{"id":90670,"date":"2025-09-22T14:57:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T19:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=90670"},"modified":"2025-09-22T14:57:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T19:57:05","slug":"the-firstborn-from-the-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-firstborn-from-the-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"The Firstborn from the Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\nJohn’s readers were facing trials, persecutions, and possibly death. John knew that Christians needed to know Jesus as “the Firstborn from the dead<\/em>.”(Rev.1:5). This is not saying that Jesus was the first person to ever be raised from the dead, but that He is the firstborn (the first in position of honor) that rises to die no more. All other resurrections were not always permanent, and they were no guarantee that others would be raised in like manner.
\nJesus’ resurrection is a sign of His power over death. Other people who had been resurrected did not show their power over death, but showed God’s power over death. Jesus showed His power over death, and He is the “firstfruits” of all the resurrections that will follow later (I Corinthians 15:20ff).\n

Jesus’ resurrection comes before all others and is the proof that He is the resurrection and the life, that He has control over death and Hades, that He will raise the dead at the last day (I Corinthians 15:23f; John 6:39).<\/p>\n

He promises to raise the rest of us, and we can count on it just as surely as the evidence for His resurrection. The Firstborn from the dead is in charge, so we need not be terrified of dying. Yes, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You (the Firstborn from the dead) are with me<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Terry Wane Benton John’s readers were facing trials, persecutions, and possibly death. John knew that Christians needed to know Jesus as “the Firstborn from the dead.”(Rev.1:5). This is not saying that Jesus was the first person to ever be raised from the dead, but that He is the firstborn (the first in position of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1852,73],"class_list":["post-90670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-firstborn","tag-jesus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":65300,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-the-firstborn-from-the-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":90670,"position":0},"title":"Jesus, the Firstborn from the Dead","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood\" (Revelation 1:5 NKJV). \"Firstborn\" is a term that can point\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12801,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-any-other-mentions-of-the-saints-rising-from-the-dead-at-jesus-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":90670,"position":1},"title":"Are there any other mentions of the saints rising from the dead at Jesus’ death?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Matthew 27:51-53,\u00a0it says\u00a0\"And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46302,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-about-the-next-sunday\/","url_meta":{"origin":90670,"position":2},"title":"What About the Next Sunday?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Some people meet with the church on \"Easter Sunday\" and hardly ever anytime else. That is out of tradition, not out of thinking seriously about doing the will of God. Tradition has been in the family to at least go to church one time a year,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65504,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-jesus-was-not-raised-from-the-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":90670,"position":3},"title":"If Jesus Was Not Raised from the Dead","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Text: I Corinthians 15 Paul argues that there are logical consequences that follow if Jesus was not really raised from the dead: We are still in our sins. Animal sacrifices should have continued until we got the One who was coming to take away our sins.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":64847,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-resource-for-grace-and-peace\/","url_meta":{"origin":90670,"position":4},"title":"A Resource for Grace and Peace","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 23, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37059,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-the-dead-are-not-raised\/","url_meta":{"origin":90670,"position":5},"title":"If the Dead Are Not Raised","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford Recently, I attended this year's Truth Lectures, which had as their theme eschatology, the study of the end times. Many of the lectures addressed preterism, the belief that the prophecies of the Bible all already have happened. In particular, preterists claim that the prophecies about the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/cemetery-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90670\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}