Like Jiffy Pop On Steroids

 

 

Have you ever considered what will happen to you when your body is resurrected from the grave? What will happen when the Lord Jesus, the Holy One of Israel returns to earth with His nail-scarred body and the hosts of heaven? It’s going to be Jiffy Pop on steroids!

 

1Th 4:15-18 tells us: “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 by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

 Still have a problem picturing that day? Let’s turn to 1 Cor 15 beginning at v35: “But someone will say, "How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?" 36 Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. 37 And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain--perhaps wheat or some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.

 Skipping to v42: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”

Then to verse 50: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-- 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

The point is, if the Lord tarries on His return, our bodies are all like seeds, replete with heavenly DNA. We die and are planted in the ground. We don’t know what our glorified bodies will be like, but think of the changes that take place from ordinary garden seeds or flower seeds and the change they undergo, then multiply that by the infinite creative wisdom of God. It will be stunning!

 

Are you looking forward to that day? I hope so! Job was looking forward to it. He said in Job 14:14,15, “All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes.” (A body changed with no more painful sores!)  You shall call, (the trumpet will sound) and I will answer You.” (The dead in Christ will rise first)

 

What a great promise for those who put their faith in Christ….not so great for those who reject Him. Da 12:2 says, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

 

All who have passed will awake when Jesus returns, the question is what will be our destination? What will we pass to? Everlasting life? Or shame and everlasting contempt?