For your information, the concert tonight by
the Owens is on a freewill offering basis, so
keep that in mind as you come. 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, please, in your copy of the Word
of God. Inevitably, when we talk about the resurrection,
all of us have questions. The Bible doesn't tell
us everything we would like to know, but it does
tell us a lot. All we have to do is to read it
and to study it. Today we're going to begin with
verse 35 as we talk about the nature of the resurrection
body itself. There were some who did not believe
that there was to be a bodily resurrection, namely
the pagan Greeks. They felt that the best that
one could hope for would be to die and to be
released from the body, to be done with it forever.
The Jewish tradition in this day of Paul claimed
that bodies would be raised, but with the same
infirmities with which they died. In other words,
if you died lame, you would be resurrected lame.
If you died blind, you'd be resurrected blind.
And that wasn't a very glorious hope. So the
apostle clarifies in the word, as he writes,
what our resurrection bodies will be like. But
someone may ask, how are the dead raised? With
what kind of body will they come? How foolish.
What you sow does not come to life unless it
dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body
that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat
or... of something else. But God gives it a body
as He has determined, and to each kind of seed
He gives its own body. All flesh is not the same.
Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another,
birds another, and fish another. There are also
heavenly bodies, and there are earthly bodies.
But the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one
kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies
is another. The sun has one kind of splendor,
the moon another, and the stars another. And
star differs from star in splendor. So will it
be with the resurrection of the dead. The body
that is sown is perishable. It is raised imperishable.
It is sown in dishonor. 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. If there is a natural body, there is also
a spiritual body. So it is written, the first
man, Adam, became a living being. The last Adam,
a life -giving spirit. The spiritual did not
come first, but the natural, and after that the
spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the
earth, the second man from heaven. As was the
earthly man, so are those who are of the earth.
And as is the man from heaven, so also are those
who are of heaven. And just as we have borne
the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we
bear the likeness of the man from heaven. I declare
to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable
inherit the imperishable. There's nothing wrong
with asking questions, but apparently the questions
that Paul refers to in verse 35, around which
he develops his subject, were questions that
were asked by skeptics who were influenced by
the Greek philosophers of that day. In answering
the questions, Paul says to them, how foolish
to even question whether God can raise the dead.
He is the God who causes the miracle of germination
to take place in a seed. He is the God who gives
variety of kinds of flesh to animals. He is the
God who has flung the universe into its place
and set the earth in its orbit. How foolish to
ask whether that God can bring about the resurrection.
And then as to the kind of body they will have,
he says, let me answer that by approaching it
from three different ways. First, let's talk
about an analogy. And then let's consider an
antithesis. And finally, he says, I have an announcement
to make to you. Now let's look at those three
points as we discuss together the nature of the
resurrection body. In verses 36 to 41, the apostle
actually gives three analogies from nature. These
are similarities. Webster defines an analogy
as a resemblance in some particulars between
things otherwise unlike. In other words, there
are some similarities here that he wants us to
get a hold of. You can't drive an analogy to
an extreme, but there are some general similarities
that will help us to understand the nature of
the resurrection body. The first analogy is from
agriculture. You don't have to be a farmer to
understand this, but it sure does help. He talks
about the seed, and he says that there are different
kinds of seed. Each kind of seed has its own
body. When you pick up a kernel of corn, you
know that that's what it is. That's what it looks
like. It has that kind of a body to it. You pick
up some wheat, and you know that that's a kernel
of wheat or oats or any of the grains. It has
its own body. That body is placed into the ground.
It decays. Somehow in that whole process, the
miracle of germination takes place so that there
is new life that comes out of the decaying seed.
Now that which comes up out of the ground is
different than that which is planted, and yet
it's the same. You don't plant a kernel of corn
and then see a wheat stalk begin to grow. You
see corn grow. So there is sameness. And yet
as it comes out of the ground, you don't see
that same kernel of corn. It's different too.
And so Paul is saying that there's something
like the resurrection body. It will be a changed
body. It will not be the same identical body,
but it will be identifiable. Now it's important
to get those two words in your mind. Not identical,
but identifiable. It may not resemble the one
that we have now. But it will be a continuation
of our life, and that will be clear. It will
surely be a new and more wonderful body. The
seed has to die and go through a change in order
for its life potential to be realized. And so
the analogy says here that there is a change
that is necessary in our bodies if we are to
achieve the full and predetermined destiny. that
we have as children of God. So the resurrection
body will be a changed body. When people look
at you, they will know it's you, but it won't
be exactly the same body. Identity will be carried
across, but it will not be the identical body
that you have at this moment. Take the analogy
of a seed to illustrate that and hopefully clarify
it in your mind. And then he draws an analogy
from the animal world in verse 39. All flesh
is not the same. Men have one kind, animals another,
and birds and fish. You go into a restaurant
and you order roast beef, and they bring you
fish to the table. How do you know that? It's
a different kind of flesh. When you fry chicken,
you enjoy the taste and the texture of chicken.
The flesh is different. God has created a diversity
of bodies within the natural realm. Someone has
said a particular kind of body for each variety
of being. Fish are created to enjoy their environment,
but you bring them up and put them in the hen
house, and they're not going to last very long.
You take your puppy dog that runs around the
farm, or in your yard rather, and you put him
out on the river and hold him under a while to
enjoy the environment of the fish, he won't be
around to play in your yard anymore. because
God has created different kinds of bodies to
inhabit different varieties of environments,
rather. You know a dog when you see one because
of its body. You know a fish when you see one
because of the way that it looks. So, in the
resurrection, God will give each of us a particular
kind of body that will be suited to our needs
in that realm, the spiritual realm. And so, from
the animal world, we learn that our resurrection
body will be a suitable body. From agriculture,
we learn it will be a changed body. From the
animal world, we learn that it will be a suitable
body. The body that we have now is of the earth.
It is very suitable, most of the time, to relate
to this environment. When you have some of this
Minnesota weather like we've been having, you
wonder just how suitable your body is for this.
I mean, is this meant for human habitation up
here? Oh, obviously it is. And by the way, I
enjoy it very much. Please don't take that as
an affront. But our bodies are made for relating
to this environment. We taste, we see, we touch,
and so on. Likewise, the resurrection body will
be suitable for the spiritual realm. Obviously
it can relate to the physical realm. Jesus' body
related to the physical realm. He entered a room.
He stood there. They touched him. He ate with
them. But his body was suitable for more than
just the physical realm. It was suited for the
spiritual realm and dimension. And ours will
be too. And then we take a lesson in astronomy
in verses 40 and 41. He says there are heavenly
bodies and there are earthly bodies. The splendor
of the heavenly is one kind and the earthly is
another. And the sun has one kind of splendor,
the moon another, the stars another, and star
differs from star in splendor. Well, they didn't
have great telescopes in that day, but what he
says here is absolutely true. Stars are identifiable
because of their glory. They differ in hue and
in brightness as well as in location. God has
made the heavenly bodies to be distinguishable.
Someone has said God can take similar physical
material and organize it differently to accomplish
His purposes. Our probes of Mars, for example,
have discovered that really Mars is made up of
basically the same elements as Earth. A different
mixture of those elements, a different atmosphere,
and so on, but basically the same substance.
And yet there is no life there, there is life
here. God can take the same things and make them
different. And so we would learn by the analogy
that our resurrection bodies will be distinguishable.
They will all be the same in the sense that we
will all be like Jesus Christ, but they will
be distinguishable. One person's body will be
different from another. its glory. Someone has
suggested that perhaps what Paul is saying here
is that our bodies will reflect to a degree our
rewards, the position that we have earned because
of our faithfulness to Christ here in His future
kingdom. At least Paul is suggesting that there
is a... distinguishableness, if I may coin that
term, between our resurrection bodies. Just as
the stars differ in their hues and in their brightnesses,
so our bodies will be distinguishable. They will
be different. So what do we learn from the analogies?
Well, that there is continuity and identity,
and yet there is diversity. We learn that we
will have a changed body. that it will be suitable
for its purpose and will have a glory about it
that will distinguish it from others. And yet
it will be true that all of us will be like Jesus
Christ. And then the apostle proceeds to an antithesis.
An antithesis is a contrast of ideas accomplished
by using parallel arrangement of words or clauses.
Paul has two antitheses here, really. He draws
a contrast between our present body and the resurrection
body. And then he draws a contrast between Adam,
the first man, and the last Adam, Jesus Christ.
Let's look at these two antitheses, if I can
say them. The first one, the contrast between
our now body and the body that we will have then.
In verse 42, we have the first one. The body
that is sown is perishable. Now, in using this
figure of speech, the body that is sown, he's
going back to his agricultural idea, and he's
suggesting that laying the body into the ground,
into the grave, is like sowing it. So he's talking
about the now body. It says it is perishable,
but it's raised. imperishable. It's sown in dishonor.
It's raised in glory. It's sown in weakness.
But it's raised in power. It's sown a natural
body, but it's raised a spiritual body. And so
there are four contrasts between the body we
have now and the body we will have in the resurrection.
The body we have now is perishable or corruptible.
That is, it is subject to disease, to decay,
to age. The bodies we have now degenerate. How
well we all learned that. But the body we will
have in the resurrection will be incapable of
degeneration. It will be an imperishable body,
forever free from disease, deterioration, and
death. In 2 Timothy 1 .10, the apostle says Christ
Jesus has destroyed death and brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel. Through
the centuries, men have looked for some means
of immortality, whether it be a potion or a fountain
of youth or a pill. have sought for a means to
be imperishable. It's impossible in these bodies
because of the curse of sin. But the resurrection
body will be just that, incorruptible and imperishable.
And then he says our present body is one known
by dishonor. That doesn't mean that our bodies
are something to be ashamed of. The thought is
that our present bodies are bodies of humiliation.
There is nothing that can reverse the process
of decay that leads to humiliation. The most
beautiful body in the world will someday become
a corpse, emaciated, and then will return to
dust. It is the pride of youth to glory in the
physical appearance. But it does not take too
long to realize that physical appearance passes
away. Woe to the marriage that is based upon
physical appearance. That passes. Marriage is
based upon love, hopefully, which goes far, far
deeper. The body that we will have in the resurrection,
however, is not known as one for dishonor. It
is known, in fact, for its glory. Do you notice
that word? Jesus Christ appeared in His glory
in the transfiguration. But when I think of glory
here, I think of Christ as He appeared to John
on the Isle of Patmos, when He appeared in His
glory and is described for us. And by the way,
that's the only physical description we have
of Jesus Christ in all of the Bible. He is seen
there in His brilliance. He is dazzling. in his
attractiveness. And the Bible says that someday
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as
he is. That's why the apostle says in Philippians
chapter 3, verse 20 and 21, our citizenship is
in heaven from where also we look for the Savior,
who will change our lowly bodies. to be fashioned
like his body of glory, by which he is able also
to subdue all things to himself. If he can subdue
the Antichrist, if he can subdue Satan himself
and throw him into the lake of fire, as he will
do, if he can raise himself from the dead as
he did, then he can also change your body and
mine to be like his, a body of glory. And then
he says that our body now is a body of weakness.
It is a body that is limited. Some of you have
sore backs and muscles today because you've learned
there's limitation to how much snow you can shovel.
Some of you have sore hands because you've pushed
your snowblowers. Our bodies are bodies of limitations
and weaknesses. In fact, when we compare our
bodies even to the animal world, we see that
our bodies really are very weak. For example,
an ant, not an aunt, an ant can carry more weight
proportionally than you can. A grasshopper can
jump further in proportion to his length than
you can jump. If you could jump as far as a grasshopper
does proportionally, you would jump 120 feet.
A bird can see better than you can see. A dog
can hear better than you can hear. Our bodies
now are bodies of weakness, but not our resurrection
body. It will be a body of power, of unlimited
strength. There won't be fatigue. There won't
be a necessity for sleep in the resurrection.
We won't have sore muscles then. We probably
won't have snow to shovel either. Our bodies
in the resurrection will be equal to our intelligence.
The bodies we have now are not. Our bodies then
will be suitable for a child of God. Not so with
our present bodies. Christ appeared and disappeared
at will, and apparently we will have a similar
capacity. He was able to enter a room with all
the doors being shut. He could transport himself
from one dimension to another whenever he desired.
And apparently that is the kind of body we will
have, a body with that kind of power. Looking
forward to that? And then our bodies now are
called natural bodies. That is, they relate to
the natural sphere. But our bodies then will
be spiritual bodies. Someone has said that means
they will be suitable, a suitable medium for
expressing our finest aspirations and spiritual
qualities. When we talk about a spiritual body,
we must not make the mistake of thinking that
it's like a ghost. That's not the meaning at
all. A spiritual body is a tangible body. They
touch the Lord Jesus Christ. He ate with them.
It is a body that is visible, but it can become
invisible. It is not subject to the laws of nature
and of physics as we are given now to understand
them. The body then will be a body subject only
to the laws of the Spirit. W. Harold Mayer, in
his commentary on 1 Corinthians, states, The
spiritual body is an imperishable yet utterly
real body, one of a different order. and having
different functions from the earthly body. It
is a body given by God himself, a body glorified
with eternal life. I don't know about you, but
that's going to be a great day to get inside
that body. Sometimes we have a hard time admitting
our weaknesses in our own bodies presently. I
think that Solomon... in almost a humorous way,
points this out in Ecclesiastes. Turn back there
with me a second. I suppose that most of us have
read and maybe even have quoted Ecclesiastes
12 .1, at least the first part of the verse,
where it says, Remember your Creator in the days
of your youth. Right? We've all heard sermons
on that at youth rallies. But often the rest
of the verse and the following verses are not
read. Let's look at those. He says, Remember
your Creator in the days of your youth, before
the days of trouble come, and the years approach
when you will say, I find no pleasure in them.
It's hard for a young person to realize that
there could ever come a time when a person would
say, I would rather die than live. I'm ready
to go home to be with the Lord. And yet, any
of us who've ministered to older people at all
have heard that statement not once, but many
times. One's perspective on life in this world
changes as one grows older. It goes on to say,
before the sun and the light and the moon and
the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after
the rain. When the keepers of the house tremble,
what's he poetically talking about? The hands,
when they shake because of frailty. And the strong
men stoop, maybe referring to the shoulders or
to the legs. When the grinders cease because
they are few, what do you think those grinders
are? I heard a dentist say one time, be true
to your teeth and they'll never be false to you.
Well, that's what it's talking about here. When
those grinders begin to leave us, there are few.
And those looking through the windows grow dim.
The eyes. When the doors to the street are closed
and the sound of grinding fades. The loss of
hearing. When men rise up at the sound of birds,
but all their songs grow faint. Getting up early
in the morning may be pictured here. Many older
people have a hard time sleeping through a full
night. Others think that perhaps he's talking
about the frail, high -pitched voice of the elderly,
like a sound of birds. When men are afraid of
heights, And of dangers in the streets. Doesn't
that describe an older person? Afraid of falling?
Afraid of what may happen if they go out in the
streets? I have a grandmother that gets a Social
Security check one day a month. She will not
go out the other 30 days of the month for fear
that she will miss the day when it does come.
That sounds familiar to some of you, doesn't
it? Afraid of dangers in the street. When the
almond tree blossoms, the almond tree has a beautiful
white blossom, speaking of the hair. And the
grasshopper drags himself along. You ever seen
a grasshopper drag himself along? And desire
no longer is stirred. The vitality of life is
ebbing. Then man goes to his eternal home. And
mourners go about in the streets. Isn't that
quite a picture? Illustrating to us the degeneration
and the decay of the human body in which we live.
Yet how many people have you heard who are older
say, I am old in my body, but I am young in my
mind. Now sometimes the mind begins to be affected
too, but there are many people who feel captives.
like they are captives within a body that they
cannot any longer control. Frankly, I'm glad,
since that is the destiny of our physical bodies,
that we don't have to spend eternity in these
bodies. That would be a curse, not a blessing.
By the time a person is 100 years old, the body,
very often, is nearly incapable of functioning.
Can you imagine what it would be like 1 ,000
years? Or a million years? It's impossible to
even think of that. God has something far more
wonderful for us folks than just these bodies
that we're in now. They are bodies of weakness,
of corruption, of decay. They are natural bodies.
But God has a body that he's going to give us
that is a body of power and of incorruption,
a body that is fitted for eternal life, which
we now possess. Now going back to our text in
1 Corinthians, he not only contrasts the present
body with the future resurrection body, but he
contrasts the first Adam with the last Adam,
Jesus Christ. He says, The first man, Adam, became
a living being, quoting from Genesis 2 .7. The
last Adam, a life -giving spirit. He says the
spiritual didn't come first, but the natural,
and then came the spiritual. The first man was
of the dust of the earth. The second man from
heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those
who are of the earth. And as is the man from
heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
And just as we have borne the likeness of the
earthly, so shall we bear the likeness of the
heavenly, the man from heaven. So he contrasts
the first Adam with the last Adam. By our natural
birth into the world, we become sons of Adam,
the first Adam. We are related to him. God made
him a living soul by breathing his spirit into
him, and that life has been passed down to us
by natural generation. We bear his fallen likeness
in body and in soul before we're saved. We bear
his earthy image. But praise be to God when we
are born again by faith in Jesus Christ. we become
related to the last Adam, who, it is said, is
a life -giving spirit. We shall bear one day
his full image, not only in our souls, but in
our bodies as well. We will be just like him.
That's why John exclaims in his epistle, Beloved,
behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the children
of God. And it does 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. That's our hope. That's our destiny. He concludes
with an announcement in verse 50. He says, Flesh
and blood can't inherit the kingdom of God, but
he does not say bodies cannot. You notice that?
Bodies of flesh and blood cannot, but glorified
bodies will inherit the kingdom of God. It's
impossible for us in the bodies that we have
now to realize the fullness of our destiny, which
is the kingdom of God. Now, I was talking about
not just the kingdom of Christ that will last
for a thousand years on the earth, but that kingdom
which is His eternal kingdom. when he will reign
over his new heaven and new earth and will reign
from the new Jerusalem headquarters for eternity,
our home. We can't go there. We can't be a part
of that in these bodies of flesh and blood. There
has to be a change made. And that change will
be made one of two ways. It will be made either
through death, and resurrection, or it will be
made through transformation. I'm referring in
that instance to those who will be alive at the
rapture. Then there will be no dying. It will
be an instantaneous glorification of our bodies.
In some way God is going to... change even the
very atomic structure of our bodies, and make
them suitable in an instant of time to go to
be with Christ and to reign with him over all
the universe. God has power to do that, and God
has it on his schedule. We don't know when that
day is. I know it's the hope of all of us who...
have trusted Jesus Christ that we should be alive
on that day of the rapture, as we term it, when
the trumpet will sound and his voice will shout
and his own will be caught up in an instant to
be with him. In that instant, the dead in Christ
will be raised first in their glorified bodies.
And just the twinkling of an eye later, we shall
be changed and we'll go up together with them.
to meet our Lord in the air and ever be with
him. What a wonderful destiny God has planned
for us who are the children of God. Although
we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall
bear the exact likeness of the man from heaven,
Jesus Christ. With all of my heart, I hope that
is your destiny. Because you see, the unsaved
person will never know what it is to see heaven.
The kingdom of God will never be known by the
person who rejects Jesus Christ. Jesus said,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God. Never see it. Will never know
its beauty, its glory. Will only know eternal
separation from God. Do you belong to the new
race? Are you a part of the new creation of Jesus
Christ? His elect being prepared now to reign
with him? Dr. Alan Redpath said, if you would
one day bear the image of the heavenly, you must
possess heavenly life now. Don't treat this matter
of your eternal future as something you can put
off thinking about. Your future life must and
will be determined here and now in this world.
Eternal life begins now, not someday. Jesus said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears
my word and believes on him that sent me shall
not come into condemnation, but has already passed
from death unto life. Is that your experience?
Do you have eternal life right now? If not, will
you open your heart and receive him as your Lord
and Savior? If you've done that, realize what
a destiny is yours. And realize that in the resurrection
you are going to be fitted to reign with Jesus
Christ forever and forever. Live up to your calling
now. Act like a saint of God now so that when
he comes, we won't have to be ashamed before
him at his coming. Let's pray. Father, I pray
for that friend who's here who's not yet opened
his heart and truly received Jesus Christ as
his Savior. I pray that in the closing of this
service that there will be conviction within
the heart and you would call that one into your
family and he would respond. And I pray for those
of us who have trusted the Lord Jesus that even
though all of our questions are perhaps not answered,
Nonetheless, in our text today, we will learn
enough that our lives will be ones of joy and
anticipation, looking forward to that day when
we will lay aside the perishable and inherit
the imperishable and be with our Savior. Help
us to live right now, to live obediently now.
So that when we see you, we can hear your words,
well done, good and faithful servant. Deliver
us from wasting our lives, from spinning our
wheels, from going about aimlessly without direction.
I pray that every one of us who's a child of
God will live like it and know your blessing
here. as well as that which is to come. In Jesus'
name, amen. In closing today, I'd like for us
to sing a verse or two of 248 which asks the
question, what if it were today?