{"id":17238,"date":"2021-09-01T22:00:50","date_gmt":"2021-09-02T05:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1corinthians-15_35-49-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-09-02T00:46:54","modified_gmt":"2021-09-02T07:46:54","slug":"1corinthians-15_50-58","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1corinthians-15_50-58\/","title":{"rendered":"Imperishable Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Corinthians 15:50-58 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is\u00a01 Corinthians 15:50-58.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 15:50-53 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n50\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.<\/em>
\n51\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed–
\n52\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0in 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.
\n53\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 50-53:\u00a0\u00a0What is Paul saying here?\u00a0\u00a0Let me explain it this way.\u00a0\u00a0When you trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).\u00a0\u00a0You received a new heart and a new spirit (one destined to be with God forever rather than one destined to be apart from God forever) (Ezekiel 36:26).\u00a0\u00a0But while your spirit was made new in Christ, your body didn\u2019t change.\u00a0\u00a0I would be really surprised if the moment you received Jesus into your life, you went from balding to a full head of hair, or from a beer belly to six pack abs, or from your current bodily measurements to a clothing size up or down.\u00a0\u00a0In other words, though some crucial changes happened in your spirit when you received Jesus, your body stayed the same.\u00a0\u00a0But so that we would be fully equipped for eternal life in heaven, we need a new, imperishable physical body that is fit for heaven to replace the old, physical, temporary \u201cflesh and blood\u201d bodies that we were born on earth with, which are perishable and which we were never meant to last for eternity.\u00a0\u00a0That is why Paul says that \u201cflesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable\u201d (v50).\u00a0\u00a0That is why he also says \u201cthe perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality\u201d (v53).<\/p>\n

In verses 51-52 Paul describes how God will give us this new, imperishable body.\u00a0\u00a0It will happen, Paul says, \u201cin a flash, in the twinkling of an eye\u201d (v52) when the last trumpet sounds to welcome Jesus\u2019 return (see also 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Matthew 24:31).\u00a0\u00a0When he says in verse 51, \u201cWe will not all sleep, but we will all be changed\u201d, he means that both Christians who have died (fallen asleep) and Christians who are still living at the time when Jesus returns will all be changed in this way.<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 15:54-57 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n54\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the perishable has been 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.”
\n55\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
\n56\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
\n57\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 54-57:\u00a0\u00a0What is the sign that a person has overcome the problem of sin and death?\u00a0 Resurrection.\u00a0 When a person resurrects from the grave, never to die again, it shows that death and the problem that caused it – sin – no longer have any hold over that person.\u00a0 As Paul says in verse 54: “When the perishable has been 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'” (v54).\u00a0 Resurrection is our ultimate victory over sin and death.<\/p>\n

Resurrection is not something we can achieve by ourselves.\u00a0 As Paul writes in verse\u00a050, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (v50).\u00a0 In other words, on our own, we have no right, power or ability by ourselves to resurrect from the dead.\u00a0 But when we place our trust in Jesus Christ who conquered sin and death on our behalf, we the perishable are clothed with Jesus Christ the imperishable.\u00a0 It is God’s power at work in us through Jesus Christ that makes our new resurrection bodies possible.\u00a0\u00a0As Paul says in verse 57,\u00a0“<\/sup>But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”\u00a0\u00a0As the most famous verse in the Bible says, \u201cFor God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will not\u00a0perish<\/em>, but have eternal life.\u201d (John 3:16)<\/p>\n

Because of Jesus, death and sin no longer have any hold over us.\u00a0Instead we can say, “Where O death is your victory?\u00a0 Where O death is your sting?” (v55).<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 15:58 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n58\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 58:\u00a0\u00a0Since through Jesus Christ we have the hope of resurrection and will be receiving bodies that one day will not perish, we have every reason to stand firm, to not let any smaller problem get the best of us, and to serve the Lord with all that we have, knowing that our labor in Him is not in vain (v58).<\/p>\n

Thank You, God, for sending Your Son Jesus Christ, the imperishable one, to clothe us with what is imperishable.\u00a0 Thank You that because of Jesus we have an eternal, imperishable hope that is stronger than sin and death.\u00a0\u00a0In the mighty, imperishable name of Jesus we pray, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is\u00a01 Corinthians 15:50-58.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 15:50-53 (NIV)
\n50\u00a0\u00a0I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
\n51\u00a0\u00a0Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed–
\n52\u00a0\u00a0in 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.
\n53\u00a0\u00a0For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.<\/p>\n

On verses 50-53:\u00a0\u00a0What is Paul saying here?\u00a0\u00a0Let me explain it this way.\u00a0\u00a0When you trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).\u00a0\u00a0You received a new heart and a new spirit (one destined to be with God forever rather than one destined to be apart from God forever) (Ezekiel 36:26).\u00a0\u00a0But while your spirit was made new in Christ, your body didn\u2019t change.\u00a0\u00a0I would be really surprised if the moment you received Jesus into your life, you went from balding to a full head of hair, or from a beer belly to six pack abs, or from your current bodily measurements to a clothing size up or down.\u00a0\u00a0In other words, though some crucial changes happened in your spirit when you received Jesus, your body stayed the same.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17238"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17290,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17238\/revisions\/17290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}