. Whatever He did, He did for them and whatever was worked in Him shall be surely worked in them.So if Christ rose from the dead, then all who are members of His mystical body must rise, too, for when the Head comes outof the grave, you cannot retain the members in it! Prove that Christ rose and you prove that His people rise, for they areone with Him.
13. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. [See Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 2287,Volume38- "If There Is No Resurrection,"] Yet it is proved by hundreds of credible witnesses that Christ is risen, therefore thereis a resurrection.
14. And if Christ is not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. This Truth of God is the keystoneof the arch-put this away and the whole tumbles down! It is upon this that the whole Christian system rests. If the Resurrectionof Christ is a mere myth and not a positive matter of fact, preaching and faith are equally vain.
15. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ: whom He raisednot up, if it is so that the dead rise not.The Apostle puts the matter strongly, yet not too strongly. He seems to say, "Youknow me to be an honest and truthful man, having no selfish motive in what I declare unto you. But if Christ did not risefrom the dead, I have testified to you a gross falsehood and led you to put your trust in an imposture." So he stakes hisown personal character upon the fact of Christ's Resurrection.
16. 17. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ is not raised, your faith is vain; you are yetin your sins. Yet they knew that they were not in their sins, for they had the witness within then that their sins had beenpardoned. They knew that sin had no more dominion over them, for they had been made to walk in holiness before the Lord. "Therefore,"says Paul, "Christ must have risen, for if He had not risen, you would have remained sinners as you once were."
18. Then they, also, which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. A supposition against which both Nature and Grace revolt!
19, 20. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead,and become the first fruits of them that depart As they always brought into the Jewish tabernacle and temple, a portion ofthe harvest which indicated that the harvest was begun, so Christ's going up to Heaven was the taking of the first sheaf intoGod's great garner-and all the rest must follow.
21, 22. For since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam, all die, even so in Christshall all be made alive. Not that all shall be saved, but all will be raised from the dead! Or else the passage means thatas all who were in the first Adam died as the result of Adam's sin, so all who are in the Second Adam, that is, Christ, shalllive as the result of His righteousness. The question is, Are we in the Second Adam? Faith is that which unites us to Christ.If we are trusting in Him by a living faith, then His rising from the dead ensures our rising from the dead. And if not, itis true that we shall rise, but it will be to shame and everlasting contempt.
passage, but I suppose the meaning is this-Jesus Christ, in order to remedy the great mischief of sin, was appointed to amediatorial kingdom over all worlds and that kingdom will continue until all His enemies shall be destroyed and sin shallbe trod under His feet. Then Christ-as Mediator, mark you, not as Lord-shall deliver up His mediatorial kingdom to His Fatherand there shall be heard that great shout, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! The Lord God Omnipotent reigns!" Christ asGod, as one of the Persons of the ever-blessed Trinity, will still be as glorious as ever, but His mediatorialreign will thenbe over, seeing that He has accomplished all its purposes.
29. Otherwise what shall they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized forthe dead?'This is another most difficult passage and many meanings have been given to it, but I think the most likely to becorrect is this-As soon as a member of the early Christian Church was given up to the lion or to be burned, another convertwould step forward and say, Let me take his name and place." Though it was almost certain that they, also, would soon be putto death, there were always found persons bold enough to come forward to be baptized-to take the place of the dead. "Now,"says the Apostle, "what advantage is there in this if the dead rise not?"
30. And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? Why were the Apostles always subjecting themselves to cruel persecution?
31. I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I did daily. [See Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No.828, Volume 14-" Dying Daily."] He was so hunted about everywhere that there was not a day in which he felt secure of hislife, so he asks, "Why should I endure this if there is no world to come?"
32. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me, if the dead rise not?It isquite possible that Paul was thrown to the lions in the theater at Ephesus and that he fought with them and came off a conqueror."But why," he asks, "did I try to save my life for future labor and for future suffering if the dead rise not?" 32. Let useat and drink; for tomorrow we die. This is the best philosophy in the world if there is no life to come. So Paul has provedhis point right well by every argument that he has used.From assassination attempts to protests in front of the houses of Supreme Court justices, there was a lot of emotion stemming from decisions made by the Court this term. But regardless of your take on a specific issue, the valuable – and correct interpretation – is that the Court removed power from the courts and federal bureaucrats and returned it to the states and the citizens.
We saw this in numerous decisions over the past year.
We saw the Court rule that the EPA can’t write laws Congress has long rejected, OSHA can’t mandate vaccines without Congressional approval, the CDC can’t play our national housing regulator, and abortion restrictions should be determined by the states.
In Alabama Association of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Services, the Supreme Court struck the CDC’s COVID-inspired eviction moratorium as it was not authorized by the Public Health Service Act of 1944. The Court ruled the CDC lacks that level of authority to regulate the rental of apartments nationwide. “If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it,” the Justices wrote.
And in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, the Supreme Court ruled that a federal agency cannot unilaterally mandate that existing coal-fired and natural gas-fired power plants produce less electricity or convert to green energy sources. While the regulatory power of agencies is still in question, the Court said that the Clean Power Plan rule, which the Obama administration originally instituted, was such a significant policy that the agency needed clear authority from Congress before moving forward.
In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the majority of the Court upheld that abortion was not a constitutional right and that individual states have the right to regulate access to services for abortion. This stemmed from a 2018 Mississippi law that banned abortion operations after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy.
In each of these cases, there was large, vocal opposition. But the Supreme Court should not be influenced by outside noise. Moreover, they never said these ideas are dead, just that you must do it correctly. If you want to prohibit evictions, you can do it, but it needs to be authorized by Congress. Same with vaccine mandates or green energy proposals. With Dobbs, states can determine regulations around abortions while previously being told by courts they couldn’t.
In reality, the Court didn’t “do a lot,” in the sense that they didn’t write laws from the bench. They were simply a check on government power that was far removed from voters. But the voters, via their elected representatives, have the power to shape any of these policies. Politicians who liked these rules or policies may complain, but that is the right direction. And that is what people should be paying attention to.This beautiful hymn was written more than 200 years ago, yet its message rings relevant. Our hope as Christians is that praising the name of Jesus Christ is an eternal song, sung through all the ages by the whole creation. Moreover, we pray that such praise is also the song of our days for as long as we live.
Many aspects of God’s creation—snow-covered mountains, colorful canyons, fields of sunflowers, dense forests, deep blue lakes and oceans, cool air, and voluminous clouds—lift our hearts to praise God as their beauty, power, and wonder draw forth our awe and adoration.
Even on days when our own lives are bowed down, creation displays the