VICTORY BY OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
G Bruce Grant
Luke 23: 39-43
John 11: 23-27
1 Corinthians 15: 57-58
In the first scripture I read, the thief was in the last moments of his life, and appreciated the Lord Jesus, saying, “this man has done nothing amiss”. Jesus said to him, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise”. The Lord Jesus went there first. He said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit”, v 46. The Lord Jesus was put in a tomb, and the thief probably was buried also. The thief is still with Christ; the Lord says, “To-day shalt thou be with me”. He is still with Christ; his body is still in the grave, but the Lord Jesus is not.
The Lord Jesus will yet go to that grave and raise the thief, and what pleasure He will have in doing that; as He will have pleasure in raising all who believe in Him. Our brother’s portion is with Christ; how blessed that is. That is one aspect of death being annulled. Believers who are with Christ have a blessed portion with Him, enjoying His love, enjoying communications from Him. Paul says, “it is very much better” (Phil: 1: 23): much better than our present experience. The Lord Jesus is not in the tomb: He was there three days and three nights, but death could not hold Him! The thief is still there, millions of others are still there, but there will come a time - the Lord is waiting for the Father’s time, when the Lord Jesus will raise all who belong to Him.
I read in John 11: Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, had died. Martha says, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection in the last day”; that was true. Although we know there will be two resurrections - all will not be raised together, what Martha said was true. The Lord Jesus wanted to be appreciated Himself, not just for her to have light as to the last day; so He says, “I am the resurrection and the life”. It is no miracle that the Lord was only in the tomb three days and three nights. That was not a miracle: the miracle was that He died! He has resurrection power inherent in Himself; He could not stay in death. He says, “I am the resurrection and the life”. Martha was looking to a future day; the Lord Jesus, at this point, made the future present; only a divine Person can do that. The Lord would do that for us today. We have the light that believers will be raised, and it is a living power in our souls. The apostle says, “the first-fruits, Christ”, 1 Cor 15: 23. No other person that had been raised was the first-fruits: that is Christ’s distinction. It means that there are others to follow after Him. “The first-fruits, Christ; then those that are the Christ’s at his coming”. Well, what a blessed thing that is. Therefore, there must be after-fruits: every believer must be raised; there is no doubt about it. Faith lays hold of that; it gives power to your soul and hope and comfort. “I am the resurrection and the life”.
He says, “Lazarus, come forth”, v 43. What a moment in time it was when that blessed Man could stand at a tomb and, because of the power that He had in Himself, He could call Lazarus forth: that had never happened before. Only the Lord Jesus could do that because of the power He had in Himself: He could bring a man out of death. And soon He will bring all believers, all the dead in Christ, out of death: what a triumph! What a glorious Person this is! These persons appreciated the Lord Jesus like they had never done before.
We have faith in Christ and appreciate His work, and every one of us who has that must be raised, because we are linked with Him, and He is the First-fruits. He says, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes on me, though he have died, shall live”. It is amazing that this comes from the Lord’s own lips. It is the truth: persons who have died, “he that believes on me” - there you have it - “though he have died, shall live; and every one who lives and believes on me shall never die”. The Lord Jesus either has to do with us Himself in putting persons to sleep, or - there are only these two things for believers - He comes Himself for us. Believers in the Lord Jesus are not waiting for resurrection: we are waiting for the Lord Jesus to come. The hymn says,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal.
(Hymn 238)
Of course, some of us may, if the Lord leaves us here, be put to sleep through Jesus. But that is not our hope; our hope is for the Lord Jesus to come for us.
I read in 1 Corinthians 15: “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all fall asleep”, v 51. Another aspect of death being annulled is this: the believers in the Lord Jesus who are alive when He comes will not see death. We will not pass through that article of death; we will all be changed, and that is what we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus coming with an assembling shout; the Lord Himself shall come. How attractive that is. That Person who has died to save us will come Himself. He will not send another; He will not send an angel: He will come Himself. I read, “thanks to God, who gives us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ”. The Lord Jesus is the Victor; He has broken that power of death; He has come out of it. Because of what He was Himself, He could raise Himself. The Father raised Him; here is another aspect of death being annulled, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. God gives us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ. What hope the believer has; what faith we have in the Lord Jesus. We have the victory in our souls through our Lord Jesus Christ. Death has been overcome. The Lord has gone into death as the Conqueror and broken that power. We have that victory in our souls. The Lord Jesus ‘sits in the calmness of conscious victory’, JND Collected Writings vol 12 p35. He knows He is the Victor; He knows He annulled death; He has dealt with the enemy, every opposing force; He knows that He will raise all His own. He is there in the calmness of conscious victory. We are in the light of that - His victory. That gives us the victory. Paul had the victory in his soul. That is what made him go through life as a believer and a servant of the Lord; not overcome by awful circumstances, he was buoyant, he was triumphant because he had a link with the Lord Jesus who is the Victor. We all have that; it gives us buoyancy in life to know this One who is there in the presence of the Father in conscious victory.
So it says, “knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord”: the fruit will be seen in the resurrection. How our brother laboured, toiled in the Lord; he spent long hours working, so much of it in private, and also in publicly serving the Lord. There will be fruit from that yet. There has been and there will still be fruit.
Well may we be encouraged. It says, “who gives us the victory”; that is present. The Lord Jesus made the future present in John 11, and this is present for us also. We have been given the victory by God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
May the Lord bless the word.
DUNDEE
23rd March 2020
(At the meeting for the burial of John Strachan)