Lesson #22

1CORINTHIANS 15:35-50
Lesson #22
THE RESURRECTED BODY AND THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH

• Memory Verse: 1Cor 15:49

• We have covered more than half of the chapter on the resurrection. In this lesson we will consider the nature of the resurrected body, and more personally, our part in the resurrection.
• Why is it important to understand the truth of the resurrected body?
• There are so many different beliefs and teachings about the resurrection and about the nature of the resurrected body.
• The Greek philosophers, Plato and Cicero, said that the soul was immortal, but not the body.
• The Jewish Sadducees said that there was no resurrection and no life after death.
• Jesus told them that Jehovah was the God of the living. (Mat 22:31-32)
• It is important for Christians to understand what the Bible says, for this is our eternal hope.
• This is the hope that should motivate us to love the Lord Jesus Christ and to service for Him. (50)

• Read 1Cor 15:35-44
• Paul begins with two questions, how are the dead raised, and what kind of body does the resurrected person have?
• The resurrection of the Christian presents us with a great stretch of faith.
• We can understand in some fashion how God could raise a body from the dead if that person had just died. Lazarus is the example. His body was still intact. It had not decayed, though it was in the first stages of decay.
• It is more difficult to understand how God could raise a body from the dead if that person had been dead for many years, and his ashes had been scattered by the winds, or that hundreds of fish had eaten small parts of that body, swam to distant parts of the sea and in turn died. There is nothing left to resurrect.
• The examples in nature:
• Botany
• Paul says that the resurrection occurs after death.
• In the same way that a dried seed falls into the ground and grows into a living plant, the body dies, is buried in the ground, and then raised to new life.
• This statement in verse 36 about death before the resurrection means that it is definitely the body that dies and disintegrates into dust. Then it is the body that is resurrected.
• “…to every seed his own body.”

(38)

• In nature, we know that if we plant a carrot seed, we will get a carrot.
• In the resurrection, the Christian will receive a body like the body he had on earth.
• In other words, a person is not raised to be an animal.
• This phrase tells us that there is no such thing as reincarnation.
• In the same way that God produces a plant from a seed, God resurrects the body. (38)
• When a farmer plants a seed, he does not see a seed emerge from the ground. He sees a plant. The plant is something of a similar nature, but it is totally different from the seed.
• The plant has the same identity as the seed.
• Likewise, the resurrected body has the same identity that the person had before he died.
• We learned in Lesson #04 that man consists of body, soul, and spirit. It is the soul that defines the character or personality of the person. This is his identity that lives after the death of the body. It is this identity of the soul that is placed in a new resurrected body that will live forever.
• Zoology
• All flesh is not the same.
• Even though many people, even Christians, believe in evolution, that man descended from animals, the Bible clearly says that the flesh of man and the flesh of animals are different.
• One type of flesh does not become another type of flesh.
• Astronomy
• The planets are all different. Each one is made of different materials and functions differently.
• The resurrected body is similar to the body of flesh but made differently and functions differently.
• “…It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.”

(42)

• Man’s body from the beginning of creation was always subject to death. If Adam had not sinned he would have lived forever in his material body eating of the tree of life to sustain his body of flesh.
• Man’s physical body is constantly changing and renewing itself.
• We do not notice these changes while they occur. Only after the fact can a person look back and say that his body is not the same as it was when he was a youth.
• The cells in the body continually renew and replace themselves. Therefore the body that you have today is not the same body you had 20 years ago, even though it has the same identity and continuity.
• The resurrected body is not made of flesh. It is incorruptible. (42)
• We can best see the difference if we set the two bodies side by side, the natural body and the spiritual body: (44)

The Natural Body	The Spiritual Body
Corruptible (becomes sick, ages, deteriorates, and eventually dies)	Incorruptible (without sickness, age, or change, and it never dies)
Dishonor (spiritually dark)	Glory (spiritually light, like the light coming from Jesus body on the Mt. of Transfiguration. Mat 17:2)
Weak (the strength of the body declines over the years)	Powerful (the body will never lose its strength in eternity)
Like Adam (all humans are born with the same flesh as Adam)	Like the resurrected Jesus Christ (the resurrected body of the believer will be like Jesus’ resurrected body)

• Read 1Cor 15:45-50
• The example of a prefigure:
• Paul contrasts Adam and Jesus Christ. Therefore, Adam is a prefigure of Jesus Christ.
• However, while most prefigures in the Bible are direct parallels character by character, event by event, the prefigure of Adam is a prefigure of contrast.

Adam	Jesus Christ
Adam was made a living soul. (a physical body with a soul nature) (See Lesson #04. His soul dominated his decisions) (45)	Jesus was made a quickening spirit. (a living and breathing spirit) (See Lesson #04. His spirit dominated his decisions) (45)
Adam was of the earth. (he was molded from the dust of the ground like clay) (47)	Jesus was the Lord from heaven. (He was eternal and came from heaven) (47)
Those people that were born from Adam have the same flesh nature and physical body. (48)	Those people that are born again have the same spiritual nature and will have a spiritual body like Jesus’ body in the resurrection. (48)
Neither the flesh nature nor the corruptible human body can inherit the kingdom of God. (50)	The spirit nature and the new incorruptible body will inherit the kingdom of God. (49)

• What will the resurrected body of the believer be like?
• Read Phi 3:20-21 and 1Joh 3:2
• Jesus is the model, for we shall be like Him!

THE GLORIFIED, RESURRECTED BODY
An ability to speak and be heard (This mortal body has a very limited spectrum of sight and sound. The new body will not have these limitations)	Luk 24:25
An ability to eat (This mortal body is limited to quantity and quality of food. The new body will not be limited.)	Luk 24:30, 43
An ability to disappear at will. (Confined to time and space, we are greatly limited. The new body will travel at the speed of thought.)	Luk 24:31
Having flesh and bone but no blood (Jesus’ blood was shed on Calvary) (The new flesh and bone of the body will be incorruptible. It will be the Sprit that flows through the veins to give life instead of blood.)	Luk 24:39
Able to be touched and felt (The new body will have substance. It will not be a phantom or ghost.)	Luk 24:39
An ability to go through walls and not be limited by space or time (The new body will have a different capacity of dimension.)	Joh 20:19
No need for sex or marriage (The new body will not have sexual desires. There will be no marriage, sexual relations, or the birth of babies.)	Mat 22:30
The body of Jesus had the marks of crucifixion after the resurrection. These marks will remain for eternity so all will remember the price he paid for our redemption. (The believer’s new body will be perfect, without marks or disabilities.)	Joh 20:26-29 Eph 4:13

• Read 1Cor 15:51-58 The Rapture of the Church
• When will the believer, living today, receive his resurrected body?
• The believer does not receive his new body at the death of the old mortal body.
• When the believer dies, his soul and his spirit, which is filled with the Holy Spirit, go to be with the Lord. (2Cor 5:8) His body returns to dust. (Gen 3:19)
• Therefore, all dead believers from all of history wait for the resurrection of the body.
• The fulfillment of the principle

: The first shall be last, and the last shall be first: (Mat 19:30)

• The dead believers from the crucifixion of Christ until today are in heaven without a body waiting for the resurrection of believers that will occur at the rapture of the church.
• The dead Old Testament believers receive their new bodies at the end of the tribulation period with the dead tribulation believers.
• Changed in an instant of time:
• Whether dead or alive at the event of the rapture of the church, those persons that have received Jesus Christ into their hearts and are born again, they immediately receive their new resurrected bodies.
• Read 1The 4:16-17

THE RAPTURE SEQUENCE 1The 4:16-17
Christ descends from heaven with a shout	1The 4:16a
The voice of the archangel sounds	1The 4:16b
There is a trumpet call	1The 4:16c
There is a bodily transformation of heavenly and earthly believers	1The 4:16d 1Cor 15:51-52
An instantaneous reunion of heavenly and earthly believers	1The 4:17
Believers ascend to the clouds	1The 4:17
A meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ in the air	1The 4:17

• The rapture is a mystery that God does not reveal in the Old Testament but reveals in the New Testament.
• The phrase, ” We shall not all sleep “ refers to physical death. (1Cor 15:51)
• The bodies of some believers will be changed without going through the process of death.
• The believing New Testament dead will be resurrected before the believers that are living at the time of this event.
• When will the event occur?
• It will occur at the last trumpet. (52)
• What is the last trumpet and when will it sound?
• There are various interpretations: (For a more complete explanation see the study of the book of Revelation on my webpage, specifically Lessons #15 and #16).
• The first trump of God, mentioned in Exo 19:3-6, 16, 19, was the voice of God that people heard at Mt. Sinai. Therefore, the last trump of God, as mentioned in Psa 47, is the voice of God calling believers to be physically present with Christ.

• “For this corruptible must put on incorruption…”

(53)

• Even though many New Testament believers have been dead for hundreds of years and are currently in heaven enjoying the presence of Christ, they must receive a new resurrected body to completely experience and enjoy the fullness of God for eternity.
• The victory of the resurrection:

• “…Death is swallowed up in victory.”

(54)

• This is Christ’s final victory. He conquered eternal death so that we can conquer eternal death.
• After the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ on this earth for 1000 years, those humans born in the millennial period must choose between Jesus Christ and Satan. Those people that choose Christ will receive their resurrected bodies. Then, death will be destroyed and cast into the lake of fire. (Rev 20)
• This death that is swallowed up in victory is both physical death and spiritual death.
• What is the difference between physical death and spiritual death?
• Physical Death (The first death):
• Physical death is the cessation of physical life.
• Physical death began as a consequence of the sin of Adam and Eve. (Gen 2:17)
• However, Adam and Eve did not die physically that day. They lived on to have children, but their bodies began to die that day. The aging process started until finally they died physically.
• All humans from the time of Adam and Eve are born with the same aging process that ends in physical death.
• Spiritual Death (The Second Death):
• Spiritual death is the eternal separation between God and man.
• Spiritual death began as a consequence of the sin of Adam and Eve. (Gen 2:17)
• The moment that Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree, they immediately died spiritually. (See Lesson #04) They were separated from God because of sin.
• All humans from the time of Adam and Eve are born into spiritual death or separation from God for two reasons:
• =1= The concept of original sin:
• We all inherit the flesh nature that makes us self-centered.
• =2= The concept of personal sin:
• We all eventually commit our own personal sins because we choose to follow the flesh nature.
• Therefore, because the wages of sin is spiritual death, we all inherit spiritual death, unless we receive Jesus Christ into our hearts. He paid the price for sin and conquered death for us so that we might have eternal life. (Rom 6:23)
• Read Rev 20:6
• It is this spiritual transaction of receiving Jesus Christ into the heart that takes the sting out of physical death for the believer in Jesus Christ.

• “The sting of death is sin…”

(56) = Jesus Christ removes our sin from us so that we do not suffer eternal spiritual death.

• “…the strength of sin is the law.”

(56) = The Law of Moses is the mirror or standard that shows us what sin is.

• Summary and Application:
• While Paul answers many of our questions about the resurrected body, he does not answer all of them.
• Will we recognize other believers in our resurrected bodies?
• Paul does not say specifically, however, the answer is probably yes.
• 1Cor 13:12 says, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
• From this verse, we can assume that other people will know and recognize us.
• What will be the age of our appearance, the age we died physically?
• The question concerns the age of appearance, not the age of the body, for the resurrected body does not have the stamp of time on it.
• Neither does Paul nor other Biblical authors give us a specific answer to this question.
• However, because old age is the body in the process of decay, it would seem that an immortal body would appear to be at the ultimate point of full health and power. This is the body in the prime of life (somewhere around 30 years old).
• Paul, in this chapter of 1Corinthians, tells us the important things that we should know about death and resurrection.
• Those people that receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior die once (unless the Rapture of the church comes first), but they live forever.
• Those people that do not receive Jesus Christ die twice and are eternally separated from God.
• Those people that receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior have a part in the first resurrection to enjoy eternity with God.
• Those people that do not receive Jesus Christ have a part in the second resurrection to eternal damnation in the lake of fire. (Rev 20:13-15)
• Paul ends the chapter by telling us that this chapter should change our attitudes and actions of serving the Lord.
• Question to Ponder

: How?

HOMEWORK
1CORINTHIANS 16
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher for correction.

• Application of 1Cor 15:35-50
• In what ways can this passage about the resurrection of the body change your attitudes about Jesus Christ and God, the Father?
• In what ways can this passage about the rapture of the church change your service to God?
• Preparation for 1Cor 16
• Read 1Cor 16:1-12
• Read 1Cor 16:13-23
• What final attitude that Paul already discussed in depth is the most important attitude for the Corinthian church to have?
• What does verse 22 mean?
• Memory verse: 1Cor 16:14