Weekly Devotional 8-9-21 Bodily Caught Up
1st Thessalonians 4-13-18
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Please note that the bodies of those who have died will raise from their sleeping places (graves of whatever sort) and will be carried into heaven and then those who are alive will be bodily caught up. It does not make sense, as some have thought, that it is only the spirits of those who are alive that are caught up and not their bodies also. The purpose of the resurrection of the dead is to unite their bodies with their glorified spirits. 1st Corinthians 15:45-55 verifies this, Consider:
45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”
Paul writes that those of us who are alive at the rapture will be changed instantaneously. It would be unexplainable for the world to discover the bodies of deceased Christian missing and yet see millions of bodies of those who are alive at the catching up lying about all over the earth. Both would have been known for their beliefs, for having trusted in Christ.
Certainly the bodies of those who are alive at the rapture will be changed instantaneously as flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption but, it will be an instantaneous change.
Blessings
Steve