Read 1 Corinthians 15:51-55.
We live in a world where death is ever-present. Green hills are intermittently dotted with tombstones. Funeral services are offered in letters mailed to aging people. Hospital patients may be sent to hospice units—medical comfort for hopeful recovery supplanted by comfort care in anticipated decline and demise.
Sin is the cause. The world is cursed and death is the consequence. Man’s rebellion against God permeates every inch of the globe and sentences every sinner to execution.
Yet, Jesus came to overcome death, hell, and the grave. In His resurrection and glorification there is the assured promise of ours. While this body of flesh and blood is not adequate to dwell in heaven, there will be a translation in which we receive a new body. For the Christian, this occurs at the rapture of the church.
The dead in Christ will rise—with new bodies, no longer subject to decay. The living saints will be instantaneously transformed, as well. The trumpet blast will summon us to meet Jesus in the air. Earth’s gravity will no longer be able to contain us. The new body elevates us to a state that transcends time and space.
Paul essentially sticks his tongue out at death! He has no fear. The sting has been stolen and death’s defeat assured. We can stick our tongue out at death, too! A name written on a death certificate is not a concern if that name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life!
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