In November of 2001, my mom’s mother passed away. She was 94. This past Sunday, on Mother’s Day, my dad’s mom died. She was 103. What a blessing to have grandparents live such full lives. Had they not lived, I would not have lived. “Precious memories… how they linger… how they ever flood my soul.”
As we age, it becomes more and more evident that these bodies are not made to last forever. At the funeral home this week, it was exciting to think of the “new bodies” that will come to those who are in Christ. Jesus, Himself, received such a resurrection body when He rose on the third day, and the Scripture says we will be like Him. Such a body will be full of power and glory. It will never perish.
I Corinthians 15 is an incredible chapter about the resurrection of Christ and what it means to us. Though I don’t understand all Paul discusses, I do gain great hope. Here are a few thoughts from this chapter:
What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body…
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body…
As was the earthly man (Adam), so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven (Jesus), so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
So I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will be true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. I Corithians 15:36-58