I Corinthians Chapter 15

 

 

     Probably one of the best chapters in the Bible for the study of this trip through the flesh age is 1 Corinthians chapter 15 starting with verse 35 where it reads, “But some men will say, how are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?”

     Verse 36: ‘Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die.” This is a simple illustration of how a seed that is planted in the soil must ferment in the moisture to make a sprout and spring up a new plant.

     Verse 37: “and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain. It may chance be of wheat or of some other grain.” The point being; that seed that once was just a seed has now become a plant.

     Verse 38: “But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.” Genesis chapter 1 says “seed after seed and kind after kind”. Each seed or soul has a body to contain it!

    Verse 39: “all flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men [no gender] another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.” Listen up now.

     Verse 40: “There are also celestial bodies [heavenly] and bodies terrestrial [earthy], but the glory [outward appearance] of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.”

     Verse 41: “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”. The glory of the sun is true light. The glory of the moon is fake light or false light.

     Verse 42: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.” Remember the question asked originally? What body is raised? Upon death of the corruptible flesh body, you shed your flesh body and lo and behold! There is your spiritual body exposed! It is inside your flesh body. This spiritual body has now entered into another dimension. This spiritual body is called your heavenly mansion or dwelling place not made by human hands as The Apostle Paul explains in 2^nd Corinthians chapter 5, the shortened version of this chapter. At this point, nothing is mentioned about salvation. You are raised in a new spiritual body regardless of whether you are good or bad, lost or saved as it says in Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Final judgment isn’t yet.

     Verse 43: “It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory, it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.” It is sown in dishonor or weakness of the flesh. It is raised in power of the Holy Spirit into your spiritual body called your heavenly mansion.

     Verse 44: “It is sown a natural body,” flesh is weak, “it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and a spiritual body.” How many bodies do we have now? We have two. We are not discussing the soul yet. It is not a body. We know the natural body if flesh made up of minerals from the earth. It is corruptible, will rot, disintegrate. The spiritual body has potential to live forever or at least until the Great White Throne Judgment at the end of the Millennium.

     Verse 45: “And so it is written, the first man Adam [human kind] was made a living soul and the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” Now we have a new word here. He brings in the soul. The last Adam being Jesus Christ giving life to the first Adam through his life giving Spirit. Now salvation inters into the picture.

     Verse 46: “Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual.

     Verse 47: “The first man is of the earth, Earthy, the second man is the Lord from Heaven.” The Companion Bible leaves these words out, for it is a bit confusing.

     Verse 48: “As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.” This is not in a religious sense. It just refers to angels. All angels are not necessarily good angels. He is just trying to distinguish between flesh and angels.

     Verse 49: “As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall bare the image of the heavenly.” Yes every last one of us! Good, bad, saint or sinner. The heavenly dimension. Now listen up! We are not going in to the beginning of some secret church rapture here. This same event happens to everybody!

     Verse 50: “Now this I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” He is saying here that you must shed your flesh and blood at your death in order to inter into that heavenly dimension. Yeah I know, Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven but Nobody Wants to Die! But that’s just the way it is folks! Romans chapter 8 verse 23 talks about the liberation from your flesh body.

     Verse 51: “Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” The Bible is making it very clear. When Jesus Christ returns those who alive still in their flesh bodies will shed their flesh bodies in an instant! Not just a few or some secret church. It plainly says all! This has no reference to whether you are saved or not. Now listen closely to the next verse, for Jesus Christ Himself has told you when this event will take place in Matt.Chapter 24, Mark, Chapter 13, and Luke Chapter 21.

     Verse 52: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, AT THE LAST TRUMP, for the trump shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” We must realize there are many things said in this one verse. It is probably the least understood or most misunderstood verse in the entire Bible!

 Let’s take a good look at this verse. First, he says in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. Instantly! At the last trump. The 7^th trump.

The last trump is the fartherest one out, last in a series you read about in Revelations chapter 11. It happens when the two witnesses are raised, the spirit of life enters into them after they have been lying dead in the streets for 3 and1/2 days. Immediately after that the 7^th trumpet sounds.

     Verse 53: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” Now we have some new words here and a new condition entering in. What is this word mortal? It means liable to die. And it means your soul is in danger of being blotted out of the book of life! As if you never existed!

     In the book of Matthew chapter 10 Jesus has been giving the disciples their instructions of where to go to spread the Gospel and what to take with them. He tells them on down in verse 28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Only God can kill your soul.

    Verse 54: “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal [meaning liable to die] shall have put on immortality [meaning you finally wised up to the teachings of Jesus Christ and the many other writers of the Bible concerning the end time events] then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” This word ‘Death’ is Satan. That is one of his many names.

     Verse 55: “O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?”

   This word grave is Hades or hell and you will find this also in Revelations chapter 20 where it reads: “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” Meaning death of the soul, be blotted out of the book of life. Verse 15: “and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” I don’t know, were you born through the womb of woman for the trip through the flesh age? That is what it means!

     Let’s do some recapping now: Verse 34 of 1^st Corinthians chapter 15 the Apostle Paul tells us about the resurrection, which sometimes is mistakenly called the rapture. Verse 50 he says that flesh and blood cannot inter into the next dimension called Heaven. Verse 52 tells when all flesh will disappear at the final last trump. That is the 7^th trump when Jesus Christ will return to this earth. We will not fly away to somewhere out there in space. The word “air” in the 1^st book of Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 17 has been mistranslated. The word in the Greek language is number 109 and it is “aer” meaning to breath. In other words the breath of life. When you take your final breath at your death. This event will happen to every flesh body that is alive at that time. If you die before then don’t worry about it.

     In 1^st Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13, Paul is teaching about where the dead are. He says: “I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep [meaning those that have died], that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope [referring to the Sadducees who do not believe in life after death. That is so sad-u-see.] for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain [if you are still alive at the 7^th trump] unto the coming of the Lord [he returns at the 7^th trump] shall not prevent them which are asleep”. This word “prevent” is “precede” or go before. It is not possible to precede them because they are already there with Jesus in that Heavenly dimension. When you die, your soul goes instantly back to the Father who gave it to you. Your Creator.

    I want to go to Ecclesiastes Chapter 12 for a moment and start with verse 6. This chapter deals with your death.

It reads like this; "Or ever the silver cord be loosed, [This is referring to your spinal cord] or the golden bowl be broken, {this is referring to your head or skull] or the picture be broken at the fountain, [this means the failure of the heart, or heart attack] or the wheel broken at the cistern. [on which the bucket is brought up by a rope from the cistern, or well. Your flow of blood.]

Verse 7: " Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit [Your spirit] shall return unto GOD WHO gave it." The ALPHA and Omega.

There are some folks who would want you to rip these pages right out of your Bible because it teaches you there is no re-incarnation and there is no bodily resurrection. I prefer to leave them in . What do you think?

    What about the “lake of fire in the book of Revelations chapter 20? I bet you thought I forgot didn’t you? The lake of fire is Gods all consuming fire, meaning gone forever and ever. Never to be anymore! Yes, I know we have all been taught that hell is the lake of fire that burns forever and ever not being taught the true meaning of Luke chapter 16, which is a parable all about the law. When you do get your Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and look up the word “Hell” taking it all the way back to it’s prime, you will know how you have been deceived. What an “eye opening” experience!