I have a reason for making this point which I will explain better in the process of this study! Nothing like this would have been possible if Jesus had not died spotless, a holy sacrifice, and been raised to life by His Father. Think of what would have happened to all the disciples of the Lord, if He had failed in some way, and not been raised from the dead by His Father? Every promise, every word He uttered would have been void. The apostle Paul makes that point very clearly and writes: ‘If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.’ (1 Corinthians 15: 17) He had reasons to write this, because false preachers were, already in his days sowing falsehood, teaching that the resurrection of Christ never happened! Is it not strange that people today think that they are so clever, thy think that they have discovered something new and yet, after all these centuries they still deny this very same thing, and invent other lies, what is called today --‘fake news -- against Christ our Lord and Saviour and our faith in Him.’ 

Yet two thousand years ago most people had the same arguments, as they have now, and spread the same lies, without any proof. Hence, the apostle Paul writes states: ‘But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. Our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified that He raised Christ from the dead. But He did not raise Him, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only in this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more then all men. But Christ has been from the dead, the firstfruits of those that have fallen asleep. For since death came through one man (Adam), the resurrection of the dead comes through a man (Christ) For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.’ (1 Corinthians 15: 12- 22) The apostle Paul adds: ‘Jesus was delivered to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.’ (Romans 4: 25) He is so certain about it, because Jesus Christ appeared to Him on three occasions, and spoke with Him! We know it, we believe it, that on the day of the Lord, all who fell asleep in Christ, shall hear the trumpet call and be raised from the dead, and those that are alive at His coming, will be change in the twinkling of an eye, and together will be caught up to meet Jesus in the air, who will then take us all to our father’s house. (1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18) 

So, we must not stop just when our sins are forgiven, and that we are sure we are saved, wonderful as it is, but we must go further, and delight ourselves that we have been justified. In his economy God has also forgotten our sins, and sees us spotless in Christ, as if we had never sinned, that’s what being justified means. So, as certainly as Christ has been raised from the dead, so shall all that belong to Him be raised from the dead, and inherit a new body, as glorious as that of our Lord, this will happen suddenly, in the day of God’s choosing. 

We find that it is written in the Bible that when Christ rose from the dead, He took many believers with Him to Paradise, and transferred Paradise to heaven, and these people are asleep in Christ, for Christian do not die. For instance, the thief nailed to a cross, may be an hour, a bit more or less, from dying, confessed his faith in Jesus Christ, he is now with Jesus, waiting for the days when all believers shall rise from the dead and enter new glorified bodies. At the same moment, in the twinkling of an eye, those that are alive at His coming shall be changed! This, indeed was made sure to Christians at the beginning, and millions have joined them since Jesus ascended to heaven, all are waiting for the trumpet call. As said the angels to the women that found the tomb, in which Christ laid, empty! ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? (said the angel) He is not here; He is risen! (Luke 24: 5) 

Jesus went up and sat at the right hand of God in heaven, and from there He will come in the time set by God, and take to heaven all that have believed in Him. This was really what God promised to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when He promised them to send a deliverer, that would crash the head of the devil. A Saviour of the seed of the woman; for God said to Satan: ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring (seed) and hers; He will crush your head and you will strike His heel.’ (Genesis 3: 15) Adam and Eve were fully aware of the extent of their fall, for before their eyes, two lambs were killed, and blood was shed on earth for the first time, no-one and no beast died until then! I believe that they were lambs, for it is mentioned right through the Old Testament, right to the day when John the Baptist proclaimed, as He saw Jesus, pass bye: ‘Behold the lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world.’ (John 1: 29)