1 Corinthians 15:51-52

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (ESV)

[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.

The Corinthian believers had come to believe that death was so significant that it robbed their brothers and sisters of the kingdom after they died. Paul told them they were mistaken. The dead will be raised just as Jesus was raised. Now, lest they go out of balance the other direction in their theology, he reminds them that the Kingdom of God is not primarily in this world. Whether they live or die, they will be changed.

Just as there was a day in space and time when the Son of God became man, so there will be a day in space and time when the Son returns and calls us all up. “The dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor 15:52). What we do on this earth is important. We were created to be caretakers of creation and commissioned with the Good News of salvation. We will answer to God for whether we were good stewards of both, but there is more. The kingdom is more, as Paul wrote in the previous verse, because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Cor 15:50).

The point of these verses is that death is, in fact, not all that significant. It separates us here on earth for a time. But it changes nothing about our future hope. My wife was gone for a couple weeks recently. In 46 years of marriage we have probably never been apart for more than two or three weeks at time. Death certainly changes that. In death there are no phone calls, no chats, no emojis to say, “I love you,” or “I understand.” But just the same, death is temporary. In the end the real issue is not whether someone died, but whether someone had faith in God to save them because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As believers our hope of eternal life is greater than the power of death. “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” (1 Cor 15:51). “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor 15:26). But even before death is destroyed, its power and its sting has already been removed. Back in the 70s, Larry Norman sang of the resurrection of Jesus, “You can’t keep a good man down.” Jesus is far more than a good man. He is God, and his resurrection promises the hope of eternal life for all who believe. Death cannot stop that promise. Its power and its sting are gone. Live with that hope in mind.