Evangelist of the Resurrection
While teaching at Oro Bible College in the Philippines, I regularly asked my students to “define the gospel.” I wanted them to articulate their faith in their own words, not just something memorized from their classes. They needed the skill of putting the gospel in their own words.
Fortunately, we have several examples of how this is done in the New Testament itself. Each author of the four Gospels told the story of Christ in his own words — aimed at his own particular audience. Each evangelist had his own emphasis, which shines through in how he presented the story of Christ, and what material he chose to include.
Resurrection is one of the main emphases that flows throughout the apostle John’s writings. John is a favorite Evangelist of Advent Christians because he so clearly presented the gospel as God’s promise of a future resurrection, resulting in a permanent life. A quick survey of his writing will demonstrate the centrality of this promise in John’s theology.
Jesus is the Word of Life
In his prologue, John calls Jesus the Word. This word is more than merely a revelation of who Jesus is. It is a disclosure of what he plans to do. The Word — who is Jesus — speaks a word that brings those destined to death back to life again.
The Word was a promise. As such it had to come to us — the recipients of the promise. The promise was that there is a possibility of a new life — a life that replaces the current mortal, temporary life. God’s Word of promise can now be heard by those who hear the Son’s voice. The ones hearing that voice now and trusting in God will live again — at the resurrection.
In John’s first epistle, the Word who was with God in the beginning is the Word of life! Jesus himself is that word. His permanent life that he had with the Father is now available to us. The Word in Revelation is pictured with a robe dipped in blood. The blood may be the blood of his enemies, destroyed in cosmic battle. But it may also depict his own blood, spilled to give us a chance for permanent life.
Life is for those who have the Son
The Greek word for “save” is sōzō — which is related to zōē, the word for life. Life is only possible if we are saved from destruction.
Each of us is born into a temporary life and Jesus does not automatically make that life permanent. Instead, the life he offers is a permanent life that we will begin at the resurrection. That is why Jesus explains that his promise to give us a permanent life will be fulfilled when he raises us up “on the last day” (John 6:39, 40, 44, 54). The life in the Son is resurrection life. Anyone who resists the invitation to believe in the Son will not have this resurrection life. The unbeliever will have been born with God’s wrath over him, and it will stay over him.
Everyone has a temporary life, but not everyone will have a permanent life. The blessing of permanent life awaits only those who have the Son. The life John describes both in his gospel and 1 John is conditional. It is a permanent life but there are many who do not have this life. They lack a relationship with the Son that makes that future life possible.
Jesus is the one who came to give life
John links the coming of Christ (both his first and second advents) with the promise of resurrection. The Son was sent, and his purpose was to give life, not to take it. He was sent to the whole world. The whole world would not receive him, but those who receive him can be saved — not destroyed on judgment day. Those who are saved will be given another life instead — a permanent life instead of the temporary one we all have today. The coming of Christ is linked to his purpose to raise the dead.
Anyone spreading the gospel can already experience the joy of its harvest. Every life won to Christ is a life saved from the lake of fire — the annihilation of the lost. Anyone who chooses life now will be raised to permanent life at Christ’s second coming.
Christ came like the manna, as a means of giving life. He is God’s bread who came to give life. This life is the resurrection life Christ will give at his coming. It is not simply sustaining our current temporary biological life — like the manna did. No, the life John speaks of is shorthand for permanent life. This permanent life is not ours as a possession until we are raised at Christ’s second coming.
Jesus is the light that leads to life
Theologians who write on the subject of Jesus as the light usually stress his illuminating us by means of giving understanding, and that is certainly true. But the light Christ brings to us leads to our resurrection and permanent life.
Jesus is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep
Jesus contrasts himself to all those improper shepherds who came before him. They weren’t really shepherds at all, but were thieves and bandits. Their purpose was to steal all they could from the sheep, and drain every drop of life from them. By contrast, our Savior came to lay down his life for us. By so doing, he ensured that we would have life in excess. While many insist that Jesus was talking about an abundance in this age, history shows us that is not the case. Many lose their lives for the sake of Christ. The abundant life that Jesus offered requires the resurrection.
Jesus' "water of life" is the resurrection
A metaphor Jesus introduced — and John used throughout his writings — is the water of life. That analogy also draws attention to the contrast between the temporary and the permanent. The water the woman at the well had access to would sustain a person’s life temporarily. But the water of life that Jesus offered her would ensure a permanent life.
The two "hours" of resurrection by Jesus
What Jesus referred to as an hour, we might label a window — a window of opportunity for another life. That window was open during Christ’s earthly ministry, and people like Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter availed themselves of These people were really dead — sleeping in death and not in any way ca- pable of becoming alive again — except for Jesus. It was the voice of Jesus that woke
But Jesus spoke of a second hour — different than the hour of Jesus’ earthly ministry. It is similar because the cause of resurrection is the same. It was the voice of Jesus who woke the dead during his earthly ministry. It will be the voice of Jesus who wakes the dead at his return. In both hours, the dead are unconscious, and completely dependent of Jesus for their new life. At his second coming, Christ’s voice will be heard by all the dead. He will raise all the dead. Each will live again to face judgment, and Christ will determine whether their resurrection will be “of life” (resulting in permanent life) or “of condemnation” (resulting in the second death).
Jesus is the resurrection and the life
Martha showed a remarkable understanding of the doctrine of a future life. She knew that it required a resurrection, and that it would happen “at the last day.” She had obviously been paying attention when Jesus taught on this subject. Yet for all her insight, she see-med to have missed out on the fact that the window was already open because Jesus was walking and working among her people. Jesus reminded her of that truth when he told her that he is the resurrection and the life.
Jesus went on to say that the “one trusting in me, even if he dies, will live again.” In other words, the temporary death is just that. It is temporary. All the tombs and graves in the cemetery will be opened and emptied.
Jesus promises a permanent life
Instead of extending our temporary lives, Christ’s death on the cross served as God’s promise to give us permanent lives. It is popular among religious writers and preachers to speak of “eternal life” as if it is a present possession, but John emphasizes that it is to be received at the resurrection.
The recipients of God’s promise through Moses (through the lifted snake symbol) immediately received healing and extension of their temporary lives. But the penalty for our personal sins is our destruction on judgment day. That is the point in which faith in Christ will overcome sin and we will receive our permanent lives — the promise fulfilled.
The permanent life that God promises us in Christ today is like a check. It is a promise that you can take to the bank and cash in for what is promised. The point at which we cash in that promise is the resurrection. Until then, what we possess is the promise. Christ himself is that check. He is the promise (Word) of life.
Christ as the Father’s promise of a permanent life for believers is a consistent and systematic theme of John’s theology. In each reference, there is an “already” and a “not yet” component. The “already” of our permanent life is the promise — the Word — Christ himself. The “not yet” is the fact that believers will be given permanent life at the resurrection by him.
The world still needs to hear God’s promise of a future resurrection, resulting in a permanent life. We Advent Christians should be prominently heralding that gospel message.
Rev. Jefferson Vann is pastor at Piney Grove Advent Christian Church in Delco N.C. He also writes and is the managing editor of Afterlife.co.nz, a website devoted to Conditional Immortality based in New Zealand. He and his wife Penny served as missionaries with ACGC. They spent 13 years as professors at Oro Bible College in the Philippines, and three-and-a-half years as pastors in New Zealand. They are the parents of three adult daughters, and have eight grandchildren. Jefferson graduated Berkshire Christian College in 1983 with a BA in Theology; seminary at Columbia Graduate School of World Missions (Columbia International University) in 1996 with an M.Div. in Missions and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary in 2006 with a Th.M. in Biblical Theology.
Rev. Jefferson Vann, “Evangelist of the Resurrection,” The Advent Christian Witness, Summer 2021