First Quarter 2005 Adult Sabbath School Lessons:
"His Wondrous Cross"
The Story of Our Redemption

Insights to Lesson 9:
He Is Risen
February 19-25

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

Could it possibly be true that we have been remiss in not proclaiming more fully and frequently that part of the gospel pertaining to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ? The resurrection permeates the New Testament and is both implied and explicitly stated in the Old Testament. The death of Christ on His cross and His resurrection from the dead were the keynotes of the gospel message borne by the apostles (Acts 2:22-24; 3:14-15; 4:10, 33; 13:28-30, 36-39; 17:2-4, 30-32; 1 Cor. 15:3-4). Jesus foretold His resurrection repeatedly in the synoptic gospels and Paul proclaimed it in Romans 1, 6, 8; 1 Thessalonians 4; 1 Corinthians 15.

Whenever the gospel was preached, the resurrection was set forth as the crowning evidence of what Christ accomplished on His cross. The story of the cross is embedded in the story of the resurrection. Without the stunning victory of the resurrection of the Man of Calvary, the preaching of the cross would be without power and of no avail.

The beauty of the 1888 message was that it brought more prominently before the people “the uplifted Savior, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through faith in the Surety,” “the third angel’s message in verity.” But the resurrection was to be and is the crowning evidence that justification was wrought out on the cross for every man and given to him.

Let the biblical record speak for itself: Christ “was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification” (Rom. 4:25). It is self-evident from scripture that Christ died not only because of our sins, but because of the sins of the whole world. The resurrection must therefore be the evidence of the justification of the whole world. Scripture is plain: He “was raised because of our justification,” which was accomplished at the cross. The resurrection is the confirming evidence that Christ wrought out an acquittal from the curse of the law for all men and has given it to them resulting in certain temporal benefits, namely physical probationary life. This good news must be received by faith in the Surety which works by love in order to result in the ultimate eternal benefit of immortality. (It is all too true that most spurn that which has been given to them, thereby insulting the Spirit of grace.)

The resurrection is also the crowning evidence that Christ on His cross accomplished forgiveness of sins for the whole world. Listen to the evidence: “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (1 Cor. 15:17). There is no forgiveness without the resurrection! “The God of our Father raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give (aorist infinitive [1]) repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:30, 31). The gift of forgiveness is a historical fact rooted in the cross of Christ and confirmed by His resurrection.

“As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” The resurrection is and will be the crowning evidence that all men have been predestined unto salvation in Christ. When the despisers and rejecters of God’s grace that is in Christ Jesus are raised from the dead, they will recognize and acknowledge that they were chosen in Christ for salvation. It is then that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

No one can be raised from the dead unless they were chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world. The incarnation of the Son of God was mysterious means by which every son and daughter of Adam has been chosen in Him. When the Son of God condescended to take our humanity upon His divinity, the whole race of men was put into Christ.

If anyone doubts this truth, let him hear and read the evidence emanating from the resurrection: “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” The “all” that will be made alive includes believers and unbelievers, because they were chosen in Christ. The pen of inspiration confirms this conclusion. “In consequence of Adam’s sin, death passed upon the whole human race. All alike go down into the grave. And through the provisions of the plan of salvation, all are to be brought forth from their graves. ‘There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust;’ ‘for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’ Acts 24:15; 1 Corinthians 15:22.” [2]

The resurrection of the wicked will be the final evidence to them that they were chosen, predestined, elected, adopted, and justified in Christ. But they knowingly and purposely denied and rejected that which was given to them in Christ. The unconditional good news of the gospel, which is manifested in certain temporal benefits, can be despised and rejected, resulting in eternal loss of the gift bestowed upon them at infinite cost.

The messengers with “heavenly credentials” (A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner) dwelt extensively upon the significance the resurrection for those who profess to know Christ. The resurrection of Christ was the beginning of a new life apart from sin for those baptized into His death and resurrection. “Therefore nothing less than death will effect a separation [from sin]. We could not separate ourselves from sin, because sin was our very life. If it had been possible for us to effect the destruction of sin, it could have been only by the giving up of our lives, and that would have been the end of us. That is why there will be no future for the wicked who die in their sins; their life having been given up (or rather, taken from them), they are out of existence. But Christ had the power to lay down his life, and to take it again; and therefore when we lay down our lives in Him, we are raised again by His endless life. Remember that He does not give us our own life back again, but that He gives us His own life. In that life there never was a sin; so it is that our crucifixion and resurrection with Him is the separation of sin from us.” [3]

The resurrection is the crowning evidence of what Christ accomplished on His cross and the crowning evidence of what He will accomplish in us.

—John W. Peters

Endnotes:

1. The Greek verb “to give,” is an aorist infinitive which means that “the giving” occurred at an historical point of time and is complete.
2. The Great Controversy, p. 544.
3. Waggoner on Romans, pp. 6.111, 6.112.

Read the study notes for lesson 10