Episode Synopsis:

At the end of chapter 15 of First Corinthians, Paul describes what is truly the greatest triumph in the long history of the human race–Jesus Christ’s glorious victory over death and the grave.  Our greatest enemy (death) was defeated that first Easter when Jesus was raised bodily from the dead as the firstfruits of a great harvest yet to come.  And when Jesus returns on the last day, the trumpet will sound, the dead in Christ will be raised imperishable, and his victory will become ours.  Just as Jesus was raised in a glorified body of flesh and bones, so too shall we.  But what will such a body be like?  How is it both the same, yet different from the bodies we presently have?  Paul answers this and related questions in his defense of Jesus Christ’s bodily resurrection from the dead in the last part of 1 Corinthians 15.

Paul speaks of a spiritual body suited for eternal life in the presence of the holy God.  It will be the same kind of body Jesus possessed after his resurrection.  Such a body is unlike our present existence, in that once transformed, this body will reflect the glories of the new creation, the age to come, and the final consummation.  It will be a body free from sin, sickness, and death.  We will be raised to experience the unspeakable glories of the new heaven and earth, a renewed creation, and live forever in the presence of the Lord.  Although we see dimly now, on that day we shall see face to face.  We will experience the wonder of eternal life and receive all the blessings of our promised inheritance.

Paul ends this chapter in triumph, mocking death.  When Jesus returns on the last day, we shall be instantly changed (in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye) and given that resurrection body which Paul describes as a transformation from the perishable (and therefore certain to die) to an imperishable body which is suited for eternal life.  The sting of death gives way to the glorious victory earned and won for us by Jesus himself.  As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/