QT 4/29/2025 1 Cor 15:50–58, A better home is prepared

1 Corinthians 15:50–58 (ESV) —

50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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 shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

55 “O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

 

NOTE: A "mystery" (also translated secret) is something hinted at in the Old Testament, but explained fully in the New Testament. Death and a perishable body is still a problem today, but less so because of modern medicines, than in the past. Still, I feel the effects of a body that does not work as well as it did. Repetitive activities can leave pains in my shoulders and knees very quickly in my older age (mid 60's). The mystery is that our perishable bodies will be replace by imperishable bodies in an instant, the twinkling of an eye.

 

In my younger days, I felt like I would live forever. In this latter stage, I still feel pretty good, and am in better shape than most people in their 40's, but I realize that the body is decaying. There is no tree of life to restore it. But there is the fact of the resurrection which gives me hope for a new resurrected body. And it is really more than hope, it is an amazing fact, testified to in the historical writings of the first century, and a fulfillment of thousands of years of prophecy, and materialized in Jesus.

 

PONDER:

1. Do I realize the tremendous hope I have?
2. Am I living for this world or am I living for my eternal home (that is God's will)?

 

PRAYER: Father, as the song goes,

 

This world is not my home

I'm just a-passing through

My treasures are laid up

Somewhere beyond the blue

The angels beckon me

From heaven's open door

And I can't feel at home

In this world anymore

 

This is my heart. I'm not at home yet. My retirement home is somewhere else. And it won't be for retirement, it will be for living life to the fullest. Help me to live this temporal life with my eyes set on a better home.