Jesus Christ the Firstborn from the Dead
Firstborn of the dead is one of most peculiar titles ascribed to Jesus Christ (Rev 1:5). It points directly to His being resurrected from the dead (1 Cor 15), on the third day following His being crucified on the cross, at Golgotha. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, and He has ascended into heaven, where He sits at the right hand of God the Father, ruling and reigning over all, as Lord of all.
In Adam, all die (Rom 5:12) because the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). Death entered the world, as Adam and Eve turned from God’s Word of instruction, in unbelief and disobedience (Gen 3). Every human, conceived in the womb, since the fall of man, has died, or is in the process of dying, today. Because of the fall and in the eternal purpose of God (Eph 3:11), it is appointed once for a man to die, and then comes the judgment (Heb 9:27).
The judgment of God against sinners is just because God is righteous, holy, and good. For these very reasons, He must judge the living and the dead (Acts 10:42), in order to maintain His righteousness. All people are already condemned because of the original sin of Adam (Jn 3:18; Rom 5:12–21). In addition, each man’s sin nature is ever-heaping up more and more judgments (Eph 2:3) because the outworking of his nature is to practice sinning all day, every day.
There is no return to this life, for those who have died in the flesh. In addition, because of Adam, all are born spiritually dead (Eph 2:1). This means each person, in his or her natural state is wholly averse to God (Rom 3:10–13). So with a dead soul because of sin, and with a subsequent dead body because of sin, the sentence derived from God’s just judgment is the second death — an eternity in the lake of fire (Rev 20:14–15).
From this sentence of fiery hell, torment, black darkness, with weeping and gnashing of teeth — under the eternal wrath of God — comes the doctrine of salvation. Man needs to be delivered from the wrath to come (1 Thess 1:10), and salvation is an exclusive work of the Trinitarian Godhead (Ps 3:8; Jon 2:9; Rev 19:1). There is salvation in no one else (Acts 4:12).
The life and death of Jesus Christ are significant because of His rule, as the second Adam (Rom 5:12–21). The Son of God became the Son of man, in order to save His chosen people from their sins (Mt 1:21; 1 Pet 2:9), for it was never God’s plan to save all of humanity, nor did He leave salvation to the chance that spiritually dead sinners would be given to make wise spiritual choices (1 Cor 2:14; Rom 8:7). Jesus fulfilled the obligation of the Law, in life, and in death, redeemed His elect ones.
The death of Jesus Christ served as an atonement. Whereas sin separated man from the Holy God, the blood sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son brought total forgiveness of sins (Mt 26:28; Acts 5:31). God accepted Jesus, the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29), as the representative substitute for His beloved church (Eph 5:22–32), the Israel of God (Gal 6:16). Jesus’ atoning death was a particular redemption, resulting in the salvation of a remnant of Jews and Gentiles from every nation, tribe, and tongue, according to God’s gracious choice (Rom 11:5; 1 Jn 2:2; Rev 5:9; 7:9).
For Jesus Christ, to have remained in Joseph of Arimathea’s garden tomb would have spelled defeat. Conquering the last enemy, death and the grave (1 Cor 15:26), Jesus Christ’s work must be different from all others, who have ever suggested a way of salvation, apart from the forgiveness of sins by God. Jesus Christ defeated death by dying, the just for the unjust (1 Pet 3:18), and then, following a perfect sacrifice for atonement, being raised from the dead in victory.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a triumph of the highest order (Mt 12:20). Men declare they are victors in sports, political races, health recovery, etc. Who has ever defeated death (1 Cor 15:54), which itself claimed victory over everyone ever conceived? Now, death, where is your victory? Where is your sting?
Just as “first fruits” are the earliest ripened fruits of a particular season — which happen to also reveal the quality of the crop to be harvested — so the firstborn holds primacy in order and reveals the quality of those to follow. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead with a glorified, immortal body.
All people die, but in the resurrection from the dead, on the last day, at Jesus’ glorious appearing, at His second coming, those who died in Christ will be raised to life, in a twinkling of an eye (1 Cor 15:52), with glorified bodies (Phil 3:21), in the likeness of the firstborn of the dead, Jesus Christ.
With regard to what the Bible reveals about Jesus’ glorified body, we are admittedly limited. Jesus ate food and drank with His disciples, in His glorified body, which clearly retained His wounds of suffering. Still, Jesus had an enhanced mobility, and most importantly, retains His physical state, today, as a man in physical body, in heaven, while possessing the attributes of God.
Apart from His deity, we shall be like Jesus when we see Him face to face (Rev 22:4). A resemblance to our current body and soul remains with us, in eternal glory, but we can conservatively say…everything will be better, forever.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
December 16, 2022
