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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
September 26
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Today's Pathway:
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Today we will return to an exposition of Paul's teaching concerning the resurrection. He writes in verse 53 that our bodies must be changed from that which can decay and will ultimately die into that which can not decay and will never perish. The word "must" indicates that this is not an optional change, but an absolutely essential change. Paul has already established in verse 50 that
"flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."
Thus, perishable, mortal bodies must be transformed into imperishable, immortal bodies, for only such supernaturally transformed bodies are suitable for the supernatural Kingdom of God. Man has a soul that will live forever. However, according to II Corinthians 5:1-4, the soul does not desire to go through eternity without a body. That passage states,
"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle (our current body) were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house (our resurrection body) not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life."
God does not intend to simply give our souls eternal life, but He intends to give our bodies eternal life as well.
When this occurs, verse 54 tells us that "death is swallowed up in victory". This is a quotation from Isaiah 25:8, which reads,
"He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces".
Death is going to be devoured by victory. According to verse 57, victory has been given by God to the believer through Jesus Christ. Romans 6:9 tells us that death no longer has any dominion over Christ, and in verse 54 we see that when we receive our resurrection bodies it will no longer have any dominion over us either. At the Great White Throne Judgment death will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:14). Ironically, this is referred to as the "second death". So death, which has had control over mankind since Adam's sin, will ultimately suffer death itself. Those who are unsaved will join "death" in the torments of the Lake of Fire for all eternity. But the believers will be victorious over death in their glorified bodies.
Verse 55 reads like a taunting of death. Death no longer has a sting. The sting of death, according to verse 56, is that men are sinners, and have violated the law of God, whether written on tables of stone (Exodus 24:12) or written in their hearts (Romans 2:15). But through Christ, the sins of men can be forgiven. Ephesians 1:7 says of Jesus,
"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace."
Because of this, the grave has no victory over Christians, for as it could not hold the body of Christ, so when the rapture takes place it will not be able to hold the bodies of those who have received Him .
In verse 57, Paul praises and thanks God for the victory over sin and death. It has come about, and only could come about, through the Gospel: the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, which is how Paul began this chapter. The tense of the word "giveth" indicates that God not only gave us the victory in the past, but He keeps on giving us the victory in the present, and will continue to do so into the future. Bruce Hurt concludes,
"This is good news for it emphasizes the certainty of the victory. Yes, we are still human and experience fear when dangerous situations arise. But when we are on our deathbed, we can fall asleep in complete assurance that this apparent 'victory' by our mortal enemy is only temporary, and we will emerge on the other side of the veil as victors over death because of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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