Our Great Hope

1 Corinthians 15:50-53 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
 
DO you understand your future in Christ? One reason Paul taught about the imperishable body was to answer the often-asked question: “What will happen to believers who are alive when Jesus comes?” Remember, he had described Jesus’ Second Coming in 1 & 2 Thessalonians. But this is a different church. And there is always the necessity of repeating true doctrine. False teachings continually pollute our minds.
   Again Paul teaches our original flesh and blood bodies are incapable of living in Heaven. Mortality cannot inherit the immortal gift in the Kingdom of God. Paul then authenticates his teaching with, “Listen, I tell you a mystery.” This means Paul has received a divine revelation regarding this topic. At some point the Holy Spirit revealed to Paul how those alive in Christ, still in their fleshly bodies, will join Christ with their spiritual bodies in his Second Coming. Paul further affirms he is talking about living Christians by saying that not all people will die before Jesus comes. Again, he emphasizes the change we will experience. The dead are raised to life to meet their souls in the air. The living are instantly transformed into their spiritual bodies, so they, too, will join Jesus.   
   Perhaps some of Scripture’s most hopeful, encouraging words follow. What Christian cannot become joyous at the thought of our mortality becoming immortality? The trumpet sound from Heaven will burst forth upon the planet. Instant change will come for all mankind. 
   Listen now to this great promise: 1 Corinthians 15:54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
   The Christian life: Stand firm. Let nothing move you from God. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord. May you live the gift with joy.