God has power over death (3)

Dearly beloved, I trust this finds you well and bubbling in the Lord. In Philippians 1v21 (AMPC), Paul writes “For me to live is Christ [His life in me], and to die is gain [the gain of the glory of eternity].” For the past few days, we have looked at how scripture considers death. We discovered that God has power over death, He doesn’t want us to fear death, and people who believe in Christ, even when they die, they do not really die, and we should be encouraged from the fact that when Jesus returns, those who died will rise first, and then we all who are alive will do as well. We also found that Jesus became flesh, and He died, and He was risen, and for that, we know that we too will rise again. Hallelujah. Today, I would like us to focus on verses from 1 Corinthians 15 (TLB) verses 12 to 23; 51 – 58, which deal with death and the resurrection.

“¹² But tell me this! Since you believe what we preach, that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying that dead people will never come back to life again? ¹³ For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ must still be dead. ¹⁴ And if he is still dead, then all our preaching is useless and your trust in God is empty, worthless, hopeless; ¹⁵ and we apostles are all liars because we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, and of course that isn’t true if the dead do not come back to life again. ¹⁶ If they don’t, then Christ is still dead, ¹⁷ and you are very foolish to keep on trusting God to save you, and you are still under condemnation for your sins; ¹⁸ in that case, all Christians who have died are lost! ¹⁹ And if being a Christian is of value to us only now in this life, we are the most miserable of creatures.

²⁰ But the fact is that Christ did actually rise from the dead and has become the first of millions who will come back to life again someday. ²¹ Death came into the world because of what one man (Adam) did, and it is because of what this other man (Christ) has done that now there is the resurrection from the dead. ²² Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, being members of his sinful race, and wherever there is sin, death results. But all who are related to Christ will rise again. ²³ Each, however, in his own turn: Christ rose first; then when Christ comes back, all his people will become alive again.

⁵¹ But I am telling you this strange and wonderful secret: we shall not all die, but we shall all be given new bodies! ⁵² It will all happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For there will be a trumpet blast from the sky, and all the Christians who have died will suddenly become alive, with new bodies that will never, never die; and then we who are still alive shall suddenly have new bodies too. ⁵³ For our earthly bodies, the ones we have now that can die, must be transformed into heavenly bodies that cannot perish but will live forever.

⁵⁴ When this happens, then at last this Scripture will come true—“Death is swallowed up in victory.” ^55-56 O death, where then your victory? Where then your sting? For sin—the sting that causes death—will all be gone; and the law, which reveals our sins, will no longer be our judge. ⁵⁷ How we thank God for all of this! It is he who makes us victorious through Jesus Christ our Lord! ⁵⁸ So, my dear brothers, since future victory is sure, be strong and steady, always abounding in the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever wasted as it would be if there were no resurrection.

Prayer

Father, we thank You so much for this day. Thank You for saving us now, and that forever we are saved, to live eternally with You. Keep us in You always, strong and steady, and always abounding in the Lord’s work. Give us boldness to declare the Good news always in Jesus name, amen.