The Future Life                                            

CLASS 4 ISSUES

Study Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15: 13-20_51_58

Background Scripture: Psalm 2, 110:1, Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 15:1-28

Lesson 6      APRIL 4, 2026

Key Verse

But the fact is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

1 Corinthians 15:20

 

 

INTRODUCTION

What do you think your future will be?

Is your future important to you?

What is the most important thing that determines what your future will be like?

What is the “age to come”, the future,  really going to be like and how do you fit into that age?

What do you believe about what Scripture says about “the coming time or age”’? Do you believe what it says or are you  inclined to believe what non-Scripture sources say about it?.

The critical issue which relates to us and to the Corinthian church was what they believed.

The most important doctrinal issue in this matter of the coming age for believers is the resurrection of Christ.

Belief in the resurrection is the basis for the future life of living believers who are alive at the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as deceased believers. 

What does this mean?

Let us now look at why the resurrection is the defining event in salvation history and how it points to the necessity, the historical support and the importance affirming the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christians over the years have always believed this is a necessity for faith and salvation for this is the Gospel by which we are saved. We need to hold fast to this, knowing that there are consequences of denial of the resurrection.

There is a “end” or a purpose to our “faith” and the fact of the resurrection, and it is critical that your faith is not “futile” or “empty” in the sense that your faith does not do what it is supposed to do. There must be a objective basis for your faith and its claim not to have led you to “futility” or “emptiness”.

Our Study will point to the fact that the resurrection has set in motion the finalization of the event of Jesus’ resurrection and our resurrection, and the defeat of death because of our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Death is our greatest enemy and will exist no more in the future promised in Scripture.

Our Study will also examine the wisdom of God. One writer states: “The resurrection brings us to a quality and a dimension of life we have never lived before. It is not simply a return to existence as we know it now: it is lifting to a higher, more free, more marvelous dimension of existence than we have ever known. Jesus was the first one, therefore to be resurrected from the dead. It was the same Jesus, he came in the same body, but he came back to a different level of life. So Paul says that Jesus’ resurrection is a sample of ours”.

Another writer warns us that “God’s wisdom is not man’s wisdom multiplied to the highest degree. It is wisdom of a different order altogether, and this is declared plainly:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).

There are consequences to Christ’s resurrection and if a person has doubts this person has no assurance of the forgiveness of one’s sins, a sure “faith”, for the faith (belief) you have is in something that has not really happened.

There were many witnesses to the fact that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead and there is now afterwards what one writer calls

“The cry of deliverance after the nightmare of the abyss of no resurrection”.

We will also examine why the risen Christ has become the first-fruits of those who died, in other words, fell asleep.

For that understanding we will give some familiarity with the Feast of First-fruits, a Feast following immediately after the Feast of the Passover celebrated in the Old Testament. God established this Feast to teach a Lesson to Israel and to us today.

We must also examine why Paul uses a word (Koimao) which means Christians are said to fall asleep, a word which is never used of a non-Christian’s death.

This term is critically important for Scripture teaches that when we sleep we are resting, breathing, and are alive, and it is not sleep if we do not awake. We will enjoy the fullness of the image of the First-fruits

The Apostle also in the book of Corinthians and in his writings teaches us that since by man came death, by man came the resurrection of the dead. The sin of one man, Adam, led to death, and we are now taught that the sin was borne by one man, Jesus Christ, led to eternal life through the gracious plan of salvation.  The damage done by one man was repaired by one man.

Our Study will also look at whether the verses we study teaches the popular doctrine of universal salvation which teaches that everyone will be saved.

Connected to this is the doctrine of universal resurrection, one resurrection for the just, with consequence of blessing, and one for the damned, with its consequence of disaster.

The order of the resurrection and its implication for the believer in this Study will be examined.

Also, we look invite you to read the Epistles written by the apostles further on the matter of the “end” and its meaning when Jesus delivers up the Kingdom to the Father after He concludes His role as mediator, after bringing to an end all anti-God demonic rule and authority and power. 

Accordingly, the question of the nature and the kind of the Kingdom that will arise in the future will be examined.

Our Study looks at the goal of salvation history and the resurrection program, the mediatorial program.

Of immense importance in our Study Scripture is the fact that there the Apostle Paul defines what the Gospel is as he looks at the ultimate enemy of mankind. This is most important for many professing believers will give you the wrong answer if you ask them what the “Gospel” is. So, we will look carefully at how the Apostle defines the Gospel.

He declares that the good news, the Gospel speaks of Jesus being victor in this area of death just as He was victor in many other areas. In defining the Gospel for us the Apostle shows us how the resurrection of the body is part of the foundation of the Christian life, and as such is an essential part of the good news of the Gospel.

Paul had to address this question and many others in his first letter to the Corinthian church, a church in crisis on many fronts.  His comments on the nature of our future bodies however, were only part of a much more important discussion, that of the resurrection of the dead in Christ as those involved in the event of the First-fruits as the Old Testament Feast teaches at the ‘Second Coming’ of Christ.

The resurrection of the dead is a consequence of the ‘Second Coming’ and should be considered in this light. It is the Apostle’s business in this chapter to assert and establish the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, which some of the Corinthians had flatly denied, (1 Corinthians 15:12).

It is almost universally held among believers that there will be a Second Coming of Christ and that this event will begin the final phase of God’s eternal program. Thus, the Second Coming is the ‘door-way’ to all that pertains to ‘last things’ and is the basis of the Christian’s hope.

There are many explicit and indirect statements to the certainty of this event in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments. There might be some differences in beliefs among believers, relating to the sequence of specific events but all hold that Jesus will eventually return to the earth in bodily form. See Matthew 24: 30 and Acts 1:10-11.

Note, the resurrection of Jesus was the signature event, the cardinal act; God’s stamp of acceptance and approval of the redemption wrought by Jesus’ death at Calvary. His resurrection is one of the basic planks of Christianity, without which there would be no salvation for sinners.

Jesus guaranteed that because He was resurrected all those who believe in Him will also be resurrected and will share His throne.

At that time God’s Kingdom will be finally installed in heaven and on earth.

The Corinthian church was plagued with many serious problems, which Paul addressed, seemingly as if going down a list. As he neared the end of his letter, questions about the resurrection comes to the fore; because among the Corinthians more unbelievable errors, was a belief that there was to be no bodily resurrection for believers.

In every age there have been people who have mocked at the spiritual teachings of God. In the age of the Corinthians they had mocked that the Christian faith was nothing but a dream, with an unfounded hope based on wishful thinking.  Some in the Corinthian church were therefore tempted to begin to enjoy themselves now, in this life.

Note that they were not only denying the overwhelming evidence, including the testimony of living eyewitnesses that Jesus was resurrected. They were really also denying that this resurrection meant that the body of Christians would be resurrected also.

This was an acceptance of the commonly accepted philosophy of Plato in Greek culture that the soul of man is immortal, but that the body of man is not immortal.  The body was really only a prison for the spark of divinity in man, and thus the body and the physical world only served to limit the soul. The body was therefore essentially evil. Death was the only means for the soul to escape this prison. At death the soul achieved immortality, since it was now free.  At that time the body, which had served its purpose, was no longer needed, and that therefore was the end of the body.

Logically then, anyone who believed in this idea, would enjoy the life of the body now, indulging in the benefits of power, pride, wealth and intellect.  The time to enjoy life was now and any ability or gifts one possessed should be used to enjoy life now.  Note that it was therefore easy for a person, in focusing on the things of the world, to then lose focus on what might happen after death.

Note that this viewpoint also denies that men depend on a personal God who has created and sustained everything. 

In this viewpoint there is no need for a Saviour, for everybody ultimately becomes godlike on their own merits. When a person got rid of their body, it was a good thing, It was felt that

“limitless horizons beckon the once imprisoned soul to become like God himself”.

So, this philosophy told the Church that there was no need for a Mediator between God and man, for man can make it by himself.  There was no need for repentance and faith.  The work of Christ was denied. Christ had simply done what all men do when they die, but in His case we saw it happen.

There was also the view of endless reincarnations, which would raise the level of a person’s consciousness and expand their spiritual authority. These people would seek to become gods in their own right. This of course would also deny the resurrection of the body.

Much of this is found in the New Age Movement and in the teaching up the cults which deny as one writer puts it:

“the dependence of mankind on a personal God who creates and sustains everything. People who do this deny the need for a Saviour, and ultimately intend to be godlike on their own merits. Getting rid of one’s body therefore is a good thing, because by doing so limitless horizons beckon the once- imprisoned soul to become like God himself”.

 There was also some in the Corinthian church who were Jewish. Those in Judaism were divided on the issue of the resurrection. The Old Testament speaks of Sheol as the abode of the dead.

Sheol was the name given to the place where Jews who have died went and so Jewish people tended to think of Sheol only as the grave. But it is clear in the Book of Job 3:20- 22; 3:23;  25:5,6, and Psalms 9:13-16 that in the very early days (And the book of Job is clearly the earliest of the revelation of God), even before the formation of the nation of Israel, believers in God knew about the resurrection. So Job   would declare:

“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth. After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God”.

 Isaiah 25:7-8 had predicted about God’s work when the time of final redemption came, “ He will swallow up death forever,

And The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces”.

 And in a promise to Israel the prophet stated:

“ Your dead shall live. Together with my dead bodyThey shall arise”.

Israelites regarded Sheol as the invisible domain of deceased souls both of the righteous and the unrighteous awaiting the final resurrection on the last day.

The Sadducees party consisting of the Upper classes and the wealthy, the senior politicians, denied any possibility of resurrection or life after death. They were opposed in this by the Pharisees who did believe in the resurrection of the dead according to Matthew 22:23 and Mark 12: 18. We note however in Luke 16: 19- 31 Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus implied there were separate realms for the two.

But  Israelites did know that God was omnipotent and therefore in Psalms 139:7-12 would override the fearful place of the dead since God was all knowing.

In total opposition to these ideas of iniquity and the limited knowledge of the Israelites about death is the teaching of the Apostle Paul, that the resurrection of the body is a fundamental and non-negotiable tenet of the Christian faith, and that if there is no resurrection of the body Christians are to be pitied, and their faith has been in vain.

We can sum it up this way.  We should not think that this life is the only place we will enjoy bodily pleasures.  We do not need to feel cheated if we cannot indulge ourselves in every bodily pleasure that life offers. The greatest opportunity for the enjoyment of the body lies ahead.  At the resurrection we will have new bodies that will be able to perfectly interact with our spirits and with the new creation so that there will be perfect satisfaction and glory. 

We will be so radically connected with Jesus Christ that the glorious beauty of the flowers, the hearing of music, the engaging in conversation, the delights of feeling, the new sensation when we touch things, the new beauty in everything around us, the real beauty of the landscape and the stars, the glory of being near to God, will give us exquisite ecstasy.

When we sit and talk with someone in our resurrection bodies we will experience a bliss and a delightful sense of union beyond anything we can imagine.  We will be surrounded with a glow of such glory, that everything will be worthwhile, and the difficulties of our present life will fade into trivialities, and finally into oblivion.

“God has a purpose for the body, as well as the spirit and the soul.  These bodies shall be transformed and enhanced and enriched, and all that they are able to do will be experienced to a greater degree than ever in the life to come”.

The importance of the hereafter and the fate of both sinners and the saved is of critical importance. Nobody in their right mind should risk losing turning their potential glory into an eternity of horror.

Thus, in strong and emphatic language, Paul presented an iron-clad case for the resurrection of Jesus and the future bodily resurrection of believers. It is in the context of this discussion that he reveals the marvellous and radical transformation that awaits our bodies at the ‘Second Coming’. The ‘Second Coming’ is a backdrop to our study of God’s Kingdom which will be all in all for the resurrected body, our earthly bodies instantaneously transformed will occur as part of that event.

Paul, as was his practice, centred his arguments on the Gospel that he and the other Apostles proclaimed. There were to be no deviations or modifications from its teachings. Citing its historical and prophetic moorings, Paul ties the Second Coming with the resurrection of the dead, and to the final phase of God’s design leading to the consummation of the age.

Jesus’ own resurrection is the prototype (the first, the typical, an early model) of our own future resurrection. So, let us not fear but keep on the Solid Rock without wavering  

THE TEXT  

The Apostle Paul had previously spoken of unbelief and apostasy in his day and noted that in Scripture the cross was offensive to the natural man for it is by this teaching that they and we today realize that we were sinners and so we do not like to be told that we need to find Christ as our personal Saviour. We should not be surprised that the denial of bodily resurrection is basically the heathen responds to the truth of the gospel. Accordingly, in Acts 17:33-34 Paul would preach to the philosophers in Athens about the resurrection and when they heard some mocked, and  others said they would hear him again at another time.

In 2 Timothy 2::16 the apostle also condemned denial of the resurrection and tells us that to deny the resurrection is to have pagan views.  In Romans 8:23  the Apostle reminds us that the entire creation groans and labours and it all eagerly awaits the adoption, the redemption of our bodies which at the present time is only partially redeemed while it waits for the resurrection that will complete their redemption. Philippians 3:20-21 also makes it clear that the resurrection is absolutely necessary for the completion of the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The resurrection guarantees victory in our daily lives here and now.

Our hope is in the living Christ and that is more than adequate because of His resurrection. In his epistle the Apostle therefore dealt squarely to those that doubted the resurrection, and who needed to be awakened to righteousness and sin not, and come to a right mind. Why? They did not have the knowledge of God.

He thus confronted the foolish brethren and he had them learn the answer to the first question of how the body of the dead would be raised up. Then they would ne shown the answer to the second question of the kind of body that the resurrected saints would have

The Apostle therefore transforms the argument that attacks the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and takes away all the possibility of emptiness.

 Verse 13. The Apostle reminds us that there are consequences if the dead are not raised. It means Christ has not been raised, something contrary to the facts. Believers had been taught to believe in Christ’s bodily resurrection and so it was not logical that they could say that there was no resurrection of the dead. They could no longer hold to the theory of dualism where the soul was good and the body was bad

If that resurrection had not taken place all believers must understand: “your faith is vain; you are still in your sins”.

“Then they also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished”.

Then, “we are of all men the most pitiable”.

  The apostle is making it clear that the Gospels had taught that Jesus had a normal body and was born as a human being according to Luke 2.  He had lived with the disciples and had eaten and drank with them and had even wept according to Luke 19. At His crucifixion when His side was pierced with a spear blood and water came out according to John 19: 34. His Body was buried in a tomb and after His resurrection hundreds of people witnessed His resurrection body and later on Jesus even invited His disciples to touch His body and He ate food with them. They had believed all of this about Jesus.

Logically therefore if Christ was not resurrected there would be no such thing as resurrection from the dead and if He was not resurrected there would be serious implications.

Verses 14-19. One implication that stood out was that if Christ had not been raised from the dead the Christian faith was based on a lie and all the preaching and evangelistic work that had been done was wasted and there was no hope beyond the grave.

There was no content to the teaching and therefore the faith of the believers in Corinth is empty. One writer points out that Paul was saying that non-belief in the resurrection means that they had been conned by a snow job for they had come to believe in something that did not really take place.  Believers in Jesus therefore were simply devotional dreamers and mystical enthusiasts according to one writer.  They were simply being those from the mystery religions that had been attracted to Christianity and took along with them their opposition to a resurrection of the body.

But it would make very little sense for believers to spend their time and effort and money on activities which made no sense.

The Apostle is not saying that there is no benefit those not believing in the resurrection will receive. Believers will not experience benefits only because of their resurrection faith for their lifestyle as believers will benefit them.

When believers love Christ they will love their families, their spouses, their children, relatives as well as their neighbours and their community. They will not practise abuse, greed, and the sins of the carnal flesh. Their belief in God will help them go through illness, and suffering, and their going through the valley of the shadow of death. But there will be substantial costs to be considered as the believer takes up his or her cross, and therefore logically if one bears these costs based on a lie, depending on something that is not true, then that believer will be “most pitiable”.

The stress here is that there will be no future benefits as there will be

no future life.

At this stage believers in the church must ask themselves what kind of faith they have, for if all they have is a faith in a dead man who might have lived a marvellous life, that man clearly has been brought under the power of death himself. So what good could such a person be? You cannot receive anything from a dead man, especially if you are talking about eternal life and about salvation.

 If you do not believe in the resurrection you are saying that our Lord Jesus Christ is an impostor and He is just like the other guru figures that are around.

For the Lord God Almighty Yahweh this is nothing but blasphemy. To link the true God Yahweh with such a teaching is blasphemy for when you say that God raised him from the dead you would be linking Yahweh with something that was absolutely false and which was contrary to the Word of God, says the apostle.

What is worse according to verse 17 is that if there is no such thing as resurrection of the dead your faith is in vain. It is futile and you are still in your sins. It is void of its useful aim or effect and your sins will stand between you and the Lord God in heaven for you will still stand condemned.

The resurrection has significance for in it the Father accepted his Son’s work. In Romans 4:25 the apostle had described Jesus as follows: “ who was delivered up because of our offenses and because of our justification”.

The apostle clearly believed that Jesus had accomplished this task in His death and that is why he said that he was determined not to know anything among them save Jesus Christ and Him crucified, for the crucifixion was the important work of our Lord.

Clearly then that is why when the apostles said they preached about the resurrection, and what the Lord Jesus Christ did was sufficient to bring the people from under condemnation. The fact that the resurrection was evidence of that made the Jewish leaders and the Gentile leaders upset at the preaching of the resurrection because they knew that it said specifically that God had truly accepted what the Son had done and rejected what they had done in crucifying Him.

Those that did not believe in the resurrection were absolutely miserable for they had no hope. This fact of course was reflected in the attitude of those disciples on the road to Emmaus who had been intercepted by Jesus and straightened out.

 Those that had fallen asleep in Jesus, and that is the word used for believers who had died, meant that the believer is with the Lord and is alive in spirit while his body is asleep. Look carefully at Chapter 11: 30. It teaches us that believers who die are fallen asleep just like Stephen who when he was killed fell asleep.

 When you fall asleep in Christ you are in a beautiful situation.

 But if you believe that there is no resurrection those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished for they have lived all their life in sin.

 If one believes that they would be of all men most miserable according to verse 19.

Therefore we who are believers know that we have hope in Christ. It means that we are not among the most pitiable and the most pathetic. We have not wasted our life and we do not believe that the Cross is an offense. We believe that the Gospel has content.

Verse 20. But here comes the assertion, “Christ has been raised from the dead’ is Paul’s argument in these verses. This is a truth the Apostle has already outlined in verses 1-11 pointing out the historical authentication of Jesus’ resurrection.

What is to be noted is that if a person says there is no resurrection of the dead they are denying that Christ has been raised from the dead.

 In Verse 20 Paul refers to the Old Testament and its images of the “first fruits” which were the first offspring or crop to be obtained by the farmer, and this was proof that there was more to come.

This Feast everyone had to attend was given to Israel in Leviticus 23, Exodus 23:19, Numbers 15:17-21, Deuteronomy 18:4, and other passages reminded that on the Feast of First-fruits and Unleavened Bread which followed the Passover, there would be an offering of the first fruits of the barley harvest, and Jews would bring a sheaf of grain to the Priest who would wave it before the Lord indicating the grains taken from the common or typical field (not from any special carefully looked after selected field) had come to perfection.

We are carefully instructed that the sheaves of barley from the common field representing the nation as a whole.

Note carefully what the Apostle Paul said this Feast signified Christ is the fruit-fruits of them that fell asleep. When the barley harvest, and note barley was the cheap grain, came in the first-fruits were weighed before the Lord before the rest of the grain was reaped and hence the process of salvation was that the Lord Jesus was offered as the first-fruit so that His offering was the earnest of our resurrection, for after the waving before the Lord, it was known that there was a great harvest of grain to come in and there was a great celebration.

There would be the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, His offering before the Lord, indicating that the rest of the great harvest out in the field was ripe and would be ready to be harvested. Jesus was the first-fruits of them which had fallen asleep for He was risen from the dead.

So, Jesus is the “first fruits of those who are asleep” meaning that whatever happened to Him is what awaits those who died trusting in Him. Thus, Jesus’ resurrection is the prototype and proof that more resurrections would follow.

One writer comments on the necessity for bodily resurrections:

How do we know that Christ’s resurrection guarantees a resurrection for others? The answer to this can be seen when one understands the unique relationship, which exists between Adam and our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom Paul later refers as the “first Adam” and the “last Adam” (15:45). By his sin, Adam brought about death for himself and the whole human race. Christ, by His righteous life, substitutionary death, burial, and resurrection, brings about life for mankind. Adam brought death upon all men; Christ will make men alive.

As some falsely taught (2 Timothy 2:18), this resurrection of men from the dead has not already occurred but is yet to come. Christ’s resurrection will actually bring about a sequence of resurrections, with the last and final resurrection abolishing death altogether (verse 26). Everything must occur in its proper order, as ordained by God (verse 23). Christ has already risen from the dead, and His resurrection is but the first fruits of the other resurrections yet to occur. The next resurrection mentioned is that of those who have trusted in our Lord for salvation, which occurs when He returns to this earth to defeat all His enemies and to establish His rule over all the earth (verse 23). Then, finally, the last resurrection will take place, the resurrection of the unbelieving dead.

The Apostle Paul therefore tells us that Jesus’ resurrection indicates the type of resurrection we will have, bringing us to a quality and a dimension of life and existence which is much more marvellous and higher than we can ever imagine.

He is the first fruits of the resurrection and our resurrection is in Him.

Note that any teaching which makes the resurrection lesser than it is, is a direct and satanic attack on the central position of Christ in Christianity.

Because He lives we will live.  That is all.

Note also we will be resurrected and at His coming, when every eye shall see Him, He will proceed to destroy the Antichrist and his cronies.  It will only be after His millennial reign of peace and righteousness, and He has completed His work and subdued His enemies, casting the Devil, Death and Hades into the Lake of Fire, that He will then deliver the Kingdom back to His Father.

Paul here puts his finger on the Corinthians problem. They had been deceived and this is why they had degenerated to the point where they could deny even a fundamental a doctrine such as the resurrection of the dead. Enamoured with their own conceit, they fell victim to a slew of errors grounded in the flesh (chapters 1-6; 8-11). Not surprising then at least to Paul, their doctrine had suffered in the process.

Paul challenged the Corinthians to “sober up” and face up to their folly. They needed to get their doctrine straight and then consistently demonstrate their beliefs in godly behaviour.

They needed to realize that their false teachers had no knowledge of God and those they had led astray, needed to admit their lack of knowledge, repent, and return to the doctrine of the Apostles.

Paul was encouraged to endure tremendous suffering and physical affliction because he believed that God raises the dead.  This belief should have the same impact on us.

As one writer puts it, we should consider that:

“The resurrection is the ample recompense for all human suffering, no matter how bad it may be.”

He calls on the Corinthians and on us to be realistic, to move away from deception, to stop running with people who are corrupt and full of iniquity, who, though they might profess to know God, do not have any real knowledge of God.

Note that the Christian doctrine was that resurrection was not simply life after death but continuation of life after death in glorified bodies, which were transformed and glorified from our present bodies.

 VERSES 51-58

To fully understand  what the Apostle is dealing with we must look at the city of Corinth which was a Greek city with Greeks that had been heavily influenced by platonic dualism. One writer describes it as follows: “Dualism divides things into two parts, such as good and evil or matter and non-matter. Many dualists considered matter (such as our bodies)  as unimportant and/ or evil and non- matter  such as our souls as good.

Plato taught that our physical bodies are imperfect copies of ideal Forms that exist in a spiritual realm.  He taught that our bodies are mortal but our souls existed prior to our life on earth—and will continue to exist beyond this life.

Greeks ( including these Corinthian Christians) raised in a dualistic environment, found it difficult to believe in the resurrection of the body. For them, the body was something to leave behind gladly–. Good riddance– their focus was the preservation of the soul.

Judaism, however, emphasized the wholeness of the person—body and soul. That emphasis continued in the Christian church. Paul wants the Corinthian Christians to know that belief in the resurrection—both Christ’s resurrection and the general resurrection of believers in the last day—is foundational to the Christian faith”.       

Verse 51. Paul therefore tells the Corinthians, I tell you a mystery and he usesthe word “Behold” to emphasize whathe is saying. One  writer tells us to be careful about using this word mystery for it does not mean what we use it today to mean. He states:

“ Paul uses this word “ mystery” ( or “ mysteries) frequently ( Romans 11: 25; 1 Corinthians 13:; 14:2;  15: 51; Ephesians 1:9; 3:3-5, 9; 5:32; 6:19;  Colossians 1: 26- 27; 4:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:7; 1  Timothy 3:9,16).

While Paul was surely aware of the Greek mystery religions, which emphasized secret teachings and rituals, his understanding is derived from his Jewish roots, where God revealed his mysteries to accomplish his purposes ( Daniel 2: 18- 19, 27, 30, 47; 4:9).

He talks about “ the proclamation of the Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the Mysterion that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed ( Romans 16: 25- 26).

 He says,  “the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words a reading of which will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ. In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and by the Spirit”.  (Ephesians 3:3-5).

 He talks about “the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints” Colossians 2:6)

So for Paul, a mysterion ( mystery) is not something that can’t be known., in fact it is quite the opposite. For Paul, a mystery is spiritual knowledge that God has revealed to those who can see through eyes of faith”.

 The Apostle Paul therefore now says we shall not all “sleep” using “sleep” as a euphemism for physical death. This usage was commonly used in both and the New Testament such as Psalms 13:3; 76:5; Jeremiah 51: 57 and other passages, and he means that believers will not all die a physical death before Christ comes.

 But he insists that,  we will all be changed.  This had to be so because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God according to verse 50. Paul assumes that we are not doomed but that we will all be changed before we can enter the kingdom of God.

It is necessary for the resurrection of the body for we cannot enter heaven and just like a spirit float around heaven. It is necessary according to Romans 8:23 that we have a body.

Paul here teaches that those who have the first-fruits of the spirit groan within themselves eagerly awaiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body..

Believers know that are in the flesh and though some might be unhappy with the body that they have they know very well that the beauty and the handsomeness slip away as the years go by, and corruption shows in the lines and wrinkles and bulges and the missing hairs. The great hope of the Christian then is not simply to  enter heaven but to enter heaven with a redeemed body, a resurrected body, beautiful, glorious, and as Scripture tells us ‘a body like unto our Lord’s own glorious body’.

Verse 52. The term twinkling of an eye ( Greek rhipe) emphasizes quickness in this transformation. The word really comes from a word meaning “ to cut”,  and it really means something that cannot be divided for it is in a moment, it is in an indivisible moment. It is in the shortest possible conception of time. It is even faster than winking of an eye.

This Indivisibly quick change will happen at the last Trump a phrase used to signal some eschatological event, an event which has to do with the last times, and in this case Christ’s Second Coming. Note Matthew 24: 31.

 The trumpet shall sound announcing the end of time and the dead will be raised incorruptible. The dead will no longer be subject to the ravages of time and decay.

Verses 53-54. The dead will be raised incorruptible and all will be changed. Why” For corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality”.

Note therefore that we cannot inherit the Kingdom of God in mortality or in corruption and that is why this change will take place. God is incorruptible and so if you are going to be with Him and in the Lord Jesus Christ you cannot have mortality and corruption. You have to be completely transformed. This will take place at the end of time.

Verse 54. When this change occurs,  Death will be swallowed up in victory.  There will be no wear and tear, illness, and death to which believers will be subject.

Verse 55.. The apostle is using some taunts from Isaiah 25:8 and  Hosea 13: 14 for these passages regard death as the last enemy which does not now have the power over those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.  So, “ O death, where is your sting? O  death, where is your victory?

The resurrection of the body by the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven has been accomplishedand so death can be challenged.

Verse 56.  One writer comments on this statement that the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. He states:

“The weapon of death is sin. In fact, it’s as if death has used sin to inflict the wound of death upon us. So the sting of death is sin. The weapon of death is sin; when sin is overcome death loses its terror of course. That’s what Christ has come to do. So death gains its victory through sin.

So how does death bring the knowledge of sin to us? Well, death does it by what you would expect? Something evil? Something good. By that which is holy,, just and good. The law. Law is the means that the devil uses to bring us to the knowledge of our sin…..

Romans chapter seven, verse 7 through verse 13 will explain how it is, that the law that which is holy, just, and good, said by Paul to be that, is the means of bringing us to the knowledge of our sin and the fact that we are spiritually dead. And we all die eventually if we do not have redemption.

 So the sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law. That’s why the law is preached.

The law was preached in order to bring men to salvation? No. Legalists think that. But the law could never save anybody because it deals with people who are sinners. We cannot obey the law. We know that don’t we? Look at those commandments. How many of you have fulfilled them to this point? That’s all right. Go ahead and make your public testimony. We listen to it. How many of you? Look at them. Some of you are just embarrassed to stand up and say that.

I know there was a preacher one time who said something like that. He said, “ Cannot anyone stand up and say”,,  and one fellow finally stood up and he’d say” I can’t say that, but I’d like to put in a word for my wife’s first husband”.( laughter)

 The fact that the Apostle states that the power of sin is the law seems counter-intuitive for God gave Moses the law so we know the law must be good. However we know that God gave the law as a schoolmaster or tutor ( Greek paidagogos- literally a teacher of children) until the time when God’s will would be completely revealed in Jesus Christ according to Galatians 3:24. So therefore the law served a purpose but one that was incomplete.

Note that the law could never cover completely every circumstance but it left interpretations in the hands of fallible human authorities and they often failed to meet the spirit behind the law. Remember that it was the legal authorities, the scribes,, the Pharisees and the priests who successfully plotted the death of Jesus.

Verse 57. What can the apostles say different from the fact that the death of Jesus and the resurrection,  the application of the grace of God, the gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, came in due time?

The Apostle Paul would emphasize that believers that have been united with the likeness of Jesus’ death at baptism will be united with Him in His resurrection.

Jesus’ death and resurrection has freed us from sin and so we are told using the present tense “ that Jesus gives us the victory”.

Verse 58. Therefore, the apostle urges us to be immovable, steadfast,, the word meaning secure settled in a life that is not easily distracted from the journey on which it had embarked.

When the believer is immovableit tells us that you are strongly rooted where you are and you cannot easily be removed.

Because of that steadfastness and immovable nature that you have you will live a purposeful living, will share the faith that has changed your life and made you obtain eternal life.

Never forget that purposeful work is a blessing.

CONCLUSION

We have an answer to Satan who has accused us constantly, to the world that seeks to undermine our faith, and to those false religious leaders and churches that water down the facts.

Jesus accomplished His work, His death, His burial, His resurrection, and saved His people according to what the Old Testament Scriptures predicted. Cephas, James, the 500 brethren, all the Apostles, and the Apostle Paul testifies as witnesses.

All of us who have been rejected and persecuted and who have not promoted ourselves but rather have promoted the Lord Jesus and His Father and the Holy Spirit, can testify that the grace of God is effective. We can testify that the gospel is life-changing. We can testify that the facts cannot be taken away.

We have a foundation, a place to handle life. We have a security to which we can go at any time when we face pressures, temptations, or any problem. We can stand steady no matter what kind of force comes against us. We can do this because of the gospel which we have received and by which we stand.

So when you believe that God loves you and has accepted you as His child, and is working in you with the power of His resurrected life, you know you can stand against anything that comes.

Remember that Jesus was bodily resurrected. That is certain. You are guaranteed bodily resurrection. That is certain. They saw him alive and they have testified to that.

Let us all remember that something fantastic has already happened to those who know Jesus Christ.  We are guaranteed that the day will come when we shall all be changed, becoming radiant, spectacular.

All Christians should be Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

(Titus 2:13).
On a personal level this will be the culmination of our redemption, as dead or alive instantaneously we are in our glorified bodies, to be ever with the Lord in a fullness beyond our imagination.

All Christians should be eager in anticipation of our new body, for as we live this hope is a source of purification in this present life.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 1 John 3:2-3.

Paul as was his custom, reverted to the gospel as the starting point and standard for all Christian teaching and practice, to reinforce the vital role which the resurrection of our Lord plays in our salvation and Christian life. This is an example for as we endeavour to live out and teach the word of God to others. Suffering for Christ, and taking up our Cross in this life, makes perfect sense if there is a new body and crown awaiting us after the resurrection. Paul’s belief in the resurrection inspired and enabled him to live as he did (Philippians 1:12-26; 3:7-14). May we be no less willing to live sacrificially for Jesus.