1 Corinthians 15:20-21, “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.”
I came across these verses in 1 Corinthians this morning….below is the journal entry that eventually turned into today’s verse picture:
There are two ways for a person to be raised from the dead and we can think of them both in light of the biblical picture of a seed falling into the ground.
The first way for someone to be raised is in the manner that we see happened a number of times throughout the biblical canon (think of Elijah and Elisha raising raising the widow’s son and Shunnamite’s son respectively, Jesus raising the little girl, a widow’s son, and Lazarus, Peter raising Tabitha, Paul raising Eutychus). This type of resurrection is like a seed that is dropped into the earth and then, after a little while, taken back out again. It is restored to above ground life, but it is still a seed and will eventually be put back into the ground. Lazarus–and the rest–had to die again.
But there is another way for someone to be raised from the dead, and–as of this point in redemptive history–only Jesus has ever been raised in this way. This true resurrection might be compared to a seed placed in the earth which then returns to above ground life, not by being dug up as a seed, but by growing up through the earth as a living plant. With this resurrection the seed actually grows into its true and full state, it enters into a state and quality and fullness of life that was unheard of and impossible for it when it was just a seed.
The fully grown plant–whether corn or wheat or sequoia–is far more glorious, far more full and multi-faceted and capable of many more interactions with the world around it than the seed was–and yet there is a genuine, organic connection between the two….the fully grown plant is the seed, but the seed as it could never have imagined itself before it died into the earth.
So, when Paul says that Christ is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, he doesn’t mean that Jesus is the first person ever to have been raised from the dead (in the first sense). What he means is that Jesus is the first person ever to truly overcome death, to pass through death, and to rise again into the fullness of resurrected humanity….He is the first planted seed of humanity to grow up into a fruitbearing plant, as it were. He is the firstfruits of the harvest of the human field, He is the pledge and promise that this race will not be allowed to rot in the earth like an abandoned crop, but that they will–those who are in Christ will–rise to new and full and fruitful eternal life.
The risen Crucified One is heaven’s pledge to earth that we will join Him….we will join Him in risen and reigning and righteous life, just as we will join Him in seeing all of our agonies and sufferings and sorrows and bewilderments turned to sweet and God-glorifying songs of joy……the budding, flowering, and fruit bearing of our race is at hand, morning is at hand, springtime is at hand, and all of it is secured by and promised in the crucified Lord who has risen from the dead, never to die again.
