The High Calling of God – Part 8

The resurrection from the dead

Paul’s aim in life was to forsake everything so that He may gain Christ, and know Him, the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to Him in His death. All these were to lead Him to attain this one thing: the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:7-11). It was the resurrection from the dead that completed his process of ultimately conforming to the image of Christ.

Why is this resurrection from the dead so important? Because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:50). Must we all physically die to ultimately be like Jesus so as to inherit the kingdom of God? “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep (die), but we will all be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51). There is going to come a time when this perishable body will be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: Death has been swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54). For some, this will happen when the Lord Jesus returns; when the dead in Christ will be resurrected and clothed with a new body, just as Jesus was (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). For some, like Enoch, they walked intimately with the Lord by faith so that God took them to heaven without experiencing death, and their bodies transformed to bear the weight of God’s glory (Genesis 5:24; Hebrews 11:5; 1 Corinthians 15:50). Nowhere in Scripture has it been said that this is an exclusive experience reserved only for Enoch and Elijah. And yet for many others, this will happen in the not-too-distant future, when the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and we who are alive will also be changed (transformed in our bodies) in a twinkle of an eye. We will also be caught up together with the resurrected saints in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58). This is the rapture. Concerning this rapture, we shall have much to say in another study about what the Lord Jesus actually taught about it in contrast to the popular notion of our time.

In 1 John 3:2, we learn that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him because we shall SEE Him as He is (1 John 3:2). This is not just being like Him in our spirits alone, but in our bodies as well (1 Thessalonians 4; 2 Corinthians 15). Again, we read that without holiness it is impossible to SEE God (Hebrews 12:14). These Scriptures point out the truth that without holiness, there is no hope of experiencing the resurrection from the dead and being like Christ, and no hope of seeing the Lord when He appears. Therefore, if you are one given to following after the carnal desires of your flesh and mind in the name of “grace abounds”, be forewarned. Repent and turn to God, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds (Titus 2:11-14).

To be continued…

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