On the third day He had made the dry land, but now “the earth did quake, and the rocks rent” (Matt. 27:51) because the rock of salvation had been smitten (Exod. 17:6). He had also covered the earth with trees and vines on that third day, but now the true vine (John 15:1) had been plucked up and the green tree (Luke 23:31) cut down. He had made the sun on the fourth day, but now the sun was darkened (Luke 23:45) and the Light of the World (John 8:12) was burning out. On the fifth day He had created life, and He himself was life (John 11:25; 14:6), but now the life of his flesh, the precious blood, was being poured out on the ground beneath the cross, and He had been brought “into the dust of death” (Ps. 22:15). On the sixth day He had created man and given him life, but now man had despised the love of God and lifted up the Son of Man to death.
Seventh Day. But that is not the end of the story, and all was proceeding according to “the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). “On the seventh day God ended his work which he had made” (Gen. 2:1). Furthermore, everything that He had made “was very good” (Gen. 1:31). God’s majestic work of creation was complete and perfect in every detail.
And so is His work of salvation! This is especially emphasized in John’s account: “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. . . . When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:28–30 — the emphasized words are all the same word in the Greek original). Jesus had finished all the things He had to do, and then He finished the last of the prophetic Scriptures that must be carried out. Then, and only then, was the work of redemption completed and the price of reconciliation fully paid, so that He could finally shout (Matt. 27:50) the great victory cry, “It is finished!”
The record of creation stresses repeatedly that the entire work of the creation and making of all things had been finished (Gen. 2:1–3). In like manner does John’s record stress repeatedly the finished work of Christ on the cross. Furthermore, as the finished creation was “very good,” so is our finished salvation. The salvation which Christ thus provided on the cross is “so great” (Heb. 2:3) and “eternal” (Heb. 5:9), and the hope thereof is “good” (2 Thess. 2:16).
Then, finally, having finished the work of redemption, Christ rested on the seventh day, His body sleeping in death in Joseph’s tomb. He had died quickly, and the preparations for burial had been hurried (Luke 23:54–56), so that He could be buried before the Sabbath. As He had rested after finishing His work of creation, so now He rested once again.
On the third day (that is, the first day of the new week), He would rise again, as He had said (Matt. 16:21, et al.) His body had rested in the tomb all the Sabbath day, plus part of the previous and following days, according to Hebrew idiomatic usage, “three days and three nights” (Matt. 12:40) — but death could hold Him no longer. He arose from the dead, and is now alive forevermore (Rev. 1:18).
Creation and Resurrection
Although most world religions believe in the immortality or transmigration of the soul after death, only three believe in the actual resurrection of the body. It is no coincidence that these are also the three monotheistic religions, believing in the special creation of all things, by a transcendent personal Creator God. The three religions, of course, are Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Judaism, and Orthodox Islam, and all three base their belief in creation on the Book of Genesis, the only book that tells of the actual creation of the space/time universe itself.
Unfortunately, however, Judaism and Islam refuse to acknowledge that only the Creator can be the Redeemer, and so reject the bodily resurrection of Christ, even though they may believe Him to be a great teacher and prophet. They still believe in a future resurrection, but it is a belief without foundation. Only the Creator of life can defeat death. Nevertheless, the fact that they recognize resurrection to be somehow contingent on creation is significant.
The two greatest events in the history of the cosmos were, first of all, its supernatural creation and, secondly, the Resurrection of its Creator from the dead. The evidence for each, to one whose mind and heart are open to evidence, is overwhelming. All real science points to creation, and the best-proved fact of history is the Resurrection.1 The Bible, of course, teaches that both are vitally true, vitally important, and vitally related, but even to one who does not believe the Bible; the evidence is still unanswerable. He may reject it, but he cannot refute it.
Furthermore, each is necessary to the other. The creation, invaded and permeated by decay and death, heading down toward ultimate chaos, can only be saved and renewed if death is defeated and life is restored by its Creator. The Resurrection, conversely, triumphing over death and promising ultimate restoration of the perfect creation, can only be accomplished by the Creator himself. The creation requires the Resurrection, and the Resurrection requires the Creator.
It is appropriate, therefore, that the Holy Scriptures so frequently tie together the creation of the world and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The creation took place on the first day of creation week, and the Resurrection likewise took place on the first day of the week following the Creator’s substitutionary death for the world’s redemption.
Death first entered God’s finished creation when Adam sinned (Gen. 2:16–17; 3:17–20; Rom. 5:12).
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. . . . The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor. 15:20, 26). Therefore, when the heavens and earth are made new again, the very elements will have been purged of the age-long effects of sin and the curse, decay and disintegration, and “there shall be no more death” (Rev. 21:4; also 2 Pet. 3:10–13; Isa. 65:17; 66:22; Rev. 21:1; 22:3).
The first book of God’s written Word begins with the mighty creation of heaven and earth (Gen. 1:1), but ends with “a coffin in Egypt” (Gen. 50:26). The final book of God’s Word introduces Jesus Christ as “the first begotten of the dead” (Rev. 1:5) and ends with “all things made new” (Rev. 21:5).
Let us consider, therefore, three basic aspects of the Christian life which can be greatly strengthened by a clearer understanding and broader application of these two vitally related facts of creation and Resurrection. For each, a key passage of Scripture will be found especially illuminating.
1. Christian Assurance
In a society dominated by humanistic unbelief and worldly intimidation, Christians need more than emotionalism to assure them that their Christian faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ not only “works,” but is true. In the great “Resurrection chapter,” 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul is seeking to do just this — to assure these young and somewhat carnal Corinthian believers of the genuine validity of the Christian “gospel” which he had preached to them and which they had believed (verses 1–2). He stresses the key importance of the bodily Resurrection of Christ, with the overwhelming eyewitness verification of its historicity (verses 3–11), and then concludes that this guarantees the future resurrection of all who “have hope in Christ,” the great promise of the Christian faith (verses 12–19).
But that isn’t all. He further emphasizes that Christ’s Resurrection does far more than provide a future life for individual believers. It restores man’s lost estate, reversing the consequences of Adam’s primeval sin, conquering all the enemies of God and finally destroying death itself (verses 20–28). This great promise not only gives assurance of eternal life, but strength for a godly position and persecution, knowing beyond all doubt there is a better life to come (verses 29–34).
And then, to give still further assurance, he ties it all back to the mighty power of God in creation. All components of the creation (biological — verses 35–39, physical — verses 40–41, and human — verses 42–49) are treated. Every