NINE RESURRECTIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
Sermon Of The Week – April 28, 2006
THE WIDOW OF NAIN’S SON
The first resurrection of the New Testament is the son of the widow at Nain. And it came to pass that He drew near to the city of Nain, and His disciples went with Him, and a great multitude. When He drew near to the gate of the city there was carried out one that was dead the only son of his mother and she was a widow. The Lord had compassion on her and said, “Weep not.”
Weep not is a strange thing to say to a widow who has lost her only son; her sole support. I attended a funeral one time and a man instructed the grieving widow, “Don’t cry, laugh! Look, I am laughing.” He leaned over and laughed at the corpse. A week later he had moved in with the widow to console her more. Then I knew why he was laughing.
Jesus said, “Weep not”, but He did not say, “Laugh.” Paul later on explained why, when he said, “We sorrow not as the rest who have no hope.” The sorrow of the Christian is different than the sorrow of one whose departed loved-one is not a Christian. Without Christ, Paul says there is no hope. For the Christian the sorrow is mitigated with great joy because they have gone to be with the Lord. Think of what Stephen said at the time he was stoned, “Lord Jesus receive my spirit.” Think of what Paul told the Corinthian Christians, “To be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord.” Paul also told them, “To live is Christ, but to die is gain.” Then again, “I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is very far better, but to remain is needful for your sakes.” What happened at the gate of the City of Nain is only a foretaste of that meeting we will have as we enter in through the gate into the city that John speaks of in Revelation twenty-two, “Blessed are they who wash their robes for they have a right to the tree of life and to enter in though the gates into the city.”
We might wonder, “What did this young man do with his life after this? What great sermons did he preach? What great missionary endeavor did he undertake? Nothing is mentioned, except the reason for his resurrection. Jesus gave him to his mother. His ministry was taking care of his mother. Sometimes our ministry in life is the performing of some humble work that the world never sees. But God sees and God knows.
THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS
The second resurrection of the New Testament is the daughter of Jarius. It is written, “When Jesus came to the ruler’s house He saw the flute players and the crowd making a tumult. Jesus said, give place the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth, and they laughed Him to scorn. But Jesus went in and took her hand and raised her up and the fame went forth into all that land.”
They laughed at Jesus. Many a Christian would rather endure ten lashes on the back than to suffer the indignity of being laughed at and called a Jesus freak. It is all right to be a Christian, but don’t let anybody know it; they might snicker. Don’t let your worldly friends laugh you out of Heaven. Satanic laughter has damned many.
There is also a spiritual lesson to be learned here. Mark tells us the first command the Lord gave to the parents was, “Give her something to eat.” That is good advice. For those who are raised up from the waters of baptism, give them something to eat. Give them the bread of life, the Word of God. Give them the Lord’s Supper on the Lord’s Day, Give them something to eat. On the day of our resurrection, the Lord shall give us something to eat. We shall eat of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God.
LAZARUS OF BETHANY
The next resurrection is Lazarus of Bethany. There was a minor problem at the resurrection of Lazarus. Martha said, “Lord, we cannot roll the stone away from the tomb because my brother has been dead four days; he stinks.” Jesus said, “Said I not unto thee if thou believest thou shalt see the glory of God?” They took away the stone and Jesus said in a loud voice, “Lazarus come forth!” He that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes. Jesus said, “Loose him and let him go.”
It is not right for a person to be raised up from the dead and continue to walk around dressed up like a corpse. I baptized a man one time and when he came up out of the water and got dressed he reached into his pocket and said, “Here, I want to give you something.” He handed me what appeared to be a fancy cigarette case. He said, “I won’t have anymore need for this.” He was taking off his grave clothes. I am sorry to say sometime later, he put the grave clothes back on again, and later on after that he took off the grave clothes for good. Sometimes people put off the grave clothes and put them back on for special occasions. Loose him and let him go.
WHOLESALE RESURRECTION
Next is the wholesale resurrection at the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. Several miracles took place. The veil of the Temple was rent in two from top to bottom, the earth did quake, the rocks were rent and many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep were raised up, and coming forth from the tombs after His resurrection entered into the Holy City and appeared unto many.
How many times did you hear a sermon on these great events, especially the resurrection of many saints who made appearances in the Holy City after the resurrection of Jesus? I heard a man preach on this subject for four hours one time. When he finished I did not know anymore than when he started.
Perhaps the reason you don’t hear or read too much about these miracles is because they happened in such close proximity to the cross. The cross dwarfs everything else around it. Like a mighty oak tree over-shadows any weeds underneath. And that is why the Lord’s Supper on the Lord’s Day dwarfs any other event into insignificance, the cross towers above all.
THE RESURRECTION OF DORCAS
And next is the resurrection of Dorcas. Now there was at Joppa a certain woman named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and alms deeds, which she did. She fell sick and died. Since Peter was only a short distance away they sent for him and he came. He entered into the upper chamber where the body lay. After hearing of her many good works, Peter put them out of the room, kneeled down, prayed, and said to the body, Dorcas arise. She opened her eyes and when she saw Peter she sat up, and Peter gave her his hand and raised her up.
Now just who was this woman? She may not have been old since she fell sick and died. Of course she was not an Apostle, nor anyone that was prominent in the brotherhood of believers. Just who was she that she was important enough to be raised up from the dead? She was a seamstress. Why raise her up, and not raise up Stephen; a most valuable servant of the Lord? Actually this event shows us the Lord is concerned about the most humble and little known of His sheep as well as the great ones of the earth. No servant of the Lord is obscure to Jesus. He knows us all by name, Paul told Timothy, “The Lord knoweth them that are His.”
We can only imagine what a coat made by Dorcas would be worth today if one could be found. If someone would tell me, “I like that coat you are wearing, what is the name of the manufacturer?” I might say, “Oh I don’t know, I paid five dollars for it in a garage sale.” “Let me see the coat.” They look inside and exclaim, “Holy cow, you’ve got a Dorcas! I’ll give you a million dollars for it.” “No thank you, I think I’ll just wear it myself.” The resurrection of Dorcas tells us all of God’s people are important to Him.
THE RESURRECTION OF EUTYCHUS
The resurrection of Eutychus took place in the City of Troas. Troas is the place where the Apostle Paul and his company attended a Sunday evening Church service. They had met for the purpose, we are told, to break bread. They were not assembled to hear this Ace of Apostles, this daring and dauntless disciple, this prince of preachers, this peerless prophet; they were gathered together primarily to observe the Lord’s Supper.
Eutychus, a young man, had gone up three stories high probably to give some older person better seating. Eutychus fell asleep and fell out the third-story window and was killed by the fall. Eutychus was sleeping in Church. Since Thomas Edison had not as yet invented the electric light and they were using oil lamps the fumes must have been too much, so we can’t blame him for sleeping through the preaching of Paul. I heard of a woman one time who had trouble sleeping. They tried everything; counting sheep, sleeping pills, aspirin; nothing worked until someone said they had the answer. They took her over to the Christian Church during the week when no one was around and set her on one of the back seats, and she drooped off to sleep right away.
Paul went down and falling on him said, make ye no ado for his life is in him, and raised him up from the dead. Paul continued preaching until midnight, and I feel sure that Eutychus paid real good attention and stayed awake until Paul was finished.
The principle thing about this Sunday evening service is the fact that the first century Church had the custom of observing the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week.
THE RESURRECTION OF OUR BLESSED LORD
The next resurrection is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul sets the resurrection of Jesus apart from all other resurrections of the Bible. He refers to the resurrection of Jesus as the first fruits of them that are asleep.
All the other resurrections were temporary. Jesus is the first to be resurrected never to die again. Go to the tomb at Nain and cry out, “Young man, where art thou?” And the grave would yield no answer. Go to the cemetery at Capernaum and cry out to the daughter of Jarius, “Where art thou?” And the grave would yield no answer. Go to Bethany to the tomb of Lazarus and cry, “Lazarus, where art thou?” And the grave would yield no answer. Go to Joppa and go to Troas and again the grave is silent. Now go to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea and cry out, “Jesus Thou Son of the most high God, where art Thou?” And the answer would come from the right hand of the Father in Heaven, “I AM the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I AM alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” Jesus, because of His resurrection, has the key to unlock the spirit world, and the key to unlock every casket.
Mark tells us the angel that appeared at the tomb was a young man; not middle-aged, or an old man, even though this young man was thousands of years old. He had been present on that day when God created the earth and the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy. The resurrection of Jesus is the story of the Christian being young forever. I have heard of a land on that far away strand the beautiful home of the soul-Built by Jesus on high where we never shall die-In that land where we will never grow old.
THE FIRST RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD
The first resurrection is mentioned in the gospel according to John in 5:25, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour cometh and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live.” That hour has already come. Jesus said it now is. It would come to pass on the Day of Pentecost when the gospel was preached in its fullness the first time.
Peter preached the facts of the gospel, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, and then told them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Evidently, the dead Jesus referred to were the spiritually dead; those who were dead in trespasses and sins, and when they obeyed the gospel they were raised up to walk in the newness of life. Paul would later say in Romans six, “Know ye not that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him though baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in the newness of life.”
I became a Christian when I was about ten years old. I had read the Book of Mark and learned that when Jesus was baptized and came up out of the water he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and coming upon Him. On the night that I accepted the Lord as my Saviour the building was crowded and when they sang the invitation song, I pushed past the rest of my family and said, “I am going up there.” No one told me to do it. It was my own decision. When they immersed me I walked over to the steps to ascend out of the baptistery, and a tall man reached down and pulled me up out of that watery grave. The man who pulled me up was the local undertaker. Undertakers don’t usually pull you out of the grave; they put you in the grave. Sooner or later I will depart out of this world and another undertaker will put my body into the grave. When he does it won’t mean a thing. My real burial took place when I was about ten years old and raised up in my first resurrection.
THE LAST AND FINAL RESURRECTION
And now that brings us to the last resurrection of the New Testament, the final resurrection. Jesus, Himself said in John five, “Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”
All will hear His voice and come forth: all at the same time. To some it will be to eternal life, and to others to eternal damnation. All includes everyone. On airplanes there are different classifications. You may travel first-class, or second-class, or business-class, but if the engine conks out and the plane crashes, we are all in the same class; the dead class. All that are in the tombs shall hear His voice and shall come forth; both saint and sinner. Remember He said that this is no marvel that He will do this.
No marvel when we note what Paul said on Mars Hill, “God hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world by that Man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance unto all the nations in that He hath raised Him from the dead.”
No marvel as we note that John reminds us in Revelation twenty, “And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away and there was no place for them.”
Someone has written these appropriate lines:
When the great business plants of our city have turned out their last finished work
And the merchants have made their last order and dismissed every last tired clerk
When the banks have raked in their last dollar and declared their last dividend
And the Judge of the earth says closed for the night and asks for the balance
What Then?
When the TV has played it’s last drama, And the comic has made his last pun
When the movie has flashed it’s last picture and the bill board has made it’s last run
When the people seeking pleasure have vanished and gone out in the darkness again
And the trumpet of ages has sounded and we stand up before Him
What Then?
When the choir has sung it’s last anthem and the preacher has prayed his last prayer
And the people have heard their last sermon and the songs have died on the air
When the Bible lies closed on the pulpit and the pews are all empty of men
And the trumpet of ages has sounded and we stand up before Him
What Then?
