The Truth comes to Corinth

Paul Declares the Mystery of our Resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:50-53 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. NKJV

Paul now draws his discourse of expounding or explaining the resurrection from  the dead by enlightening or opening the understanding of these Corinthian believers and us of what the parameters or the facts that define and determine what the resurrection of our physical bodies from the grave truly means from the perspective of God the Father. The first thing Paul does is remind us that we human beings are flesh and blood and we know that in this state or condition we are sinners and sinful in this flesh and blood, so Paul then declares the heavenly and eternal truth that no flesh and blood can inherit or be an heir to God’s Kingdom. Paul uses the English word cannot to make his point emphatic or strong and forceful to leave no doubts about this reality. This English word cannot is translated by two Greek words, the first Greek word for “can” is dunamai which means to be able or possible or to have power to or to be capable or strong enough. The second Greek word for “not” is ou which is a primary word expressing an absolute negative. Flesh and blood “cannot” inherit heaven because we have learned from the previous studies that it is not designed for habitation anywhere but here upon the earth as it is presently designed and created by God.

When our Lord Jesus Christ died on the Cross and rose from the grave the third day, He announced to His disciples then and to the rest of humanity in every generation “the new thing” or “the new creation” God the Father was doing in humanity as our Lord Jesus who poured out His Blood for our sins said this speaking of His New Resurrected Body to the disciples when He appeared to them and calm their fears, “But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. And He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have’” (Luke 24:37-39). Our Lord Jesus announces the new eternal body of His (being the first fruits from the dead) and ours of flesh and bone, and the disciples touched, felt, manipulated, and verified by contact that it was our Lord Jesus in a new Resurrected Body. God the Father had no plan to redeem our existing flesh but as we learned from the last study “in Christ” God the Father condemned our sinful flesh (Romans 8:3) and “in Christ’s Resurrected Body” began a new race of humanity as we are “in Him” being prepared or sanctified right now by God the Holy Spirit for our life eternally in heaven in our new body of flesh and bone we receive at our death, yet it will be a spiritual body that will never see the corruption of aging or disease.

Our Lord Jesus is right now in heaven in His Resurrected Body and will eternally be in His Resurrected Body when we are with Him in heaven. Paul informs them and us that there will be some followers of Christ still alive when He comes to catch up His Church in the air to meet Him. Paul and every believer over 2,000 years ago were living every day in the expectation that our Lord Jesus Christ could come for them at any moment and some of the believers in Thessalonica had become disturbed by some letter that came to them implying that the rapture had already taken place, so Paul wrote to them these words reassuring them that they had not missed the rapture and been left behind, “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-5).

Paul describes the rapture as an event that takes place in the “twinkling” of an eye or in other words a moment in time or an instant and this is why the Thessalonians were so disturbed because they knew this would take place so fast that it would not be possible for one to get prepared if they were not already prepared by way of regeneration and the new birth. Paul proclaims that in this “twinkling” or instant we all “in Christ” will be changed or made different or transformed to be like Christ Jesus our Lord and Paul in his first letter he wrote to those Thessalonian believers had informed them of our Lord Jesus’ Second Coming with these words, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). At this instant or moment our corruptible flesh and blood will be made by our Lord Jesus Himself incorruptible and immortal clothed to live in the heavenly realm forever with Him.

“A man with his gross earthly body, so thoroughly adapted to his earthly abode, would be all out of harmony with his surroundings in that higher world, and its rarified air would be too thin and pure for his lungs. Can there be any possibility of making him fit to live in a spiritual world? Apart from revelation, the dreary answer must be ‘No.’ But the ‘mystery’ answers with ‘Yes.’ The change from physical to spiritual is clearly necessary, if there is to be a blessed life hereafter. That necessary change is assured to all Christians, whether they die or ‘remain till the coming of the Lord.’ Paul varies in his anticipations as to whether he and his contemporaries will belong to the one class or the other; but he is quite sure that in either case the indwelling Spirit of Jesus will effect on living and dead the needful change.” Alexander MacLaren

“Despite the eternal words written here by the Apostle Paul, there still remains a lot or host of truth we don’t know about what we will be like with Jesus Christ our Lord in Heaven and I believe if our Lord would have disclosed in much more detail what awaits us when we put off this weak, frail, and corrupt sinful flesh we now inhabit, we would be so pre-occupied with it that we would be of no earthly good in our sojourn and pilgrimage on earth.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…