Our Lord Jesus Christ makes His fifth “I AM” statement in John 11:25-26 where He says, “…I AM (what you need me to be) the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, THOUGH HE MAY DIE, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me SHALL NEVER DIE.”
Note that He made this statement against the backdrop of Lazarus’ death (read the entirety of John 11). Thus, the metaphor of death is used here. Using Lazarus’s death as a teaching aid, He intimates that JUST LIKE He would raise Lazarus from PHYSICAL death, He can also raise from SPIRITUAL death all who believe on Him.
This metaphor of death has an Old Testament background.
Genesis 2:15-17 (NKJV)
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it YOU SHALL SURELY DIE.”
A careful reading of Genesis 2 reveals that only two trees existed in the garden.
See vv. 8-9;
8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The TREE OF LIFE was also in the midst of the garden, and THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.
The two trees were the tree of Life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. To choose one was to reject the other.
The tree of Life was figurative of God being the Source of Life. The Tree of Life is God Himself! Man was created to depend on God for life. But the devil tricked man into trying to find life in HIMSELF.
Genesis 3 records this: Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will BE LIKE GOD (the Source of Life), knowing good and evil.” (vv. 4-5)
The trickery of the serpent was to get man to “play God” (i.e. “you will BE LIKE GOD“). So man then depends on HIMSELF for life, which is pride and unbelief. And death came, just like God foretold in Gen. 2:15.
So we have death coming through the first Adam. Conversely, Jesus, the second Adam, brings life. The Apostle Paul describes this in no small detail in Romans 5.
Romans 5:12-21 (NKJV)
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and DEATH THROUGH SIN, and thus DEATH spread to ALL MEN, because all sinned— 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless DEATH REIGNED from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many DIED, MUCH MORE the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, ABOUNDED to MANY. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the JUDGMENT which came from ONE OFFENSE resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in JUSTIFICATION. 17 For if by the one man’s offense DEATH REIGNED through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will REIGN IN LIFE through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in JUSTIFICATION OF LIFE. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made RIGHTEOUS. 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace ABOUNDED MUCH MORE, 21 so that as SIN reigned IN DEATH, even so GRACE might reign through righteousness to ETERNAL LIFE through JESUS CHRIST our Lord.
So Jesus is the second Adam who comes to give life to men in sin—He gives life where Adam brought death!
Not just spiritual life, but also a literal resurrection from the dead. A man who puts faith on Jesus (although he may die now), will be raised at the end of the age NEVER to die again!
1 Corinthians 15:42-55 (NKJV)
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is SOWN (or buried) IN CORRUPTION (decay), it is RAISED in INCORRUPTION. 43 It is SOWN in DISHONOUR, it is RAISED IN GLORY. It is SOWN in WEAKNESS, it is RAISED IN POWER. 44 It is SOWN a NATURAL BODY, it is RAISED A SPIRITUAL BODY. There is a NATURAL BODY, and there is A SPIRITUAL BODY. 45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7) The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the SPIRITUAL (body) is NOT FIRST, but THE NATURAL, and AFTERWARD (at the Resurrection) the spiritual. 47 The FIRST MAN (Adam) was of THE EARTH, MADE OF DUST (describing his body); the SECOND MAN (Jesus) is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the MAN OF DUST, so also are those who are MADE OF DUST (i.e. his children would inherit his kind of body); and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those WHO ARE HEAVENLY. 49 And as we HAVE BORNE THE IMAGE of the MAN OF DUST (Adam), we shall ALSO BEAR the IMAGE of the heavenly Man. (A brand new body at the Resurrection!)
50 Now this I say, brethren, that FLESH AND BLOOD (Adam’s mortal kind of body) cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does CORRUPTION (a body that decays) inherit INCORRUPTION. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall ALL BE CHANGED — 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and THE DEAD will be raised INCORRUPTIBLE (no longer subject to decay!), and we shall BE CHANGED. 53 For this CORRUPTIBLE (body) must put on INCORRUPTION, and this MORTAL (body) must put on IMMORTALITY. 54 So when this CORRUPTIBLE (body) has put on INCORRUPTION, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
Paul quotes from Isaiah 25 here:
Isaiah 25:8-9 (NKJV)
8 He will SWALLOW UP DEATH FOREVER,
And the Lord God will WIPE AWAY TEARS from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He WILL TAKE AWAY from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.
9 And it will be said IN THAT DAY:
“Behold, this is OUR GOD;
We HAVE WAITED for Him, and He WILL SAVE US.
This is the Lord;
We have WAITED FOR HIM (in the grave);
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
So at the Resurrection, the body of Christians waiting in their sepulchres will be raised to life, never to die again! We’ll see everyone we have lost once more and forever. This is the salvation of our bodies from corruption!
Then he continues in 1 Corinthians 15:55
55 “O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
Paul quotes Hosea 13 here:
Hosea 13:14 (NKJV)
14 “I will RANSOM (deliver) them from THE POWER OF THE GRAVE;
I will REDEEM them FROM DEATH.
O Death, I will be YOUR PLAGUES!
O Grave, I will be YOUR DESTRUCTION!
Pity is hidden from MY EYES .”
God promises a time when His people would be delivered from the power of the grave, death will be destroyed and we, free!
Then 1 Corinthians 15 concludes by saying:
1 Corinthians 15:56-57
56 The sting (power) of death is SIN (death uses sin to kill, Rom. 5:12 says that— “death through sin”), and the strength of sin is the law. (Without the law, sin is not imputed: see Rom 3:30, 4:15, 5:13) 57 But THANKS BE TO GOD, who GIVES US THE VICTORY through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So in Christ is VICTORY over sin and death. He has undone what Adam did! He is the RESURRECTION and the LIFE.
© Josh Banks Ministries. 2022.
