A New Body

1Corinthians 15:35-49

 

Introduction:

As a child, did you ever ask what heaven would be like or what happens after we die?

People in Corinth were asking these kinds of questions, yet not as innocent children but as skeptics.

These skeptics were mockingly asking the two questions of v.35 – (i.e. If body decays, how raised?)

This shouldn’t be an insurmountable problem – if God can create, He can re-create — cloning

 

1. Paul argues that nature illustrates the believability of a resurrected body v.36-42a

A)    The setting for Paul’s argument could very well be a farm – as in my childhood (v.36-38)

1. His first illustration takes place in the farmer’s field – planting of a seed (v.37)
2. A seed is only the potential for a stalk of grain – wheat or corn
3. Once planted, it decays and out of that arises a stalk of grain – death before life
4. Note: This is all done according to God’s design (v.38)

 

B)    Paul’s second illustration takes place in barnyard – farmer, animals, birds & fish (v.39)

1. All living creatures have their various forms by God’s design for specific purposes
2. Well, if God can make different bodies for different creatures…

He can make different bodies for different ages – Now & the age to come

 

C)    Paul’s third illustration might take place in the pasture at sunset (v.40-42a)

1. Paul notes the magnificence of heavenly bodies
2. The sun’s warmth & beauty, the moon’s control of tides, the majesty of stars – Calif.
3. They all have their place & purpose, & so too the resurrected body – Recap 3 examples

 

1. Paul contrasts the bodies that belong to this age with our future bodies – v.42b-44

A)    Perishable >>> imperishable – We are now dying but then no longer subject to decay

 

B) Dishonor >>> glory – Death robs us of dignity but Christ will raise us in glory – Phil.3:21

 

C)    Weakness >>> power – Death makes us powerless, but Christ raises us with unimaginable power

 

D)    Natural >>> spiritual – Christ died in His natural body but was raised in a spiritual body

1. What is a “spiritual body”? … Not a ghost
2. Not a body that is immaterial … Jesus could be touched, could eat, relate to people – McCready
3. It is a real, tangible body that is completely energized & empowered by the Holy Spirit
4. It functions on a different level of existence – Christ’s body appeared, won’t die ascends to glory

 

E)     Paul is emphatic – If there is a natural body … there is also a spiritual (v.44b)

 

1. Paul describes the transformation from a natural to a spiritual body – v.45-49

A)    Humanity is divided into two races or two covenants (v.45-47)

1. The 1^st race is represented by Adam & the Last (2^nd) race is represented by Christ (v.45, 47)
2. Adam became a living soul via the act of creation – He sinned & became subject to death
3. 3. Christ became the One through whom God gives eternal life when he was born – Jn.17:1-2
4. 4. He received authority to grant immortality to his people at the resurrection – Rom.1:3-4

 

B)    The descendants of the 1^st and last Adam inherit their characteristics (v.48-49)

1. Those represented by Adam bear his sin nature and are subject to death
2. 2. Those represented by Christ will rise from the dead & share His same glory – 1Thes.2:12
3. 3. Just as we will die like Adam, so too shall we rise in glory through Jesus X – Col.3:4

 

Conclusion;

So for all those, whose parents could never seem to answer the question … “What will we be like in heaven? … Let Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ give us the answer…

 

We will bear the image and the glory of the risen Savior – The man from heaven, who is declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead …

We will die in weakness but will be raised in His power

We will know the dishonor of death but rise to share the very glory of the Son of God.

 

Allow me to digress into the vernacular … HOW COOL IS THAT?

 

The early Church Fathers were not shy to press the point that although we are sinners and prone to misery and death, one day we will rise and be made in glory like the Son of God.

 

That is our inheritance and the hope we celebrate at Easter.  Let us give praise to our only Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

 

 

Invocation:

 

O God, who by Your only-begotten Son has overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life,

grant us, as we celebrate the Lord’s resurrection,

that by the renewing of Your Spirit

we may arise from the death of sin

through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.