Saturday, May 19, 2012

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 15 (Part 5)

We believe in the resurrection of the body. We do not believe in an eternity spent in the clouds. We believe in the resurrection of the body. We do not believe in harps and halos. We believe in an eternity that is physical, not simply spiritual, more real and vivid than anything our sinful senses experience in this world of sin. Christ wasn’t raised up as a phantom or a spirit; He said Himself, “A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”


The Christian’s hope and goal is the resurrection of the body. That is what we yearn for, and that is what Saint Paul proclaims: “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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 shall be changed.” On that last, glorious day, we will be changed in a moment. For those who are joined to Christ in faith, this is the day of glory that they have been looking toward from the hour that they first believed. Those who have died, from Adam on, will be raised out of their graves, and they will be changed. Even that last generation, those living on the Last Day, will be changed as well. Saint Paul tells us why: “For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” The bodies we inherited from Adam are perishable, they are mortal. On the Last Day, these bodies will be changed to be like Christ’s glorious body, the body that the disciples saw and touched. Then we will dwell, body and soul, with Christ Himself and all the saints in the new heavens and the new earth. That is our destination, our hope; we yearn for an eternity where death and corruption is no more. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, because Christ Himself was raised imperishable. Alleluia!

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