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Today's Pathway: I Corinthians 15:50-51 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

Today's passage speaks of what will take place when the rapture occurs. Verse 50 ties the rapture to what has been said previously. Humans have a natural body because they are descendants of Adam. Verse 50 states that any things that can corrupt, like our natural human bodies, can not inherit that which can not be corrupted. I Peter 1:4 says that the Christian can look forward to

"an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you".

In verse 51 Paul says that he is going to teach a "mystery". A "mystery" is a truth that was not previously known and which human intellect could never discover on its own, but which has now been made known by divine revelation. Up until now Paul has been talking about the transition that will take place when the body of a dead believer is resurrected. This was in answer to the original questions that were raised back in verse 35. Now Paul begins to teach about the transformation that will take place in the body of a living believer when the rapture occurs. He starts by stating that "we shall not all sleep". In other words, there will be people who will be alive when the Lord comes in the air. Apparently this had not been considered by many of the Christians. They had been concerned about what would happen to their bodies after they died, but had not factored in what would happen to them if they were alive when Christ returned.

Before going any further, it should be noted that Paul says, "we shall not all sleep". By using that pronoun, Paul shows that he believed that the rapture could occur at any moment, including during his lifetime. He believed that he might personally experience the change which he is going to describe. Paul was living his life with a sense of imminency. Renald Showers explained "imminency" this way:

"The English word 'imminent' comes from a Latin word which means to 'overhang'. In light of this, the word 'imminent' means 'hanging over one’s head; ready to overtake one; close at hand'. Thus, an imminent event is one that is always hanging overhead, is constantly ready to overtake a person, is always close at hand in the sense that it could happen at any moment. Other things may happen before the imminent event, but nothing else must take place before it happens. If something else must take place before an event can happen, that event is not imminent.

Theologically, the imminent return of Christ means that the rapture must occur before the Tribulation period. If it occured after the Tribulation, then it would not be an imminent event, for it could not take place for at least 7 years. If it occurred in the middle of the Tribulation then it could not take place for at least three and a half years. Therefore, the doctrine of the Pre-Tribulation rapture of believers is correct. From a practical standpoint, "imminency" means that we must be prepared for Christ to come today. Unbelievers dare not put off salvation, and believers must busy themselves with serving the Lord. I have often thought about Christ's statement in Matthew 24:44:

"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."

Are you ready?