By Kenneth T. Norris
Montague, P.E.I., Canada
Nov. 6, 1954; p. 6
One of the great questions of all time concerns life after death. To those who believe in life after death at all there are two prevailing views: One belief is traced back to the great Greek philosophers who lived several hundreds of years before the Christian era. They believed that the spirit or soul of a man is immortal, but that his body is finished when it is put away in the tomb. The other belief, taught and demonstrated by Jesus Christ, is that the soul is immortal and that the body will be resurrected from the dead. To confuse these teachings or to preach simple immortality of the soul as the Christian message is wrong. Christ was the first fruits of the resurrection. His body was raised from the dead. The clear Christian teaching is nothing less than that.
Of course, this belief poses a number of questions: if this body decays, how is it raised; if the body is blown apart in an explosion, how can it be reassembled; if it is mutilated, how can it be put back together? All these queries are answered in principle by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:35-54.
The dead in Christ are raised by the power of God—the same power that makes the seeds and bulbs sprout and come to life in the spring, the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead and brought Him forth from the tomb. The man who says he cannot understand this or refuses to believe it is foolish, Paul says, “Thou fool” (v. 36) because he sees this power of God working every day and every year in the common course of nature. He does not say, I will not believe plants grow from seeds because I cannot understand it. He accepts it because he sees it work. In the same way, God raised Christ from the dead to give us a demonstration of how He will work in us to raise us from the dead.
The second question Paul answers is, “With what body do they come? . . . All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also, is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body” (vv. 35, 39-44).
They are sown in dishonor, but they are raised in glory—glorious bodies to dwell with Christ throughout eternity. They are sown in weakness, with no ability or power; they are raised in power—power over death, time, space, and physical things. They are sown natural bodies; they are raised spiritual bodies, like Christ’s glorified, resurrected, spiritual body.
Finally they shall be in the image of Christ’s body. “And as we have borne the image of the earthy [that is, Adam] we shall also bear the image of the heavenly [that is, Christ].”
The final question is “When shall this change take place?” It shall take place while some are still living. Paul says, “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” The dead in Christ shall be changed by the resurrection; the living in Christ shall be changed by transfiguration. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul says that the dead in Christ shall rise first, then those who are living when Christ returns shall rise to meet Him in the air. In that moment we shall be changed.
It shall take place very suddenly, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” There will be no time then for a hasty change of mind or repentance at the last minute. This should make us stop and think about the eternal destination of our souls.
All this shall be at the sound of the last trumpet—the trumpet of the angel of the Lord. What an awesome, wonderful sound that will be. It shall, no doubt, fill the whole heavens and earth as the Lord returns to receive His own. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:26).
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:2, 3).
Through the power of God we shall receive new bodies. These bodies will be identifiable, incorruptible, glorious, powerful, spiritual—fashioned in the image of Christ’s. They will be given suddenly to His saints when Christ returns to receive up His own. “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
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