Resurrection vs Resuscitation

One of the pastors at our church’s Good Friday services made numerous references to the Resurrection of Lazarus. In light of my recent study of Scripture on the Resurrection I find this very troubling. It is I think very clear and of the utmost importance from Scripture that Jesus was the first and to this point in history the only resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:20-21 states plainly “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.” Two points from this passage is that Christ is the firstfruits and resurrection proceeds from him. Firstfruits refers to the FIRST of the harvest in contrast to the second and following. In the OT economy the firstfruits like the firstborn belonged to God. Leviticus 25:26 "No one, however, may dedicate the firstborn of an animal, since the firstborn already belongs to the LORD; whether an ox or a sheep, it is the LORD's.” The fact that resurrection comes from Jesus also clearly indicates that he was the first to be resurrected. The fact that there were other people raised from the dead before Jesus does not negate this teaching. All others including the Widow’s son raise by Elisha in 2 Kings 4:32-35, Jairus’ daughter in Luke 8, Lazarus in John 11, and many others raised by the apostles in the book of Acts including Eutychus in Acts 20 all were raised to life in bodies that died again. In fact in John 12:10 the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus again after he had been raised by Jesus. If Lazarus had been resurrected it would have been impossible to kill him again. The resurrected body of Jesus had many different characteristics than his first body which I already detailed in previous posts. One important characteristic of Jesus’ resurrected body is that He will never die again. Hebrews 7:24 states “but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.” The resurrected body unlike the physical body will not deteriorate or pass away. Please do not minimize what Jesus accomplished in the first resurrection by confusing it with other resuscitated bodies that died a second time. Jesus is the first and only resurrection and His body is what we as believers in Him have to look forward to at his second coming 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17. Because of Jesus I am looking forward to the resurrection of the dead not the resuscitation of the dead.