Christ's Resurrection

1. 0:00Hatterberg catechism, Lord’s Day 22 How does the resurrection of the body comfort you?
2. 0:14Not only will my soul be taken immediately after this life to Christ its head, but also my very flesh, raised by the power of Christ, will be reunited with my soul and made like Christ's glorious body.
3. 0:31How does the article concerning life everlasting comfort you?
4. 0:35Even as I already now experience in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, "So after this life, I will have perfect blessedness, such as no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has ever imagined,
5. 0:51a blessedness in which to praise God eternally."
6. 0:56Many people in our culture are living a hopeless life.
7. 1:00That is, they have nothing to look forward to.
8. 1:04You know people like this.
9. 1:06They're stuck in the hamster wheel of hopelessness, and they're just spinning that wheel, and it's gradually getting slower and slower as they continue to lose hope, as they age, as they decay.
10. 1:20they think there's nothing to look forward to.
11. 1:22Life is all downhill from here.
12. 1:24Dear friend, do you have true hope?
13. 1:29If we are hopeless, that's a serious problem that has serious consequences.
14. 1:35Maybe you've felt that before.
15. 1:37When you're hopeless, it feels like everything is hollow.
16. 1:39flow in life. You lay hold of something that once brought you joy, but you discover it's just an empty shell. That's hopelessness. I love this Lord’s Day, Lord’s Day 22, because
17. 1:54into our hopeless world, bursts forth a triumphant declaration of hope.
18. 1:59true rock-solid hope. It does so by unpacking the final phrases of the Apostles' Creed: "I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life
19. 2:12everlasting." Friend, do you understand what this confession means? The hope that this inspires?
20. 2:21It means that while our Christian stories may have many dark chapters, the Christian story is one that goes from hope to even greater hope.
21. 2:32In fact, it's the only story that does this.
22. 2:35It's only for those who are united to Christ by faith who have a story that doesn't get increasingly dark, but increasingly bright with the hope of Christ's victory.
23. 2:49Question 57 begins by reminding us, dear Christian, that we can face the future, even death itself, because when we die, the risen Christ
24. 2:59Christ will receive our soul in glory. Did you notice what it said? "My soul will be taken immediately after this life to Christ its head." I love how the catechism refers
25. 3:13to Christ as the head of the Christian. Our catechism is here trying to encourage us to embrace the comfort of the close connection that Jesus has with all his people.
26. 3:27He is the head and we are his body.
27. 3:32And what that means is on Easter morning when Jesus rose from the dead, he wasn't just rising for himself, but he was rising as the head of his people.
28. 3:39people. And then he lived on this earth for 40 days and he ascended into heaven. But again, he ascended as our head and he reigns there as our king who's connected to his people.
29. 3:51And dear believer, the moment you breathe your last, your head, Christ, will take you home.
30. 3:59will take your soul immediately to be with himself. The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 8, and Philippians 1, verse 21 and 23, speaks about how this intermediate state, this
31. 4:13state of our soul going to be with Christ upon our death, is far better than any joy we've ever experienced here below. On that day, we will then be free from all sin and
32. 4:29free from all suffering. And so take heart, dear Christian, the risen Christ who conquered death will certainly receive your soul upon
33. 4:39your death. But I said that the story goes from hope to even greater hope, and that's where our catechism then goes to. Question 58 reminds us of the greater hope, which is
34. 4:53the return of Christ. The Christian's true hope is not merely a disembodied state.
35. 4:59But the Christian's true hope is the returning Christ coming to renew all things and to resurrect this body in a glorified state.
36. 5:10The Apostle Paul describes this tremendous day in 1 Corinthians 15, 52.
37. 5:15The trumpet will sound.
38. 5:17The dead will be raised incorruptible.
39. 5:19and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
40. 5:29So when this corruptible is put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, "Death is swathed, swallowed up in victory.
41. 5:41O death, where is your sting?
42. 5:44O Hades, where is your victory?
43. 5:47The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
44. 5:52But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
45. 5:57And so you see, dear believer, Hope is not just wishful thinking.
46. 6:02Our hope is a certain guarantee of a certain future based on the victory of what Christ has done in the past and what he will complete when he comes again.
47. 6:14I urge you, dear friend, live with the final chapters in view, and that's how you'll find hope in Christ.

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