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I. ITS CAUSE. Christ - the second Adam. Through the first Adam, death; through the second Adam, the resurrection from the dead. We see how much depends upon Christ, how much upon his resurrection. Through him we expect to rise; but if he did not rise, how can we rise through him? "But now is Christ risen," and so our prospect is unclouded. He has passed through the grave to make a way for us. He found the bonds of death strong; we shall find them broken. He lives, and through him we shall live also. He has conquered the grave whilst in our nature, and now holds it as conquered for us to pass through.

II. ITS UNIVERSALITY. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Adam was the first head and representative of the human race; he fell, and one of the consequences of his fall was the grave for all men. Christ was the second Head and Representative, and through him comes to all the race deliverance from the grave. In neither has the personal, responsible act of men, apart from their representative heads, a place. The disadvantage through Adam and the advantage through Christ come to all men, apart from their choice or desert. But this only applies to physical death and the recovery from that death. Personal sin and personal repentance and faith have issues unaffected by the general headship of Adam and Christ. The just and the unjust die through Adam; the just and the unjust rise through Christ: but they do not rise to the same future. What follows upon personal transgression and impenitence will be borne in the body delivered from death; and, similarly, that which follows upon personal repentance and belief in Christ.

III. ITS ORDER.

1. Christ. First, as the cause. He is "the Firstfruits" - the earliest and the most costly and the most precious of the harvest. And also the pledge of the general harvest. He is the Firstfruits presented and accepted, and we who are in him shall be accepted also, for we shall be "like him."

2. The saved. "They that are Christ's." This is after the resurrection of Christ; how long after we are not told. But it will be "at his coming." In his first advent we have redemption; in his second advent, resurrection. "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first" (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

3. The rest of mankind. "Then cometh the end" - the end of the resurrection - the rising of those that remain, as well as the end of the dispensation. The lost have the place of least honour. They were "first" in many things in life, but now they are "last."

IV. ITS MODE.

1. By the sound of a trumpet. (Ver. 52; see Matthew 24:31.) The dead shall hear, for the summons shall be of God. Those who stopped their ears on earth will not then be able. "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation" (John 5:28, 29).

2. Sudden. This seems to be suggested by ver. 52. The change of the living will be sudden; the change of the dead also. Men generally die slowly; they will be raised from the dead instantly. The dead have been long in gathering - how many centuries have passed, how many more, perhaps, to come! - but probably in "the twinkling of an eye" will they be delivered from death. This strikingly illustrates Christ's power over the grave - how completely he has conquered, and holds in subjection, death.

V. ITS VICTORY. It will be a triumph. It will show forth the victorious might of Christ. He triumphed in his own resurrection; that triumph will be consummated in the completion of the resurrection, when all, of every race and colour, are raised by his power.

VI. ITS CONCOMITANTS. The following seem here to be closely connected with the final resurrection: -

1. The universal victory of Christ. He shall conquer, and conquer all that now oppose him. "All rule, all authority and power," must fall before him. All enemies shall presently be under his feet. The powers of evil now seem great and strong, the kingdom of righteousness comparatively small and feeble; but at that day Christ will be King, and to him "every knee shall bow."

2. The destruction of death. The destroyer shall be destroyed. The shock of the great resurrection will be too much for his kingdom. The death bonds long since broken by Christ shall then be burnt. Man's mortality shall cease forever. Death shall die and know no resurrection.

3. The delivering up of the kingdom by Christ to the Father. Christ, as Mediator and Administrator of the kingdom of God, will then have completed his special work, and the direct rule of God as God will be reinaugurated. Christ will still remain as God Man, the Head of his own people, and as one in the Godhead will participate in the Divine reign.

4. The subjection of the Son to the Father. As he was before his mediatorial work began. One with the Father ("I and my Father are one") in nature, but voluntarily subordinate as a son to a father. The Son as such will not be conspicuous in rule as now, but God will be "all in all." The united Deity will reign as one, and in the Deity the Son is subordinate in position to the Father. - H.

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KJV: But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

WEB: But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep.