1 Corinthians 15:45-49 Amplified Bible
45 So it is written [in Scripture], “The first man, Adam, became a living soul (an individual);” the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving spirit [restoring the dead to life]. 46 However, the spiritual [the immortal life] is not first, but the physical [the mortal life]; then the spiritual. 47 The first man [Adam] is from the earth, earthy [made of dust]; the second Man [Christ, the Lord] is from heaven. 48 As is the earthly man [the man of dust], so are those who are of earth; and as is the heavenly [Man], so are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthly [the man of dust], [a]we will also bear the image of the heavenly [the Man of heaven].
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.
Since my sudden need for my Triple Bypass Open Heart surgery this past July 17, when they sawed open my sternum and stopped my heart for 80 minutes, two words have been implanted indelibly on my soul – mortality and eternity.
Not just my own mortality and eternity, but the mortality and eternity of all of my family and indeed, to a far more reaching extent, the whole of humanity.
What will become of the future generations of those “clouds of witnesses” talked about in Hebrews 12:1-2 who will set aside their sins and burdens, in an effort to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to whatever is left of the world?
Even if we could muster all our imaginative powers, it’s utterly impossible for us fully to conceive of the world as it ought to be—and, indeed, as it will be.
Can you imagine a world where earthquakes, storms, and tornadoes no longer wreak havoc and destruction?
A world in which the word cancer and Alzheimer’s and heart disease and diabetes, so many other serious life threatening diseases strikes fear into nobody’s heart?
A body without weakness, a body without infection, a body without sickness, a body without sadness, a body without death?
The fact is, none of us can begin to hope to raise our imaginations to that level.
However, we do have an image of our hope for resurrection life in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
In being raised from the dead, Jesus Christ has become the first fruits of all who place their steadfast and immovable faith, hope and love and trust fully in Him.
What we see in Him is what we are someday to become.
By nature, we are all “in Adam” and destined for death; but to any who are in Christ, God promises renewed hope (1 Corinthians 15:21-28).
1 Corinthians 15:21-28 GOD’S WORD Translation
21 Since a man brought death, a man also brought life back from death. 22 As everyone dies because of Adam, so also everyone will be made alive because of Christ. 23 This will happen to each person in his own turn. Christ is the first, then at his coming, those who belong to him ⌞will be made alive⌟. 24 Then the end will come. Christ will hand over the kingdom to God the Father as he destroys every ruler, authority, and power.
25 Christ must rule until God has put every enemy under his control. 26 The last enemy he will destroy is death. 27 Clearly, God has put everything under Christ’s authority. When God says that everything has been put under Christ’s authority, this clearly excludes God, since God has put everything under Christ’s authority. 28 But when God puts everything under Christ’s authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, since God had put everything under the Son’s authority. Then God will be in control of everything.
By triumphing over death, Christ, “the last Adam” (45 This is what Scripture says: “The first man, Adam, became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. v 45), has set us on the path to indestructible life in heaven.
Once we each walked the path of “the man of dust,” but now all who are in Jesus Christ “bear the image of the man of heaven.”
That lingering question which rolls and rolls through my soul; “What will life be like when that man of heaven returns to earth and brings heaven with Him?”
Scripture does not lay out all the details so we can order our lives accordingly.
God and God alone give order to our lives and the lives of all God hath created.
And that all God created order is the greatest unsolvable mystery of all eternity.
But we do know this, and is that instead of our bodies being perishable, our bodies will then be imperishable.
As we live and breath, and walk and talk, we currently have a limited shelf life, but we have the promise and hope of an eternal life with no expiration date.
We will live forever (1 Corinthians 15:42 That is how it will be when the dead come back to life. When the body is planted, it decays. When it comes back to life, it cannot decay.), and every day in that great forever will be glorious, for nothing will ever perish, spoil, or fade (1 Peter 1:4-5 4 We have been born into a new life which has an inheritance that can’t be destroyed or corrupted and can’t fade away. That inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 since you are guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of time.)
We also know that God will transform us from a condition of dishonor and weakness to a renewed state of power and glory (1 Corinthians 15:43 43 When the body is planted, it doesn’t have any splendor and is weak. When it comes back to life, it has splendor and is strong.).
Neither you nor I have the categories to fathom such a resurrection life.
Whatever you and I try would ever try to imagine, reality will be 100% better!
But of this you and I can be 100% sure: that life does await you, awaits me, for our risen Lord Jesus Christ has 100% trampled death underfoot once and for all.
Death has been swallowed up in His irreversible victory (1 Corinthians 15:53-54 53 For this perishable [part of us] must put on the imperishable [nature], and this mortal [part of us that is capable of dying] must put on immortality [which is freedom from death]. 54 And when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the Scripture will be fulfilled that says, “Death is swallowed up in victory (vanquished forever).).
Today, we will all still see the forces of death at work around us—even in us.
Perhaps we are very aware of that in one way or another as we read these words.
But be assured that the kingdom of light has already prevailed over the domain of darkness.
In fact, our citizenship already belongs to the kingdom of resurrection life.
At times you and I may still feel the decay and the dust, but you can yet find hope, knowing that the man of heaven will one day transform our “lowly body to be like His eternally glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21 20 But [we are different, because] our citizenship is in heaven. And from there we eagerly await [the coming of] the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who, by exerting that power which enables Him even to subject everything to Himself, will [not only] transform [but completely refashion] our earthly bodies so that they will be like His glorious resurrected body. )—forever and ever Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Thank You, Lord God, that You purposed from the foundation of the world You created to save mankind from sin. Thank You that by grace through faith in Christ, I have been transferred from the old creation in Adam to the new creation in Christ. Thank You that my spirit has been regenerated and I have been given a new nature in Christ. I pray that I may keep the old sin nature nailed to the Cross. I praise and thank You that one day, this mortal body will be clothed with immortality, because I now bear the image of the heavenly Lord Jesus. In His name I pray, AMEN.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 