The Crucified Messiah

Foundational to our future hope is bodily resurrection when Jesus arrives in glory to gather and meet his saints . Paul’s description of the “ arrival ” or ‘ Parousia ’ of Jesus in his first letter to the Thessalonians was written to comfort believers over the fate of their compatriots who die before Christ’s return. We need not sorrow “ like the others ” since the righteous dead will be resurrected when the Lord “ arrives ” from Heaven. This hope is based on the sure foundation of Christ’s past Death and Resurrection.

In 2 Timothy , Paul discusses the future resurrection of believers as he responds to denials of this “ sound teaching ” by deceivers who were disrupting the Assembly, denials he treats as little more than idle chatter . In doing so, he demonstrates that his later theology remains well within the Apostolic Tradition and the teachings of his earliest letters. From the beginning, belief in the coming resurrection was central to the doctrine of salvatio n taught by Jesus, his Apostles, and the early Church. This teaching was and remains  “ sound ”  because it is based on the past resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Jesus declared, “ The Spirit makes alive. The flesh profits nothing. The words which I have spoken to you, they are spirit, and they are life .” His statement echoes the principle that life and the Spirit of God are inextricably linked. The “ flesh ” is not inherently evil, but it has no lasting life apart from the Holy Spirit. This principle was demonstrated at the original creation, and now the same Spirit is essential for the bodily resurrection of believers and everlasting life in the age to come.

The return of Jesus at the “ end of the age ” is portrayed as a singular event of great finality. His “ arrival ” or ‘ Parousia ’ will be accompanied by celestial and terrestrial upheaval, the appearance of the New Creation, the resurrection of the righteous dead, the judgment and punishment of the ungodly, the “gathering of his elect,” and the cessation of Death. Mortality will be replaced by immortality, and nothing will ever be the same again!

Paul explains the Gospel in detail in his Letter to the Romans . He wrote to the Assembly in the city of Rome to deal with conflicts between Gentile and Jewish members, and to prepare the ground for taking the Gospel to the western provinces of the Empire. In doing so, he touched on key topics, including death, redemption, the Law, resurrection, and New Creation. Believers are justified through the Nazarene’s death, and they are saved and receive immortality through his resurrection.

In the opening thanksgiving of Philippians , Paul prepares his readers for his discussion on going on to perfection in Jesus in Chapter 3, meaning the future resurrection of believers. That must occur to complete their faith and consummate their salvation. Bodily resurrection is foundational to the Apostolic hope of salvation, which believers receive when Jesus appears in glory.

The Apostle Paul presents Abraham as the great exemplar of faith. God counted his faith as “righteousness” when he was yet uncircumcised, and that meant He justified him apart from the “ works of the Law .” He thereby became the father of all men who are also “ from faith .” Circumcision was added after the promise as the “seal” of Abraham’s justifying faith.

Paul responded to false teachings about the resurrection of believers in his second letter to Timothy. Certain voices in the Church were denying this essential truth. “ God did not give us a spirit of fear but of a sound mind ,” including our anxieties about death. Jesus overcomes death and gives life “ through the Gospel .”

Salvation includes the bodily resurrection of the saints and life in the New Creation, which will occur when Jesus arrives . Central to the doctrine of salvation is the promise of  redemption . God will not abandon what He first created, and both the term and the concept mean the  recovery of what was lost . The universe is enslaved by sin and condemned to decay and death. In God’s redemptive plans, the end state of redeemed things and persons is vastly superior to their original state, and this principle is epitomized in the promises of bodily Resurrection and New Creation.

In his letter to the Laodiceans, the “ Son of Man ” is called the “ Beginning of the Creation of God ,” and the “ Amen, the faithful and true witness .” In his Death and Resurrection, the long-promised “ New Heavens and New Earth ” had commenced. Jesus is called the “ faithful witness ” in the Book’s opening paragraph, a reference to his faithfulness in death on the Roman cross.

Paul links the start of the “ Last Days ” with the death and resurrection of Jesus. The time of fulfillment arrived, and all God’s promises now find their “ Yea and Amen ” in the risen Savior. Similarly, the  Letter to the Hebrews  declares that “ in these last days ,” God has “ spoken ” His definitive “ Word ” in His Son who now sits at the “ right hand of the Majesty on High .” History reached its pivotal point in the life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God.

In  Colossians , Paul stresses the exaltation of Jesus following his Resurrection. Some members of the congregation were confused about his authority over the spiritual powers that were hostile to God and His people; therefore, Paul reminded the Assembly of just how highly God exalted the One who became the “ Firstborn of the Dead .”

Certain members of the Corinthian congregation denied the future resurrection of the righteous. Paul responded by stressing how necessary our resurrection is and by appealing to the past Death and Resurrection of Jesus. His resurrection was and remains the precedent for our future resurrection. We will be raised bodily when he “ arrives ,” and his appearance will mean nothing less than the termination of Death itself.