I T IS IMPORTANT for us to under stand what will happen to a Chris tian following physical death. When the Church age comes to an end the Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself will “descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up to gether with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thess. 4:16-17). Believers in Christ naturally want to know what this body will be like. You see, at that coming day there will be an actual transformation of this mortal flesh, whether we as be lievers are dead or alive. Certainly, in this tremendous imminent moment to which we look forward, nothing needs to be fulfilled in the way of biblical prophecy before it transpires. It is both timeless and signless. It could happen at any moment. Wheth er alive or dead, all those who have accepted God’s plan of Salvation, by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, will be swept up to meet the Saviour in the air. The wonderful scriptural assurance is, “and so shall we ever be with the Lord” ! This is really one of the cardinal doctrines of the Word of God. There are several important things that will characterize your body and mine as believers in this future hour. One of the first things that came to my consciousness after I was con verted to Christ was something made crystal-clear in that Jesus’ body could be seen by all who watched in His ascension back to heaven. He was in His resurrection body, yet every one could readily see Him. He
was clearly visible to all who stood there. This fascinating immortal body still had flesh and bones. He could be touched and felt by others. Even though He was not dependent upon food for His continuing exist ence our Saviour could eat food. He could pass through doors when they weren’t even open. How marvelous to consider Christ’s glorified body. One of the greatest passages in the New Testament on the resurrec tion body is found in the 15th chap ter of the book of I Corinthians. This is a portion we should commit to memory, spending time in person al study and meditation. In this sec tion we are given four great con trasts between the body which we now possess, (the one subject to physical death) and the spiritual, resurrected, glorified body. This will one day be the possession of every born-again believer. This is a body which will never, never die. In these four marked comparisons Paul does not refer solely to the condition of the body at the moment of death or as it is placed in the grave. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he gives us a picture of existence this side of the grave. The reason for this is so that we may have a com parison of what it will be like not only at the moment of our resurrec tion, but also, throughout all the countless ages of eternity. The first contrast is in I Corin thians 15:42 showing the difference between corruption and incorruption. “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incprruption.” The literal teaching here is to point out that the body in which we now live is subject to decay and corruption. Who of us would dispute or argue that point 23
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