Lesson 34 – 1 Corinthians Chapter 15:50-58
As we close out chapter 15, it’s easy to see that this chapter has been one of the crown jewels in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.
This chapter has focused on Christ’s resurrection, and revealed to us the very core of Christianity. Jesus came to this earth to free mankind from the slavery of sin. This was God’s plan from eternity past….. before anything or anyone ever existed, God knew He would send His Son Jesus to become the One and only perfect sacrifice for our sins.
Through the first Adam, we inherited a sin nature that caused a deep chasm between God and mankind, bringing about a separation that could only be restored through the saving blood of Jesus Christ.
The shedding of Christ’s blood meant He would die for us, but His death would be in vain unless God raised Jesus from the dead, and on the third day, God did raise Christ from the dead.
This is the resurrection in all its glory! Jesus is what we call the first resurrection, and we will follow in His resurrection. If Christ’s resurrection never took place, all that we believe in as Christians falls apart, but Jesus did defeat death, and there are witnesses to prove it; as we say today, we have the receipts. All of His disciples saw Him, talked with Him, ate with Him, and touched Him. While Jesus walked this earth in His resurrected body, well over 500 people also saw Him.
Ever since Jesus ascended into heaven to be with the Father, His church has been eagerly waiting for Him to return, and bring her home with Him.
John 14:2-3:
“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
The resurrection of Christ’s church is the blessed hope that we should all constantly watch and pray for. Before establishing His kingdom on earth, Jesus will come for His Church through the resurrection, an event known as the “Rapture.”
1 Thess. 4:14-18:
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
Benjamin Franklin wrote an epitaph for himself. On his tombstone it reads: “The body of Franklin, printer, like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and gilding, lies here food for worms. But the work will not be lost, for it will appear once more in a new and elegant edition, revised and corrected by the Author.”
Let’s continue with Paul as we finish chapter 15, we can title this section “The Mystery of the Resurrection.”
1 Cor. 15:50:
“Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”
This body we plant in the ground as food for worms could never withstand the eternal state. Our earthly bodies were not made to withstand the kingdom of God.
That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…
There’s power in the blood of Christ, but there is no power in our earthly tents. Our bodies do pretty good on earth, but in heaven they would evaporate; therefore, it cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
This is what death is all about, just as a seed planted in the ground must die before it can grow, we must die before we can receive our heavenly bodies.
Nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable…
Our bodies perish only to become imperishable.
For us as believers, death is simply a way of us leaving our earthly tents and moving into our new bodies, exchanging the perishable for creations of beauty… the imperishable. Don’t worry about it, God does all the heavy lifting.
But wait, there’s more… there is something new to factor in to this equation.
1 Cor. 15:51:
“Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,”
Life is fleeting, and we all share that inevitable fate, we’re all going to die… maybe!
Behold, I tell you a mystery… we like that word “mystery,” it’s like someone saying, “Let me tell you a secret.” In the New Testament, mystery always refers to that which had been hidden and unknown, but which is now revealed.
What’s the mystery to be revealed? It’s that when Jesus comes for His church, there will be a number of believers who will still be alive. What comes next will be an amazing experience to say the least.
We will not all sleep… when Jesus returns, the believers who are still alive don’t have to die, they will be transformed. Paul says, we will all be changed.
Once again 1 Thess. 4:17:
“Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”
We all get a hall pass; we skip the dying part. Are we that special generation that Paul is talking about? No one knows. This is what Enoch and Elijah got to experience, one minute they’re on terra firma, and then next thing they know, they’re with God.
Phil. 3:20-21:
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has, even to subject all things to Himself.”
Like I said before, God is the One doing all the heavy lifting, and we get to enjoy the ride. In the mean time we walk by faith and not by sight.
1 Cor. 15:52:
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
Let that sink in for a moment.
I know I said we’ll get to enjoy the ride, but it’s not going to be like when you were a little kid riding in the back seat of your parents’ car with your hand out the window, catching the wind with your hand.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye… this is fast, faster than a speeding bullet… it’s God’s speed. We can say it will be an “instantaneous recreation” from one body form to another.
Reading these Scriptures is good for us; we need to read them over and over again because as it pertains to traveling at God speed, we have nothing to relate to, but it’s definitely something for us to look forward to.
Paul says in a moment… the Greek word is “atomoss”, it’s where we get the word atom, which speaks of something that can’t be cut or divided. As it pertains to our text, it is the smallest amount of time when our natural perishable bodies will transform into the imperishable.
In the twinkling of an eye…
The muscles that control our eye movement are known as the extraocular muscles, they are some of the fastest in the human body. They allow the eyes to quickly scan a scene, track moving objects, and shift focus almost instantaneously. This rapid movement helps with everything from reading to reacting to sudden changes in the environment. In fact, these movements, called sac-cades, occur in milliseconds, making them faster than any voluntary movement in the body.
Now I don’t know if Paul knew all this, but he did know the eye was fast, and so he uses the eye to show how fast our transformation will be.
At the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound…
I don’t know what your favorite instrument is, maybe it’s guitar, a violin or piano, but on this day it will be a trumpet to be sure. The trumpet, as in the Old Testament, signaled the appearance of God.
Exodus 19:16-17:
“So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.”
Isaiah 27:13:
“It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.”
Paul says at the last trumpet, this is perhaps the last trumpet blast for the church, because this “appearance” of God shall never end. From this point on we will always see God.
However, we do see trumpets in the book of Revelation, but they pertain to God’s judgments during the Tribulation, whereas the trumpet we see here in our verse is related only to the church.
A Chaplin was reminded of this passage by Paul during the Civil War. It was winter, and a troop of soldiers found themselves without any tents, so they had to sleep that night out in an open field. During the night it snowed, covering the soldiers while they were under their blankets. In the morning the Chaplin looked across the field and it looked like mounds of new graves. When the reveille bugle sounded, the soldiers rose up from their snowy graves, giving the Chaplin quite a sight.
And the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed…
I have a feeling the “fallen world” left behind will not be able to see the glorious sight of the church rising up to meet her Savior in the clouds… they will only see the aftermath.
Titus 2:11-13:
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,”
The blessed hope is what every believer is looking forward to, just waiting to hear that sweet trumpet sound. Believers will be raised imperishable, and in a fraction of a second they will be like Jesus.
1 John 3:2:
“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”
1 Cor. 15:53:
“For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
By Paul using the word perishable, it means that our bodies are subject to decay. The only remedy is for us to put on the imperishable… which translates to our glorified bodies. We are just “mere mortals” as some might say, which refers to an ordinary person who lacks any special abilities or powers. Being mortal describes our limitations and it highlights the differences between humans and supernatural beings.
Now this isn’t a biblical definition, but when we put on immortality, we will be heavenly supernatural beings, compared to the perishable humans we once were.
1 Cor. 15:54:
“But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
The NLT says it plainly for us, “Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled. “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
Again, this is something that God is going to do for us, the “putting on” will be done by God, and once this happens Isaiah 25:8 will be fulfilled:
“He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken.”
R. C. H. Lenski writes, “Death and all its apparent victories are undone for God’s children. What looks like a victory for death and like a defeat for us when our bodies die and decay shall be utterly reversed so that death dies in absolute defeat and our bodies live again in absolute victory.”
This is what the blessed hope is all about, when we no longer need to fight against sin, when the race is finally finished, and faith is but a memory. The beauty of all this is the victory belongs to Christ… He did it all.
1 Cor. 15:55:
“O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?”
Paul is taunting against death and satan by quoting Hosea 13:14:
“Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from My sight.”
Insects, including hornets, wasps, and bees, are the deadliest insects in the world, causing more deaths to humans annually than any other species. Between 2011 and 2021, 788 deaths from hornet, wasp, and bee stings occurred, with an average of 72 deaths per year.
As a bee leaves its stinger in its victim… Jesus bore the entirety of death’s sting for us, in order that we wouldn’t have to bear any of it.
Anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one knows the sting that death holds.
A little girl was having a picnic with her father. Being deathly allergic to bee stings, she became terrified as a bumblebee buzzed around her. Seeing the bee, her father caught it and held on to it before letting it go. As it buzzed around once again, the little girl cried, “Daddy, Daddy, why did you let the bee go?”
Rather than explain it to her, her father chose to simply open his hand to show his daughter that the stinger was embedded in his palm.
This is what Jesus did for us, He took on the sting of death and crushed it, so that we no longer need to be afraid of death.
It was sin that ushered in death, and it is sin that gives death its power. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, sin and death are made powerless for all those who believe.
Romans 5:17 (NLT):
“For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”
1 Cor. 15:56:
“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;”
Where sin has been taken away, death can only interrupt our earthly life, but at the same time, death escorts us into heaven. For the believer death is not gone, but its sting is gone forever.
Hebrews 2:14-15 (NLT):
“Because God’s children are human beings… made of flesh and blood… the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could He set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.”
Unfortunately, for all those who reject God’s offer of salvation, the ones who do not believe, death’s sting tragically remains forever.
The power of sin is the law…
If the Law did not exist, sin wouldn’t be an issue for us…
Romans 4:15:
“For the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.”
The Law was not evil. It served as a mirror to reveal the condition of a person’s heart.
Romans 7:7:
“What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
God’s law reveals His standards to us, and when His laws are broken, they reveal man’s sin.
Romans 3:23:
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 6:23:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Man’s only hope is in Jesus Christ!
1 Cor. 15:57:
“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Man has a sin problem, Jesus is the answer! He is the answer to our sin problem both now and for all eternity.
1 Peter 2:24:
“And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
Christ’s victory is our victory… not that we did anything to deserve it, but Jesus did it all out of His love for us. By believing in His death and resurrection, Jesus willingly shares His victory against sin and death with us.
John MacArthur writes, “How can we do anything but thank and praise God for what He has done for us? He has promised us an imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual body for one that is perishable, dishonorable, weak, and natural. He promises us the heavenly in exchange for the earthly, the immortal in exchange for the mortal. We know these promises are assured because He has already given us victory over sin and death.”
A literal translation of verse 57 is, “But thanks be to God who “keeps on” giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We experience “the power of His resurrection” in our lives as we continue to yield to Him.
Phil. 3:10-11:
“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
Did you ever hear the term “Latching on to someone’s coattails?” It means benefiting from someone else’s success. It refers to using someone else’s success or status to your advantage without putting in any effort yourself. The phrase dates back to the mid-1800s when coats with tails were in fashion.
In a sense, we are latching on to Jesus’ victory. We didn’t do anything to achieve this victory, Jesus did the work for us, and it is to this truth that we give Him all the thanks, honor, and praise… Amen.
1 Cor. 15:58:
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”
As always, “therefore” means to look back on all the truth that was told, and for us here in chapter 15, it’s God’s truth about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We’ve learned that God really did raise Jesus from the dead, and that His disciples and hundreds of others were a witness to this fact.
When satan sends his false teachers and demonic soothsayers, we now know how to refute their counterfeit accusations about the resurrection.
We know that Jesus is the “firstfruits” of the resurrection, meaning we will be just like Him, not that we will be as gods, but that we will have a glorified body, the same as Jesus.
We will go from the earthly perishable, to the heavenly glorified imperishable… in the blink of an eye.
We cling to the old rugged cross, until we hear the last trumpet sound… and exchange it that day for a crown. The old rugged cross symbolizes the victory at Calvary, and the blessed hope we hold in our heart is that Jesus’ victory can never be taken away.
With all this in mind Paul says, my beloved brethren, be steadfast.
This is the way we prove our faithfulness to God, showing how thankful we are.
Steadfast (hed-ray-ous) means to be firm, immovable, or decisively situated. Another way to word steadfast is to consistently be reliable: resistant to outside pressures.
To me, being steadfast sounds like a believer who has put on “The full armor of God.” Living in this world there are continual outside pressures against us, we all know it, and we all live it.
If it’s not satan and his minions, or the influence of the world knocking at our door, it’s our very own flesh deceiving us. So Paul posts a reminder to us, be steadfast.
Immovable… this has the same basic meaning as being steadfast, but carries a bit more intensity with it. It signifies someone being immobile and motionless.
With this I picture the military guards in Arlington Cemetery, standing in front of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They are immovable, that is unless you do something to challenge them, then look out.
The question is, can we be immovable in our stance for the gospel of Christ? What a military guard can do out of respect for a fallen comrade, we can certainly be immovable for our Lord and Savior.
Always abounding in the work of the Lord…
Abounding is a very interesting word, it’s another call to action for the believer, it means exceeding the requirements. We like to use the terms “going above and beyond” or “they demonstrated an exceptional commitment”
We see this in Eric Liddell; he was a Scottish Olympic runner and a devout Christian. He became famous for refusing to run in his best event, the 100-meter race, in the 1924 Paris Olympics because it was scheduled on a Sunday. Instead, he trained for the 400-meter race, a distance he was not favored to win. Against all odds, he won the gold, setting a world record.
His story doesn’t end there. After his Olympic triumph, he left behind fame and fortune to serve as a missionary in China. He dedicated his life to teaching and helping the poor, even as war and danger surrounded him. When World War II broke out, he was captured and sent to a Japanese internment camp. Even in captivity, he continued to serve others, teaching children, organizing sports, and offering encouragement to fellow prisoners.
Despite suffering from illness and exhaustion, he remained selfless until his final days. He died in the camp, but his legacy of faith, sacrifice, and perseverance continues to inspire people worldwide. Eric Liddell’s life was a testament to someone always abounding in the work of the Lord.
Eph. 1:7-9 (NKJV):
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,”
God went “above and beyond” Himself to enrich us with His grace; Paul says He made His grace to abound toward us. This should give us cause to do the same… to always be abounding in the work of the Lord.
Romans 12:1 (NLT):
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice… the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.”
We’ll close with this…
Once again from John MacArthur, “Until the Lord returns there are souls to reach and ministries of every sort to be accomplished. Every Christian should work uncompromisingly as the Lord has gifted and leads. Our money, time, energy, talents, gifts, bodies, minds, and spirits should be invested in nothing that does not in some way contribute to the work of the Lord. Our praise and thanksgiving must be given hands and feet.”
Knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord…
Only satan and those who belong to the world would try to convince you that you’re just wasting your time in working for God. Working and serving God will never go unnoticed, in fact God remembers everything we do for Him.
Rev. 22:11-12:
“Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy. Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”
The Day of the Lord is coming. He saved each one of us with a purpose, and that purpose is to live lives that are pleasing to Him… and that includes glorifying Him with everything we do. It would be foolish to waste the time we have been given, and none of us know how long we have. Make the most of what God has given you… be all about storing up treasures in heaven, you won’t be disappointed.