But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what body do they come?"
Now Paul talks about the Resurrection body, similar but different from the body we live in now.
You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies;
You're talking foolishly when you don't recognize that what you plant looks different from what grows. And the seed must decay for the plant to start growing.
and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or something else.
You don't plant a stalk of wheat, you plant the wheat seed.
But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.
The seeds of different plants look different from one another. A cherry pit looks different from an apple seed.
All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish.
All Mankind is of one flesh; people from different corners of the Earth can marry and produce children. But different flesh cannot reproduce. Each flesh reproduces within its own kind, but cannot between kinds. This is how God designed it to work. Everything is to reproduce "after their kind;" this phrase is repeated ten times over every kind of living creature God made (Genesis 1:11-26). We all on this Earth reproduce after our own kind. Children look like their parents. Dogs have puppies, and cats have kittens.
There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another.
God has made the Earth unique among all the other occupants of our Universe. Earthly bodies may refer to mountains and oceans and such features of our Planet, that have never been found on any other planet.
There is one glory of the Sun, and another glory of the Moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
All the things in Space, all the suns, all the moons all the planets, all the quarks and muons and black holes and every other thing out there, is different from every other thing out there. There are no two things alike anywhere in the Universe.
So also is the resurrection of the dead.
This is no different, no two are alike. And what is partial will be made complete. God never stops half-way with anything He starts, He always finishes.
It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;
it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
What God started in each of us will be finished, made perfect.
it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Obviously, there is a natural body--we each are living in one. So there also will be a spiritual body. Similar, but different from our bodies now.
So also it is written,
The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.The first Man Adam became a living soul (Genesis 2:7).
Genesis 2:7 says, The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and Man became a living soul. So God put His own breath into the lungs of the first Man, and he came alive.
Then Jesus was born of a woman, and became a Man. Then He died and was buried, and rose from death with a new, different kind of Life, Resurrection Life. And He could walk through locked doors (Luke 24:36), and appear and disappear at will, (Luke 24:31). These are hints as to what our bodies will be like, and be able to do, when we are made perfect.
However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.
Everything in order, God is orderly about everything. No chaos.
The first Man is from the Earth, earthy; the second Man is from Heaven.
As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.
As Adam lived on the plane of this Earth, so we all live here, too; Jesus came from Heaven, a whole different plane of being, to raise us up to His Heavenly plane of Living.
Just as we have borne the image of the earthy,
we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
Just as we are living here now, in bodies suited for this Earth, so we will put on new bodies that are suited to live in the heavenly realms. More than just putting on a space-suit.
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God;
Our flesh-and-blood bodies are very frail and fragile and cannot withstand the rigors of spiritual powers directly. Like looking into the Sun will burn out our retinas making us blind, so being in the direct presence of God Himself would destroy these bodies.
nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
What can be destroyed so easily cannot be transported to an indestructible realm.
Behold, I tell you a mystery;
Okay, listen up here: a mystery is something we never knew before.
we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
Not all of us will have to die, but every one of us will receive this body-upgrade, whether we died or live to see that Day.
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last Trumpet;
Instantly, when the last Trumpet of a series of Trumpets sounds. The only series of trumpets in the whole Bible is in the Book of Revelation. The Seventh Trumpet is in Revelation 11:15-18, when, "The kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever." And it's time for the dead to be judged, the servants be rewarded; and a great Earthquake and great hail on the Earth.
for the Trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
That's when we will be changed. We will hear His voice calling each of our names, and rise to meet Him in the clouds. This has never happened before, and it will never happen again, it's a once-in-all-Time event! See also I Thessalonians 4:13-18 for more details on this event.
For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Everything we are that is faulty and incomplete must put on the "space-suit" of the new Resurrection body so we will be able to survive and live with God the Father and Jesus the Son comfortably, without being burned up.
But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting? (Hosea 13:14).The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law;
When this happens, then this prophesy will be fulfilled in us! The death, the downward spiral that pulls us down into chaos, will be overcome by the power of Resurrection, changing our flesh bodies into spirit bodies instantly! No more sin, because the Law is finished and not needed any more.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes, thanks be to God, who sent His Son, Christ Jesus, to conquer Death, the curse that was put on us all when Adam sinned. We can also have this victory in our own lives right now, the power to overcome the temptations to do what we know is not right. And to be called off of this World into the clouds, to be with Jesus forever, ruling in His Kingdom with Him forever!
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
This should encourage us to keep on keeping on doing what is right, helping one another any way we can, knowing that even when it is hard, and people don't understand, and don't respond to us the way we think they should; it's okay, our conscience is clear, and we can leave them in God's hand, to draw them to Himself.
And we will be rewarded at that time, for all that we did to promote His Kingdom principles in this fallen World we live in.
And we will rejoice in His glory!
Every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim in every language that Christ Jesus is Lord God Almighty, our Sovereign King, to the glory of Almighty God the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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