I Corinthians 15: 12-26
Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
There were some in Corinth who were materialistic and denied that we would be resurrected. So Paul goes 'round and 'round the idea of resurrection or no resurrection.
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised;
and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.
Vain means having no purpose. So if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then we have nothing to base our faith on.
Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised.
So if there is no resurrection, then we are liars for saying that Christ was raised from the dead, if He didn't. Because if we won't, then He didn't, either.
For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised;
and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
If God did not show His acceptance of Christ's payment for our sins by raising Him, then our sins weren't forgiven either, and we have no hope.
Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
And those who have already died don't have any chance at all.
If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.
If there's nothing after this Earthly existence, then all we go through as Christians has no worth, no reward.
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
But the fact is that Christ was resurrected, it's a historical event that really took place, it happened. He is the first: the first fruits were the beginning of the harvest, given back to God in thanksgiving for the rest of the whole crop that was coming. And He is the first before us, we are the crop.
For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
All people who have been born from Adam will all die, everybody, the whole human race; we all will die. In the same way, everyone who has been born in Christ, all who have been born from above, through the Sacrifice Jesus paid on our behalf--receiving God's Holy Spirit of Life--will continue to live that new Life forever, even after these bodies we have now die.
But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming,
God always is orderly. Everything in its own order. Christ was resurrected first, three days after His death. The rest of us will be resurrected when He calls us out as He approaches this Earth, when the last trumpet sounds and the dead in Christ will rise out of their graves and we who are alive will also rise in the air to meet Him in the clouds, ever to live with Him.
Then He will set up His Kingdom here, in this World, and reign for a thousand years, conquering all His enemies.
then comes the end, when He hands over the Kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
God the Father put the authority over all creation into the hand of the Son, and when the Son has destroyed all the enemies of creation, He will hand it back over to God the Father.
For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
So He will rule over every part of this Earth and the whole Universe until He has cleansed it of all unrighteousness and chaos and everything that has marred its beauty. Then it will be a fit gift for His Father.
The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
The final cleansing touch after eradicating all evil and all wickedness and everything that is out of place, will be the destruction of death itself, the curse the Lord God placed on all creation because of Adam. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, entropy.
Then there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth, running on a completely different basis from the Universe and the Earth we know now.
O my Father, thank You for raising Jesus from the dead, giving Him Resurrection Life, to prove that You accepted His payment in full for our sins and sinfulness. Thank You that You will also raise up all who have been born into Your family, to live in our changed bodies the Life we will be able to live in Your very presence, without being destroyed by Your Glorious Majesty.
Thank You, Father, for drawing us to Yourself, to be members of Your own family, to reign and rule with You in Your ever-expanding Kingdom throughout all Eternity, without end.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
