One way the early church described their identity and ongoing experience was being in Messiah (Christ). Those in Messiah Jesus live between the resurrections. That is my subject. What are the implications of that New Testament reality? What do I mean by the phrase between the resurrections?

The earliest followers of Yeshua answered those questions in two related parts. First, Jesus rose from the grave, proving he is the Son of God and humanity’s heaven-sent Savior. Second, they believed resurrection would come with the consummation of all things. Shockingly, that end-time expectation broke into the present time with the resurrection of Jesus.

I know this sounds foreign and can be challenging to grasp at first, but stay with me; the subject is foundational in the New Testament and crucial (pun intended) to you living a life full of faith and daily faithfulness. The fact that something so important is unfamiliar to us strikes me as tragic and the work of the Father of lies.

Jesus’ people are resurrection people.

That is why Paul says to the Corinthians that they are the generation upon whom the ends of the ages have come. He is being literal. In Jewish thought, what would occur at the end time (bodily resurrection) entered into time in the resurrection of Jesus. And because we are in Jesus—as the Holy Spirit is in us—we experience his resurrection power for living in the present age!

Selah.

Yes, there will be a resurrection of your bodies at the Eschaton. But because Jesus’ resurrection came first, it can now inform our current context and transform our present existence.

Yeshua from Nazareth was not just another Jewish martyr who regrettably ran afoul of the temple authorities and Roman hegemony. His death was not accidental, nor was it incidental. It was essential. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was integral to his identity and mission.

Messiah’s death was destined, deliberate, and decisive.

Hear these words: “Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Peter, in Acts 2).

In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:19).

Sin separates us from His presence, which is life. The result of this separation is death. Jesus’ death upon the cross was victorious over sin and separation. The second Adam undid the rebellion that began with the first Adam. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Just as the first man died, so the last man was resurrected. And now all who are part of the new Adam—the new humanity—share in his resurrected life. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

But wait, there is more to this story.

Something else besides separation occurred with the rebellion and sin of Adam and Eve. Death entered in.

The LORD God created the world good. Indeed, he says it is very good. In the Creator’s perfect world, there was fullness of life, shalom. When sin entered in, with it came death. Divine intervention and salvation had to deal not only definitively with sin and separation, but there must also be a victory over death.

Did that occur at the cross? No. Follow the logic here. The death of Jesus on the cross deals with sin and separation; it brings us back and reconciles us with our Father. But the victory over death occurred when the Son rose from the grave, as the first fruits, by the power of God. In Jesus, death is defeated.

Selah.

In him, we have the assurance that at our end, we, too, shall defeat death. But know this, death itself shall be finally and utterly defeated.

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Cor 15:24-26).

The result will be nothing less than perfect shalom: wholeness, well-being, righteousness, peace, and joy in the presence of God in a renewed heaven and earth.

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev 21:3-5).

Let’s review these big ideas:

• At the cross, we have the victory over sin and separation.
• In the resurrection, we have the victory over death.

Oh, that makes me want to sing and shout: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever! Amen.

The cross of Christ and his subsequent resurrection are to be inseparably linked in your thinking.

Indeed, they are at the heart of the Gospel and the New Testament itself. As it was for the Apostles and the early church, so it must be for you and me. In Jesus means both his crucifixion and resurrection.

We must always think of the resurrection with the cross and the cross with the resurrection. They are two sides of one coin. As important as the crucifixion of Yeshua is you must realize that without his being raised, he was just another Jewish man executed by the Romans.

Before our gathering, I quickly searched for the word cross in the New Testament letters. Not surprisingly, it was always accompanied by the word resurrection. These two historic events are co-equal and inseparable. They are essential for understanding 1) the implications for all creation and 2) our current lives between the resurrections.

Dear friends, this is not the end of our study. It is just the beginning.