The hope we have in Christ!!

*****This is one of the coolest passages in scripture, and I hope it encourages you no matter what is going on in your life right now--- that those who know Christ have a reason to celebrate and be glad...

• 12.
 
• Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as a resurrection?

• 13.
 
• If there's no resurrection, there's no living Christ.

• 14.
 
• And face it - if there's no resurrection for Christ, everything we've told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you've staked your life on is smoke and mirrors.

• 15.
 
• Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ - sheer fabrications, if there's no resurrection.

• 16.
 
• If corpses can't be raised, then Christ wasn't, because he was indeed dead.

• 17.
 
• And if Christ wasn't raised, then all you're doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever.

• 18.
 
• It's even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they're already in their graves.

• 19.
 
• If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we're a pretty sorry lot.

• 20.
 
• But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.

• 21.
 
• There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man.

• 22.
 
• Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ.

• 23.
 
• But we have to wait our turn: Christ is first, then those with him at his Coming,

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• the grand consummation when, after crushing the opposition, he hands over his kingdom to God the Father.

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• He won't let up until the last enemy is down -

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• and the very last enemy is death!

• 27.
 
• As the psalmist said, "He laid them low, one and all; he walked all over them." When Scripture says that "he walked all over them," it's obvious that he couldn't at the same time be walked on.

• 28.
 
• When everything and everyone is finally under God's rule, the Son will step down, taking his place with everyone else, showing that God's rule is absolutely comprehensive - a perfect ending!

        1 Corinthians 15:12-28  The Message

Reflect upon this passage this week, and you may find yourself saying like the Psalmist:

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.  You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.  O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever!  Psalm 30:11-12

(If you need a visual as to what this may have looked like... enjoy video below-- pretty cool stuff)