Pastoral Letter 04 Apr 2021

My dear readers,


But Now is Christ Risen!

Man has been seeking a solution to death since the beginning of the fall of man into sin. From searching for things like the elixir of life to consume, to cryogenics whereby the body is put in deep freeze to be thawed in the future, these are some futile attempts of sinful man to keep death away. No doctor, king or billionaire has succeeded in buying or finding a cure for death. They desperately long for a longer life to enjoy their power and money.

Death is such a powerful foe. It has no respect of age, gender, status, relationships, or desires. If he knocks on your door and calls, you have to answer. You may try to push him away by visiting all the physicians you can afford, but every man knows that he is merely delaying the inevitable. After spending all your hard-earned money, death will come and whisper into your ears: “It is time. You have tried with all your might and money to keep me away, but it is time.” He will snatch you from this life and thrust you into the next. What will become of you in the next life? In the case of Christ, He has risen!

Instead of trying to find a solution to not die, it is better for man to find the answer to what will happen after he dies. Death is inevitable to all mankind since all are born in sin; except for Jesus Christ who was born without sin as He was born of the virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. His death therefore was not the death of a sinner but the death of the perfect Son of God and Son of man. The Bible says of the death of Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.”

Jesus Christ defeated death on man’s behalf by His life and death. The day Jesus Christ died on the cross was the day death died. For on the third day after Christ’s death God raised Him from the dead for man’s justification. The foremost impact of His resurrection was that He became “the firstfruits of them that slept”. The “sleep” described here refers to the death of a believer. He has died in Christ. He will not die in his sins because all his sins have been washed away by the blood of Christ while he lived. The “firstfruits” concept is borrowed from the farmer’s expectations of his crops. If the firstfruits of their apples are large, sweet and juicy, then the rest of the fruits that follow will be exactly the same. It is an excellent indicator of a bumper harvest or lack of it. Christ’s resurrection being the believer’s firstfruits means that whatever the constitution of Christ’s resurrected body is, it will be the same for all believers who die in Christ. That is why the truth that “now is Christ risen” is the bedrock of every believer’s salvation and hope! How does a sinner receive this hope of the resurrection?

He must first be born and then die. The sequence of life on earth to receive this resurrected body is the way of death. “For since by man (i.e. the first Adam) came death (i.e. spiritual and physical death), by man (i.e. Jesus Christ) came also the resurrection of the dead (i.e. all believers who sleep in Christ). That is why sinful man must focus on what he will be after death rather than try to find a way to avoid death. The latter is an exercise in futility whereas the former is man’s eternal and blessed hope. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for your sins, with all your heart and you will be saved.

Sinful man has no ability to overcome death. Just because he can find cures for diseases and sicknesses, he foolishly concludes that he can one day find the cure to death. Death was part of God’s justice demanded of man when man entered into the covenant of works with Him in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:15-17. God alone has the solution to overcome death in man. He had it already the moment man plunged himself and this earth into sin, destruction, and death. He promised man that His only begotten Son Jesus Christ would come to destroy both death and the one who has power over death, the devil, also called the old serpent.

Jesus did when He took on flesh and blood. Hebrews 2:14-15: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Jesus Christ did when He died for man.

All sinful man has to do now to overcome death is to accept Jesus as his substitute who died the death he will die. John 11:25-26: “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” Jesus Christ is our substitutionary atonement just as the Passover lamb was the substitutionary atonement for the firstborn son in every Jewish home at Passover. The lamb died in the place of the firstborn son. Christ paid in full with His precious blood to redeem us from God or else we would have to die in our own sin and pay for it by spending eternity in the Lake of Fire. But now is Christ risen, showing that God has fully accepted Christ’s atoning work on the cross to be all sufficient to take away the sins of the world. All who come to Christ will be forgiven.

Christ our firstfruits guarantees that all believers in Christ will likewise receive the same resurrected and glorious body. What is this resurrected body like? 1 Corinthians 15:42-44: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” It will be incorruptible, glorious, powerful, and spiritual. We will receive this resurrected body when Jesus Christ returns for His church. All these are possible because now is Christ risen!



Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,

Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew
Advisory Pastor


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