Jul 7, 2024
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:35-58
Some Corinthian teachers had denied the reality of resurrection. They had, no doubt, reasoned from seeing what death did to a body that resurrection was impossible.
Paul calls such people 'fools' and then proceeds to cite illustrations of the possibility of human resurrection. The seed the farmer plants in the ground is transformed into a different 'body'. Birds and fish and land animals all have different bodies. Our earthly body has one form and our heavenly body will have a different form. The death of this body does not preclude a future resurrection.
The Scriptures speak of, in fact, two resurrections … one for believers and one for unbelievers. Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment" (Jn 5:28,29).
For Christians death is not as bad as it seems. Death simply ushers them into the presence of Jesus (2 Cor 5:8) and one day Christians receive resurrection bodies like Jesus possessed after His own resurrection. But for unbelievers, death is infinitely worse than it seems. Death ushers them before the judgment bench of the Almighty and they must endure the horrible experience of hell forever. In the resurrection they are given a body that will be indestructible and able to suffer hell’s torment without being destroyed.