Our Resurrection Bodies

· 1 Cor 15 usually seen as dealing exclusively with the doctrine of the resurrection and usually an "Easter" text.

· I think Paul sees resurrection as the logical end point of the Gospel, which includes the Crucifixion

· Together with his burial, they form a single concise statement of the Gospel truth.

The Statement of the Gospel (1-4)

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: (KJV)

Reasons to Believe (5-11)

The importance of the Resurrection to the Gospel message. (12-34)

· Paul's argument is that the Resurrection is just as central to redemption as Christ's death for sin.

· I would suggest that these reasons are just as true for all of the gospel, including his death and burial.

· There are real consequences if Christ didn’t die and was not resurrected from the dead.

· In fact - I think it is a grave mistake to separate the weekend's events into three separate things – death, burial and resurrection.

· As we said, there are several basic classes of consequences if there was no resurrection…

I. Theological consequences (13-15)

· If there is no Death & Resurrection - No good explanation of the empty tomb (13)

II. Personal Consequences (16-19)

III. The Resurrection Plan (20-28)

IV. Resurrection Incentives (29-34)

Nothing Strange

· What records we have of man’s beliefs from earliest days all record some persistent belief in an afterlife of one kind or another.

· As the earliest cultures developed, the belief that the flesh was evil and the spirit would leave the flesh behind at death began to surface.

· Greece and Rome epitomized the height of this philosophy, for that is what it was.

· Resurrection was a given in the OT, but it was only obliquely referred to, and was not a well-developed doctrine.

· Some believe in an interim state where sins are paid for and then either blessedness is entered into, or one is annihilated.

· Some take that idea and add to it the possibility of a second chance while in torment or held awaiting sentence.

· Some think that there is a holding area with or without punishment where the dead are held until the living redeem them with works of righteousness.

· The Muslims believe that the faithful arise to blessedness and the condemned will burn forever in the view of Allah and the faithful.

· The Mormons believe a kind second chance given to the unbeliever while the serve in the Temple of the faithful.

· Buddhism, and the other Eastern religions all believe in some form of the idea that one works one’s way out of the body altogether and into some form of oneness with the universe.

· ONLY Christianity proclaims that the body is good, that God created it deliberately and with a purpose (His glory).

· All other religions are either humanistic, emphasizing human bodily benefit, or discard the body altogether and emphasize the spirit-man.

· ONLY Christianity speaks of a bodily resurrection of our present bodies, transformed as they will be, that will persist for all eternity future.

· ONLY Biblical Christianity holds the line that there is a barrier at death that is unbreachable by anyone on this side – and that no one’s works but one’s own can affect what happens beyond that barrier.

Very Much Evident

· And so we said it’s very much evident by the time we reach this point in the 15th Chapter of Corinthians and the 35th verse, that the apostle Paul wants us to believe in the bodily resurrection.

· Paul says that to enter glory without a physical body would be a kind of nakedness 92 Cor. 5:2-4).

Now He Deals With Objections

· And now he is going to deal with another element of their questioning, because as soon as he has he established the reality of the resurrection, they’re going to say, this is what they say in verse 35,

“Some will say how are the dead raised up and with what body do they come?

· All right, Paul, you want to tell us about resurrection, bodily, physical resurrection of the dead.

· And the idea of resurrection was repulsive to them, because they couldn’t imagine a rotted, decade, stinking, corrupted bunch of whatever left in a grave coming altogether again and coming out.

· Once my spirit is free to float and ascend and wander all through space and be lost in the eternal deity, who needs that cruddy old thing back again?

· They weren’t even interested, but Paul keeps banging away that there will be resurrection so they say all right, what is going to be like an how are you going to get out of the ground Paul?

· They know what it is for a body to rot away and...and their questions are not unlike questions that I get asked today.

· And what’s in the back of people’s mind often I’ll say why do you ask?

· Or people will say well what about...I’ve had this asked, what about somebody who...you know you die at sea and you’re on the bottom in the water changes, you know, and you got all these bones, does God know which knee bone connects with which thigh bone connects with which hip bone so you get the right guy in the end?

· You mean, God is going to go over all the debris of the earth and start sorting out what goes where?

· Paul himself asked King Agrippa, who no doubt was exposed to this particular kind of thinking, he said,

“…why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?”

· What about bodies smashed to pieces in a wreck or blown up in a bomb or burned to cinders in a fire?

· How is God going to get ashes thrown to the wind and how’s He going to find the right bones on the floor of the ocean and where’s He going to get the dust of somebody to determine from the dust of somebody else and on and on.

Verse 36 – Paul’s Answer

· Paul never minced words. He doesn’t say now, I’d like to share a few thoughts. “You fool,” he said.

· And so he is really approaching their mockery with his reply, “you fool.”

· And so proceeding from verse 36, he gives them an answer to these two questions that are posed in 35, how are the dead raised and with what body do they come.

· A prototype of resurrection so they can see exactly what this thing will be like.

1. An Illustration Of Resurrection

“Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not made alive except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but a bare grain it may chance of wheat or of some other grain. But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him and to every seed its own body. (V36-38)

· He uses the illustration of a seed put into the ground, buried that brings forth life.

All Predicated on the Power of God

· Now this is a very basic point for Paul, because the whole issue of resurrection down all the way through this chapter is predicated on the power of God.

· And he just wants you to remember that the whole process is in God’s hands.

· And if God can take some little seed and give it a body that in resurrection out of the ground, that is in no way like the seed and yet has the same life principle, then don’t you underestimate the body God can give to you in resurrection.

· And you know something interesting, you can’t tell what it’s going to be by looking at the seed.

2. The form of resurrection (39-42a)

· He moves away from this, but his basic point here is that God can give anybody He wants in resurrection, just as He does to seeds, a lot of which look alike and yet give forth different bodies in resurrection as they come out of the ground.

“All flesh is not the same flesh. There’s one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fish, and another of birds. There are 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, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars, for one star differs from another star in glory so also is the resurrection of the dead.”

· Now don’t get hung up on...on the different, well, how could we possibly have a different body.

· I mean, whatever goes in, if you’re going to say that it’s got to be what comes out.

· In fact, there are, according to what I read, 600 octodecilian combinations of amino acids.

· Now, I don’t know how many 600 octodecilian combinations is, that’s a lot.

· And the reason there are so many is because amino acids are the building blocks of flesh.

· And I have my own little set that work in me, and you have your own little set.

· Have you ever noticed the difference in complexion and skin features and wrinkle capacity and resistance in different people.

· All the different...colors of the hair, all different features, the growth patterns, width, height, all that stuff?

· Everything is different, because every individual there’s no stars alike, no two flowers alike, no two blades of grass alike, no two snowflakes alike, not two any things a like, not even identical twins.

· Now, this in fact, by the way, is one of the greatest proofs against evolution anywhere in science, because no matter what you eat, it all comes out you.

· You can eat nothing but Kentucky Fried Chicken for the next ten years and you won’t grow feathers.

· And the reason you won’t is because the amino acids and combination in your body will produce you.

· You’re not going to turn into a cow because the combination of amino acids is so unique to your body it will produce you.

· Snakes can’t become birds, because no matter what snakes wish and the idea of evolution says they climbed up trees and wished they could fly for a million years and finally they got their wish, no matter what they wish...that’s the truth, I mean it’s not the truth, but that’s what they is the truth.

· But you see no matter what snakes do, their amino acids just keep making more snake.

· And when the Bible says there are all kinds of flesh and all flesh is not the same flesh, that’s what it means.

· So don’t say that whatever goes is going to have to be what comes out or you’re messing with God’s creative ability.

39 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. He simply says there’s one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fish, and another of birds.

40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

· He says not only are there these bodies terrestrial, and that means earthly and that would refer to animals and plants, but there are also celestial bodies.

“But the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another.”

· The difference between a pretty flower and the sun is a lot of difference, a lot of difference.

· A pretty flower is nice and has a certain amount of glory, but it doesn’t have anything like the sun.

· And there are stars in our universe that are like...like a 1,000 suns and more.

· The glory of the celestial...listen, whatever you see on earth is not what has to be up there is what he’s saying.

· From the human viewpoint, we look at a flower and then we look at a star and there’s no comparison.

· Now the notice here, there are two kinds of bodies he says then, the earthly kind and the heavenly kind.

· So what he’s saying is listen in resurrection the body is going to be different.

· The glory of the resurrection body can be infinitely beyond anything we can conceive in this earth, the earthly, the terrestrial.

“There’s one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon.”

· The sun manifests itself in a brilliant shining light one way, the moon in a brilliant shining light another way, the stars in a brilliant shining light another way, and do you know that even stars differ from other stars?

“Like flowers, the stars have their own colors. At your first upward glance, all gleam white as frost crystals, but single out this one and that for observation and you will find a subtle spectrum in the stars. The quality of their lights is determined by their temperatures. In the December sky, you will see Aldebaran as pale rose, Rigal as bluish-white, and Bettlegeuse, orange to topaz yellow.”

· There are no two stars alike, no two suns alike, no two people alike, no two flowers alike, no two blades of grass alike, no two birds alike, no two anything alike.

· This is the stupidity of the guy who says how’s he every going to get all those crummy little pieces put together back right.

· Paul says, woo, God can do anything He wants and the limits aren’t there.

· So seeds vary, earthly bodies vary, heavenly bodies vary, and resurrection bodies can have a glory all their own.

· Now the word glory simply means manifestation and that’s what he’s saying, but it carries with it the idea of light chakina, and it also carries with it the idea of God’s glow, the very life of God as we shall see.

· In other words, the resurrection of the dead is going to be one kind of glory different from any kind of glory we’ve ever seen before.

· Number one, I’m saying this, the resurrection body will be different from the body here.

· The resurrection body, our resurrection body is going to be different from the body we have here.

· Now watch this, I think he’s saying in resurrection, the bodies that we possess will be different in some sense from each other.

· People will often ask this, when we get to heaven will we be like Christ?

· Well, does that mean we’ll all look like Christ, we’ll all be 33 years old forever, etc., etc., etc.

· I don’t think we’re all going to look like Christ and we’re all going to be the same and we’re going to be sort of like assembly line thing.

· For example, Moses and Elijah long after they had died were given some kind of form to return to appear on the Mount of Transfiguration and were recognizable in some way as Moses and Elijah.

· And God is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

· And we see in the resurrection even at the end at the great white thrown that the standing in resurrection form before God are the small and the great.

· So what Paul is saying, you see, is this, the basic form of resurrection will be glorified another level of glory, we will be different from this body and yet different from each other in that body.

· There are a lot of dear saints who are dead and their spirits are with the Lord and they’re waiting for that day when they get clothed with that body.

· And here we’re here and looking at our infirmities and weaknesses and wanting so much that body.

· We’re going to see more about what that thing is capable of doing in a few minutes.

“So the graveyards of man become the seed plots of resurrection. And the cemeteries of the people of God become through the heavenly dew, the resurrection fields of the promised perfection.”

3. The Contrasts of Resurrection (42-44)

· The illustration of resurrection is the seed, the form of resurrection the body, far beyond anything we’ve known here because God has the capacity to do that different from this one and even in that form different from each other.

“It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.”

· He’s saying listen, there is a tremendous series of contrasts that are going to take place in this body.

· The four days in the grave and Martha looks in there and she says Lord by this time He’s stinking.

· And corruption, of course, is accelerated in the grave, but the whole process of life is decay.

· We decay, we get disease, we become infirm, we get ill, the process goes on and on, our muscles weaken, our bones weaken, etc., etc., the longer we live.

· Now we are then in that state of corruption sown in corruption and that’s talking about burial.

· There is a sowing literally it says, there is a sowing corruption, so that corrupt thing is sown in the ground like that seed when we die.

· That’s why Peter says we have inheritance incorruptible, undefiled that can’t fade away reserved for us in heaven.

· There is an incorruptible existence with no decay, no infirmity in the future.

· So we go into the grave corrupt, we come out uncorruptible, incorruptible.

· There will be a day when God will bring out of that grave William Farrow – the incorruptible version.

Dishonor & Glory

· And I think here what he means is all that man was potentially capable of being.

· And by that I mean, God gave man, the capacity to manifest himself beyond any other thing that He made.

· The very life of God be made visible through man, but man sinned and dishonored and scarred and marred that image.

· And so the whole of man’s life since the fall of Adam is dishonor to the image of God, but some day that glory potential is going to be restored.

· All of that unimaginable capacity of the human brain and they tell us we use one tenth of one percent of our brains.

· We dishonor God by our inability to capitalize on what we have in creation.

· And finally we go to the grave and there we are ugly and gross and they can paint us up like horizontal members of a late cocktail party, but `.

· And we look it and we stink and we dishonor the image of God, but some day says Paul, we’re coming out of that grave in glory.

· In other words, in the full manifestation of the sons of God the way He made us to be.

Weakness & Power

· Sown in weakness and raised in power, we know we’re weak in this life subject to disease and failure and heartache and death and we can’t fulfill our dreams and our desires.

· We’re at the mercy of everything around us, by the environment, by the things we eat, the people around us, we are weak, we are weak.

· We go into the grave and that ultimate weakness becomes obvious, we can’t raise ourselves from the grave, we can’t do anything, we’re like Lazarus who in the grave was corruptible, he was rotting.

· Who in the grave was dishonorable, anybody looking at him wouldn’t see the image of God, who in the grave was weak, he couldn’t do a thing for himself.

· Now what that means is the full power that God ever designed for a human being to possess in the ultimate of transformation.

· We’ll have power that’s just beyond what we can...we’ll literally be sailing all over the universe.

“As weak as it is now without all power and ability when it lies in the grave, just so strong will it eventually become when the time arrives so that not a thing will be impossible for it if it has a mind for it and it will be so light and agile that in an instant it can float here below on earth or above in heaven.”

· That’s just one element of the power of our bodies in resurrection to just speed our way across the universe.

· It’s corruptible, dishonored, weak, resurrection will reveal the truth about the glorified body incorruptible, glorified, and powerful.

· And he sums it up in verse 44 by saying “It is sown a sucacan soma,” a natural body.

· It is sown a body suited to this life, but it is raised a spiritual body, a numatican soma, a body suited to that life.

· As well adapted as we are to this life, so well adapted will we be to that life in perfection.

· And in that day a body that will fit a new kind of life, a new level of life, a new dimension of life, a new dimension of existence beyond anything we have ever experienced.

“The sons of the age marry and are given in marriage.”

· In other words, the normal process of human life and production takes place in this age.

But they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that age, the future age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.

“neither can they die anymore for they are equal to the angels and are the sons of God being the sons of the resurrection.”

· It simply means as the angels are suited for that level of existence so shall we be.

· And if you want to know kind of like how we’re going to be, just look how the angels go and come.

· And boy life is so short and I don’t really care that much if it gets a little shorter if this is what we have to look forward to.

A Natural and A Spiritual Body

“There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.”

· So to these Greeks, he says, look there’s going to be a body and to these Rabbis he says it’s going to be a different one and yet in the sense that a plan is related to the seed, it’ll have a connection.

Our Resurrection Bodies – Part 2

Two basic kinds of Consequences