Knowing our Future

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

KNOWING OUR FUTURE

1 Cor 15:50-58

50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."   55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"   56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

NIV

We have come to the conclusion of this explanation what will happen someday. We know these verses, as we have quoted them many times, and it is not just a hope, but it is a fact. This is going to happen to all believers in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the one who died for us, taking all our sin upon himself, and shedding his blood for the remission of our sins. We have been adopted into the family of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. Yet, in our present condition we cannot get to heaven for we are also still in the image of Adam, in this flesh and blood body that is indeed corruptible, perishable, and mortal. Although we have been forgiven, and we have been declared by God as holy and blameless in his sight, we still live in this current condition, and we will need to be changed before we can inherit the kingdom of God. But, praise God, in a twinkling of an eye, that is in a split second, we will be changed. If we are asleep, we will be awakened, that is the dead shall rise, resurrected completely different than we have ever been. No longer will we be flesh and blood, but we will have a new spiritual body that cannot be corrupted, nor will we ever perish, and we will also be immortal living forever in the kingdom of God. Now should Jesus come back for us while we are still breathing in this mortal body, we will not miss a thing, for we will also be changed in this flash, in this split second and everything we are now temporarily, we will become what we will be permanently, as we live forever in the presence of our Lord in that place that He has prepared for us. From the revelation that He gave to John, we know this place in a new city and is on a new earth, everything, all creation will be changed, and death no longer will be a part of this new place. Therefore, with all the confidence of the reality of what is to happen, we most definitely stand firm in our faith, nothing is going to move us away from the truth, and as we are told, we will give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord until our last breath in this flesh and blood body, for our lives, our labor in not in vain.  We know our future.