************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 57 ************
Doctrine: The Apostles' Creed, "the resurrection of the body"
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on February 11, 2001
Q & A 57
1 Corinthians 15:35-58
"The Soul's Immortality and the Body's Resurrection"
Introduction
With the church of all ages, what do we confess? We say, "I believe ... the resurrection of the body."
Now, don't forget, we are studying the content of true faith. True faith, saving faith, believes "the resurrection of the body." Faith that joins us to Christ so that we are washed and cleansed and redeemed believes "the resurrection of the body."
I My Soul Taken to Christ
A More than once many of you, like me, have gotten the unexpected phone call announcing a death. Or, you have been in the hospital room when the physician pronounces an aged parent as being dead. We say, "He is dead," and fall into each other's arms and weep. But, based upon Scripture, we also say, "He lives!" and we are comforted. The doctor tells the truth when he pronounces a loved one is dead. But the Scriptures don't lie when they tell us the same person is living.
The Catechism tells us that when a believer dies the soul leaves the body, and is "taken immediately after this life to Christ its head." The Catechism does not say that the soul goes to heaven; rather, it tells us that the soul is taken to Christ. The Bible's emphasis is not on the where but on the with. What is important is not where the soul goes; rather the emphasis falls on whom the soul is with. As I said to the boys and girls, the body is like a walnut shell (HOLD UP SHELL). The body or shell goes into the ground but the inside or soul goes to be with Jesus (HOLD UP KERNEL).
We don't know much about this life with Christ our loved ones have right after death. There are so many questions we would love to have answered. A loved one has died, and we wonder:
How does he live now?
Does she see Jesus?
Can he see us?
Is she fully happy even without a body?
Is he fully conscious, and, if so, of what is he conscious?
What does she do all day?
Does he recognize loved ones already in heaven?
Will she know if any of her loved ones are not in heaven?
Will his marriage remain intact in heaven?
Is her favorite pet in heaven?
We have to admit we don't have many answers. But this we do know about the Christian who dies: we know that he lives, because the Bible says he lives. We know that he was "taken immediately after this life to Christ," because God says that's what happens to believers.
B In many places the Bible teaches us this comforting truth. Consider the words of Jesus to the thief as He hung upon the cross: "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise" (Lk 23:43). Or, listen to the words of Paul: "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far" (Phil 1:23); and, "We ... would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord" (2 Cor 5:8). Such language indicates to us that life after death with Christ is conscious, joyful, and better than anything here even though it is life without a body and therefore incomplete.
C Both the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Seventh-day Adventists deny this comforting teaching. Neither believe in the continued existence of human beings after death. Though both groups believe that some day bodies will be raised from the grave, they don't believe in any existence of man between death and the resurrection. The Jehovah's Witnesses, for instance, believe there is no soul which survives when the body dies, since the soul cannot exist apart from the body. No aspect of man continues to exist consciously after death; hence when man dies he totally ceases to exist. Those who die experience "soul-extinction." Thank God that we know and realize how wrong this viewpoint is (cf Hoekema, The Four Major Cults, Page 345ff).
There are people today who believe in some kind of "soul sleep." They believe that after death the soul plunges into a dark and dreamless sleep without any awareness of time or place or existence until the alarm clock goes off on the Judgment Day. We maintain, however, with our confession, that we will be with Christ as soon as life leaves our body.
D Do you remember Jesus' debate with the Sadducees? The Sadducees did not believe in angels and said there was no resurrection. Jesus showed them that Scripture teaches a continued life after death with a text you and I would never have used. Jesus said,
(Mt 22:31-32) But about the resurrection of the dead – have you not read what God said to you, (32) 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."
Jesus tells us here of God's covenant faithfulness. Once God has covenanted with Abraham – or with you or me or one of our loved ones – He never lets go of such a covenant or of His covenant partner. Once God has established communion with us, it is an eternal communion. A covenant with God is even more secure than a marriage covenant. A marriage covenant, as you know, can be broken by adultery and divorce or ended by death. But God's covenant can never be interrupted or broken, not even by death! Death cannot break up a union forged by the love of God. You know what Paul says:
(Rom 8:38-39) For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, (39) neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Yes, what the doctor says is true. Loved ones do die. Your hand feels it, and the truth comes slowly home. Life is gone. At the same time you also know that the departed one lives, even without a body. Death is always gain for those whose living is Christ. His soul or her soul was "taken immediately after this life to Christ its head." And, we know that he or she is kept with and by and for the Lord. Don't forget, God is "not the God of the dead but of the living" (Mt 22:31,32).
What comfort, what strength, what security this gives us poor, sinful creatures. Death is not the end for you or me or any loved one who knows the Lord. Rather, ours is the comfort of knowing that my soul and their "soul will be taken immediately after this life to Christ its head."
II My Body Raised by Christ
A Yes, congregation, you and I and our loved ones live after death. However, this life is incomplete because it is life without a body. A bodiless life – even in heaven! – is deficient, lacking something. You see, God made us body and soul. And, soul and body belong together. Neither one, all by itself, is "me." When physical death occurs, these two, body and soul, are wrenched apart, and I die.
But that's not all of the story. Of course not! For with the church of all ages, what do we confess? We say, "I believe ... the resurrection of the body." Someday, in other words, my soul is reunited with my body.
B The church of Jesus Christ has always set two streams of thought over against each other here. On the one hand, there are those who emphasize the "immortality of the soul." On the other hand, there are those who emphasize the "resurrection of the body."
Emphasis on the immortality of the soul has usually not been good for the Christian community. It has led to a disregard for the body and the present form of existence. Emphasis on the immortality of the soul has led some to say that a person's soul is a jewel imprisoned in the cage of a temporary body. Only death brings release or freedom. The Greek philosophers taught this in the past. Today, we hear this from far-eastern religions like Hinduism, the New Age Movement, Channeling, Transcendental Meditation, or various modern-day cults. This kind of teaching is not biblical, but people can make it sound biblical.
Of course, an emphasis on the body at the expense of the soul is equally bad. The whole body-building cult, the worship of sports and sports-heroes, the idolizing of slim and sleek bodies, more than amply demonstrates this. Those who live only for the body, its appetites, its desires, need to learn that there is more to life than the physical aspect; they need to learn that man does not live on bread alone; they need to learn that we must seek first the kingdom and its righteousness.
The Christian religion is unique in not buying into the either/or of either the "immortality of the soul" or the "resurrection of the body." Rather, the historic Christian faith maintains a both/and: we believe both the "immortality of the soul" and "the resurrection of the body." Man, as I said, was made by God as body and soul. And both together make up "me."
C "I believe ... the resurrection of the body." The teaching of the resurrection of the body is the most mind stretching and faith demanding of all Christian doctrines. Some people have difficulty believing in creation – the act by which God made the world out of nothing by the power of His Word. But compared to the resurrection of the body, creation is easy to believe. For all around us every day we see a thousand proofs of God's creation power: the miracle of birth, the buzzing of an insect, the sophistication of an ear, the glory of a sunset, the twinkling of a million stars – and many other things – convince us that the universe is no mere chemical or mechanical accident.
But now think of the resurrection of the body: so many thousands and millions of human bodies have been mangled by accident and wars, and billions have been buried or burned or gassed or drowned. All have returned to the dust and the base elements from which they were formed. These, in turn, have been recycled into other living organisms, which also have died and become part of the same cycle. How can such bodies be raised? How can dust and ashes spread by wind and wave to the four corners of the earth possibly be reconstituted? And, to whom does each speck of dust and element belong: to the first or to the last living creature they formed a part of? These are real questions and problems for the thoughtful human mind. Yet, what does the church dare to confess? She says and declares and professes, "I believe ... the resurrection of the body." She says and declares and professes,
Not only my soul
will be taken immediately after this life
to Christ its head,
but even my very flesh, raised by the power of
Christ
will be reunited with my soul
and made like Christ's glorious body.
"My flesh" will be raised. My fragile human existence that I keep going with food and drink, exercise and medicine, until it is all worn out and dies, will be raised.
On the way home from church a little boy asked his mother, "Is it true, Mommy, that we are made of dust?"
"Yes, darling."
"And do we go back to dust again when we die?"
"Yes."
"Well, Mommy, when I said my prayers last night and looked under the bed, I found someone who is either coming or going."
What faith! This little boy looked at a dustball and saw someone coming or going. He believed the "resurrection of the body."
D Our Bible reading from 1 Corinthians 15 speaks so eloquently of the resurrection of the body. In this passage Paul takes on those people who deny the body's resurrection. He maintains that the dead are raised because Christ has been raised; they are raised by the resurrection power of Christ. In fact, if they are not raised then Christ has not been raised either and our faith is in vain.
In the portion of 1 Corinthians we read for today, Paul addresses the question of "How are the dead raised?" He tells us what the resurrection is like.
Do you know what the resurrection is like? It is like seed planted in the ground. This tells us two things. First, the only way to a new life is through "death" (vs 36). A seed has to be buried before it can bring forth life; likewise, our body has to be buried before the resurrection body can be obtained. Remember what I told the boys and girls about the seed? (HOLD UP FLOWER POT) Second, what comes out is quite different from what goes in (vs 37-41). A single seed is planted in the ground and what comes out is vastly different: a plant with roots, stems, flower, and fruit. And each seed produces sizably different plants. The same thing will happen with the resurrection of the body. Apparently, we are to understand that God will demonstrate His freedom and power by creating an astounding assortment of new bodies: all unique, different, but still "like Christ's glorious body."
E What is this body like? Paul gives us a bit of an idea in our Scripture reading:
The body that is sown is perishable,
it is raised imperishable;
it is sown in dishonor,
it is raised in glory;
it is sown in weakness,
it is raised in power;
it is sown a natural body,
it is raised a spiritual body.
Paul's point here is that our resurrection body will be like Christ's.
I am always amazed and excited about the thought that our resurrection body will be made "like Christ's glorious body." This too leaves me with many questions. Christ's glorious body, do you remember what it is like? It is visible, but Christ could also make it appear and disappear at will. He ate fish on the beach one day, yet He could also pass through walls.
Our body will be "like Christ's glorious body." Does this means that ours too can appear and disappear at will and pass through walls and doors? We don't know. At the very least, for our resurrection body to be "like Christ's glorious body" means, in the words of Paul, to be imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual:
-Imperishable – a body no longer subject to death, disease, and decay; in other words, like Christ, we will live forever.
-Glorious – a body that reflects the splendor and majesty of God.
-Powerful – a body filled with energy and vitality; a body endowed with abilities of which we have now no conception.
-Spiritual – a body that is totally led, guided, directed, and molded by the Spirit and no longer under the sway of sin.
In these ways for sure our resurrection body will be "like Christ's glorious body."
Again, what comfort, what strength, what security this ought to give to us poor, pitiful, sinful creatures. Yes, the body is lowered into the grave. But no, it does not remain there forever. Death is not the end of our body. Someday it will be raised by the power of Christ, reunited with the soul, and make like Christ's glorious body.