1. When it comes to the order of the resurrections, most Christians get confused. We know that our Lord refers to two resurrections in John 5:28,29.
2. And this lines up with Rev.20:4-6,14,15.
3. Here in I Cor.15 the Holy Spirit gives us more information concerning the order of the resurrections. Today, we will look at when the dead are raised, why the dead are raised, and how the dead are raised.
4. This subject is probably too deep for one message, so we’ll see how far we can get today.

I. WHEN THE DEAD ARE RAISED.

1. We see here that Paul refers to the Feast of Firstfruits (15:20; cf. Lev.23:9-14). Several things grab our attention when we read about this feast. The "he lamb without blemish" obviously is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ (Lecv.23:12). Peter says that we were redeemed "with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (I Peter 1:19).
2. Next, notice that the priest waved the sheaf before the LORD "on the morrow after the sabbath" (Lev.23:11); i.e. Sunday, the Lord’s Day or "Resurrection Day" (cf. Matt.28:1; Mark16:1,2).
3. When people attack the Lord’s Day they are (perhaps unwittingly) attacking the resurrection of Christ because we worship on the day Christ rose from the dead.
4. It was not a church or a pope or anyone who changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Christians started assembling on Sunday because that is the day Christ arose (cf. Acts 20:7; I Cor.16:1,2).
5. Now concerning the Feast of the Firstfruits, that sheaf of grain waved by the priest, spoke of a coming harvest. Our Lord came forth from among the dead in fulfillment of this OT feast.
6. When He arose it was a pledge that an abundant harvest is coming in the future resurrection of believers (I Cor.15:23). We are going up but not until "His coming" (15:23).
7. The two most important men in the Bible are Adam and Christ, "the first man" and "the second man" (15:47).
8. Because of Adam we all must die but because of Christ we shall "be made alive" (15:21,22).
9. Let me clarify this. Enoch never died, and Elijah never died. And there will be a generation on earth that shall never die. Paul says, "We shall not all sleep…" (15:51; cf. I Thess.4:15).
10. So when the Bible says, "For since by man came death" (15:21), and "For as in Adam all die" (15:22), he is speaking in general terms.
11. I remember a classmate back in Bible college who insisted that the two witnesses in Rev.11 had to be Enoch and Elijah and he based this upon Heb.9:27. But I reminded him that not all men are appointed to die because if the rapture were to take place that day (and it could have), millions of Christians would not die but would go straight to heaven.
12. Another thing I should point out is this: When Paul says, "even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Cor.15:22), he is saying, "even so in Christ shall all those that are in Christ (saved) be made alive." He is not saying that the lost will be part of the first resurrection.
13. the order of the resurrections is this: "Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming" (i.e. the rapture, I Cor.15:23). This is the next scheduled event on God’s prophetic calendar (cf. 15:51-53; I Thess.4:16,17).
14. Christ will come back to earth to reign. "Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father…" (15:24,25).
15. The last enemy is death (15:26). "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death" (Rev.20:14).
16. When our Lord delivers up the kingdom to God, the eternal state (the "new heaven" and the "new earth") will begin. This is described for us in Rev.21 & 22.

II. WHY THE DEAD ARE RAISED.

1. Paul gives many reasons for the resurrection, and the first one he mentions here is baptism (15:29). The Mormon cult practices what they call "baptism for the dead," which is really some type of proxy baptism. A Mormon goes ahead and gets baptized on behalf of some dead relative. This is not what Paul is talking about.
2. Baptism is a personal matter and no one can be baptized in the place of another. Besides, the Mormons practice this because they believe baptism saves sinners.
3. The phrase probably means "baptized to take the place of those who have died" (cf. Scofield margin).
4. In other words, if there is no resurrection, why bother getting baptized and joining the church? (15:29).
5. And if there is no resurrection, why bother risking your life for the Gospel (15:30-32)?
6. And if there is no resurrection, why bother living a separated life (15:32b-34)? Remember Corinth was a very wicked city. It was so wicked that if a man was a very immoral and perverted, people would say: "He lives like a Corinthian."
7. Many of the members of the Corinthian church were involved in gross sin before they were saved (I Cor.6:11). Because God will resurrect their bodies they should keep them clean and pure. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Cor.6:18-20; II Cor. 6:16).
8. Have you noticed how so many people today are into tattooing and body-piercing? This is a sure sign that America is becoming a heathen nation. God wants us to take care of our bodies, not to defile them.

III. HOW THE DEAD ARE RAISED (15:35).

1. Being pagans and being philosophical, the Greeks had decided that the resurrection from the dead was an impossibility. Paul said they were fools (15:35,36).
2. To illustrate his point, Paul talks about sowing seed (15:36-38; cf. John 12:24).
3. Grain sown into the ground seems to decay, but the farmer knows that it will bud and bring forth the same kind of grain. Likewise, a wonderful transformation has been planned by God for His children.
4. If wheat is sown, it is wheat that rises from that grain (15:37,38). There is a wonderful change, and yet there is continuity; there is identification in some way to the body that died.
5. "How much of that grain is in the seed of wheat? Get down to the root of the wheat-stalk and you will still find the little shell out of which this stalk has come. Just so will it be in the resurrection. God will not have to use every part of this body" – HAI.
6. I believe there will be another identification with our mortal bodies so that we will recognize each other.
7. We will not have "rebuilt" bodies but brand-new immortal, incorruptible resurrection bodies. If at the resurrection, all God did was to put us back together again, there would be no improvement. Also, "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (15:50).
8. We would not be able to enjoy heaven in our "natural bodies" (15:44); we need our "spiritual" (resurrection) bodies (15:44), which will be suitable for that environment. Just like an astronaut has to wear his space suit when he goes up in space, you and I will need our resurrection bodies (cf. 15:42-50).
9. Consider this: Our bodies are going to be transformed like our Lord’s resurrection body (Phil.3:20,21; I John 3:2). In His resurrection body our Lord walked through shut doors, yet He also ate food (Luke 24:33-43; John 20:19-29). This gives us some idea as to what we can look forward to. We are not going to be floating around like ghosts or spooks up in heaven.
10. To illustrate the fact that the glory of the resurrection body will be quite different from the glory of our present bodies, Paul points out that "all flesh is not the same flesh" (15:39,40). There is similarity but they are different. Likewise, our resurrection bodies will be similar to our mortal bodies but they will be different.
11. And not only are there earthly bodies, but there are also heavenly bodies, and these differ from one another (15:40,41).

CONCLUSION:

1. We have been focusing today on the resurrection bodies of believers, because this is what interests us the most. We are not too concerned about what happens to the body of some old Christ-rejecting sinner.
2. However, the lost will be given bodies suitable for their punishment in hell. For example, the Bible says they will "stand before God" and after being judged will be "cast into the lake of fire" (Rev.20:12,15).
3. There will be conscious torment in hell. The lost will have new eyes to see how horrible hell is.
4. They will have new noses to smell the sulfur and smoke, and new ears to hear the screams and shrieks of the damned as they cry out in their torment. And they will have new teeth to gnash because Jesus said hell is a place where there is "weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth."