The better tabernacle does not belong to this natural creation as to materials or builders.

Let me say this very kindly. All of this business today of trying to sweeten up the worship service with stained glass windows and candles and crosses  ands tapestries ministers to the flesh. 

It is fleshly - it ministers to the physical side of man. 

It doesn’t minister to his spiritual needs at all. 

We need to recognize that there is a real tabernacle in heaven; there is a real High Priest there, and there is spiritual worship.

We today can worship God anywhere, and it is most wonderful when we come together in a church,

A church is a group of true believers in Christ Jesus, of those who love Christ, no matter where it may be in a home, a building, a sports field or just an open piece of ground or in a meadow for that matter.

It is the believers into Christ who are joined to Him that makes up His body which is the true church and it is down here upon this earth, it is identified with Him.

We are joined to Christ by baptism and this is not water baptism it is the baptism of the Holy Spirit alone which places a genuine believer into Christ. 

The minute our heart is ready to trust Christ as Saviour, at that moment our "intellectual" problems will dissolve. God will take the veil away from our minds, and we can then receive Christ into our lives and be saved. 

2 Corinthians 3:16-18   "Nevertheless when it (the heart) shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away." 

The veil is removed from our minds when our heart turns to Christ. 

And the next verse says: 

"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 

The Holy Spirit moves into our lives and makes Christ Jesus real to us.

He is doing this for many believers in Christ today and they are all made ONE in Him for when we are in Him, there can be no division, no separation, It is ONE body, His own body which is the true church, down here on earth. It is Christ Himself that makes us ONE in Himself and the Father.  

When our heart turns to Him, we will come to Him - 

"… we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

When our hearts turn to Him He knows it and He immediately draws us to Himself.

If we turn to Him dear reader the future that awaits us as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him, is glorious.

We have an high priest of good things to come!

The for us here is His own called out body of genuine believers into Him who have been washed in His Precious Blood, made clean, sanctified by the truth, 

"Thy Word is truth (John 17:17) and made One in Him.

"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13).

The Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ.

We are made one by the baptism of the Holy Spirit which places us into Christ's body.

Dear reader there is no division, no division in Christ's body for He Himself has prayed "for us" and His prayers are answered we can be very sure of that fact.

John 17:9-26  "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine. And all mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them.

And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy Name: those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My Joy fulfilled in themselves.  

I have given them Thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.  Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.  O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared unto them Thy Name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

Our Lord Jesus Christ is God.

His love is in us and that love as agape love. It is the love that John writes about in his epistle.

1 John 4:7-13   "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit."

Love is one of the dynamic terms apostle Paul uses to speak of the holy life enabled by the fullness of the Holy Spirit. It encompasses motive and deed. Love is characteristic of the mature believer.

Our Lord Jesus Christ  who was raised from the dead, bodily, by the supernatural power of God  enables us to walk in newness of life.

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God.  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" (Romans 6:1-18).

Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim,
And publish abroad His wonderful wonderful name:
The name allvictorious of Jesus extol;
His Kingdom is glorious, He rules over all.

God ruleth on high, almighty to save;
And still He is nigh— His presence we have;
The great congregation His triumph shall sing,
Ascribing salvation to Jesus our King.

"Salvation to God, who sits on the throne,"
Let all cry aloud, and honor the Son;
The praises of Jesus the angels proclaim,
Fall down on their faces, and worship the Lamb.

Then let us adore, and give Him His right,
All glory and pow'r, all wisdom and might;
All honor and blessing, with angels above,
And thanks never ceasing, and infinite love.

Thanks: digitalhymnal.org

Regarding the order of events connected with the resurrection of Christ, I would like to share with you a very fine note found in the The Scofield Reference Bible on page 1043:

The order of events, combining the four narratives, is as follows: Three women, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, start for the sepulchre, followed by other women bearing spices. The three find the stone rolled away, and Mary Magdalene goes to tell the disciples (Luke 23:55–24:9; John 20:1, 2). Mary, the mother of James and Joses, draws nearer the tomb and sees the angel of the Lord (Matt. 28:2). She goes back to meet the other women following with the spices. Meanwhile Peter and John, warned by Mary Magdalene, arrive, look in, and go away (John 20:3–10). Mary Magdalene returns weeping, sees the two angels and then Jesus (John 20:11–18), and goes as He bade her to tell the disciples. Mary (mother of James and Joses), meanwhile, has met the women with the spices and, returning with them, they see the two angels (Luke 24:4, 5; Mark 16:5). They also receive the angelic message, and, going to seek the disciples are met by Jesus (Matt. 28:8–10).

The order of our Lord’s appearances would seem to be: 

On the day of His resurrection: 

(1) To Mary Magdalene (John 20:14–18). 

(2) To the women returning from the tomb with the angelic message (Matthew 28:8–10). 

(3) To Peter, probably in the afternoon (Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5). 

(4) To the Emmaus disciples toward evening (Luke 24:13–31). 

(5) To the apostles, except Thomas (Luke 24:36–43; John 20:19–24). 

Eight days afterward:

(1) To the apostles, Thomas being present (John 20:24–29). 

In Galilee: 

(1) To the seven by the Lake of Tiberias (John 21:1–23). 

(2) On a mountain, to the apostles and five hundred brethren (1 Corinthians 15:6).

At Jerusalem and Bethany again: 

(1) To James (1 Corinthians 15:7). 

(2) To the eleven (Mark 16:14–20; Luke 24:33–53; Acts 1:3–12).

To Paul the apostle:

(1) Near Damascus (Acts 9:3–6; 1 Corinthians 15:8). 

(2) In the temple (Acts 22:17–21; 23:11). 

To Stephen, outside Jerusalem (Acts 7:55). 

To John on the isle of Patmos (Revelation 1:10–19).

The liberal church and several cults use 1 Corinthians 15:44 "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body" to sustain the theory that the resurrection is spiritual.

Let us see if the passage remotely suggests a spiritual resurrection:

"It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. 

There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body."

On the contrary, this verse is the undoing of the false hypothesis that the resurrection is only spiritual. A careful consideration of certain words will reveal this. 

The words natural and spiritual are adjectives; body is the noun and appears twice. Now, a noun is stronger than an adjective. Therefore, the body is implicated in resurrection. The body is sown one kind and raised another; nevertheless, it is still a body. The present body is a physiological (natural) body. The new body which will be raised will be pneumatical (spiritual). 

Although at the resurrection the new body will be motivated and will function differently from the present body, the fact remains that  it is a body.

The resurrection always refers to the body.

Jesus lives, and so shall I,
Death! thy sting is gone forever.
He who deigned for me to die,
Lives, the bands of death to sever.
He shall raise me with the just:
Jesus is my hope and trust.

Jesus lives and reigns supreme;
And, His kingdom still remaining,
I shall also be with Him,
Ever living, ever reigning.
God has promised: be it must;
Jesus is my hope and trust.

Jesus lives, I know full well,
Naught from Him my heart can sever,
Life nor death nor pow'rs of hell,
Joy nor grief, henceforth forever.
None of all His saints is lost;
Jesus is my hope and trust.

Jesus lives, and death is now
But my entrance into glory.
Courage, then, my soul,
for thou Hast a crown of life before thee;
Thou shalt find thy hopes were just;
Jesus is the Christian's trust.

THIS PAGE UPDATED: 29-7-2011.