ASLEEP IN CHRIST
1 Corinthians 15: 12-19 NET.
12 Now if Christ is being preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty.15 Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified against God that he raised Christ from the dead, when in reality he did not raise him, if indeed the dead are not raised.16 For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised.17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins.18 Furthermore, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.19 For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone.
It’s the time of year when we celebrate Easter again. It is fitting that we set aside a time every year to meditate on its meaning because, more than any other holiday, Easter forces us to think about the Bible’s most essential message and the most significant event in history.
The message of Easter is that Christ has been raised.
Like all holidays, Easter has attracted many traditions and rituals that compete with the event that we actually celebrate. Christmas is like that, too. Hopefully, we all know that Christmas is not about the man in the red suit who carries a bag. It’s not about reindeer—even ones with mutated noses. It’s not about trees or packages or family get-togethers. All those traditions are tacked on to the essential message of Christmas, which celebrates an event—the birth of our Savior.
Easter has its own set of tacked-on traditions as well. It’s not about a bunny. It’s not about hiding Easter eggs. Nowadays, we are hiding our eggs in a vault because they are so expensive. Easter is also not about Springtime. I gave an Easter sermon when I was pastoring in New Zealand. March and April are not in the Springtime in New Zealand because it is in the Southern Hemisphere. Easter comes in the Fall there. But that culture has its traditions about Easter.
It is essential for us as Christians not to get so caught up in cultural traditions that we lose sight of Easter’s real meaning. We need to peel back the traditions, reveal the actual event we are celebrating, and then focus on its significance.
Easter is really about Christ’s resurrection. The Apostle Paul spent this entire chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians focusing on the event and its significance. That is the true meaning of Easter, and its message is essential to the presentation of the gospel and our understanding of the gospel.
If I were to ask the average Christian what the gospel is all about, they would probably say that Christ died for our sins and if we believe in him we can have eternal life. That’s not wrong, but interestingly, that is not how the apostle Paul chose to explain the gospel here. In verse one of this chapter, we find that the Apostle wanted his readers to be clear about the gospel message. For that reason, he goes on for the following 57 verses to write about the event of Christ’s resurrection and its significance for believers. He does say that Christ died for our sins in verse 3. But he goes on to say that Christ was raised on the third day. His focus was not on trying to convince the Corinthians that Christ died for them. Instead, he focused on the fact of Christ’s resurrection. He did not want the faith of the Corinthian Christians to be focused on a dead Savior.
The message of Easter and the gospel is not centered on the death of Christ – as important as that fact is. The gospel Easter message says that the Christ who died as our substitute was raised and became the firstfruits. Later in this chapter (verse 23), Paul mentions that the idea of Christ as the firstfruits is essential to Paul’s gospel message. Sadly, even those who are all the time talking about the gospel often fail even to bring up the idea of the firstfruits. But that truth is gospel truth. If we don’t correctly understand how Christ is God’s firstfruits, we don’t yet fully comprehend the gospel.
Believers who die have fallen asleep in Christ.
In this chapter, Paul identifies three types of people. There is Christ, who is in a category all by himself because he alone has been raised from the dead, never to die again. He is the firstfruits—the first part of the harvest.
I really enjoy it when the garden crops start coming in. I like sharing the first part of the harvest with others because it is proof that God has given a harvest. But it is just the firstfruits. Part of the joy of the firstfruits is the anticipation of the whole harvest, which comes later.
So, Christ is the firstfruits because he is proof that God raises the dead. But the rest of the harvest will come later.
The second category of people that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 15 is the enemies of Christ. We read in verse 25 that when Christ returns to the Earth, he is going to reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. Some people reading that verse think that Paul is saying that Christ is going to put his enemies in jail where they will live for eternity, always suffering for their rejection of him. But that is not what Paul means. In the ancient Near East, to put an enemy under your feet means to kill the enemy. We know that is what Paul means here because he goes on to say in the next verse that the last enemy to be eliminated is death itself. That’s a critical gospel verse because it tells us that the enemy death is real, and it is not yet eliminated.
So, now we get to the third category of people. Remember, Christ is the firstfruits. He is the only one, so he is the only person who is now living in eternal victory over death. The second category is God’s enemies. They are all mortal, so they will die for Adam’s sin. But when Jesus comes back, he will raise them from the dead, judge them, and then finally put them under his feet – that is, eliminate them.
So, the third category is believers in Christ. When Christ returns, he will raise us immortal, and we will begin our eternal lives at that point. We are the next phase of the harvest. But what about now? What is the status of those who have put their faith in Christ and die before his return? The Apostle Paul explains what happens to these believers. He says in verse 17 that they have fallen asleep in Christ.
Before I explain what being asleep in Christ means, I want to make clear what it does not mean. Being asleep in Christ does not mean that you have gone to be with the Lord.
There is only one place in Scripture that discusses believers being with the Lord. That is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. In this passage, Paul says that the believing dead are in the same state that he said they are in in 1 Corinthians 15. In 1 Corinthians, Paul said that they have fallen asleep in Christ. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul says that they are asleep (verse 13) and that they have fallen asleep as Christians (verse 14), and that they have fallen asleep (verse 15). When Christ returns, they will rise from their sleep. Only at that time are believers said to be with the Lord (verse 17).
Being asleep in Christ does not mean that you have gone to heaven. In John 3:13, we learn that no one has ascended to heaven except Jesus himself. The only human being in heaven today is Christ, the firstfruits.
Being asleep in Christ does not mean that you have gone to a better place. The better place is the new Earth, which Jesus is going to create when he returns. Dead believers are sleeping in the same place that dead unbelievers are sleeping. That place is called Hades in the New Testament. When Jesus returns, he is going to open the gates of Hades; He is going to raise all the dead. So, being asleep in Christ does not mean that you are in a better place than the unbelievers are. It just means that when you rise, you will experience the better resurrection. The Bible says there is a resurrection unto life and there is a resurrection unto condemnation that will conclude with the lake of fire – the second death. So, the only comfort we have if our loved ones have died is that they will inherit eternal life when Jesus comes again.
Being asleep in Christ does not mean that you have gone on to your reward. In Revelation 22:12, Jesus says that he is coming soon and his reward is with him. So, believers who are asleep in Christ are waiting for Christ to come again so that they can receive their reward.
The hope of Easter is in the Christ who has been raised.
Bunnies hop away. Easter eggs don’t last. Springtime comes and goes. But the hope of a resurrection unto eternal life is the confidence we have in Christ.
Paul says that if our hope in Christ is merely for this life, we should be pitied more than anyone. The reason we put our hope in Christ is that his tomb is empty. One day, he is coming back, and he is going to wake the dead in every cemetery. The word cemetery actually means “sleeping place.” He is going to bring back to life all who have ever lived.
The gospel is not anthropocentric, not man-centered. It is Christocentric, centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ. That is why we celebrate Easter. Our hope is in the one who has conquered death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Paul says, “We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him” (Romans 6:9).
Paul says, “We know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now” (Romans 8:22). Our day has not yet come, and our resurrection and eternal life have not returned.
Paul says, “We know that the one who raised up Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will bring us with you into his presence” (2 Corinthians 4:14).
But Paul also says he aims to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection (Philippians 3:10). He hasn’t experienced it yet because he is currently asleep in Christ. We haven’t experienced it yet either, but we will!
Paul knows the one in whom his faith is set, and he is convinced that Christ is able to protect him until the day of Christ’s return (2 Timothy 1:12).
Easter is a time for all Christians to declare what we know. We declare Christ crucified for our sins, raised to life as the firstfruits, and coming again to set us all free from the slavery to death and give us glorious eternal life.
jeffersonvann 