Whitcomb, John C: The Resurrection Body Of Believers

Friends, it's a great, great joy for Christians to look forward to what we call the blessed hope of the soon appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's a motivating, dynamic force that the Spirit of God who indwells us, who has made our body his temple, to keep moving forward. We like to use this expression, don't we? We see a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel, and this world system is getting darker and darker. God said, trust me, it'll get worse and worse, and Jesus said there'll be wars and rumors of wars and nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And my father and grandfather fought in the First World War in Europe, which was called the war to what? End all wars. End all wars. Wrong. How did Jesus know this? There'd be no end of wars. Because he knew that Satan is the god of this world, and he has hundreds of millions of demons helping him to stir up people in animosity and hatred and mutual murder. And friends, exactly what he said would happen is happening, and the system is getting worse and worse and darker and darker from year to year. Now, we still want to be what? Lighting little candles here and there, not spend all our time cursing the darkness, but light candles of truth to be a testimony to the Lord, give out gospel tracts, pray for people. Yes. But the whole system is going down, down, down to global catastrophe. You know, we're often accused of being pessimists. No, no. Here's a motto I love. The deepest darkness is followed by the breaking of the dawn of day. That's right. The light is coming, friends. We can see him in our eye of faith, just like Job four thousand years ago said, I, my redeemer liveth, and, and at the end of the world he will stand upon the earth, and I will see him and not another. Imagine that hope? He's coming, and I'm going to be there in my body, he said. That's resurrection. Well, friends, people all over the world need to hear about this, don't they? May I make an announcement this morning and ask your prayers? We are launching a new program now, and we, we call ourselves, just for identi- identification, uh, Whitcomb Ministries Incorporated, and uh, we have a new program, a new goal. We're praying that all of our m- lectures from these past fifty years on tapes, videos, and everything, books, whatever, will be put into, are you ready? Chinese. Mandarin, which is my mother language. I was raised in China as a boy in the military, spoke Mandarin fluently until I came back to America in nineteen thirty, um, some seventy three or four years ago, uh, has been a part of my, my heart desire, friends, that those one billion three hundred million people will hear about the Lord Jesus and share that truth with others. And you know, it's the fastest growing church in the world today, under enormous pressure of persecution. So d- my, my co-author of the Genesis Flood book, Dr. Henry Morris, is, has announced, as you see there in the kitchen there, take one of these bulletins with you, that his, uh, study Bible called the Defenders Bible is now in Chinese. And, uh, we have explained this to our Chinese lady who was here yesterday. Is she here today? Not here today, okay. There you are, all right. Uh, to pray about this, because we have finally found a translator in Baltimore area, who is a brilliant theologian, graduate of Capital Bible Seminary. He's a very godly man, and of course he's just gotten back again from China, and he is wanting to do this. And, uh, we wanted these videos, which will be in the form of what, DVDs that are little discs that are easily slipped into suitcases and into China through the bamboo curtain, and CDs to get into the hands, minds, and hearts of thousands and thousands of Chinese teachers, pastors, and so forth, Christian people. Don't misunderstand this. There is more need for interpreting and explaining the Bible in China than there is to have a copy of the Bible. There are bi- millions of Bibles in China now, believe it or not, but not millions of teachers who can explain the Bible to their people. Join me in prayer, because I have learned through the years, Pastor Krins, that this is a, a church that knows how to pray. Yes, please pray with us about that. Especially focusing on what? The blessed hope. You know, Chinese Christians need that, don't they, in the midst of the horrors of persecution they're going through. I mean, we can't imagine what Chinese house church pastors have endured under Mao Zedong and, and other, uh, monsters of iniquity, killing millions of their people in the past fifty years and more. Now, friends, we better know ourselves, don't you think, what the Blessed Hope includes? Turn to First Corinthians fifteen with me, please. What is this Blessed Hope toward which you and I look with great deep anticipation? Well, the Apostle Paul was the instrument of God to explain this to us, and all the Old Testament prophecies of the coming of Christ and the resurrection of the saints, explained, of course, in Daniel chapter twelve two. many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth, Daniel said in chapter twelve, shall awaken, some to shame and everlasting contempt, but some to life, some to life, shining as the brightness of the stars forever and ever. The resurrection of the saints. Well, what do we, what do we be like when we're resurrected? You ever thought of that? Well, lots of people thought about it in Paul's day, and he is very harsh on them for their ignorance. I, I cringe when I read verse thirty five. Look at this. But someone will say, how are the dead raised? And with what kind of a body do they come? Now, I'm going to be careful not to say this. You fool! Now, wait a minute. Is that the way you treat people who ask questions about the Bible? No. But Jesus knew, Jesus knew, friends, the problem of the two on the road to Emmaus who denied his resurrection from the dead, were doubting and questioning everything he'd ever promised, and were in a state of depression. He said, oh, what fools and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken. Now, the Apostle Paul has the same concern because the Corinthians, are you ready for this, were Greeks. Do you know that? Greeks. By the way, the Olympics were held, a form of the Olympics there over two thousand years ago, as well as in Athens, and uh, these Greeks had a motto. It was deeper than a motto, it was a commitment. The dead will never rise again. That was fundamental Greek philosophy. You know why? They despised the human body. They thought it was a drag on their person. What they wanted to be was free at last from all physical limitations and to be just pure minds, pure intellects floating around the universe someday, somehow. They put a supreme emphasis on the intellect, on the mind, and despised the body, see? Now that is still with many people today, and was inherited by many of the early Christians too, who were poisoned by that Neoplatonic concept, you see. And I say that emphatically because, as Paul emphasizes frequently, and Jesus too, uh, he became a genuine human being, are you ready? With a physical body. A one hundred percent human being has a body, and if you don't have a body, you're not one hundred percent human, and that's the whole point of the resurrection. You can't be functioning as a human without a body. So all Christians who died and are in heaven can't function up there. They can't do anything. You know that? They can just rest in the presence of the Lord and rejoice in him, but they can't serve him. They can't go out and evangelize anybody. They are waiting for resurrection. That's how the Apostle Paul felt about it. He said, oh, we who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we born-again Christians, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is the redemption of our body. We're not waiting to die. What we really want is to be resurrected, to be glorified, so we can function for Jesus Christ and do something for him, through him, again, in the kingdom. Now, we're not disparaging, friends, dead saints. We're simply saying that all of them are waiting for something vastly better. Resurrection. See? Resurrection. Now, the first step, of course, we know, will be the resurrection of believers, which will take place when the dead in Christ shall rise first, right here, which will take place when? At any moment, just before the rapture, the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we who are alive and remain should be caught up, raptured, together with them in the clouds, the clouds of glory, to meet the Lord in the air, and so should we ever be. The first step of the end of the world is all of a sudden, all over the world, every Christian who's ever died in the last one thousand nine hundred plus years will instantly arise from the dead. They'll be honored first. Then living Christians, without dying, what a blessed hope this is, will be instantly transformed and changed and have a glorified body also, and together with resurrected Christians, raptured Christians will rise to meet Jesus in the air. Okay? But First Corinthians fifteen now is going to give you the details of what's going to happen. This is astounding, okay? Paul says in verse thirty six, that which you sow or plant in the ground does not come to life unless it dies. You can't be resurrected unless you die first. And that which you sow or place in the ground, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or something else, like a kernel of corn, for example. Isn't it amazing, friends, as we drive through, uh, Indiana from time to time, and Illinois, and Iowa, I guess southern Wisconsin too, I'm not sure. Thousands and thousands of square miles of corn. And guess how it started? I mean, these things are, you know, six feet high or something by early September. Just one little grain goes in the ground, and under proper conditions of the right kind of soil and availability of moisture and sunshine, add one ingredient, time. Look what comes up. Something vastly different from what you put in there. Amazing. See, that's the principle. You do not sow the body which is to be, but just a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or something else. So, friends, it's a very different substance that comes out of the grave than what was put into it. Very, very. In fact, I've been told that, uh, the body we now have is totally changed every seven years. Every molecule, every atom of your body might goes through a complete cycle, and not one molecule is left of what you had seven years ago. See, you have a new body, recycled by God. Our citizenship, friends, and we're thinking of citizens these days more than ever, perhaps, in our democracy and the right to vote and right to do various things. Our citizenship is in heaven, from whence we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform this body of humiliation and fashion it a new like unto his glorious body, with the power whereby he's able also to subdue all things to himself. Something is going to be transformed, totally new, astounding compared to what it was. Now, you say, what do you mean we're, we're going to be totally unrecognizable? No, keep this in balance. Next verse, thirty eight. But God gives it a body just as he wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. So we may have a different substance, which we'll discuss in a moment, but we'll have the same identity. It's a divine blueprint. God has masterminded the DNA code information system of your body design and function, and mine as well, and it'll never change forever. You are you forever. You'll not become somebody else. Just like you put a kernel of corn into the ground, and wheat doesn't come up. Corn comes up. It has its DNA code inside that kernel. Isn't that amazing to think there's a, there's some kind of a design, a deoxyribonucleic acid information system inside that seed, which programs exactly what's coming up. And that's what resurrection will be like. You won't be half somebody else or somebody different than you are now. You'll be exactly the same person. Now, you're ready for this? With the same body. Say, well, this is getting confusing. Well, maybe this little illustration will, will help. Uh, many times, uh, in my life, I have crossed the Mississippi River. And guess what? Every time I cross it, it's a different river. Not one molecule of water that is there now was there when I was there before. But trust me, it's the same river. The substance has all changed, has moved along, has been replaced by different water molecules, but it's the same form, shape, direction that it was before. It's the same river. And you and I will be the same i- identifiable persons that we are now. Dwight L. Moody used to say in his very cryptic ways of answering people's questions, he said, you know, people say, well, will we recognize our loved ones when we get to heaven? He says, you don't think we'll be dumber then than we are now, do you? Well, people recognize Jesus when he rose from the dead, you know? Nail prints in his hands, wound in the side. Mar- uh, Martha recognized his voice, the same exact person with the same body, but a transformed body, which had attributes and qualities that his previous earthly body did not have, sinless though he was. Okay? To every seed, to each seed, a body of his own. Okay? So, friends, we say, well, this is astounding. We'll still be what we are from God's eternal design for you and me as persons. But my, the structure will sure be different. Look at verses thirty nine to forty one now. To illustrate what we'd be like on resurrection rapture day, all flesh is not the same flesh, even here on the earth. All living beings have different attributes. Look how God designs things. There's one flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another flesh of birds, another of fish. Look at all the different kinds of bodies there are on this earth. Some that can live in the water, and some fly in the air, and, and uh, and uh, keep reading. Look at this. There are also heavenly bodies, celestial ones, which is what the resurrection body will be, and earthly bodies like we have now, but the glory of the heavenly is one, the glory of the earthly is another. There's one glory of the sun and another of the moon and another of the stars, for star differs from star in glory. By the way, only God could have known that and said that. We now know that's true. You know how many stars have already been discovered out in space, through the Hubble Telescope particularly? More stars have already been discovered than there are grains of sand of all the shores of the oceans of the world. Trillions and trillions and quadrillions and quadrillions and quintillions and quintill- name it, there's more. In fact, God said to Jeremiah, you'll never ever count the number of stars. They apparently go on forever and ever and ever. See, billions of galaxies, each with billions of stars that go on forever and ever. To us, it's infinite. To God, that is infinitesimal. See, and I say, well, Lord, that you, you never run out of blueprints, do you? No two human beings who've ever lived have identical bodies. We all have different fingerprint patterns, and now they have ways to look at your eyes, you know, and see you're different from any other in that's ever lived. We've got your num- we've got your number, see? You're different, you're special, you're unique in all the world of people that have ever lived. Now, when we arrive, however, friends, look, look at how different we will be. Bodies adapted for heaven, see? When I was a child, I had dreams like some children do, that I, I am not going to be limited in my ability to move. So one day I got up on the roof of my house and was ready to jump off, flapping my wings, see, and fly away like a bird. I don't know how children ever survive, or their parents. Trust me, I was rescued in the nick of time. Other people think they can go into the water and stay under the water for an hour like a whale does. Try it. Be your last act. You weren't designed for underwater life or for flying in the air. You were designed for one level of existence on the surface of this planet, dear friends. Oh yes. If God can do that within this world system, flying creatures, swimming creatures, walking creatures, he can do all kinds of things in the heavens above as well to adapt us for that new world. A different structure designed for heaven. Now, what will we be able to do when we have a glorified body? Verses forty two to forty four. Here are the attributes, the abilities, the functions of this kind of a body, okay? So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body. I mean, friends, when you die, it is irreversible. The second law of thermodynamics guarantees that you will disintegrate to dust. Dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return. It is inevitable, inevitable, irreversible, undeniable. You say, well, just, uh, you know, uh, freeze me or mummify me or do something, but don't let me perish. I have news for you. We have seen Egyptian mummies. And guess what? It take- it takes weeks of skilled labor to prepare a human body for mummification, and Egyptians were experts. But trust me, folks, not one Egyptian pharaoh who was ever mummified will ever move, will ever function again. Okay? I mean, nothing is more obvious. Look at this. It is sown a perishable body, but it is raised an imperishable body that'll never disintegrate, will never be sick, see? Will never suffer. God will wipe away all tears. We will be perfect physical beings forever and ever. Look at this, it's sown in dishonor. And say what you will, a A dead dead person. person does not have honor. Now, the mortician receives big money for making your dead loved one look alive, maybe better than he ever was before. But trust me, it's dishonorable to be dead. You know that? God never intended anybody ever to die. Never did. He created Adam and Eve to live forever on one condition. What was it? Just obey me. I mean, you can't imagine a simpler test. Of all the trees of the garden you may freely eat, Adam, please tell Eve about this to trust me, uh, uh, except one tree, that one. Uh, can you imagine a simpler test? And you eat all the trees all you want, but don't touch that one, because the day you eat that one, you'll surely die. God wanted them to win. God wanted them to trust him and to achieve. I mean, they didn't have to have endless tests. If you pass this one, you'll have another one. If you pass that one, you have another one. No, one test, that's all, and you'll be confirmed in righteousness forever and ever. You say, well, I can't believe that they would have done a thing like they did. And God says, oh really, look at yourself. How many times do you say, well, I'm from now on, I'm going to be perfect. I, I just made a choice. I'm going to be sinless from now on. Just try that. And you know what you've just done? You've just sinned by being arrogant. That's Isaiah fifty three six. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've all, each one turned to his own way. See, just like Adam did, we have followers of him, like sheep following the leading sheep, you know, breaking through the barriers, the guidelines, the limitations, the restrictions, the warnings. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, dear friend. Yes. And therefore, death came into the world. Romans five twelve, by one man, sin entered into the world, and death, and so death passed upon all men for all of sin, and death is an intruder, and not till the end of the millennium will death be done away with. It's the last enemy. It's not, I mean, evolutionists believe death is the way we all evolved, see? The struggle for existence, the survival of the what? The fittest, and we're just simply, you know, we claw our way to the top of the heap through millions and billions of years, and death is just the way it is. How tragic. No, it is not the way it is. It is an infinite, eternal tragedy. Okay? And God, you know, dares tell us here, eh, when you die, it's like dishonorable, no matter how you might think about it, it's not nice to die, okay? But it's raised in glory, praise the Lord, never to die again. Sown in weakness, I mean, how weak can you be when you're dead? I mean, you can't move one eyelash, you can't move one finger. You are totally helpless when you're dead. You can't do anything. But look, tune in here for folks. Sown in weakness, but raised in what? Power. To do things you could never imagine ever having done in this life. Sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body, empowered by the Holy Spirit of God to do things you can't even imagine on this earth today. Oh, how weak we are. I myself am so fragile. I mean, I can't believe myself. A little change of temperature, and I'm miserable. I tell, I share this with people from time to time. I was in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium in December forty four, and we lost nineteen thousand men. You say, we've almost, we've lost a thousand men in Iraq. Tell us about it. We lost nineteen thousand in one battle, and most of them froze to death before the medics even got to them. And from that day to this, I don't like being cold. I don't like being outdoors. I'm not like your pastor. I'm very impressed, pastor, but you... I can't stand it. I've had it. A little change of temperature and a little change of humidity, a little change of atmospheric pressure or lack of oxygen in, you know, high places. Disease, accidents, distance even, you know, I'm worn out even getting up here from Indianapolis. And finally, aging and death. See. Guess what the astronauts needed to get to the moon? They, they had to be in rockets to launch them, a blast off. They couldn't just say, okay, we're jumping. They had a huge system, see, to get them launched, and and they had to be inside these big capsules and floating in space, and then they had to have spacesuits. I want you to know, friends, they were sort of like Earth bubbles on the surface of the moon, out of which, if they had stepped for one minute, they would have dropped dead. No oxygen, see? Radical changes of temperature, see? No air, nothing. They would have dropped dead. They had to be enormously protected. I remember one time my, my mother and father lived in Peru, South America, for nineteen years after the Second World War. My father was American military ambassador to Peru. So in nineteen fifty, they invited me to spend the summer there with them. I was in seminary at the time, where I later taught, and, um, they they had a a military chauffeur provided by the Peruvian Army. This is Interhemisphere Defense Program against communism, you remember perhaps. And so, uh, we decided to go over the Andes in this car. The highest highway in the world. That highway to get from Lima, Peru to, uh, Cerro de Pasco through Ticlio went fifteen thousand eight hundred feet high in an automobile. That's higher than Mount Rainier. Guess what? You had had to have oxygen tanks in the car. Well, I saw Yama out there, and we, we stopped, and I ran out, forgetting my oxygen tank. I fell flat on my face on the ground. You just, I mean, friends, we're so weak, so fragile, so frail, even the best, even Olympic champions are very weak people in the sight of God. Okay? Guess what we need? A resurrection body. And God has thought about that, trust me. He's thought through this issue very, very carefully. Yes, this body, friends, will have a basic attribute. It's a natural body that is transformed and raised into a spiritual body. See, this present body we have now, the life principle is what? Blood. Leviticus seventeen eleven. The life of the flesh is in the blood, and we have finally discovered that. Guess what happened to the first president of the United States? They didn't know this. The doctors didn't know this, that the life of the flesh is in the blood, and you know what they did? They bled him to death. George Washington bled to death. They thought, he is so sick, let's get rid of this, uh, let's get rid of his blood. Imagine this. They didn't understand, you know, the principles we now know, and you, you get in a battle and you're wounded, you better have a transfusion, you better have blood to pump into you, or you are dead. But friends, what an amazing thing. The resurrection body doesn't need blood, and Jesus proved it. When he shed his blood on the cross and rose from the dead, he didn't have any more blood. I don't think he did, because he said at the upper room when he appeared to the astonished ten apostles, he said, handle me and see, for a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones as you see me have. He didn't say flesh and blood. So blood is the life principle of what? Of a natural body, and you have to have it in good supply all the time, or you're in deep trouble. But on resurrection day, we'll be totally bloodless, we'll have a new dynamic, a new life principle entirely. And so, friends, even as the Holy Spirit now indwells your body, if you're a believer, and makes your body his temple, that is a down payment, a foretaste, you see, of a glorified state in which he will be the dynamic of your resurrection experience. You'll never grow old. Think of that. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's not one bit older than he was a thousand years ago. By the way, here's something else to think about. He's never learned anything either. He knew everything to start with. And when you know everything about everything, it's impossible ever to learn anything about anything. But we will, we will grow in wisdom, see, if not in stature, and we'll grow in our love for the Lord through the centuries and the thousands and millions of years to follow, but we'll not change physically at all, see, because once you're perfect, you can't get improved on, ever. There was a great Spaniard by the name of Ponce de León. His name was Ponce, and he came from the city of León in Spain, and he came to Florida, Florida, which means flowery, beautiful, to look for the what? La fuente de juventud, the fountain of youth. Guess what? He dropped dead. It was awful. A steaming jungle with all kinds of reptiles waiting to gobble up stangards and people that were, you know, I mean, it's a, it was an awful discovery he made. And by the way, Floridians still have discovered that, well, never mind. We lived there for five years, friends. It is not paradise. It is not heaven. Maybe Wisconsin is, but eliminate Florida from your dream list. Oh. Well, you say, are you, is this real? Yes, look at the end, look at the end of verse forty four. If there is a natural body, and there is one, and you have one, and so do I, and so did Jesus, there is also a spiritual body. Yes. We shall experience it, just like second Corinthians five one tells us. We know that if the earthly tent which our house, uh, which is a house, is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. In this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven. We're not waiting to die, we're waiting to be glorified, see, the resurrection. In as much as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. For if indeed while we're in this tent, we groan, being burdened because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now he who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, always being of good courage, and knowing that while we're at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Be of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to him. You know, Paul said, I, to the Philippians, I'm in a strait between two things. Wanting to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. And remember, he preferred to be with Christ in a glorified body, not just dead. These are two steps. You're dead first, then you are resurrected. Unless you are the happy ex- participants in the rapture, in which you'll never die, but you'll be instantly glorified, which could be, by the way, this morning. Isn't that amazing? This morning, the dead could rise first, and we who are alive and remain caught up. But Paul said, I'm a straight, I want to, I just want to be with the Lord so much, but it's to re- to be on this earth and to remain with you is far better, more needful for you people. You see, I can perhaps be of help, and you can encourage me. We can be together functioning for the Lord. But, uh, he said, I'm desperately desirous to be with him with a glorified body. I have to keep that in balance, remember. It's better for others that we not die, but that we remain to help others who have needs. See? All right. Now, we're continuing with First Corinthians fifteen. The best news is just ahead. Keep reading. God has a, a pattern too. Forty five. and following. So also it is written, the man, the first man Adam became a living soul, and the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. That's Jesus, the last. However, now here's the point, here's the pattern, here's the blueprint. The spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. The first man, Adam, is from the earth, earthy. The second man is from heaven, not just a theophany. He really came from heaven to become an incarnate person, a God-man. Two natures, one person. As is the earthy, so are those who are earthy. As is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. You see, Christ is the blueprint and the design pattern for our resurrection bodies. You say, well, what are we going to be like? Well, all you have to do, friends, is to read what the Bible says about Jesus Christ in his resurrection body, which walked on this earth for how many days? Forty. It was fifty days between his resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, see, to create the church at Pentecost. But forty days, he appeared now and then to different people, the Apostle Peter and to, uh, uh, the ten, and then next week to the eleven, and then two on the road to Emmaus, and then the five hundred at one time up in Galilee, and so on and on, and a group of seven up there on the Sea of Galilee, and so forth. He'd appear and disappear, appear and disappear to prepare the disciples to realize, look, at any minute he could appear, and we're, that's the second coming. I mean, they didn't know there'd be another one thousand nine hundred years of waiting, like we now look back on. They really thought he had come in their lifetime, because he taught them that his coming was imminent. You don't know the hour or the day, and be ready. Any day, any night, see, morning or noon, see, night or soon, he'll come. That's a motivation, see, to keep in tune with his will, by his grace. And so, just as Jesus was, so will we be. It doth not appear what we shall be, says John, First John three, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We'll be like Jesus in his resurrection body. Now, what could he do with a resurrection body? Number one, he could do something that Lazarus couldn't do. When Lazarus died, friends, they put a big stone to block the entrance of the tomb. Sealed shut. They had him all wrapped up like an Egyptian mummy. Jesus said, this is amazing, to the- to his friends, move the stone. Why? Because he's coming back from the dead with a mortal body, and he can't go through the stone. You got to get the stone out of his way, and you also have to do what? Loosen and let him go. He can't move all wrapped up like this. Loosen him so he can go. Now, when Jesus rose from the dead, guess what he did? He vanished right through the grave clothes, which were left there like an empty, you know, like a cocoon. The headpiece here and the body form right there. He just vanished through the clow- clothes. And how did he get through the stone? Just walk through it. This is my favorite way of describing creation events. Just like this. And the angel later came to move the stone to let the disciples in, not to let Jesus out. And guess what else he could do with the resurrection body? Not only pass through the grave clothes and walk right through the stone, but walk right through a, a closed door into an upper room, and they were shocked to see him standing there. He didn't even have to open the door. They said, well, you're a ghost. No, no, give me something to eat. I am not a spirit, a ghost. I have flesh and bones. Let me eat something. Now, that was his way of confirming he had a genuine physical body, you see. Okay. Now, you, let me ask this, how did he get through the door? Now, here's a suggestion. This isn't a proof, it's just a thought. Many Chris- creation scientists have thought this through. Most of our physical body is empty space, except when I stand on the scales. You know why? Because our body is composed of trillions of atoms, which are mostly empty space. They're just simply tiny negative bits of energy called electrons that spin like a, in an orbit like planets going on a central nucleus of the opposite charge. And, and, and two atoms could go right through each other without even touching, just like two solar systems could pass right through each other, because most of our solar system is empty space. The only reason another solar system would have a tough time getting through ours is because of gravitational force fields. You cancel the gravitational force fields, see, and other planets could go right, miss ours by one mile, and you wouldn't even feel it. See? Go right through each other, right? That's the way an atom is. So if Jesus' glorified body were supernaturally out of tune with the natural systems of this world, his body could go right through the door, right through the stone, right through anything, no problem. Now I say we have to be careful, that is not necessarily God's explanation, but the point is that even on a scientific basis, it makes perfect sense. See, it's not ridiculous, not absurd at all. God always has the right answers. That's amazing contribution that creation scientists have made, by the way, in the last generation to our understanding of God's infinite variety of ways to solve problems that to us are insurmountable. So we'll just be able to, uh, you know, pass right through things. No problem at all. Well, nothing vague or uncertain about that. God is very emphatic. Okay? Now, verse fifty. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood, note the blood part, flesh and blood cannot inherit, that is, fully inherit the kingdom of God. We're going to see tonight that there are going to be a lot of people who'll be in the kingdom that have flesh and blood, but they're not yet glorified. But we're talking about heaven now, the ultimate heaven or kingdom of God. Nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, now here's a mystery, something never before revealed in the history of the world. I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep or die. You mean not every believer is going to be resurrected? No, there are going to be some believers who will never be resurrected because they will never die. That could be you this morning, or I. But we shall all be what? Changed. Oh, drastic change has to happen. Even if you don't die, you've got to be drastically changed. How? How long will it take? In a moment, the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead should be raised in- in- imperishable, and we shall be changed. Why Jesus hinted at this in John fourteen in the upper room. Believe in God, believe also in me, in my father's house are many mansions or dwelling places I go to, dear disciples. But he didn't explain then the real mystery, some of you will meet me without ever dying. See, now that this is new to the Apostle Paul as God's instrument for this new truth, new truth. For this perishable must put on, must put on the imperishable, this mortal must put on immortality, but when this perishable have put on imperishable and mortal have put on immortality, then will come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your, your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, oh, what a motivation this is, folks. My beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. Do we catch this? If you know what's coming, and you believe in what God says is coming next in his plan for you, your life, your body, your destiny in Christ, that is incomparably powerful to keep you going through the hard times, the depressing times, the painful times, the times of weakness, yes, of dying loved ones, see? It keeps you going. You see the light at the end of the tunnel. You say, thank you, Lord. Keep us what? Are you ready? Steadfast, immovable, always abounding. Uh, whatever I do, I just want to keep moving ahead. Do I want to spend my time just, you know, in self-pity and depression? No. Just keep on. Keep your eye on the, on the goal. And you know, it's almost humorous, but you know what the next verse says? There's no chapter divisions, you know, in the Bible. The next verse says, now concerning the collection for the saints. Now we're going to take the offering, see. In view of the fact that we have something to live for, let's dedicate all our resources to helping people know about this wonderful, blessed hope and this precious Savior and the hope of a resurrection day together. Isn't that practical? Down to earth, realistic. In other words, if that's my goal, everything I have, God gave me, it's for him. See? For him. Just one last question, friends. Are you really sure you'll be there when he says, come up and meet me in the air? Are you ready? John said, and now, little children, abide in him that you may have confidence that when he shall appear, you shall not be ashamed before him at his coming. Are you ready? Do you really trust him? His finished work on the cross, when he said it's done, it's finished. Do you believe that? That he died for you, he he's your substitute, he paid the price you could never pay. That you've been programmed for resurrection. That the Spirit of God indwells your body, that you're his forever. Let's pray. Father, now, this is incomparably precious truth. How we thank you for telling us about this. That we might have hope, light at the end of our tunnel, whatever it may be, however dark, however gloomy our, our life may be. Bless this church. It's, it's really a lighthouse up here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin that you raised up these past ten or so years for a purpose, that people might be illumined, enlightened, encouraged, uplifted, and directed by the Spirit of God to things that really count forever. We do admire people who won the gold at the Olympics, but what a gold medal you have in charge and prepared plans for those who trust you now and will be there when you call your saints together at the judgment throne of Christ. May we strive mightily to please you in what we do, that we might hear you say, Lord Jesus, well done, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord. We pray in his great name and for his glory. Amen.