of Satan is 1,000 years (Revelation 20:7-10). We believe that to be a literal period of time. Paul solves an age-old problem rather easily. How can a dead and decayed body be resurrected? In one sense it simply cannot. The body that is sealed in a casket, cremated, or lost at sea is not resurrected. It is a new body the Lord gives. While God could breathe life into decay ing flesh, I do not believe He is going to. He resurrects a newly fashioned body. It is as different from the old flesh as a lively green stalk of corn is from the original dead seed. Paul says, "Do not be a fool and do not limit your God with your own ignorance" (I Cor inthians 15:35-41). Lumping different things togeth er into one class is a common be setting error of human beings. In Corinth the people equated the earthly body and the resurrected body as simply one. They were entirely confused. There is an im portant distinction (vs. 42). All through this section the Apostle points out the glaring inconsisten cies. The body is sown in dishon our but is raised in glory (vrs. 43- 50). Apples are not oranges, and the fleshly body is different from the resurrected body. Where is our promised victory over death? It is not merely Christ's coming, not merely His life, not merely His death, as great as these were; but through the resurrection when He demonstrated God's power to raise bodies from the grave. Life is not lived in a cave. It can be compared to a tunnel which has on the other side glorious day beyond our human comprehen sion. We do not need to speculate on these coming bodies and lose
brief description of the future (vrs. 23-28). Here we see that it will take place after Christ's resurrection which, of course, has already hap pened. We believe the weight of testimony from Scripture shows this Rapture to take place before Christ's millennial reign and be fore the Great Tribulation. The se quence is established in the first part of vs. 23. Christ is the first- fruits. In the Greek the word means the initial part of something. It was frequently used in classical litera ture as a reference to a particular kind of a sacrifice. The choice part of the meat went to the priest, or was laid before an idol. Speaking of resurrections this signified the initial one. After that, since it has already taken place, "they that are Christ's at His coming." The next time a signal is shown is in vs. 24. Notice the phrase, "Then cometh the end." This re fers to the conclusion of man's rule upon the earth. This makes way for the Lord who will establish His rule and power over all mankind (vrs. 24, 25). The last enemy who shall be destroyed is death (vs. 26). In one of our earlier messages on I Corinthians we talked about death and indicated that the Greeks fre quently used the word "Thanatos." For the Greeks, "Thanatos" was death personified. To the Chris tian, the good news is that Satan has been defeated. The believer's resurrection is be fore the end of man's rule and it comes at the time of what we fre quently refer to in the Christian life as the Rapture (I Thessalonians 4:13-18). The rule between the es tablishing of Christ's Kingdom and the final binding and destruction
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