when a person learns that they
have a voice. And I've often thought about,
you know, when a child is, it goes through much of his early
days and all he can do is just cry. And then one day he learns
that, hey, I can actually make a noise that mean something,
because it, you know, I've often wondered, isn't that a wonder
of God's grace and mercy and His creative power that a man
could learn to talk? I mean, really, if you stop and
think about that, and to know and understand words, and if
a man grows up in a home where English is spoken, he grows up
knowing what that is and he speaks it. If he grew up the same child,
if you put him in a house where they spoke Spanish, he would
grow up speaking that. And it is just an amazing thing
how sounds can mean what the Lord determines for them to mean.
And that is why it is that when men, by the grace of God, of
every nation, tribe, and tongue in the world shall praise Him. And they are all going to praise
Him with one voice. And you know, it is an amazing
thing that the Lord confused the languages for His own purpose,
and He causes them to come together for the same thing. We've been looking here in 1
Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And we had looked down through
verse 44. It says, It is sown a natural body, it
is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there
is a spiritual body. And, of course, much has been
made over that over the years and some have used this passage
of Scripture to deny the bodily resurrection of the people of
God. To deny the bodily resurrection
of the people of God is to deny the resurrection. Because the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the firstfruits of them
that slept, He did indeed come forth from the tomb in the same
body, did He not, that He went into the tomb? It was on a natural body. It
was raised a spiritual body. But it was the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ if they did. I mean, how else was the tomb
empty? So there is a bodily resurrection. Or the resurrection does not
mean anything. Now a lot of people, they want, oh, well this is all
spiritual, you know, and it just means spiritual things. And the body does not really
rise. To me, it is plain throughout
what Paul is saying here that the body does rise. And he says
if it doesn't, then we're of all men most miserable because
then we can't say that the body of Jesus Christ rose from the
dead. And if that be not so, then what hope do we have? We
have none. So all of these things tie together
and are vitally important. that we understand. So when the
Scripture speaks about the fact that it has raised a spiritual
body, it does not mean that it is raised as a spirit. Now there
is a difference in a spirit and a spiritual body. A spiritual
body has powers and abilities and is of an essence that is
not identical with the body of flesh and blood. The body of
flesh and blood is mortal. It can pass away. Even the mortal
body of the Lord Jesus Christ did pass away, did it not? For
sure it did. Now, He came into the world as
a mortal. Somebody who comes in, if a body
is immortal, it can't It can't pass away, can it? I mean, if
we'd had immortality in our body, we couldn't have died. We couldn't
die. But we can die, because these
bodies, as we look at them, they are passing away, because they're
natural bodies. But he says here there is a spiritual
body, and that is the body in which the people of God shall
come forth from the grave, is in that spiritual body. And we
can't fully understand that any more than we can fully comprehend
what it is to the things that the Scripture speaks about concerning
the life that is hours after death. We know that it is a real
life. It is a life far better than
the life at which we now live. To be with Christ is far better.
according to what the Scripture says. There is a natural body,
there is a spiritual body, and so it is written, the first man
Adam, now this is important as we read this Scripture to understand
this. It says, and so it is written,
the first man Adam was made a living soul. It says there, the first
man Adam was given life. the Lord formed man out of the
dust of the ground, and he breathed into that dust, and what does
the Scripture say? He became a living soul. He became
a living soul. That is, the Lord gave him life. So it says here, it is written,
the first man Adam was made, or was given, life. He was made alive. The last Adam,
and leave out was made, because that is in italics, it is put
there. There is a sense in which that
does make sense as we say it. But first off, we have to understand
that what it is not saying is that the Lord was created as
a living Spirit. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
was not created, was He? Because He is eternal. But it
says here, the last Adam, a quickening spirit. Now the word there for
living and quickening, the two words used are different. One
of them, the living means being given life. The other means giving
life. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ was
not given life, but He is the life giver, because He is the
life. In fact, we read in the Gospel
of John that the Scripture says that the Father has given to
the Son to have life in Himself, because He is the life. That's
what He said to His disciples, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. He is the life. We have been
given life. And the only way that we have
life is that it is bestowed upon us. It is given to us. We never have life of our own
in the sense that we can sustain it. We live because He lives. Our life is in Him. It is hidden
with Him in God. And so the first Adam, speaking
of the Adam as we read in the book of Genesis, the first man
Adam, he was made a living soul. The last Adam came as a life
giver because he had the life in him. And so there is the contrast
here. We must see that and understand
that. That which is first, as he goes
on to say here, that was not first which is spiritual. The
Lord, in His purpose, created the world to demonstrate what
He wanted to demonstrate. Now, He chose to create the natural
in order to demonstrate the bestowal of life. Now, you know, it's
foolish for men to sit around and wonder, well, why did he
do these things? He did these things for his glory.
He did these things for his own purpose. He did these things
to magnify his name. That's why we preach the gospel. It's not so that we can do something
for somebody, but it's so that we might declare the glory of
His grace in the redemption of His people and magnify that which
is spiritual. But that which was first is not
spiritual. Speaking of the body, He didn't
give us a spiritual body first. Now there is a theory that men have just always existed. No, men haven't always existed.
God has always existed, and in His own time He created man out
of nothing, because it pleased Him to do so. But men are not eternal. Men
are not immortal. Now there is the notion that
all men have an immortal soul, but you will search the Scriptures
high and low and you will never discover any place in the Scripture
that indicates or teaches the concept that all men have an
immortal soul. It's not in there. Now again,
these are metaphysical things, and I wouldn't get too caught
up and worried about it, but I know this, that the only way
that any man has immortality is in Jesus Christ. There's no
other place. He only, the Scripture says,
hath immortality, dwelling in the light to which no man can
approach. So men are not immortal, and
they cannot be immortal. apart from the gift of immortality
bestowed upon them according to the purpose of God as He has
manifested and shows in the resurrection. Howbeit that was not first which
is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that
which is spiritual. So the Lord has brought about
all the things that He has been pleased to bring about in our
lives in the natural sense for the purpose of bringing us to
a place where we can rejoice and comprehend that which is
spiritual. Because there is no mixture of
those two. That which is spiritual is not
natural, and that which is natural is not spiritual, but there is
an order of things. Now had God made the spiritual
and turned it into the natural, that would have been a terrible
thing, wouldn't it? I mean, as we understand, because
there would be a head to that. But since He made that which
was natural to demonstrate the glory of His grace, then He bestowed
that which is spiritual upon it. That's why the Lord said
to Nicodemus, Nicodemus except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of
God. And being born again literally
means being born from above. John said, which were born not
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The sons of God are born not
because they decide to be born, any more than they are born naturally.
I mean, we didn't just decide one day, well, I think I'll be
born. No. You didn't have any choice about
the matter. You came into the world and you
were born. That's just the way that it was.
And so it is that a man is born of the Spirit of God. That's
what the Lord said to Nicodemus. He said, Nicodemus, you hear
the wind. You hear the sound thereof, but
you can't tell from whence it came. You don't know what caused
it or where it's at. So is every man that's born of
the Spirit of God. But it is necessary for a man
to be born of the Spirit of God if he's going to ever be anything
other than natural. He must be made spiritual. The
first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord. from heaven. So there is no doubt
about what he is talking about here. The first Adam is the natural
man. The second Adam is the Lord from
heaven. And in the same fashion in which
God's people are made as the first Adam, so in like fashion
we shall be made as the second. As is the earthy, such are they
also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly. As we have borne the image of
the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. That
is, as we have been made in the image of our natural Father,
so shall we be made in the image of our heavenly Father. And so
it is that this is the purpose. As we come as a man of dust by
creation, we shall be a man of spirit, spiritual dust, so to
speak, I mean, as God creates us anew in Jesus Christ. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Men came
by natural power, natural progression, natural will, natural purpose,
natural power, They cannot inherit the things of the kingdom of
God. It just can't happen. Flesh and blood cannot inherit
that kingdom. Neither doth corruption inherit
incorruption. If that which is corruptible I mean, we can't go into the
presence of God in a corruptible body, can we? I mean, we can't
move into a realm that is incorruptible in a corruptible body. You can't
take a rotten apple and put it into a sack of good apples. and
have the good apple stay good, can you? It's not going to happen.
And so in the same fashion, corruption cannot inherit incorruption. And then he says something very
strong and powerful concerning this. He said, Behold, I show
you a mystery. Now here's the mystery. We shall
not all sleep. All men are not going to die. Now, the scripture says it is
appointed unto men once to die. But yet he said I'm going to
show you a mystery. We shall not all die. He said
because there is coming a day when Those who are living and
remain at the coming of the Lord shall be caught up together with
those who have died, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. He
said, but here is the real heart of the mystery. I show you a
mystery we shall not all sleep, but... And here's the real mystery. We shall not all sleep, but... we shall all be changed. Now some are going to be changed
from corruption, which is visible, as their body, which is corrupted
and worms have eaten flesh from the bones and some turned completely
to dust or whatever and going back to the molecules that are
in the earth, they are going to be changed But those who are
alive and remain are going to undergo the same change. We shall all, he says, be changed,
because it is impossible that we should just be carried from
this realm into the heavens in the same fashion, because that
cannot occur. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment. in the twinkling of an eye, in
the blink of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and
we shall be changed." Now, this passage of Scripture is often
read at gravesides. And, well, it should be. But
it is often applied to the whole of mankind. Paul does not apply
this to all of mankind because he's not talking about all of
mankind, is he? He didn't address himself to
all of mankind. He addressed himself to the believers
in Corinth, to those whose hope was built on nothing less than
Jesus' blood and righteousness. And when he says we shall all
be changed, he's not talking about everybody in the world
is going to be changed. He is talking about those who
are asleep in Christ. We shall be changed according
to what he says here. The dead in Christ shall be raised
incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible
must put on incorruption and this moral must put on immortality. Why? Why is that must in there? That's right. But it is ordained of God for
this to occur. Now, that's His whole argument
from the start. It is not concerning the resurrection.
This is God's purpose. This is what we see and what
the Lord Jesus Christ came to do when He went to the cross
and He died for our sins and He was raised again the third
day, that He might demonstrate to us that we shall all be changed
and corruption shall put on incorruption. And it must occur. This is not
something that is, it might occur. It must occur. because it would
be impossible otherwise that we should ever inherit the kingdom
of heaven. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. And
so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and
this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought
to pass the saying, that is written, death is swallowed
up in victory. Now we see that in prospect,
but you know what? We attended the funeral of a
dear sister yesterday, and we can only see that through a glass
darkly, because as her coffin was lowered
down into the ground, we can't help but be reminded that death over her body, did it not? I
mean, death took hold. Death visited her residence. Death came in the door, and death
took her life. But, he says, There is coming
a day when it shall be brought to pass. That is, when there
will be no longer looking through a glass darkly and saying, yes,
we know this is going to be true. Now, faith sees it as a thing
that it holds, but that which is of faith is not things that
can be touched, is it? I mean, it is not something we
can prove. I mean, I cannot prove to somebody, can I? that death
swallowed up in victory? In fact, they can prove to me
that it isn't. They can go to the ground and
say, well, there she is right there. She's dead. You're wrong. Death didn't get swallowed up
in victory. No, by faith we lay hold upon that promise and we
believe it. And I don't know that it can
be said we believe in any more in that day than we do now, but
the thing of the fact of the matter is, faith's turned aside
in that day, and that's what he's talking about here. It shall
come to pass. The saying that is written, death
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? Because you see, apart from the
resurrection, There's no such place of rejoicing,
is there? I mean, if that's the end of
it, we couldn't say death, you didn't have the victory. I mean,
if that's where it all came to a conclusion, that'd be the end,
would it not? Or if we could go. But then shall
be brought to pass that sight. Then shall faith turn to sight.
Then shall we see, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, And
these things take place. The dead in Christ are raised,
and we which are alive and remain shall be called up together with
them in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. I know that sounds like a fairy
tale, especially to a man who has not been given faith. I mean,
it's a struggle enough all the time for those of us who have
been given faith. to clearly say that and know
in our soul that these things are so. But by the grace of God,
we can't depart from it. By the grace of God, we keep
coming back. And by the grace of God, therein
is our hope and our expectation. And we desire to see that with
these eyes. As Job said, one day I shall
see my Redeemer and know that my Redeemer lives.